US Secretary of State Antony Blinken this week is to pay his second visit in less than a year to China, where he is to ask Beijing to avoid “provocative” measures during next month’s inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德).
Blinken’s trip from Wednesday through Friday marks a further lowering of US-China friction that soared under former US president Donald Trump.
However, US President Joe Biden, while seeking greater stability between the world’s two largest economies, has kept up the pressure.
Photo: AP
In the days ahead of Blinken’s trip, Biden met jointly with the leaders of US allies Japan and the Philippines, both wary of China, and moved to raise steel tariffs on a “cheating” China.
“We are in a different place than we were a year ago when the bilateral relationship was at an historic low point,” a senior US official told reporters ahead of the trip announcement.
“We’ve set out to stabilize the bilateral relationship without sacrificing our capacity to strengthen our alliances, compete vigorously and defend our interests,” he said on customary condition of anonymity.
Amid the issues expected to be discussed is Taiwan, particularly Lai’s inauguration.
“Our expectation will be, particularly during this important and sensitive time leading up to the May 20 inauguration, that all countries will contribute to peace and stability, avoid taking provocative actions that may raise tensions, and demonstrate restraint,” the official said.
US officials quietly believe that improved US-China relations helped avoid worse-case scenarios of Chinese pressure during the elections in January.
Also high on Blinken’s agenda would be what US officials say is a major push by China that has helped Russia, in the throes of the Ukraine invasion, carry out its biggest militarization since Soviet times.
Blinken is to take the message directly to Beijing after encouraging European allies to make their concerns known with China, which is seen as eager for smooth relations with the West as it faces economic headwinds.
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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