US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pledged on Friday to deepen US bonds with Asia in order to tackle the global economic crisis and climate change as well as prevent nuclear proliferation.
On the eve of her tour of Japan, Indonesia, South Korea and China, her first foreign trip, Clinton said in a speech she was “ready to deliver a message about America’s desire for more rigorous and persistent commitment and engagement.”
She added she was “ready to work with leaders in Asia to resolve the economic crisis ... [and] to strengthen our historic partnerships and alliances while developing deeper bonds with all nations.”
In her first foreign policy speech, delivered before the Asia Society, a non-profit educational institution, Clinton said she was also “ready to help prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Asia.”
Clinton added that North Korea’s nuclear program remained “the most acute challenge to stability in northeast Asia.”
She said US President Barack Obama’s administration would build a strong relationship with the Pyongyang if it scraps its nuclear program. The country alarmed the world in 2006 with the test of a nuclear device.
If Pyongyang “completely and verifiably” eliminates the program, Washington “will be willing to normalize bilateral relations, replace the peninsula’s longstanding armistice agreements with a permanent peace treaty.”
She said Washington would also “assist in meeting the energy and other economic needs of the North Korean people,” who face hunger and economic hardships.
Analysts say Clinton appears to have chosen Japan as her first stop to smooth feathers she ruffled when she wrote during the presidential campaign that the US-China relationship will be the most important one.
Clinton stressed that climate change would be a key topic on her visit, particularly with China’s rapid industrial growth.
“Climate change is not just an environmental nor an energy issue, but also has implications for our health, our economies and our security,” Clinton said.
Accompanying her is Todd Stern, her special envoy for climate change, to “begin the discussions that we hope will create the opportunities for cooperation,” she said.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS