US President Barack Obama took a walk alone on the Great Wall yesterday, wrapping up a visit to China with a visit to the ancient fortifications that symbolize the country’s history and separateness.
“It’s magical. It reminds you of the sweep of history,” Obama said after breaking away from his tour guides to walk alone along the parapets, hands jammed into his pockets against the cold and wind.
“It gives you a good perspective on a lot of the day-to-day things. They don’t amount to much in the scope of history,” he said.
PHOTO: AFP
Ties between the US and China have grown so much since that the two economies are now deeply intertwined, while the US must accommodate China’s growing influence on the world stage.
The Obama trip did not yield immediate breakthroughs on the many issues the two giant economies face, foremost among them currency and protectionism. But it did keep the lines of dialogue open and was accompanied by professions of friendship.
“Our time here on Earth is not that long and we better make the best of it,” Obama said at the Wall, before heading off to South Korea, the final leg of his Asia trip.
Earlier, observers in the US and China said that a joint statement by the US and Chinese presidents on climate change was encouraging as pressure builds in the last few weeks before a 192-nation conference in Copenhagen, but said the language left a lot unsaid.
The world’s two largest polluters talked on Tuesday of a joint desire to tackle climate change, but failed to publicly address the root problems that could unravel a deal at the Dec. 7 to Dec. 18 conference — mainly, how much each country can contribute to emissions cuts and how the world will pay for it.
The joint statement by Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) has positive language about aiming for a comprehensive deal, “but it leaves a lot of room for different interpretations, ranging from a real ambitious climate rescue deal to another meaningless declaration,” said Ailun Yang, climate campaign manager for Greenpeace China. “The real test is still at Copenhagen.”
Three weeks remain before the global conference that aims for a deal to replace the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, which required 37 industrial countries to cut heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions.
The Copenhagen agreement would require developing countries such as China to curb emissions growth as well.
In a joint statement, Obama and Hu said Copenhagen should produce a comprehensive agreement that “include[s] emission reduction targets of developed countries and nationally appropriate mitigation actions of developing countries.”
Hu said countries would do their part “consistent with our respective capabilities,” a reference to the now widely accepted view that developing nations like China should be required only to set goals for curbing emissions, not accept absolute targets.
Timothy Wirth, president of the UN Foundation, a charity group that promotes UN causes, praised the US-China joint statement for saying a deal at Copenhagen should include emission reduction targets by developed countries, but he stressed the urgency of finding a final agreement.
“Reaching a deal in Copenhagen will be hard enough; leaving all the negotiations to the last minute could make it unachievable,” he said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.
Already, US officials acknowledge that the Copenhagen talks were not expected to produce a final legal agreement. White House aides said on Sunday that a fully binding legal agreement would be put off until a meeting in Mexico City in December next year.
But the meeting between Obama and Hu could give important momentum to the last few weeks of negotiations before Copenhagen, observers said.
“It is important to put things in perspective and realize just how far we’ve come in one year, particularly that both the US and China have elevated cooperation on climate change to the very highest levels of government,” Barbara Finamore, China program director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement yesterday.
The US still has not committed to figures for its own emissions reductions or financing, with negotiators waiting until Congress completes domestic climate legislation.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
RSS