US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pressed China’s leaders yesterday on sensitive human rights issues, but said she was encouraged by their decision to hold talks with the Dalai Lama’s envoys.
In meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤)and Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) in Beijing, Rice said she raised the cases of several dissidents detained by China as well as the ruling Communist Party’s controls on the Internet.
“I think that is one of the brewing issues,” Rice said as she summarized their discussions on Internet freedoms.
“The Internet is becoming so ubiquitous. It shouldn’t be something used to constrain and limit political speech,” she said.
Differences over the international response to the political crisis in Zimbabwe were also discussed, with Rice insisting the UN Security Council had a key role to play despite China’s preference for a mainly African solution.
Rice said the talks also covered the recent progress in the long-running campaign to end North Korea’s nuclear weapons programs, problems in the international economy and climate change.
In brief comments at the start of their meeting, Hu thanked Rice for visiting China’s earthquake-hit Sichuan Province on Sunday as well as US assistance following the disaster in May that left nearly 90,000 people dead.
Rice told reporters the recent unrest in Tibet was also discussed, with the top US diplomat expressing cautious optimism over Beijing’s decision to hold further talks with envoys of the region’s spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
“I am encouraged that there at least will be a second round of talks,” she said.
However she repeated that the US did not accept China’s accusations that the Dalai Lama was bent on achieving independence for his Himalayan homeland, which has been ruled by China for nearly 60 years.
“The Dalai Lama is a figure of considerable moral authority. He is a figure who has rejected violence. He is a figure who talks about cultural and religious historical autonomy,” she said. “He doesn’t push for political independence.”
Her comments came as the Tibetan government-in-exile said envoys of the Dalai Lama were expected to arrive in Beijing later yesterday for two days of talks with Chinese officials.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
NO WORK, CLASS: President William Lai urged people in the eastern, southern and northern parts of the country to be on alert, with Typhoon Kong-rey approaching Typhoon Kong-rey is expected to make landfall on Taiwan’s east coast today, with work and classes canceled nationwide. Packing gusts of nearly 300kph, the storm yesterday intensified into a typhoon and was expected to gain even more strength before hitting Taitung County, the US Navy’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said. The storm is forecast to cross Taiwan’s south, enter the Taiwan Strait and head toward China, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The CWA labeled the storm a “strong typhoon,” the most powerful on its scale. Up to 1.2m of rainfall was expected in mountainous areas of eastern Taiwan and destructive winds are likely
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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