Beijing and Washington should “accommodate each other’s concerns,” Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) told US president-elect Barack Obama in a phone call that stressed good Sino-US ties, state media said yesterday.
Hu and Obama spoke on Saturday, with the Chinese leader calling for cooperation on issues such as the current global financial turmoil but also urging US respect for Chinese positions on touchy issues such as Taiwan, Xinhua news agency said.
The conversation is thought to be the pair’s first since Obama’s election victory last week, with Hu becoming the latest world leader to get acquainted with the man whose election has been welcomed worldwide.
“Hu pointed out that since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries 30 years ago, bilateral relations have generally kept developing despite setbacks,” the report said.
The report did not say how long they spoke for or who initiated the call. However, Obama has been busy calling world leaders who had sent written congratulations on his defeat of Republican Senator John McCain.
Hu was one of those leaders.
“China and the United States should respect each other and accommodate each other’s concerns, and appropriately settle sensitive issues between the two countries, particularly the Taiwan issue,” Xinhua quoted the Chinese leader as saying.
China on Thursday urged Obama to oppose independence for Taiwan, saying that the proper handling of the issue was key to good relations between Beijing and Washington.
PLEDGE
Hu pledged, however, to maintain close contact with an Obama administration and “strengthen the exchange of opinion and coordination with the United States on major international and regional issues,” Xinhua said.
During Saturday’s phone conversation, Obama, who defeated McCain in Tuesday’s election, said China was a “great” nation and that strong Sino-US ties were good for the world, the report quoted the Democrat as saying.
The Xinhua report said the pair also discussed other issues including security and climate change.
“As the largest developing nation and the largest developed nation, China and the United States share extensive common interests on issues related to world peace and development,” the report quoted Hu as telling Obama.
REFORMS
Hu also told Obama that the international community needed to work together to “launch necessary reforms of the global financial system,” the report said.
The Chinese president reportedly thanked Obama during their conversation for recognizing the importance of China-US relations during presidential campaigning.
Obama criticized Chinese trade policies during his campaign, but not harshly.
Analysts expect smooth relations between China and Obama’s administration as Washington needs cooperation on the global financial crisis from an increasingly powerful Beijing.
Also See: Tehran slams Obama for comments made over nuclear program
Also See: Moscow seeks talks with Obama
Also See: US faces realignment of world power
DIALOGUE: US president-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform confirmed that he had spoken with Xi, saying ‘the call was a very good one’ for the US and China US president-elect Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) discussed Taiwan, trade, fentanyl and TikTok in a phone call on Friday, just days before Trump heads back to the White House with vows to impose tariffs and other measures on the US’ biggest rival. Despite that, Xi congratulated Trump on his second term and pushed for improved ties, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The call came the same day that the US Supreme Court backed a law banning TikTok unless it is sold by its China-based parent company. “We both attach great importance to interaction, hope for
RISING TENSIONS: The nations’ three leaders discussed China’s ‘dangerous and unlawful behavior in the South China Sea,’ and agreed on the importance of continued coordination Japan, the Philippines and the US vowed to further deepen cooperation under a trilateral arrangement in the face of rising tensions in Asia’s waters, the three nations said following a call among their leaders. Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr and outgoing US President Joe Biden met via videoconference on Monday morning. Marcos’ communications office said the leaders “agreed to enhance and deepen economic, maritime and technology cooperation.” The call followed a first-of-its-kind summit meeting of Marcos, Biden and then-Japanese prime minister Fumio Kishida in Washington in April last year that led to a vow to uphold international
US president-elect Donald Trump is not typically known for his calm or reserve, but in a craftsman’s workshop in rural China he sits in divine contemplation. Cross-legged with his eyes half-closed in a pose evoking the Buddha, this porcelain version of the divisive US leader-in-waiting is the work of designer and sculptor Hong Jinshi (洪金世). The Zen-like figures — which Hong sells for between 999 and 20,000 yuan (US$136 to US$2,728) depending on their size — first went viral in 2021 on the e-commerce platform Taobao, attracting national headlines. Ahead of the real-estate magnate’s inauguration for a second term on Monday next week,
CYBERSCAM: Anne, an interior decorator with mental health problems, spent a year and a half believing she was communicating with Brad Pitt and lost US$855,259 A French woman who revealed on TV how she had lost her life savings to scammers posing as Brad Pitt has faced a wave of online harassment and mockery, leading the interview to be withdrawn on Tuesday. The woman, named as Anne, told the Seven to Eight program on the TF1 channel how she had believed she was in a romantic relationship with the Hollywood star, leading her to divorce her husband and transfer 830,000 euros (US$855,259). The scammers used fake social media and WhatsApp accounts, as well as artificial intelligence image-creating technology to send Anne selfies and other messages
RSS