The US said on Friday it would raise concerns about trade, human rights and Syria during a closely watched visit next week by China’s likely next leader, despite hopes to improve ties.
White House officials said they would seek to send a message to Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平) that the US welcomes China’s rise, but that Beijing was testing the patience even of supporters of the relationship.
“China needs to recognize that it needs to continue to take steps to live up to the rules of the road that all nations abide by, particularly economically, in order to maintain support for the relationship in the United States,” US Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters on a conference call.
With elections in November, the US has been pressing China over trade policies seen as unfair, including what lawmakers call a disregard for intellectual property rights and an artificially weak currency.
Human rights groups say that China has also stepped up curbs on dissent, with dozens of government critics detained since last year. Democracy activist Zhu Yufu (朱虞夫) was sentenced on Friday to seven years in prison, his wife said.
Residents say that China has imposed virtual martial law in Tibetan areas, amid a wave of self-immolations to protest Beijing’s rule, and has kept tight control of the Uighur minority concentrated in northwestern Xinjiang.
“It is an area of grave concern for us to witness the increase of tensions in Tibet and Xinjiang,” said Danny Russel, US President Barack Obama’s top adviser on Asia.
“The US has spoken out about it and we use every opportunity to urge the Chinese officials and leaders to exercise real restraint and to safeguard the human rights and the fundamental freedoms of all of Chinese citizens, including in Tibet,” he said.
Russel dismissed the fears of human-rights groups that the US would tone down comments to ensure a smooth visit by Xi, who will be welcomed on Tuesday at the White House, US Department of State and Pentagon.
“This is an important part of our agenda and there’s no reason that the conversations with Vice President Xi would depart from our longstanding practices,” Russel said.
Separately on Friday, US Department of State spokeswoman Victoria Nuland called on China to free Zhu, saying that the US was “deeply concerned” that he was sentenced for subversion over writing a poem.
Xi’s visit also comes after China joined Russia in vetoing a UN Security Council resolution that would have pressured Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to start a transition and halt what residents say is escalating violence. China also opposed sanctions against Iran.
“We’ll continue to press that with the Chinese because, frankly, it’s not, we believe, the right bet to believe that Assad is going to brutalize his people into submission,” Rhodes said on a conference call.
“We believe Assad’s days are numbered and there needs to be a transition in Syria,” he said.
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
Taiwan was ranked the fourth-safest country in the world with a score of 82.9, trailing only Andorra, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar in Numbeo’s Safety Index by Country report. Taiwan’s score improved by 0.1 points compared with last year’s mid-year report, which had Taiwan fourth with a score of 82.8. However, both scores were lower than in last year’s first review, when Taiwan scored 83.3, and are a long way from when Taiwan was named the second-safest country in the world in 2021, scoring 84.8. Taiwan ranked higher than Singapore in ninth with a score of 77.4 and Japan in 10th with
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary