Trump/Biden/Kissinger and Xi on China

[Randy W]

from the Global Times on globalization

 

China won't watch globalization die

 

 

Data has proven that China is stabilizer of globalization. The WTO on April 8 said that world trade is expected to fall between 13 percent and 32 percent in 2020. The drop will mainly come from the US, whose imports declined 20.5 percent in April from January while exports fell 28.1 percent in the same period. But China's imports and exports in the first five months of 2020 have maintained a slight year-on-year dip of 4.9 percent. Meanwhile, exports in May increased 1.4 percent. China has become ballast stone of world trade.

In other words, the declining US has worsened world trade while the revival of China has been striving to save the world from more losses. Given data of the flow of international investment, mergers and acquisitions, logistics, and currency, people can see that China is rising and that the US is clearly declining. In addition to the variables of the reckless Trump administration, globalization is becoming more de-Americanized and more sinicized.

Globalization will not die. The process of globalization is a part of the process of human civilization. Before the 16th century, globalization in its early stage was fragmented and unsystematic. It was about spices and silks trade between Eastern and Western civilizations. After that, with the colonial expansion of European powers as the main driving force, globalization showed initial signs of the popularization of technology, population mobility, and civilization integration. After the 20th century, the US made a great contribution to globalization, primarily with an information revolution.

 

 

 

 

 

[Randy W]

Just some miscellaneous speculation on the tit for that between China and the US

 

from the SCMP

 

Experts comb through Trump’s Xinjiang comments for clues on Hong Kong action

• US President Donald Trump says he did not sanction China over detainment camps in Xinjiang because he wanted to protect the phase one trade deal
• Analysts say Trump’s decision to punish Chinese or Hong Kong officials over the national security law will be complicated by trade deal and business interests

While Trump has vowed to begin the process of revoking Hong Kong’s special trading status, after the US Department of State deemed it was no longer autonomous from mainland China, he has yet to outline what steps will be taken. In the interim, he has threatened “complete decoupling” from China, but again has not specified what this might entail

 

“There is a difference between Hong Kong and Xinjiang in that the US has large economic interests in Hong Kong,” added Jarrett, who also served as US consul general in Shanghai. “Thus, even if the US wants to punish China for imposing the national security law, there will be pressure on the Trump administration to do so in a way that minimises US collateral damage.”

 

. . .

 

The American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong says it represents more than 1,200 US companies in the city, of which more than 800 are regional offices or headquarters.

 

. . .

 

Chinese experts have urged Beijing to prepare for the worst possible response from the US, including being banned from the US dollar network.

 

 

[Randy W]

from the SCMP

 

Trump: "I canceled talks with China. I don't want to talk to them right now."

 

[Allon]

I will bet China is pleased they were postponed, hopefully until January 21.

[Randy W]

I will bet China is pleased they were postponed, hopefully until January 21.

 

I'll bet they'll largely be biding their time until we have a new president in office, regardless of whether that happens in Jan., or four years from now.

 

In the meantime, this keeps popping up, although there doesn't seem to be much behind it.

 

From China Pictorial in Facebook

 

https://m.facebook.com/ChinaPic/photos/a.558235270968533/3053446438114058/?type=3

 

Vice-Premier Liu He and senior US officials held talks by telephone on Tuesday, with both sides agreeing to continue pushing forward the implementation of the phase-one trade deal the two nations signed in January.

According to a statement released by the Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday, the two sides had constructive talks on cementing macroeconomic cooperation and agreed to strive to create favorable conditions for implementing the deal.

 

 

 

https://www.facebook.com/553929144732479/posts/3053446528114049/

[Randy W]

Hu says on China - US relations with Biden now in office

https://www.facebook.com/globaltimesnews/videos/132499585381955/

Quote

【#HuSays】The greatest of US' misjudgments in Sino-US relations is the strategic arrogance that the US still has the capability to contain China. Easing Sino-US relations is actually a win-win process. Washington better not get it wrong: Editor-in-Chief Hu Xijin

[Randy W]

CGTN on Biden and Trump

I think China was just biding their time until Trump was out of office, but I also expect Biden to move forward from where we are now, rather than to try to undo or nullify anything Trump has done. Don't expect Houston's China Consulate to re-open anytime in the immediate future.

This article is a good take on how China views the status quo.

Biden's redline: The U.S. won't back Taiwan separatists

Quote

 

The timing of the State Department's reiteration of U.S. support for the one-China policy just before Joe Biden's highly-anticipated foreign policy speech is a promising sign. The Trump era was defined by the administration seeding constant reflexive anger and disdain for China in the minds of the U.S. public, with cruel references to the "China virus" and glib claims that China was ripping off U.S. workers. It was characterized by baseless accusations, vague demands, impulsive actions and the use of international policy as a performance to achieve domestic policy goals.

The performance succeeded, and the U.S. public sentiment turned against China. The Biden administration, bogged by the high anti-China public opinion in America, was expected to labor to appear "tough on China."

One area where the Biden administration has tested China to see how far it can push is on the Taiwan issue. Biden made a point of inviting a member of the Taiwanese authority to his inauguration, and has also sent a naval strike group deep into Chinese waters near Taiwan. It had toyed with forceful language, promising to deepen ties with Taiwan and noting in a January 23 statement: "Our commitment to Taiwan is rock-solid." With the U.S. public happy to see Washington poke China in the eye, public support for Taiwan is a very popular public position for Biden to take.

 

 

[Randy W]

 . . . and more on the same subject from the Global Times

This article seems to be pretty spot-on in my book,except for the "meddling" comments. RemeMber that it's from a CCP publication.

What does Biden expect from allies in dealing with China?

Quote

 

In years to come, the US may work with its allies to put more pressure on China on human rights, and continue to decouple with China in the high-tech field. Economically speaking, Biden will not continue Trump's "lose-lose" approaches, but will try to minimize internal divergences with allies. Building a united front against China on economics and trade won't be possible, but the West will keep reducing their dependence on the Chinese market in certain sensitive industrial chains.

On militarily matters, the Biden administration won't be able to rope in more allies to participate in meddling in the South China Sea or the Indo-Pacific region. US allies are simply not interested in coordinating with the US in doing so, since China has never challenged the US militarily. Other countries are even less interested in interfering in the Taiwan question. 

Then how to deal with China? In fact, the Biden administration has no mature idea yet. The relationship between China and the US is complicated. China is not like any of the US' historical competitors. It is neither the Soviet Union nor Japan. The US needs to balance its considerations from various aspects, and this explains why the Biden administration wants to be in "lockstep" with allies before engaging with China.

 

 

[Randy W]

from the SCMP

Biden has ‘no reason not to call’ Xi – but it’s proving tricky to set up

• Biden told CBS on Sunday that Xi has been ‘sending signals’ and knows he will not follow Donald Trump’s approach
• But tensions are likely to continue between the two countries, and one Chinese government adviser says both leaders know that ‘things have changed a lot’

Quote

But both sides have kept expectations low and few believe that the call, if it happens, will herald a quick turnaround.

 

[Randy W]

from the SCMP

Gloves off at top-level US-China summit in Alaska with on-camera sparring

Quote

The deeply strained relationship between China and the US was on rare public display at the start of a top-level meeting in Anchorage, Alaska on March 18, 2021. American and Chinese officials attacked each others' policies in their first in-person talks since the Biden administration took office in January.
Among those at the table were US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Beijing’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, a Communist Party politburo member and director of the Central Commission for Foreign Affairs Office. 
In blunt public remarks, Blinken said the US wants to address the issues of Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Taiwan, which he noted were topics of concern by US allies. Yang responded by criticising what he said was the US’ struggling democracy and poor treatment of minorities, while criticising Washington’s foreign and trade policies.

 

[Randy W]

This is a good discussion of the present situation with China, well worth 25 minutes of your time. Although it took place before the Alaska meeting, I don't think that it changes anything they're saying. From Al Jazeera

 

Edited March 23, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Explainer | US-China relations: is there still a trade war under Joe Biden’s presidency?

• Former US president Donald Trump instigated the trade war with China in July 2018, and their phase-one trade deal was eventually signed in January 2020
• Joe Biden took over the presidency at the start of 2021, saying his administration would review the trade war and other actions taken against China

from the SCMP

Quote

 

A “top-to-bottom review” of China’s trade policy by the Biden administration is set to include how to approach Trump’s phase-one trade deal with Beijing that expires at the end of 2021.
New US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said in March 2021 that a trade meeting between China and the US would take place “when the time is right”, and that US tariffs on Chinese imports would remain as “no negotiator walks away from leverage”.
Tai added in May 2021 that the review would include what to do with many expired exclusions from Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports, noting that “time is of the essence” in completing the review.

Two sources familiar with the discussions said at the start of May that top trade negotiators from China and the Biden administration were moving towards holding their first conversation to review the phase-one trade deal.
Towards the end of May 2021, the US and the European Union issued a joint statement saying that they can partner to “hold countries like China that support trade-distorting policies to account”.
The statement was issued by Tai, US Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo and European Commission executive vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis.

 

 

[Randy W]

President Biden issued a new executive order on Thursday barring Americans from investing in Chinese firms linked to the country’s military or engaged in selling surveillance technology — both inside and outside of China — used to repress dissent or religious minorities.

The new order, which initially lists 59 Chinese firms, substantially expands an order issued in November by President Donald J. Trump.

Biden issues an order banning U.S. investment in firms that aid surveillance and repression.

from the NY Times

Quote

 

President Biden issued a new executive order on Thursday barring Americans from investing in Chinese firms linked to the country’s military or engaged in selling surveillance technology — both inside and outside of China — used to repress dissent or religious minorities.

The new order, which initially lists 59 Chinese firms, substantially expands an order issued in November by President Donald J. Trump. By rewriting that earlier order to include firms engaged in making and deploying the surveillance technology — used against Muslim minorities like the Uyghurs and dissidents in Hong Kong and in the Chinese diaspora around the globe — it intensifies a commercial and ideological battle between Beijing and Washington, one that Mr. Biden has termed the struggle between “autocracy and democracy.”

The move comes at a moment when China is both ramping up its ability to spy on its nearly 1.4 billion people, using a mix of facial-recognition cameras and software, phone-scanners and a range of other tools, and exporting that technology to nations around the world. It is often sold abroad as part of a package of communications equipment provided by companies like Huawei, or as part of China’s Belt-and-Road initiative, which aims to expand the country’s trade ties.

Mr. Biden’s aides said the move was justified by a new American commitment not to facilitate Chinese repression and human rights abuses.

But China regularly decries such moves as interference in its domestic affairs, and in the past has sought to retaliate with bans on American companies, leading to fears of broad economic decoupling between the world’s two largest economies. And the Chinese will likely argue that the United States and other countries use some of the same technologies and techniques to track terrorists and drug lords.

 

 

Edited June 4, 2021 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

US Senate passes broad US$250 billion legislation to counter and compete with China

• A measure that touches on nearly every aspect of the nations’ complex relationship, including semiconductors, Taiwan, Xinjiang and the 2022 Winter Olympics
• US House of Representatives will next take up its own version of the legislation, called the Eagle Act

Quote

 

It includes billions of dollars to increase American semiconductor manufacturing, a sign of growing urgency in Washington that the US has become dangerously reliant on Chinese supply chains. It bans American officials from attending the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics over human rights concerns, and declares Beijing’s policies in China’s far-west Xinjiang region a genocide, echoing the position of the US State Department and multiple parliaments around the world.

 . . .

It contains a range of provisions meant to strengthen US ties with Taiwan and US military alliances in the Pacific, including the Quad, an increasingly formalised pact between the US, Australia, India and Japan – and still others to crack down on Chinese influence on US campuses, in international organisations and online.

he legislation also authorises new sanctions on Chinese officials for a range of crimes, including cyberattacks, intellectual property theft and, in Xinjiang – where human rights groups cite United Nations reports and witness accounts that as many as 1 million Uygurs and other Muslim minorities are held in “re-education camps” – against perpetrators of “systematic rape, coercive abortion, forced sterilisation or involuntary contraceptive implantation policies and practices”.
Beijing has repeatedly denied the allegations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang and insists that the camps are vocational training facilities.

 

 

[Randy W]

This tit-for-tat stuff will simply make it VERY difficult for Western companies to do business in China

China passes anti-sanctions law

China officially passed an anti-sanctions law on June 10, 2021 which is expected to provide a legal basis for Beijing to counter foreign sanctions.

Read more: https://sc.mp/2yx8 

 

from the SCMP on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/355665009819/videos/3956727091083151