US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Chinese officials say they will expand high-level talks on economic issues to include troubling security matters as well.
The two nations also agreed yesterday to cooperate on stabilizing the global economy and combating climate change, putting aside long-standing concerns about human rights.
With the export-heavy Chinese economy reeling from the US downturn, Clinton sought in meetings with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) and other top Chinese government leaders to reassure Beijing that its massive holdings of US Treasury notes and other government debt would remain a good investment.
“I appreciate greatly the Chinese government’s continuing confidence in United States treasuries. I think that’s a well-grounded confidence,” Clinton told reporters at a joint news conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi (楊潔箎). “We have every reason to believe that the United States and China will recover and together we will help lead the world recovery.”
After a day of talks on her first visit to China as the US’ top diplomat, Clinton and Yang said a regular high-level US-China dialogue on economic matters would be expanded to include security issues.
Details of the dialogue are to be finalized by US President Barack Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) when they meet at an economic summit in London in early April, Clinton said.
Yang said China wants its foreign exchange reserves — the world’s largest at US$1.95 trillion — invested safely, with good value and liquidity. He said future decisions on using them would be based on those principles, but added that China wanted to continue to work with the US.
“I want to emphasize here that the facts speak louder than words. The fact is that China and the United States have conducted good cooperation and we are ready to continue to talk with the US side,” Yang said.
The emphasis on the global economy, climate change and security highlight the growing importance of US-China relations, which have often soured over disagreements on human rights.
Authorities in Beijing are facing a difficult year on the rights front as they deal with politically sensitive anniversaries — 20 years since the crushing of the Tiananmen Square demonstrations and 50 years since the failed Tibetan uprising that forced the Dalai Lama to flee into exile.
Activists complained yesterday that Chinese police were monitoring dissidents and had confined some to their homes during Clinton’s two-day visit. Several of those targeted had signed Charter 08, an unusually open call for civil rights and political reforms that circulated in December, China Human Rights Defenders said.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)