The heads of three major US banks on Wednesday pledged that they would withdraw from the Chinese market if Washington imposed sanctions on Beijing in response to an invasion of Taiwan.
JP Morgan Chase chairman and CEO Jamie Dimon, Bank of America chairman and CEO Brian Moynihan and Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser told lawmakers at a hearing of the US House of Representatives Committee on Financial Services in Washington that the three banks would follow the guidance of the US government to exit China if necessary.
The three bankers made the pledge after US Representative Blaine Luetkemeyer asked the three if they would pull their investments out of China should the Chinese Communist Party follow through on its threat to invade Taiwan.
Photo: AFP
The US lawmaker spoke of Beijing’s continual threats toward Taiwan and its military exercises around Taiwan last month.
Citing the military actions of Russia against Ukraine, Luetkemeyer said there was a great risk in investing in “volatile nations with dictatorial governments” as financial institutions have played a significant role in supporting these regimes’ economies.
Moynihan said Bank of America had followed the government’s guidance to “work with China” in the past few decades, but if the US position changed, “we’ll immediately change it as we did in Russia.”
Dimon and Fraser agreed with Moynihan’s comments on following the government’s lead.
“We very much hope it doesn’t happen,” Fraser added.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the security situation across the Taiwan Strait has drawn increasing interest in the international community.
Fears over a possible invasion of Taiwan have been growing, in particular after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a 19-hour visit to Taipei early last month, which China strongly opposed.
Pelosi’s visit prompted China to launch several days of large-scale military exercises around Taiwan.
In a prerecorded interview with CBS’ 60 Minutes program that aired on Sunday, US President Joe Biden told host Scott Pelley that the US would defend Taiwan “if in fact there was an unprecedented attack.”
LOUD AND PROUD Taiwan might have taken a drubbing against Australia and Japan, but you might not know it from the enthusiasm and numbers of the fans Taiwan might not be expected to win the World Baseball Classic (WBC) but their fans are making their presence felt in Tokyo, with tens of thousands decked out in the team’s blue, blowing horns and singing songs. Taiwanese fans have packed out the Tokyo Dome for all three of their games so far and even threatened to drown out home team supporters when their team played Japan on Friday. They blew trumpets, chanted for their favorite players and had their own cheerleading squad who dance on a stage during the game. The team struggled to match that exuberance on the field, with
UPDATED TEST: The new rules aim to assess drivers’ awareness of risky behaviors and how they respond under certain circumstances, the Highway Bureau said Driver’s license applicants who fail to yield to pedestrians at intersections or to check blind spots, or omit pointing-and-calling procedures would fail the driving test, the Highway Bureau said yesterday. The change is set to be implemented at the end of the month, and is part of the bureau’s reform of the driving portion of the test, which has been criticized for failing to assess whether drivers can operate vehicles safely. Sedan drivers would be tested regarding yielding to pedestrians and turning their heads to check blind spots, while drivers of large vehicles would be tested on their familiarity with pointing-and-calling
A Taiwanese man apologized on Friday after saying in a social media post that he worked with Australia to provide scouting reports on Taiwan’s team, enabling Australia’s victory in this year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC), saying it was a joke and that he did not hold any position with foreign teams or Taiwan’s sports training center. Chen Po-hao (陳柏豪) drew the rage of many Taiwan baseball fans when he posted online on Thursday night, claiming credit for Australia’s 3-0 win over Taiwan in the opening game for Pool C, saying he worked as a physical therapist with the national team and
Whether Japan would help defend Taiwan in case of a cross-strait conflict would depend on the US and the extent to which Japan would be allowed to act under the US-Japan Security Treaty, former Japanese minister of defense Satoshi Morimoto said. As China has not given up on the idea of invading Taiwan by force, to what extent Japan could support US military action would hinge on Washington’s intention and its negotiation with Tokyo, Morimoto said in an interview with the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times) yesterday. There has to be sufficient mutual recognition of how Japan could provide
RSS