A senior US senator, leading the first congressional trip to China in four years, yesterday said that the US does not want to cut economic ties with the world’s second-largest economy, but seeks a level playing field so that US companies can compete freely.
US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and five other senators arrived in Shanghai earlier in the day on a three-country tour that is to also take them to South Korea and Japan. The trip comes amid a sharp deterioration in relations between the US and China and as officials try to lay the groundwork for a possible meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) next month.
“We are prepared to compete, but we do not seek to conflict,” Schumer told Chinese Communist Party Secretary of Shanghai Chen Jining (陳吉寧) shortly after the delegation’s arrival.
Photo: AFP
Chen avoided specific issues in his public remarks, saying that a healthy and stable China-US relationship would benefit the entire world.
Noting the presence of 5,640 US companies in Shanghai, he said he is happy to have the opportunity to discuss how to promote trade at a local level.
The US has placed tariff and other trade restrictions on China over national security, human rights and other concerns, and blocked access to advanced semiconductors and other key technologies. China has accused the US of seeking to contain its economic development as it emerges as a global power and potential threat to the US-led international order.
Schumer said the US wants Chinese to have increased economic opportunities, but that many Americans feel China does not treat US companies fairly.
“We believe we need reciprocity allowing American companies to compete as freely in China as Chinese companies are able to compete here,” he said.
Schumer also raised the issue of Chinese companies that have stopped making fentanyl, but which the US government says continue to supply the ingredients for production of the opioid in Mexico.
“They are fueling the fentanyl crisis that is poisoning communities across the United States,” he said. “Every one of us knows families who have lost young men and women to fentanyl.”
China has said that it maintains strict control of the chemicals to ensure they are not exported for illegal purposes and that the US should stop shifting the blame for its failure to curb drug abuse.
In a reminder of the tensions between the two countries, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce yesterday said that new US restrictions placed on 42 Chinese companies were “a typical act of economic coercion and unilateral bullying.”
The US Department of Commerce on Friday added the Chinese companies and seven others to its entity list.
It said the companies supplied “US-origin” semiconductors that Russia uses for missile guidance systems and drones in the war against Ukraine.
US companies cannot export to organizations on the entity list without obtaining a special license.
A Chinese international relations expert said that Schumer’s visit is a sign of improvement in China-US relations.
The senators hope to meet Xi in Beijing during their visit.
“If the talks proceed well, there is the possibility that President Xi will meet Schumer,” said Wang Yiwei (王義桅), director of Renmin University’s Institute of International Affairs. “If their meeting is realized, the chances for a Xi-Biden meeting will become greater.”
The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday said it has deployed its largest vessel and an aircraft to challenge a Chinese research ship operating off northern Batanes near Taiwan, adding that a Chinese coast guard vessel had also moved in. The Philippine operation “disrupted the vessel’s unauthorized marine scientific research and compelled it to leave its loitering position,” said Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson on South China Sea issues. The Philippine Coast Guard said the BRP Teresa Magbanua and an aircraft were deployed to counter the Chinese vessel, which it said had remained about 37 nautical miles northwest of Itbayat Island since Monday. The
RUNWAY: Analysts said the first aircraft landing is expected by the middle of next year, while Chinese state media said it would serve civilian needs Chinese construction of a runway on Antelope Reef (Lingyang Reef, 羚羊礁) in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), is well under way with analysts estimating it could be completed by the middle of next year, strengthening Beijing’s military control over the disputed South China Sea. Satellite images reviewed by Reuters show grading work, piles of gravel and concrete, and compaction cranes in operation to build a full-scale runway that military attaches and security analysts say could be one of China’s most important offshore bases in the region. The images, taken on Friday last week by commercial satellite imagery provider Vantor, also show
SHIFTING COOPERATION: With the new arrangement, US representatives would be able to participate directly in defense discussions, including weapons procurement Taiwan-US military cooperation is deepening, with the Pentagon expected to station personnel at the Ministry of National Defense (MND), sources said. The NT$470 million (US$14.77 million) joint program is scheduled to run from this year through 2028, under which the Pentagon would dispatch representatives from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy and the Institute for Defense Analyses, a senior military official said on condition of anonymity, adding that one representative from each organization would be stationed at the ministry’s headquarters. The Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy is one of the US’ bodies responsible for
The Presidential Office today condemned China's transnational repression after an alleged Chinese foreign agent was arrested in California yesterday on suspicion of surveilling President William Lai's (賴清德) son, Lai Ting-yu (賴廷與), the FBI said. The 34-year-old woman, named Wanying Heather Zhang (張婉瑩), was arrested on suspicion of acting as an unregistered foreign agent, US news agency CBS reported. She was apprehended at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday attempting to fly to Shanghai, it said. This represents a “typical case” of China’s transnational repression, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said today. "Our country expresses the strongest condemnation of such barbaric conduct that
RSS