US National Security Adviser Susan Rice is visiting Beijing to help lay the diplomatic groundwork for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) state visit to Washington next month.
Among the topics China is expected to raise are arms sales to Taiwan and next year’s presidential election.
Rice is to visit Beijing today and tomorrow and meet with senior officials, including Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪).
She will consult on a range of bilateral, regional and global issues, a White House statement said.
“She will underscore the US’ commitment to building a more productive relationship between our two countries, as well as discuss areas of difference in advance of President Xi’s state visit,” the statement added.
The Financial Press media outlet said that Rice’s trip to Beijing comes as global markets are “increasingly jittery” about the state of the Chinese economy.
Stock markets in the US and Asia have suffered dramatic drops this week as a result of fears about a slowdown in China’s growth.
Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker — one of the many candidates for the Republican presidential nomination — has even called for Xi’s visit to be canceled.
“Given China’s massive cyberattacks against America, its militarization of the South China Sea, continued state interference with its economy, and persistent persecution of Christians and human rights activists, [US] President [Barack] Obama needs to cancel the state visit,” Walker said.
The White House has ruled out a cancelation and Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz has said that Obama will use the Xi summit to “speak candidly about the differences we have in this exceptionally and admittedly complex relationship.”
During her visit, Rice will almost certainly discuss the devaluation of the yuan, human rights, cybersecurity, climate change, and China’s efforts to build and militarize islands in the South China Sea.
Among the issues that China is most likely to raise today and tomorrow are its concerns over the future of Taiwan.
As always in such meetings, China will object to any future arms sales to the nation and might also express worries about a potential victory by the Democratic Progressive Party in next year’s presidential election.
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Minister Zhang Zhijun (張志軍) said during a Washington visit earlier this month that cross-strait relations have improved since 2008 as a result of the so-called “1992 consensus” and the “one China” principle, referring to a tacit understanding between the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese government that both sides acknowledge there is “one China,” with each side having its own interpretation.
In a thinly veiled warning that was clearly aimed at the DPP, Zhang said that Beijing had the ability to deal with any move toward “the evil path of Taiwanese independence.”
Former US assistant secretary of state for East Asia Kurt Campbell said this week that China was heading into a period of domestic uncertainty and anxiety.
“Xi will likely strike a tougher stance to avoid any appearance of weakness or vulnerability,” he told the Washington Post.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods