The G20 yesterday planned to approve a greater voice for Asian and Latin American countries in a historic shift that recognizes the rising influence of both regions.
The leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies began a two-day meeting on Thursday dedicated to fostering a healthy global economic recovery, and European leaders were expected to secure a priority of their own: limit on bankers’ bonuses.
But economic developments were overshadowed yesterday by news that US President Barack Obama, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown demanded that Iran fully disclose its nuclear ambitions “or be held accountable.”
They threatened new sanctions after the disclosure of a secret Iranian nuclear facility.
On the economy, the leaders decided the G20 will serve as the board of directors on global economic cooperation, a function that for more than three decades had been performed by a smaller club: the US, Japan, Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Canada and later Russia. The G20 includes such developing economies as China, Brazil and India.
The G8 will, however, continue to meet on matters of common importance such as national security. Obama initiated the move, to be announced yesterday, the White House said.
The measure underscores how the world’s balance of power has shifted since a small group of wealthy, industrial countries began meeting in the mid-1970s in an effort to respond to oil shocks, stagflation and other economic crises of that period.
The Pittsburgh meeting marked the third G20 leaders summit in less than a year as the countries continued to grapple with a debilitating economic downturn that has resulted in millions of unemployed around the world, the loss of trillions of dollars in wealth and massive amounts of government stimulus spending.
The leaders trickled into Pittsburgh throughout Thursday — most of them in from New York, where they attended the opening of the UN General Assembly. Later, they gathered with their spouses for a welcoming reception before parting for separate banquets on Thursday night.
The Pittsburgh G20 meeting did have one thing in common with recent G8 meetings: protesters seeking to demonstrate unhappiness with global capitalism. Police fired canisters of pepper spray and rubber bullets at several hundred demonstrators who had tried to march toward the convention center.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS