by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Washington : US President Donald Trump has delayed the March 1 deadline to increase American tariffs on Chinese goods and said that he would be planning a summit with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at his Florida resort to finalise a trade agreement.
“I am pleased to report that the US has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China on important structural issues including intellectual property protection, technology transfer, agriculture, services, currency, and many other issues,” Trump said on Sunday in a series of tweets.
“As a result of these very productive talks, I will be delaying the US increase in tariffs now scheduled for March 1. Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement. A very good weekend for US and China.”
The Trump administration had set March 1 as the deadline whereby a trade deal had to be reached in the US-China talks or else Washington would hike tariffs from 10 to 25 per cent on some $200 billion in yearly imports of Chinese goods.
The announcement comes as Trump prepares to meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un for their second summit in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Wednesday and Thursday.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump tweeted about the important role China is playing ahead of the talks with Kim, saying: “President Xi of China has been very helpful in his support of my meeting with Kim Jong-un. The last thing China wants are large scale nuclear weapons right next door.
“Sanctions placed on the border by China and Russia have been very helpful. Great relationship with Chairman Kim.”
In the Oval Office on Friday, Trump expressed similar optimism about trade negotiations with China, predicting there was a “very good chance” that the US and China would reach a trade agreement.
Trump also suggested that if substantial progress was made, he “would be inclined” to allow up to a month longer for negotiations.
The President’s announcement followed days of negotiations in which American and Chinese officials met last week near the White House to work line-by-line through a handful of documents covering intellectual property, services and subsidies, The New York Times reported.
The Chinese were ready to commit to billions of dollars of purchases of American soybeans, beef, natural gas and other products, though they have resisted more structural changes to their economy.
An American delegation is expected to travel to Beijing soon to continue to work out the remaining differences.
The trade war between the world’s two biggest economies was sparked by Trump’s aggressive protectionist stance and has generated uncertainty and volatility in international financial markets for months.
—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 Summit, Events, World
Beijing : Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the opening of the world’s first import-themed national-level expo here on Monday, calling it a “trail-blazing” move in the history of international trade development.
A total of 172 countries, regions and international organisations from five continents will showcase their development achievements and international image at the first China International Import Expo (CIIE), reports Xinhua news agency.
More than 3,600 companies from different countries will hold discussions and seek common development with over 400,000 purchasers from China and overseas.
The CIIE is “a major policy for China to push for a new round of high-level opening-up and a major measure for China to take the initiative to open its market to the world”, Xi said when delivering a keynote speech at the opening ceremony.
He underscored the role of economic globalization, saying that it is “an irreversible historical trend” and provides strong momentum for world economic development.
“All countries should be committed to opening up and oppose protectionism and unilateralism in a clear-cut stand,” Xi said, calling for joint efforts to build an open world economy.
The fair will feature various quality exhibits ranging from German machine tools, Japanese robots and US medical equipment to Australian wine, Brazilian farm produce and South Sudanese handicrafts.
With the slogan “New Era, Shared Future”, the expo is the brainchild of Xi and is set to become a platform for win-win economic cooperation and a landmark project in the country’s higher-level opening up.
China will stimulate the potential for increased imports, continue to broaden market access, foster a world-class business environment, explore new horizons of opening up, and promote international cooperation at multilateral and bilateral levels, Xi said.
The expo comes at an inflection point as China transitions to high-quality development and shifts from the world’s workshop to the world’s market, with the world’s biggest middle-income population demanding higher-quality consumer products.
Xi announced that China’s imported goods and services were estimated to exceed $30 trillion and $10 trillion, respectively, in the next 15 years.
China has been the world’s second largest merchandise importer for nine consecutive years.
This year marks the 40th anniversary of China’s reform and opening up, and has seen a flurry of concrete measures taken by the country to open its doors wider.
“China will not close its door to the world and will only become more and more open,” Xi added.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | World
Chinese President Xi Jinping
Beijing : Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday pledged $60 billion in financing for development projects in Africa over the next three years, as Beijing furthers efforts to link the continent’s economic prospects to those of China.
President Xi made the pledge in his opening speech to the third summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC2018), kicked off in the Chinese capital Beijing on Monday under the theme “Towards a Stronger Community with a Shared Future Through Win-Win Cooperation”.
Xi said the figure includes $15 billion in grants, interest-free loans and concessional loans, $20 billion in credit lines, $10 billion for development financing and $5 billion to buy imports from Africa. He added that China will encourage companies to invest at least $10 billion in Africa over the next three years.
Also in his address, President Xi promoted China’s initiative to build ports and other infrastructure in African countries as a tool for “common prosperity” in a world facing challenges from trade protectionism.
The two-day Beijing forum has brought together leaders from China and more than 50 African countries. Dozens of African leaders met with Xi ahead of the conference.
FOCAC is the world’s biggest annual economic and political event reflecting Beijing’s interest in the African continent. It aims to intensify and push forward China’s relations with African countries.
—AB/UNA-OIC
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Rajendra Shende,
For the first time, the world is experiencing ice-breaking events that are not attributable to global warming. But they are definitely related to warming of another kind. There has been a sudden surge of warming of bilateral and one-to-one interactions among nations. Multilateralism is on the back-burner, at least for now. The United Nations is resigned to the position of a passive bystander. Regional groupings are curious ringside onlookers.
The Moon-Kim summit in the demilitarised border of South and North Korea, the Marcon-Trump bromance in the White House and the Modi-Xi riverside dialogue in Wuhan are cases in point.
All this warmth coming soon after the high tension between the US and China reminds us of what Otto von Bismarck, a former German Chancellor, once said: “Politics is the art of the possible, the attainable — the art of the next best.” That was at the end of 19th century. Now, in the 21st century, not only are smart technologies disrupting the way the world lives but even the new-found smart diplomacy is disrupting the way resolutions are sought for long-standing conflicts.
The neoteric approaches, “start-ups” in terms of today’s technology, espoused by these leaders, almost instinctively, are setting the agenda of “no-agenda talks” and communicating with “no-communique methods”.
The last such out-of-box diplomacy of recent times was seen almost 35 years back. In 1971, the so-called “ping-pong-diplomacy” triggered by table tennis players from the US was seized by Chairman Mao and responded to by Henry Kissinger, the US Secretary of State — and gave both countries the confidence to thaw their icy relations. The initial moves were shrouded in secrecy and intrigue. In July 1971, Kissinger faked “illness” to avoid the paparazzi closely following him while on a visit to Pakistan and did not appear in public for a day. He was actually on a top-secret mission to Beijing to negotiate with Prime Minister Zhou Enlai about a visit by President Nixon to China, which eventually did take place soon after.
The subsequent “shuttle-diplomacy” for the Palestine-Israel peace deal by Kissinger was effective to a certain extent. The final peace deal was clinched, however, through intimate bilateral interaction facilitated by the passive but positive role by Norway.
The informal dialogue with the “Chai-Diplomacy” between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping on the banks of the Yangtze river in Wuhan last week was indeed a unique event in more senses than one.
Firstly, it was initiated by China after an eyeball-to-eyeball military stand-off between the second and third largest economies of the world. Second, the two leaders spent more quality time together than scheduled — for two days, away from their capitals, without aides who often display classical hawkish diplomacy — to give a strong, positive message to the world.
That meeting also pointed to a new hope for a positive and constructive approach in facilitating solutions for global challenges, including climate change, sustainable development, food security, combating diseases, natural disasters and cyber security. The responsive cooperation “to pull together their expertise and resources in these areas and create a global network dedicated to these challenges for the larger benefit of humanity” was the surprise message from the leaders of two giants that were logjammed just 10 months back.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s diplomatic overture, almost coinciding with the Modi-Xi informal summit, has reversed the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula from brinkmanship towards diplomacy. From threatening nuclear missiles to the hopes of peace missions was a warm and welcoming transition.
Starting with joint winter Olympic Games participation by the two Koreas, both Kim and Moon have taken bilateral diplomatic gamble. The “Olympic diplomacy” has worked so far and it is anybody’s guess how Kim will play when it comes to specifics in implementing the “complete denuclearisation” of the peninsula.
But the body language and humour of the two leaders during the crossing of the 38th parallel that divides North and South Korea were a clear indication that the future now will be driven by bilateral interests in an “amicable atmosphere overflowing with feelings of blood relatives”, as stated in their joint statement.
The world also witnessed, again at around the same time, another scene of witty and comic body language of yet another duo. The media called it “dandruff diplomacy”. Emmanuel Macron, French President, and Donald Trump, US President, almost displayed disruptive diplomacy. Trump’s trait of firing anyone who disagrees with him, was seen to turn into a language of “love thy disagreement”.
He jokingly brushed dandruff off Macron’s suit, in front of reporters, but it showed Trump’s appreciation of Macron’s steadfast and positive criticism — and probably suggested a willingness to listen. A definite disruption in Trumpian tactics.
On trade-tariffs, the Iran nuclear deal, the Paris Climate Agreement, Macron has definite and strong disagreements with Trump. By inviting Marcon, to address the joint meeting of the Congress, Trump was taking the risk of allowing a foreign leader to openly disagree on the floor of the highest political chamber of his country. But that showed the selective open-minded dimension of his diplomacy.
Modi-Xi, Kim-Moon and Macron-Trump have given strong messages through their distinctive diplomacy. First, that neighbours can resolve their conflicts bilaterally. Second, that global threats like terrorism, climate change and nuclearisation have to be addressed through open dialogue and disruptive diplomacy. Third, leader-to-leader informal contacts have the power to resolve conflicts. Lastly, in a rapidly changing century of degradation of ecosystems, global dialogue also needs bilateral initiatives.
(Rajendra Shende is Chairman, TERRE Policy Centre, a former UNEP Director and IIT Alumnus. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at shende.rajendra@gmail.com)
—IANS
