US President Joe Biden on Saturday said he would be talking to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) “soon,” and is weighing possible action on US tariffs on China that were imposed by the administration of former US president Donald Trump.
Asked whether he had decided to lift any of the tariffs, Biden said: “We’re in the process of doing that... I’m in the process of making up my mind.”
Biden’s administration is weighing what to do about Trump’s tariffs on about US$300 billion of goods imported from the US economy’s biggest competitor. While some businesses have benefited from protection from Chinese imports, companies that use the goods as inputs in areas including manufacturing have been hurt.
Photo: AFP
US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen last week told lawmakers that the Biden administration is looking to “reconfigure” the tariffs and said that they were contributing to higher prices for goods with US inflation running at the hottest pace in 40 years.
Biden declined to say when he would talk to Xi, saying only: “I’m going to be talking to him.”
US officials are working to set up a possible call this summer as tensions run high between the world’s two biggest economies, including on Taiwan, Ukraine and human rights matters.
One person familiar with planning said a potential summer call could come as soon as next month, but any in-person meeting of the two leaders would wait until after the China’s National Party Congress later in the year.
Xi, who is seeking to secure a third term, has also halted international travel since COVID-19 emerged more than two years ago.
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CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
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Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
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