Beijing is insisting US tariffs must be rolled back as part of any phase one trade deal with Washington, the Global Times newspaper said yesterday, citing unnamed sources, amid continued uncertainty on whether the two sides can strike a deal.
“A US pledge to scrap tariffs scheduled for December 15 cannot replace the rollbacks of tariffs,” the newspaper said in a tweet, referring to an additional round of tariffs on Chinese imports to be implemented in the absence of a trade deal.
The Global Times is published by the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party.
US President Donald Trump on Tuesday said Washington was in the “final throes” of a deal aimed at defusing a 16-month trade dispute with China, a few days after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had expressed his desire for a trade agreement.
Top trade negotiators for both countries also spoke again and agreed to continue working on the remaining issues.
Trade experts and people close to the White House told reporters last month that signing of a phase one agreement might not take place until the new year, as China pressed for more extensive rollbacks of tariffs.
An agreement was initially expected to be completed by the end of last month.
US Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley told reporters on Tuesday that Beijing invited US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin for in-person talks in Beijing.
They were willing to go if they saw “a real chance of getting a final agreement,” he said.
A source familiar with the trade talks also said that US officials could travel to China after the long Thanksgiving weekend in the US.
Meanwhile, China’s official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index jumped unexpectedly last month, signaling a recovery in activity amid government support and a stabilizing global economy.
The index rose to 50.2, according to data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics on Saturday. That is the first reading above 50 since April, indicating an expansion in output.
The non-manufacturing gauge was 54.4, the highest since March.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique