The leader of the Democrats in the US House of Representatives on Thursday denounced Washington's China policy as a "total failure," particularly with respect to the spiraling US trade deficit.
"There has never been any good faith on the part of the Chinese to act in a way that is fair, that honors the opportunity that we give them to grow their economy by using our markets for that growth," Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said. "As a result, much sensitive technology, some of it related to weapons of mass destruction, was exported from China to unsafe countries."
Because of misguided US trade policy, "the trade deficit has soared, and religious repression continues, and we are up the creek," she told reporters at a press conference.
"The China policy of the United States -- Democrats' and Republicans' alike -- has been a total failure," she said.
Pelosi said US officials missed a golden opportunity to wield influence on China in the area of human rights and trade a decade and a half ago -- when the trade deficit was not as large.
"Going back 15 years when it was US$2 billion to US$3 billion in a year, I thought it gave us tremendous leverage to stop the Chinese government's proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, to stop their unfair trade practices, and to stop their human-rights violations," she said.
"Today the trade deficit with China is US$2 billion to US$3 billion a week -- not a year, a week," she said.
"Today they rule the roost. They have an over 150-billion-dollar trade deficit a year with us. ... If they decided, for a day or two, to think about whether they were going to purchase our bonds, we would have a problem in our economy," she said.
Pelosi had words of scorn for "all those geniuses who told us that if we just continue to engage in the same trade relationship with China that there would be freedom in China, and it would stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and they would stop engaging in unfair trade practices."
"The United States had much more leverage early on with the Chinese ... before we gave them Most Favored Nation status permanently with nothing on their side ... before we smoothed the way for them to go into the WTO," she said.
"Our leverage is greatly diminished because of those decisions," Pelosi said, lamenting: "I don't know if you can turn back on it."
Also see stories:
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
‘FORM OF PROTEST’: The German Institute Taipei said it was ‘shocked’ to see Nazi symbolism used in connection with political aims as it condemned the incident Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 yesterday amid an outcry over a Nazi armband he wore to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case on Tuesday night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and apparently covering the book with a coat. This is a serious international scandal and Chinese
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the