Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd on Tuesday pressed for a global effort to bring China into institutions, saying that the future of the world economy depended on it.
Rudd said that bodies such as the G20 and the East Asia Summit could put Beijing on the right path as its power grows.
“Continued regional and global economic growth will depend on maintaining for the next 40 years the sort of strategic stability in the East that we have seen over the last 40 years,” Rudd said in an event in Washington.
“And this will not be an easy thing to do,” he said.
Rudd acknowledged a myriad of concerns abroad about Beijing — from growing assertiveness to human rights to environmental pollution — but said that it was crucial also to look at Chinese leaders’ own interests and way of thinking.
Rudd said the US and its allies should talk to China in the terms of its philosophical tradition — such as the concept, often cited by Beijing’s leadership, of creating a “harmonious world.”
He said the G20 was an area where China has had a “positive” and “forward looking” role.
“The Chinese recognized, particularly at a time of potential global economic implosion, that they had huge interests at stake in preserving the order,” he said.
Rudd also stressed the importance of the East Asia Summit, an annual forum created in 2005.
However, Rudd said that China’s track record remained mixed and highlighted its assertiveness on territorial disputes in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
Rudd welcomed the calm over one issue that has long raised tensions — Taiwan — but he hinted at concern next year when President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) runs for re-election.
“The Taiwan Straits [sic] remains mercifully stable, although the stability that we see now remains hostage to Taiwanese domestic electoral processes in the year ahead,” he said.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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