China has refused to let US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visit Beijing over concerns that the FBI would release the results of an investigation into a downed suspected Chinese spy balloon, the Financial Times reported yesterday, citing sources.
China told the US that it was not prepared to reschedule a trip that Blinken canceled in February while it remains unclear what the administration of US President Joe Biden would do with the report, the newspaper said, citing four people familiar with the negotiations.
Earlier this week, Blinken said he would pursue a visit to China when the conditions are right.
Photo: AFP
He also added that the goal is not to contain China or engage in a new cold war.
Earlier this month, the US Department of Defense said it could not confirm reports that a Chinese spy balloon had been able to transmit intelligence in real time back to China as it flew over sensitive military sites in the US earlier this year, adding that the probe was still ongoing.
China’s suspected surveillance balloon first passed into US airspace north of Alaska’s Aleutian Islands on Jan. 28. The balloon flew over the US and Canada for about a week before the US military shot it down off the Atlantic Coast.
The Financial Times report came as Blinken visited Vietnam, about 50 years after the last US combat troops left what was then South Vietnam.
Blinken said he seeks to bolster US ties with Vietnam, as it seeks to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the Indo-Pacific region.
Blinken and Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh pledged to boost relations to new levels as they met just two weeks after the 50th anniversary of the US troop withdrawal that marked the end of the US’ direct military involvement in Vietnam.
Blinken broke ground on a sprawling new US$1.2 billion US embassy compound in Hanoi, a project that the Biden administration hopes would demonstrate its commitment to further improving ties less than 30 years after diplomatic relations were restored in 1995.
Despite concerns over Vietnam’s human rights record, Washington sees Hanoi as a key component of its strategy for the region and has sought to leverage Vietnam’s traditional rivalry with its much larger neighbor to expand US influence in the region.
“We now hope to be able to take [relations] to an even higher level,” Blinken said.
“This has been a very comprehensive and effective relationship and going forward we will continue to deepen relations,” Chinh said. “We highly appreciate the role and responsibility of the US towards the Asia Pacific, or, in a larger scheme, the Indo-Pacific.”
He added that Vietnam is keen to “further elevate our bilateral ties to a new height.”
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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