The US’ top envoy to China yesterday called on the nation to reopen dialogue it halted after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan almost two months ago.
“Our message to the Chinese is: Let’s talk, open these dialogues and let’s move forward,” US Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns told the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore via videoconference.
The US needs to work with China on issues such as climate change and health, even as they compete on technology, Burns said.
Photo: AP
Washington views Beijing as trying to change the “status quo” regarding Taiwan, he said, adding: “We’ve warned them that we won’t agree to that — we don’t accept it.”
The comments mark an effort by Washington to soothe tensions with Beijing that spiked when Pelosi became the first sitting US House speaker in 25 years to visit Taiwan.
China warned Pelosi not to visit, and when she did, it responded with unprecedented military drills and by firing ballistic missiles over Taiwan.
It also cut off talks with the US on defense and climate change.
At the time, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called China’s cutting of military talks with the US “an irresponsible act,” but added that “not all channels of communication between our military leaders are shut down.”
Kirby also said that China’s ending of climate change talks amounted to “punishing the whole world.”
US Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry last week said there was still room for progress on climate talks with China even though they had been suspended.
“I really hope China will decide sometime in the next days,” he said. “It is worth coming back to this, because we owe it to humankind.”
Burns also said that the US was monitoring China’s ties with Russia closely, although it has not seen any sign that Beijing has supported Moscow militarily or with help evading sanctions imposed after it invaded Ukraine.
China has refrained from endorsing the invasion, although earlier this month Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) called Russian President Vladimir Putin “an old friend” and said his nation is ready to work with Moscow.
“We’ve been very clear with the Chinese privately and publicly in saying that we’re watching that very carefully here, that China should not provide military support or support to help Russia evade sanctions,” Burns said.
He also highlighted China’s diverging stance on the Ukraine conflict, underscoring its neutrality at a recent UN meeting, but telling its own people that the US and NATO instigated the fighting.
Burns also spoke about other matters at the gathering.
“We reject what the People’s Republic of China has done in Hong Kong. It’s a shadow of what it was. There aren’t political freedoms now of a type that people just enjoyed a couple of years ago,” he said.
Burns also highlighted human rights concerns in Tibet and Xinjiang, particularly a lack of religious freedoms.
The US does not want to decouple from China, he said, pointing to the US$1.2 trillion that Americans hold in Chinese equities and debt securities.
“We’re encouraging Americans to invest here as long as it doesn’t cross our national security lines,” he said.
He used to preside over Latin America’s largest country and its 214 million people. Former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro now lives in a small Florida town and eats alone in a fast-food restaurant. Bolsonaro, 67, has found an unusual refuge in the US, where he arrived in late December last year, several days before his supporters stormed government buildings in Brasilia in an attempt to overturn the election victory of his rival, Brazilain President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. At home, Bolsonaro is being investigated over his alleged involvement in the unrest, which he denies. From the lavish presidential palace, Bolsonaro, a political
Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) yesterday unveiled a promotion campaign that would include 500,000 free flights to lure back visitors, businesses and investors to the financial hub after more than three years of tough COVID-19 curbs. The “Hello Hong Kong” campaign was launched with dancers and flashing neon lights in the territory’s main convention center, next to its famous harbor, with a backdrop bearing the slogan in various languages including Russian and Spanish. Lee, speaking in English, said the campaign would show that the territory was open for tourism, and was aimed at boosting business and investment in the Chinese
There could be some relief to 150,000 commuters who endure hours-long waits to cross the road border between Malaysia and Singapore, Malaysian newspaper The Star reported. The Malaysian government has proposed a “single clearance system” to ease traffic along the Johor-Singapore Causeway, the report said. Such waits often require cross-border workers on the Malaysian side to wake up as early as 4am to get to work on time in Singapore. The proposal, still in its initial stages, would involve Malaysian immigration officials being stationed on the Singapore side of the causeway, with Singaporean officials stationed on the Malaysian side, in the southern
‘HONOR KILLING’: These ‘horrific murders’ are likely to continue unless the Iraqi authorities adopt robust legislation to protect women and girls, a rights group said The death of a young YouTube star at the hands of her father has sparked outrage in Iraq, where so-called “honor killings” continue to take place in the conservative country. Tiba al-Ali, 22, was killed by her father on Tuesday last week in the southern province of Diwaniya, Iraqi Ministry of Interior spokesman Saad Maan wrote on Twitter on Friday. Police had attempted to mediate between Ali — who resided in Turkey and was visiting Iraq — and her relatives to “resolve the family dispute in a definitive manner,” Maan said. Unverified recordings of conversations between Ali and her father appeared to indicate