by admin | May 25, 2021 | Muslim World, World
The Arabic script on the signboard of a halal restaurant is seen covered, at Niujie area in Beijing, China, July 19, 2019. (REUTERS)
BEIJING: Authorities in the Chinese capital have ordered halal restaurants and food stalls to remove Arabic script and symbols associated with Islam from their signs, part of an expanding national effort to “Sinicize” its Muslim population.
Employees at 11 restaurants and shops in Beijing selling halal products and visited by Reuters in recent days said officials had told them to remove images associated with Islam, such as the crescent moon and the word “halal” written in Arabic, from signs.
Government workers from various offices told one manager of a Beijing noodle shop to cover up the “halal” in Arabic on his shop’s sign, and then watched him do it.
“They said this is foreign culture and you should use more Chinese culture,” said the manager, who, like all restaurant owners and employees who spoke to Reuters, declined to give his name due to the sensitivity of the issue.
The campaign against Arabic script and Islamic images marks a new phase of a drive that has gained momentum since 2016, aimed at ensuring religions conform with mainstream Chinese culture.
The campaign has included the removal of Middle Eastern-style domes on many mosques around the country in favour of Chinese-style pagodas.
China, home to 20 million Muslims, officially guarantees freedom of religion, but the government has campaigned to bring the faithful into line with Communist Party ideology.
It’s not just Muslims who have come under scrutiny. Authorities have shut down many underground Christian churches, and torn down crosses of some churches deemed illegal by the government.
But Muslims have come in for particular attention since a riot in 2009 between mostly Muslim Uighur people and majority Han Chinese in the far western region of Xinjiang, home to the Uighur minority.
Spasms of ethnic violence followed, and some Uighurs, chafing at government controls, carried out knife and crude bomb attacks in public areas and against the police and other authorities.
In response, China launched what it described as a crackdown on terrorism in Xinjiang.
Now, it is facing intense criticism from Western nations and rights groups over its policies, in particular mass detentions and surveillance of Uighurs and other Muslims there.
The government says its actions in Xinjiang are necessary to stamp out religious extremism. Officials have warned about creeping Islamisation, and have extended tighter controls over other Muslim minorities.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump and Chinese Vice Premier Liu He expressed optimism that the two countries would reach a trade agreement and defuse a dispute between the world’s two largest economies, as both sides agreed to continue their negotiations for two more days.
“I would say that it’s more likely that a deal will happen,” Trump told the media on Friday at the White House.
“The fact that they’re willing to stay for quite a bit longer period, doubling up the time, that means something,” Trump said, adding: “I think there’s a good chance that it happens.”
Speaking through an interpreter, Liu, China’s top trade negotiator, said: “We believe that it is very likely that it will happen. And we hope that ultimately we will have a deal.”
Liu has been granted authority to negotiate directly with the US by Chinese President Xi Jinping, the Voice of America (VOA) news reported.
Liu also brought a letter from Xi where the President thaned Trump for the “lovely video” the Trumps’ grandchildren made for Xi and his wife to mark the Chinese Lunar New Year.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin confirmed that talks have been extended through Sunday.
Trump also appeared to ease on his threat to more than double tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods if no deal is achieved by the March 1 deadline which was agreed by the two leaders during a December 1 meeting in Buenos Aires.
“You can tell this to President Xi,” Trump said to Liu. “If I see progress being made, substantial progress being made, it would not be inappropriate to extend that deadline, keep it at 10 per cent instead of raising it to 25 per cent. And I would be inclined to doing that.”
The US is calling on China to make structural changes on key issues such as stopping the theft of American technology and reining in improper subsidies and other advantages provided to state-owned companies.
Trump said he expected to meet Xi to work out the finer points of the deal. “Probably in Mar-a-Lago, probably fairly soon.”
The two countries imposed more than $360 billion in tariffs in two-way trade last year, after Trump triggered the trade dispute over complaints of unfair trade practices, the VOA reported.
The tariffs have weighed heavily on both countries’ manufacturing sectors and raised concern they could exacerbate the global economic slowdown.
In Friday’s meeting, Mnuchin told Trump that “currency manipulation”, a significant sticking point in the trade talks, had been resolved.
“We’ve actually concluded and reached an agreement, one of the strongest agreements ever on currency, but we have a lot of work to do over the next two days,” Mnuchin said.
Details of the currency deal or any other part of the agreement have not yet been released.
This week’s round of talks in Washington was originally scheduled to last two days.
In pursuit of an accord, China has already adopted several goodwill measures, such as lowering tariffs on imported vehicles from the US, resuming soy purchases from the US and introducing an initiative that would prohibit forced technology transfer from American countries doing business in the Asian nation.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Beijing : Talks aimed at ending the trade war between China and the US made important progress this week, President Xi Jinping told top US trade negotiators on Friday, adding that efforts to resolve the issue would continue in Washington next week.
“Both sides will meet again next week in Washington. I hope you all will make persistent efforts and try to reach a mutually beneficial agreement,” the Chinese President was quoted as saying by Xinhua news agency.
Negotiators from the two countries have been trying to strike a deal before March 2, when the US government is due to raise tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods from 10 per cent to 25 per cent if no agreement is reached.
The world’s top two economies imposed tariffs on huge swathes of each other’s exports last year, causing major disruptions for businesses, rattling financial markets and endangering global growth.
The US delegation was led by Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin who were here for the two-day talks that started on Thursday. Vice Premier Liu He was China’s top negotiator in the negotiations.
Mnuchin tweeted that the two sides had “productive meetings”, while the White House in a statement confirmed that the next round of talks will be held in Washington next week, CNN reported.
According to the state media, Xi met Lighthizer and Mnuchin after a full week of trade negotiations at senior and deputy levels in Beijing and called for a deal that both sides could accept.
“These days, the world’s attention is cast on Beijing. The negotiations of two sides have again achieved important and steady progress,” Xi said, adding, “I hope you make persistent efforts and push for a mutually beneficial consensus.”
Calling the China-US ties one of the most important bilateral relationships in the world today, Xi said the two countries share broad common interests and shoulder important responsibilities in safeguarding world peace and stability as well as promoting global development and prosperity.
“It serves both peoples’ fundamental interests and meets the expectations of the international community to maintain sound and stable development of the China-US ties,” the Chinese President said.
Xi said he met with US President Donald Trump in Argentina last December and reached important consensus as both countries agreed to jointly advance their ties.
“I hope that both teams will strengthen communication, focus on cooperation and manage differences in the principles and directions set by President Trump and I, so as to promote the sound and stable development of the China-US economic and trade cooperation and bilateral ties.”
Washington and Beijing carried out intensive and conducive consultations since last December, Xi said, adding that “cooperation was the best choice for both sides”.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, World
Beijing : The third round of negotiations between China and the US to end their trade war began on Thursday here as the parties planned to close their differences before March 1 deadline, media reports said.
Xinhua news agency confirmed the start of the high-level economic and trade consultations following a ceremony chaired by Chinese Vice Premier Liu He, the US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.
The talks will conclude on Friday.
Several preparation meetings were held from Monday to Wednesday between members of the delegations.
Analysts believe that the parties are not likely to reach a final agreement in this third round due to Washington’s demands.
The main problems posed by the US government are China’s protection of intellectual property, its forced technology transfer, subsidies from Beijing to local companies that generate inequality with foreign companies, cyber theft, exchange controls and market access of the Asian giant, Efe news reported.
Earlier negotiations held in Washington in January-end though were said to have produced “important progress”.
Although on Monday the US Treasury Department Undersecretary for International Affairs David Malpass answered “no” when asked by journalists whether the deadline to reach an agreement could be extended, the next day US President Donald Trump opened the door to the possibility.
“If we’re close to a deal where we think we can make a real deal and it’s going to get done, I could see myself letting that slide for a little while. But generally speaking I’m not inclined to do that,” Trump said.
The US imposed tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, before Beijing retaliated with $110 billion of duties on US products.
Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, agreed on a 90-day commercial truce on December 1, to allow for negotiations, suspending the increase in US tariff rates on $200 billion worth of Chinese products from 10 per cent to 25 per cent.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Medium Enterprise, SMEs, World
Beijing : The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 414 basis points to 6.7495 against the US dollar on Monday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.
In China’s spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 per cent from the central parity rate each trading day, Xinhua news agency reported.
The central parity rate of the yuan against the US dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.
—IANS
