Trump/Biden/Kissinger and Xi on China

[Randy W]

 . . . and the UK weighs in on the "China threat"

Updated defence and foreign policy paper highlights the serious threats that Russia and China poses to the UK and world.

from AL Jazeera English on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera/posts/pfbid02jQrXuiDYyELVTUACigGqftqFue3d5dVm9VEeuYnexzugbXtTfpmjbxZNfqDpRkr5l

 

Russia, China creating world of ‘danger, disorder, division’: UK
UK’s updated defence and foreign policy paper highlights ‘threats’ posed by Russia and China to global stability.

Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, and Russian President Vladimir Putin pose for a photo prior to talks in Beijing, China, in February 2022, just weeks ahead of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The leaders pledged a 'no-limits' relationship during their meeting [File: Alexei Druzhinin/Sputnik/Kremlin pool via AP Photo]

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The United Kingdom views China as representing an “epoch-defining challenge” to the world order and sees the UK and Europe’s security tied to Russia’s unsuccessful prosecution of its war on Ukraine, an update to the UK’s strategic foreign and defence policy blueprint states.

In a “refresh” to the Integrated Review (IR) policy paper, the UK highlights the challenges posed by China and its deepening partnership with Russia, as well as Moscow’s growing cooperation with Iran. The 63-page report unveiled on Monday toughens the UK’s language and positioning towards Beijing and Moscow and stresses the systematic and existential threat that both countries pose to the UK, Europe and the wider rules-based world order.

Chinese state media responded to the UK report on Tuesday with warnings that London’s “continuous hype” of China as a threat would have negative consequences for relations between the two countries.

 

 

[Randy W]

G7 summit: leaders pledge to counter China’s ‘malign’ practices and tackle economic coercion

• Leaders vow to reduce supply chain dependency, tackle ‘non-market policies and practices’ and ensure attempts to weaponise economic dependency fail
• Beijing says leaders attending summit in Hiroshima, Japan are ‘vilifying China’ and ‘violently meddling’ in its internal affairs

from the SCMP

The initiative had been widely trailed before it was announced. Photo: AFP
 

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A statement about the plan to tackle coercion and protect the economies of the group and its allies did not name China or any other country.

However, the communique issued at the end of the summit in Hiroshima, Japan said the group of advanced economies would act to reduce its dependency on China in critical supply chains.

“We will seek to address the challenges posed by China’s non-market policies and practices, which distort the global economy,” the communique read.

“We will counter malign practices, such as illegitimate technology transfer or data disclosure.”

The leaders from Japan, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and the United States denied they were “decoupling” from China but instead trying to “derisk” the relationship.

“We also recognise the necessity of protecting certain advanced technologies that could be used to threaten our national security without unduly limiting trade and investment,” they said.

The Chinese foreign ministry said it had launched a solemn protest to G7 and the host country Japan, accusing them of “manipulating the China-related agenda and vilifying China”

 

 

 

[Randy W]

How are Chinese firms responding as foreign buyers ‘don’t want anything made in China’?

• ‘This is a trend that will not stop,’ manufacturing analyst warns as China pull-out intensifies in the face of geopolitical strife, demographic crisis and supply-chain upheavals
• China exporters, despite now seeing fewer orders due to excessive overstocking during the pandemic, are looking to the future as they build factories abroad

from the SCMP

 

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To that end, he intends to open a smart factory in Vietnam next year – a US$30 million undertaking that embraces automation and will essentially be a replica of the plant he opened just last month in the southern Chinese manufacturing hub of Guangdong province.

The decision by one of the world’s largest helmet makers, Strategic Sports, was a long time in the making, and it was not borne out of capacity concerns. Cheng says they have plenty of that in China, where their first automation plant went into operation two years ago, capable of producing millions more helmets a year.

Instead, the move is a deliberate and tactical attempt to hedge against ever-growing geopolitical risks and retain his Western clients – many of whom have grown uneasy and more cautious about their supply chains, looking to hedge their bets by sourcing from a bigger pool of countries.

 

 

 

Edited May 25, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

China Rebuffs Pentagon Chief, Blunting Push for Rapprochement
U.S. had proposed a meeting; China accused the U.S. of insincerity

from the WSJ

Chinese Defense Minister Gen. Li Shangfu, center, at a summit of defense ministers in India in April. PHOTO: MANISH SWARUP/ASSOCIATED PRESS

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China has rebuffed a U.S. request for a meeting between their defense chiefs on the sidelines of an annual security forum in Singapore this weekend, the Pentagon said Monday, showing the limits of a tentative rapprochement between the two rival powers.

The decision by China formally to inform the Pentagon shuts the door for now on a meeting between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Li Shangfu, China’s new defense minister, which the U.S. had proposed on the sidelines of the annual Shangri-La Dialogue security forum.

China’s dismissal of the proposal also was termed an unusually blunt message, U.S. defense officials said.

In a statement to The Wall Street Journal, Liu Pengyu, Chinese embassy spokesman in Washington, said the U.S. was “seeking to suppress China through all possible means and continue imposing sanctions on Chinese officials, institutions and companies.”

He added: “Is there any sincerity in and significance of any communication like this?”

In the past, such meetings have come together at the last minute, including last year’s meeting between Austin and his then-counterpart, which was agreed upon hours beforehand.

 

 

[Randy W]

China facing ‘more complex’ security challenges, President Xi Jinping says, warns of ‘worst-case’ situation

• Officials must stay ‘keenly aware’ of challenges and prepare for ‘most extreme scenarios’, President Xi Jinping tells National Security Commission
• Comments show China harbours no ‘illusions’ about fallout of US rivalry and has little hope of a lasting improvement in ties, analysts say

from the SCMP

President Xi Jinping’s remarks come as China and the United States continue to lock horns on many fronts. Photo: Xinhua
 

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China is facing more complex and difficult national security concerns, President Xi Jinping warned on Tuesday, in comments analysts said showed the country harboured no “illusions” about the possible damaging effects of its rivalry with the US and had little hope of a lasting improvement in ties.

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He said the country’s security apparatus needed to stay “keenly aware” of the complicated and challenging circumstances facing national security, and correctly grasp major related issues, according to state news agency Xinhua.

 . . .

China recently prohibited its key infrastructure operators from buying products made by US memory chip maker Micron Technology, citing “relatively serious” cybersecurity risks. Chinese security officials have also carried out raids on a few foreign and local consultancy and business intelligence firms.

Minutes from Tuesday’s meeting published by Xinhua said China needed to speed up the modernisation of the national security system and capabilities, to make sure they were practical and effective. The country’s security apparatus was urged to improve oversight of internet data and artificial intelligence, according to the readout.

The meeting also approved the speedy implementation of a nationwide security risk monitoring and early warning system, and stronger public education on national security.

 

 

[Randy W]

China eyes Blinken’s imminent visit with deep distrust and low expectations
Analysis by Nectar Gan, CNN
Updated 3:08 AM EDT, Fri June 16, 2023

from CNN

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Days before his departure, the top US diplomat received a stern rebuke from his Chinese host, who squarely blamed Washington for the recent spike in tensions after Blinken scrapped an earlier trip in February over a suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the US.

In a phone call with Blinken, China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang urged the US to “show respect” on Beijing’s core concerns and stop interfering in its internal affairs, according to a Chinese readout.

That statement – which was noticeably more prickly than the readout of the same call from the State Department – speaks volumes of Beijing’s low expectations for the high-stakes visit as well as the deep distrust that swirls over the Biden administration’s push for a “thaw” in frosty relations, experts say.

Chinese state media has stayed largely muted in recent days for what will be the most senior visit by an American official in five years.

“The coverage of Blinken’s visit in China is not nearly as extensive or enthusiastic as it has been in the West,” said Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, a think tank in Washington.

“After the earlier postponement due to the balloon incident, the Chinese are worried about another potential embarrassment. The expectations are low and carefully managed,” she said.

 

 

 

[Randy W]

Why China still refuses to resume military dialogue with US, despite Antony Blinken’s latest appeal

• Mainland defence analysts said Beijing is still concerned that the US will continue to undermine what it sees as its ‘core interests’ on issues such as Taiwan
• The US Secretary of State met top leaders in Beijing this week, but was unable to secure agreement on resuming communications between the two militaries

from the SCMP

A close encounter between US and Chinese warships, which Washington described as “unsafe”.  Photo: Reuters
 

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“If we agree that it’s in our mutual interests to make sure that the competitive aspects of the relationship don’t veer into conflict, then surely we can agree and see the need for making sure that the channels of communication that we’ve both said are necessary to do that include military-to-military channels,” he added.

Blinken’s remarks indicated that Washington wanted to “secure the absolute prevention and avoidance of military conflict” but still continue to challenge China’s “core interests”, said Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Beijing’s Renmin University.

“China has resisted giving such absolute assurances because it fears that it would amount to letting the US keep boosting its support for Taiwan,” said Shi, referring to Washington’s increased arms sales and enhanced economic and diplomatic ties with the island.

“The PLA also sees the prevention of conflict as a top task, but it relies more on the experience of frontline troops on both sides.”

Shi said that if the present state of “US discourse” continued, “China would probably never agree to resume military-to-military communications between the two countries.”

 

 

[Randy W]

The world is big enough for US and China, Yellen says as she concludes Beijing trip

from CNN Business

 

https://clips-media-aka.warnermediacdn.com/cnn/clips/2023-07/1236502-72e992d792a6452fb31a732b6cc660a0/mp4/cms3-CNN-exp-us-treasury-secretary-yellen-china-coren-070804aseg1-cnni-world-primary-287508-1236502-1920x1080_8000k.mp4

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The world is big enough for both the United States and China to thrive, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Sunday as she wrapped up a visit to Beijing aimed at stabilizing the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

Yellen said she had “direct, substantive, and productive” talks with China’s new economic leadership, including Premier Li Qiang and Pan Gongsheng, the newly appointed Communist Party chief of China’s central bank.

“No one visit will solve our challenges overnight. But I expect that this trip will help build a resilient and productive channel of communication,” Yellen told a news conference in Beijing.

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In recent months, while pushing to resume high-level diplomatic talks, the US has imposed sanctions on Chinese companies, successfully pushed allies in Japan and the Netherlands to restrict sales of advanced semiconductors to China and rallied other advanced economies to counter Beijing’s “economic coercion.”

But Yellen reiterated that the United States is not seeking to decouple from China, which she said would be “disastrous for both countries and destabilizing for the world” and “virtually impossible to undertake.”

“There is an important distinction between decoupling, on the one hand, and on the other hand, diversifying critical supply chains or taking targeted national security actions,” she said.

She said the United States would continue to take “targeted actions” to protect its own national security interests and those of its allies, while making sure these actions are “transparent, narrowly scoped and targeted to clear objectives.”

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“China believes that generalizing national security is not conducive to normal economic and trade exchanges,” it said. “The Chinese side has expressed concerns about US sanctions and restrictive measures against China.”

 

 

Edited July 10, 2023 by Randy W (see edit history)

[Randy W]

Exclusive | Henry Kissinger’s ‘heart-to-heart’ talks with Xi Jinping in China planned months in advance

• The elder statesman’s meeting with the Chinese leader is in contrast to Janet Yellen and John Kerry’s recent trips
• ‘Both sides’ expect the elder statesman to convey his views on China’s thinking to Washington, a source said

Former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger meets President Xi Jinping during the elder statesman’s visit to China this week. Photo: Weibo

from the SCMP

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Henry Kissinger is in Beijing for a “private trip” to get a better understanding of the Chinese leadership’s thinking and will share his impressions with the US government when he returns home, according to a source familiar with the visit.

The visit was planned at least two months ago, the source said. Travelling as a private citizen – and as someone respected by political elites in both capitals – the centenarian hopes to hold more heart-to-heart talks with Chinese leaders, which are often difficult on official visits.

State broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping met Kissinger at the Diaoyutai state guest house in Beijing – in stark contrast to visits by US officials in recent days which excluded meetings with the Chinese leader.

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“Chinese people value friendship and we will never forget our old friend and your historic contribution to promoting the development of US-China relations and enhancing the friendship between Chinese and American people,” Xi said.

Xi also stressed that the world was undergoing major shifts and the two world powers were “once again at a crossroads ... and both sides need to make a choice”.

“Looking ahead, China and the United States can help each other succeed and prosper together, and the key is to follow the three principles of mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation,” he said.

To that end, China is willing to explore ways with the US to get along “correctly”, Xi said, while urging Kissinger to play a constructive role in bringing relations back on the right track.

 

 

[Randy W]

On 7/10/2023 at 6:25 PM, Randy W said:

The world is big enough for US and China, Yellen says as she concludes Beijing trip

from CNN Business

 

https://clips-media-aka.warnermediacdn.com/cnn/clips/2023-07/1236502-72e992d792a6452fb31a732b6cc660a0/mp4/cms3-CNN-exp-us-treasury-secretary-yellen-china-coren-070804aseg1-cnni-world-primary-287508-1236502-1920x1080_8000k.mp4

 

Janet Yellen explains her ‘magic mushroom’ experience in China

from CNN  Business 

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“There was a delicious mushroom dish. I was not aware that these mushrooms had hallucinogenic properties. I learned that later,” Yellen said about the group dinner that clarified that she didn’t organize nor did she do the ordering.

She didn’t have any strange visions, the “Erin Burnett OutFront” anchor joked. Yellen then said that she had “read that if the mushrooms are cooked properly, which I’m sure they were at this very good restaurant, that they have no impact.”

“But all of us enjoyed the mushrooms, the restaurant, and none of us felt any ill effects from having eaten them,” Yellen said.

 . . .

The hashtag “US Treasury Secretary Yellen’s first meal in Beijing is Yunannese” became a trending topic on social media, with related posts racking up six million views

 

 

[Randy W]

China’s Xi fights fires at home and abroad

from the Washington Post

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg on Aug. 23. (Gianluigi Guercia/Pool/Reuters)

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Abroad, President Xi Jinping is confronted by a hardening consensus against Beijing in the West, as well as ever-present friction with regional powers and neighbors. At home, Xi presides over a hinge moment for the Chinese economy. Its meteoric growth has slowed, a brief post-pandemic surge petered out, and analysts point to profound structural issues undermining China’s future prospects.

Xi and the ruling clique are struggling to address the new challenges posed by China’s maturing economy. The country’s population is both shrinking and aging, and questions loom over the potential productivity of a graying workforce. At the same time, youth unemployment has reached such striking levels that the government suspended publishing the relevant data this summer. China’s economy once seemed the new engine of the world — and the country remains a juggernaut in global trade — but a sense of stagnation is creeping in, one that can be seen in the macroeconomic data as well as the waning optimism of a younger generation that knew only the boom times.

China’s one-party state can’t repeat the mammoth stimulus for infrastructure projects and property construction that powered China out of the 2008 global financial crisis and allowed Xi and his allies to crow about the superiority of the Chinese model compared with the West’s crisis-hit democracies. A decade and a half later, cash is tighter, the wounds of the pandemic’s draconian lockdowns are still raw, and China’s overheated real estate sector is extra laden with debt, with some major developers teetering on the brink of collapse.

Xi’s ever-tightening authoritarian grip over virtually all facets of life in China is arguably making the situation worse. “The government’s pursuit of total control has set the country on a path of slower growth and created multiplying pockets of dissatisfaction,” wrote Ian Johnson, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and a longtime China watcher.

As China’s economy slows, the buck stops with leader Xi Jinping

There are ripple effects on the world stage, too. “The current slowdown underscores a shift in China’s global image,” explained my colleague David Lynch. “For years, China’s vast domestic market beckoned multinational corporations with the promise of enormous profits. And it seemed certain to surpass the United States as the world’s largest economy.”

But now, “the outlook is less rosy,” Lynch wrote, with China posting a conspicuously sluggish performance in the second quarter given the pace-setting dynamism of its economy over the past three decades.

This may not be a blip, as Beijing weathers considerable geopolitical head winds. On a trip to China last week, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo warned that the prevailing uncertainty, stoked also by the tough actions taken by the Chinese government against foreign businesses, is making China “uninvestable” in the eyes of U.S. investors.

“China needs to recognize that they can no longer rely on the sheer mass of their market to attract that type of foreign investment,” Naomi Wilson, vice president of policy, Asia and global trade at the Information Technology Industry Council, told my colleague Meaghan Tobin. “Even among Chinese companies, there have been efforts to relocate outside of China.”

 

 

[Randy W]

Why did Xi Jinping bring his own furnitures when traveling? 🇨🇳 #shorts #leisrealtalk #china #ccp

 

 

[Randy W]

 

Why aren’t the Chinese convinced decoupling with the west makes sense! #shorts

 

[Randy W]

US Warns of China's Plans for Information Domination

from the VOA

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The report, released Thursday by the State Department's Global Engagement Center, accuses the Chinese government of using a combination of tactics in a bid to create a world in which Beijing, either explicitly or implicitly, controls the flow of critical information.

China's goal is to "construct an information ecosystem in which PRC propaganda and disinformation gain traction and become dominant," the report states. "Unchecked, the PRC's [People's Republic of China's] efforts will reshape the global information landscape, creating biases and gaps that could even lead nations to make decisions that subordinate their economic and security interests to Beijing's."

 . . .

Chinese government officials declined to comment on details of the State Department report. But in an email to VOA, Chinese Embassy spokesperson Liu Pengyu called the report, "just another tool to keep China down and buttress American hegemony."

"A quick look at its [the report's] summary is enough to know what it is about: heightening ideological confrontation, spreading disinformation, and smearing China's domestic and foreign policies," Liu said. "We urge the U.S. to reflect on itself, stop framing China for the so-called 'information manipulation.'"

The State Department report said its conclusions are based on publicly available information as well as "newly acquired government information."

"As the PRC has grown more confident in its power, it appears to have calculated that it can more aggressively pursue its interests," it says.

Specifically, the State Department report points to a multipronged approach combining its expansive state-run media, surveillance technologies, financial and political coercion and Chinese-language media.

 

 

[Randy W]

China’s vows to further open up appear to show Beijing’s changing political motivations

• President Xi Jinping’s latest public comments seen reflecting a growing sense of urgency among central leadership to stimulate economic growth
• Analysts suggest that China could roll out stronger economic-support measures at the upcoming third plenum, to get the economy back on solid footing

from the SCMP

President Xi Jinping, pictured last month at a Brics summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, has made fresh vows that China will further open up to the world. Photo: Reuters

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But scepticism remains over how far policymakers will go ahead of the widely anticipated third plenum of the Communist Party later this year – a gathering that typically focuses on economic issues.

At Wednesday’s Politburo study session dedicated to the rules of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its reform, Xi acknowledged the benefits of the country’s participation in the international economic organisation.

He pledged to further open up while making only a brief mention of security, according to an official meeting readout released by Xinhua.

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“Xi’s latest, clearest assurance about the overarching task of economic development will help assuage concerns arising from the previous emphasis on security and anti-espionage laws,” said Wang Huiyao, founder of the Centre for China and Globalisation, a Beijing-based non-governmental think tank.

It could lead to stronger measures being rolled out at the upcoming plenum to prop up the weakening economy, as the themes of Politburo study sessions are traditionally an important sign for what’s to come, he said.