Chinese President Hu Jintao (
The move upset Hu's plans to try to polish Beijing's image in Washington amid strains over textile imports, China's growing economic and military power, human rights and other issues. It would have been Hu's first US visit since becoming president in 2003.
Hu talked with Bush by phone and the two leaders agreed to postpone a meeting planned for Wednesday "due to the special condition faced with the US government in handling with the serious disaster caused by Hurricane Katrina," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement Saturday.
SIDELINES
The White House also said Saturday that Bush had to cancel his meeting with Hu because of the hurricane's aftermath but the two leaders agreed to meet in New York on the sidelines of the UN meeting in mid-September.
Hu had been scheduled to visit Washington and Seattle and give a speech at Yale University -- Bush's alma mater -- before traveling to Canada and Mexico.
The Chinese president had been scheduled to begin his US trip in the Seattle area, with planned visits to the Microsoft campus in suburban Redmond, an event hosted by Boeing Co, a major public address and a state dinner.
"We regret that we will not be able to welcome President Hu and his delegation to Washington state on Monday but appreciate his sensitivity to the impact of the tragic hurricane on the American people," Washington state Governor Christine Gregoire said in a statement.
"We have an important trade and cultural relationship with China and look forward to greeting President Hu in the future," she added.
HURRICANE AID
The announcement came after Hu's government on Saturday offered US$5 million in aid to Katrina survivors and said it would send medical personnel if necessary.
"At a time when the American people face the difficulty of a serious natural disaster, the Chinese people stand steadfastly with them," the Foreign Ministry statement quoted Hu as saying.
Hu and Bush agreed to hold a bilateral meeting when they attend ceremonies in New York for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the UN, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said. That event takes place Sept. 14 through 16.
The two leaders agreed to reschedule Hu's visit at a "time of mutual convenience," the Foreign Ministry statement said.
The trip was planned amid tensions over US efforts to restrict surging imports of low-priced Chinese textiles, which US producers say are threatening thousands of jobs. Two rounds of talks -- the second of which ended Thursday in Beijing -- failed to produce a settlement.
Beijing regards such a fence-mending mission as an increasingly urgent priority. Chinese leaders have watched with alarm as a series of strains in recent months marred ties with Washington, their biggest trading partner and the last superpower.
The domestically designed Teng Yun 2 drone passed development milestones over the weekend, flying for more than 10 hours straight and circling Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ), in the longest flight of an indigenous uncrewed combat aerial vehicle. Developed by the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, the Teng Yun 2, or “Cloud Rider” (騰雲二型), recorded its longest flight yet over the weekend, after a three-hour test flight last month, followed by five and seven-hour stretches in the air. The Teng Yun 2 No. 1812 departed from Chiashan Air Base in Hualien County at 6:46pm on Saturday and flew on a
A slew of new measures are to take effect on Friday, including nationwide bring-your-own-cup discounts. The new rule requires chain beverage shops to offer discounts of at least NT$5 (US$0.17) to customers who bring their own cups, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said. The policy would apply to more than 50,000 chain retail locations, including beverage shops, convenience stores, fast-food restaurants and supermarkets. It aims to cut down on waste from single-use plastic cups, more than 2.2 billion of which were used in Taiwan in 2020, the agency said. For convenience, the EPA said it has asked retailers to display signs stating how
TIMING: 'The CHIPS Act funding is crucial for us. In other words, if the act’s passage is delayed for too long, we will certainly need to adjust,’ chairwoman Doris Hsu said GlobalWafers Co (環球晶圓) plans to start construction on a US$5 billion wafer fabrication facility in Texas in November, after passage of the US$52 billion Creating Helpful Incentives to Produce Semiconductors (CHIPS) for America Act. The fab would be the largest of its kind in the US and one of the largest in the world, with a monthly capacity of 1.2 million wafers, GlobalWafers said, adding that the investment would be the first new fab in the US in more than 20 years and critical to closing a semiconductor supply chain gap. The world’s No. 3 silicon wafer supplier said the project, which
COUNTERING CHINA: ‘When democracies demonstrate what we can do ... I have no doubt that we’ll win that competition every time,’ US President Joe Biden said US President Joe Biden rebooted his effort to counter China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) after an earlier campaign faltered, enlisting the support of G7 leaders at their summit in Germany. The Build Back Better World initiative, named after Biden’s domestic spending and climate agenda, struggled to get off the ground because not enough G7 partners contributed financially when it was unveiled a year ago, people familiar with its lack of progress said. “When democracies demonstrate what we can do — all that we have to offer — I have no doubt that we’ll win that competition every time,” Biden said during
RSS