US President Barack Obama urged Beijing to take “concrete steps” to ease tensions over cyberhacking and its wide-ranging maritime claims, as the US and China ended three days of candid talks.
US officials have voiced deep concerns about both issues at the annual strategic and economic dialogue aimed at setting guidelines to steer future ties between the world’s two leading economies.
During talks in Washington with top Chinese officials, Obama “raised ongoing US concerns about China’s cyber and maritime behavior, and he urged China to take concrete steps to lower tensions,” the White House said.
Photo: AFP
Ties have strained over US accusations of cyberespionage and this week’s talks come after revelations of huge breaches of US government computer networks at the US Office of Personnel Management.
Washington has also voiced concerns about China’s territorial claims to much of the South and East China Seas, calling on Beijing to resolve the issue peacefully with its neighbors.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, who hosted the talks along with US Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, said cyberhacking raised questions about security and “frankly harmed American businesses.”
However, he said the issue was raised in an “honest discussion without accusations or finger-pointing, about the problem of cybertheft and whether or not it was sanctioned by government.”
The US had “made it crystal clear that this is not acceptable and we need to work through ... how we are going to work this out in terms of the bilateral relationship,” Kerry said.
However, Chinese State Councilor Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪) called on the US to “respect and accommodate the concerns of China and handle differences and sensitive issues with caution.”
He said he “urged the US to respect facts and work together with China to improve the cyberrelations between the two countries.”
It was important for the US “to respect China’a sovereignty and territorial integrity and respect the development path chosen by the Chinese people,” Yang said.
While Washington has repeatedly voiced deep concerns about rights and freedoms in the single-party country, Yang said that “in advancing human rights China’s achievements are there for all to see.”
However, even though both sides have stressed they continue to have differences over various issues, they have also been at pains to emphasize that they can cooperate.
Kerry said this, the third round of talks which he has led, had been “one of the most constructive and productive.”
Areas where Beijing and Washington can collaborate include on nuclear non-proliferation efforts with Iran and North Korea, as well as in Afghanistan.
The two countries also launched a joint initiative to protect the oceans, and vowed to step up efforts to combat illegal wildlife trafficking.
On their burgeoning economic ties, the US side stressed the need for transparency and proper regulation for businesses.
The two countries discussed Beijing’s desire for the yuan currency to be given a greater global role such as being part of the IMF’s international basket of reference currencies. Washington has long said the yuan is manipulated and undervalued.
“China has committed to intervene in the foreign exchange market only when necessitated by disorderly market conditions, and to actively consider additional measures to transition to a market-oriented exchange rate,” Lew said.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
SUSPICION: Junta leader Min Aung Hlaing returned to protests after attending a summit at which he promised to hold ‘free and fair’ elections, which critics derided as a sham The death toll from a major earthquake in Myanmar has risen to more than 3,300, state media said yesterday, as the UN aid chief made a renewed call for the world to help the disaster-struck nation. The quake on Friday last week flattened buildings and destroyed infrastructure across the country, resulting in 3,354 deaths and 4,508 people injured, with 220 others missing, new figures published by state media showed. More than one week after the disaster, many people in the country are still without shelter, either forced to sleep outdoors because their homes were destroyed or wary of further collapses. A UN estimate
The US government has banned US government personnel in China, as well as family members and contractors with security clearances, from any romantic or sexual relationships with Chinese citizens, The Associated Press (AP) has learned. Four people with direct knowledge of the matter told the AP about the policy, which was put into effect by departing US ambassador Nicholas Burns in January shortly before he left China. The people would speak only on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a confidential directive. Although some US agencies already had strict rules on such relationships, a blanket “nonfraternization” policy, as it is known, has
OPTIONS: Asked if one potential avenue to a third term was having J.D. Vance run for the top job and then pass the baton to him, Trump said: ‘That’s one,’ among others US President Donald Trump on Sunday that “I’m not joking” about trying to serve a third term, the clearest indication he is considering ways to breach a constitutional barrier against continuing to lead the country after his second term ends at the beginning of 2029. “There are methods which you could do it,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC News from Mar-a-Lago, his private club. He elaborated later to reporters on Air Force One from Florida to Washington that “I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term