Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Monday called on China to avoid actions in pursuit of territorial claims in Asia that could make conflict with the US more likely.
Speaking in Washington ahead of a meeting with US President Barack Obama yesterday, Turnbull said Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had spoken of his desire to avoid the so-called “Thucydides Trap” — an academic theory that sees a risk of rivalry between a rising and an established power turning to conflict.
“If avoiding the Thucydides Trap is a core objective of China’s strategy, as President Xi insists it is, then we would hope that China’s actions will be carefully calculated to make conflict less likely, not more,” Turnbull told the Center for Strategic and International studies think tank.
Photo: AFP
He said China should be seeking to reassure neighbors and build confidence about its intentions.
“The legitimacy of claims to reefs and shoals should be a secondary consideration when that objective is focused on,” Turnbull said, referring to China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea, where Beijing has been building artificial islands to extend its reach.
Turnbull said rival claims should be settled under international law and referred to a case the Philippines has brought in the arbitration court in The Hague over its competing claims with China.
Turnbull, who has a tricky balancing act to maintain between China as Australia’s largest trading partner and the US as Canberra’s main security ally, said a strong and enduring US presence was needed in Asia to ensure the region’s unprecedented economic growth continued.
In announcing Turnbull’s visit earlier this month, the White House said Obama and the Australian leader were expected to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal awaiting ratification and the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria, in which both countries are engaged.
Turnbull met US Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter on Monday and the two discussed Iraq and Syria and the need to continue close collaboration on security in the Asia-Pacific, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The