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.
SECURITY: Taipei presses the US for arms supplies, saying the arms sales are not only a reflection of the US security commitment to Taiwan but also serve as a mutual deterrent against regional threats Taiwan is committed to preserving the cross-strait “status quo” and contributing to regional peace and stability, the Presidential Office said yesterday. “It is an undeniable fact that the Republic of China is a sovereign and independent democratic nation,” Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) reiterated, adding that Beijing has no right to claim sovereignty over Taiwan. The statements came after US President Donald Trump warned against Taiwanese independence. Trump wrapped up a state visit to Beijing on Friday, during which Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had pressed him not to support Taiwan. Taiwan depends heavily on US security backing to deter China from carrying
The subsidiary of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in Kumamoto, Japan, turned a profit in the first quarter of this year, marking the first time the first fab of the unit has become profitable since mass production started at the end of 2024. According to the contract chipmaker’s financial statement released on Friday, Japan Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Inc (JASM), a joint venture running the fab in Kumamoto, posted NT$951 million (US$30.19 million) in profit in the January-to-March period, compared with a loss of NT$1.39 billion in the previous quarter, and a loss of NT$3.25 billion in the first quarter of
RESOLUTE BACKING: Two Republican senators are planning to introduce legislation that would impose immediate sanctions on China if it attempts to invade Taiwan US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson on Sunday reaffirmed US congressional support for Taiwan, saying the US and “all freedom-loving people” have a stake in preventing China from seizing Taiwan by force. Johnson made the remarks in an interview with Fox News Sunday on US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) last week. In an interview that aired on Friday on Fox News, just as Trump wrapped up a high-stakes visit to China, he said he has yet to green-light a new US$14 billion arms package to Taiwan and that it “depends on China.” “It’s a very good
US President Donald Trump yesterday said he would speak to President William Lai (賴清德) as his administration considers whether to move ahead with a US$14 billion weapons sale to Taiwan — a potential arms deal that has drawn criticism from China. “Well, I’ll speak to him. I speak to everybody,” Trump told reporters yesterday when asked if he had any plans to call his counterpart, although he did not offer a time frame for when such a conversation could take place. Trump previously said he would speak to the person “that’s running Taiwan,” without specifying who he meant. “We have that situation very
RSS