US president-elect Donald Trump’s administration should consider supporting a Beijing-backed free-trade deal in the Asia-Pacific region, Chinese state media said yesterday, adding that China would be relieved to see a rival US-led trade deal wither under Trump.
During his election campaign, Trump took a protectionist stance on trade issues and labeled the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) championed by US President Barack Obama a “disaster.” There is now little chance of it coming up for a vote in Washington before Trump’s inauguration in January.
Obama had framed the TPP, which excludes China, as part of his “pivot to Asia” and as an effort to write Asia’s trade rules before Beijing could.
China had feared the US would use the TPP to either force it to open markets by signing up or else to isolate it from other regional economies.
“Of course, Beijing is understandably relieved that the exclusive, economically inefficient, politically antagonizing TPP is looking ever less likely to materialize by the day,” the official English-language China Daily newspaper said in an editorial.
The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade talks, which are supported by Beijing, but to which the US is not a party, are viewed by some observers as a competitor to US economic leadership in the region.
“The incoming administration should realize that the more open, inclusive Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will turn out to be a far more efficient vehicle for advancing US interests,” the China Daily said.
“Washington may want to take advantage of the nascent, evolving platform and become involved from the rulemaking stage. US influence in the Asia-Pacific will not abate if the Trump administration chooses to engage with the region constructively,” the newspaper said.
Such editorials in state-run media do not represent Chinese government policy, but they are indicative of official thinking.
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