US Not Backing Down on Biden’s Xi Dictator Comment

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The White House is not backing down on comments made by President Joe Biden likening Chinese President Xi Jinping to a dictator.

“It should come as no surprise that the president speaks candidly about China and the differences that we have — we are certainly not alone in that,” a senior administration official said in a statement sent to VOA on Wednesday.

At a California fundraiser for his 2024 presidential campaign Tuesday, Biden said Xi was unaware and embarrassed over a suspected Chinese spy balloon flying over American territory that the U.S. military shot down in February.

“That’s what’s a great embarrassment for dictators, when they didn’t know what happened,” Biden said. “When it got shot down, he was very embarrassed. He denied it was even there.”

China’s Foreign Ministry hit back, saying Biden’s remarks “seriously violated China’s political dignity and amounted to public political provocation.”

“The relevant remarks by the U.S. side are extremely ridiculous and irresponsible. They seriously violate basic facts, diplomatic protocol and China’s political dignity,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at her Wednesday briefing. “China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to this.”

The press is usually forbidden from recording such fundraising events, but the White House provided a transcript of Biden’s remarks.

The comments were especially notable as they were made a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing to repair bilateral relations that have hit a historical low. Blinken’s visit, originally scheduled for February, was postponed by Washington after the spy balloon was destroyed.

While Blinken’s visit failed to produce any major breakthrough, he and Xi had agreed to stabilize the U.S.-China rivalry so it does not veer into conflict.

Washington rejects the notion that Biden’s comments are counterproductive to his top diplomat’s efforts.

“We will continue to responsibly manage this relationship, maintain open lines of communication with the PRC, but that, of course, does not mean we will not be blunt and forthright about our differences,” State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel said in his briefing Wednesday.

“We have been very clear about the areas in which we disagree, including the clear differences we see when it comes to democracies and autocracies,” he added.

Biden’s comments brought renewed focus on the spy balloon incident that administration officials have sought to put behind them since the president signaled a thaw in relations in May, following a meeting between White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan and top Communist Party diplomat Wang Yi.

Domestic pressure

Biden is facing domestic pressure from Republicans in Congress who have sought to portray his administration as weak on China and characterized efforts to mend ties with Beijing as tantamount to appeasement.

“The Biden administration is holding back U.S. national security actions to chase fruitless talks with the CCP,” Representative Michael McCaul, Republican chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement referring to the Chinese Communist Party.

Last week a group of Republican senators sent a letter to Biden urging a public accounting of his administration’s assessment of the spy balloon and expressing frustration with its “failure to confront China’s brazen threats to America’s security and sovereignty.”

“Republicans won’t let it go because it provides them with extra ammunition,” said Michael Swaine, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. “You got sniping going on in the party, people in Congress who think they know better about how to manage the relationship, when they don’t,” he told VOA.

Rising tensions

The bitter rhetoric shows just how challenging it is to bring down tensions and jump-start communication between the two rivals.

“If the engagements we’re seeing are then followed by such direct criticisms from very senior officials, I think the Chinese side is going to ask what the point of the engagement is in the first place,” said Zack Cooper, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.

“I do think there’s going to be probably some pretty difficult conversations between Beijing and Washington over the next few days and the next few weeks,” Cooper told VOA.

Moscow also condemned Biden’s comments. On Wednesday, the Kremlin said the comments reflected the U.S. administration’s “unpredictable” foreign policy.

“This is a very contradictory manifestation of U.S. foreign policy, which points to a significant element of unpredictability,” spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
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China Cuts Interest Rates in Effort to Boost Flagging Economic Growth

CensorBiz Бізнес, Новини, Статті, Суспільство 0 Comment

Chinese commercial banks lowered interest rates on Tuesday as Beijing seeks ways to boost economic growth, which has been disappointingly slow as the country recovers from pandemic-era lockdowns and supply chain bottlenecks.

The move took place just days after the Chinese central bank announced it would cut the interest rate it charges on several different facilities it uses to supply commercial banks with cash.

The change in commercial banks’ prime rates, which are offered to borrowers with the best credit, were relatively modest. The rate on one-year loans fell to 3.55% from 3.65%, while the rate on five-year loans dropped to 4.2% from 4.3%.

Striking a balance

The change, which was the most significant adjustment to interest rates in nearly a year, was smaller than some analysts had expected. China faces continued softness in its real estate sector, high levels of indebtedness and persistently slow growth.

David Qu, an economist covering China for Bloomberg Economics, said on Bloomberg television that the small rate cut was an effort to maintain what he referred to as a “balance between stabilizing the housing market and avoiding stimulating another bubble in the housing market.”

In an analysis released last week after the Peoples Bank of China signaled that rate cuts were coming, Logan Wright and Allen Feng of the Rhodium Group wrote, “[T]he reductions in mortgage rates will not have much of an impact on property sales, but may help to reduce mortgage payment burdens for Chinese households. This is more likely designed to boost household consumption, so that households can free up and come from debt service for other purposes.”

Lower growth expected

Concerns about China’s economy have worsened in recent months, a fact that senior leaders in Beijing have begun to publicly acknowledge.

On Friday, Chinese state television reported that Premier Li Qiang told a meeting of senior Communist Party leaders that the government is exploring ways of driving growth.

“The external environment is becoming more complex and severe, and the slowdown in global trade and investment will directly affect the recovery process of our country’s economy,” Li said.

Over the weekend, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. reduced its forecast for growth in China this year to 5.4% from 6%.

The Chinese economy’s growth rate is still significantly higher than that of many developed economies, including the U.S., which the International Monetary Fund expects to grow at only 1.6% in 2023. However, China’s growth rate was as high as 7.8% 10 years ago, and has been mostly slowing since, with the exception of an anomalous 8.1% rate in 2021 as it returned from the depths of the pandemic.

More stimulus expected

After reports last month that industrial output and retail sales had both come in under expectations, some experts expected that the Chinese government would engage in a careful program of targeted economic stimulus in the near future. The trouble is that some of the most obvious levers of influence may be less potent than they have been in the past.

For instance, lower interest rates are usually seen as stimulative because they encourage borrowing to fund capital investment. However, debt levels among Chinese companies are already quite high, which will serve to dampen demand for more credit.

In recent months, Chinese officials have signaled openness to foreign investment in the country as another means of increasing economic growth.

However, this comes after a period in which Beijing’s aggressive crackdown on Chinese tech firms and high-profile visits of state security officials to the Chinese offices of Western businesses have left some companies wary.

In April, security officials entered the offices of consulting firm Bain & Company and questioned employees. That visit came a month after officials entered the offices of another U.S. firm, the Mintz Group, and detained five Chinese nationals working there.

Global challenges

The change in interest rates takes place amid a number of important discussions between China and other large economies around the world.

On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing, where he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang and then President Xi Jinping. Both sides characterized the discussions as productive, but on issues of significant economic concern to Beijing, no progress was announced.

These included the Biden administration’s continued application of broad tariffs on Chinese goods implemented by the administration of former President Donald Trump, and severe restrictions on China’s ability to buy cutting-edge semiconductors due to bans put in place by the Biden administration.

On Tuesday, Li traveled to Germany for meetings with senior officials there. Germany, which counts China as its second-largest trading partner after the European Union, saw its economy rocked after the Russian invasion of Ukraine exposed its over-reliance on Russia as a source of fossil fuels. The German government is in the midst of “de-risking” its economy by expanding the number of countries it relies on for key imports — a process that has China concerned about the future of its trade with Europe’s largest individual economy.
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Biden Says Risks Posed by AI to Security, Economy Must be Addressed

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The risks of artificial intelligence to national security and the economy need to be addressed, U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday, adding he would seek expert advice.

“My administration is committed to safeguarding Americans’ rights and safety while protecting privacy, to addressing bias and misinformation, to making sure AI systems are safe before they are released,” Biden said at an event in San Francisco.

Biden met a group of civil society leaders and advocates who have previously criticized the influence of major tech companies, to discuss artificial intelligence.

“I wanted to hear directly from the experts,” he said.

Several governments are considering how to mitigate the dangers of the emerging technology, which has experienced a boom in investment and consumer popularity in recent months after the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Biden’s meeting on Tuesday included Tristan Harris, executive director of the Center for Humane Technology, Algorithmic Justice League founder Joy Buolamwini, and Stanford University Professor Rob Reich.

Regulators globally have been working to draw up rules governing the use of generative AI, which can create text and images, and whose impact has been compared to that of the internet.

Biden has also recently discussed the issue of AI with other world leaders, including British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak whose government will later this year hold a first global summit on artificial intelligence safety. Biden is expected to discuss the topic with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his ongoing U.S. visit.

European Union lawmakers agreed last week to changes in draft rules on artificial intelligence proposed by the European Commission in a bid to set a global standard for a technology used on everything from automated factories to self-driving cars to chatbots.
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«Рано чи пізно будь-яке свавілля закінчується»: ув’язнена в РФ кримчанка написала листа з СІЗО

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За словами брата Леніє Умерової, цензура ФСБ довго перевіряє її листи, права писати українською чи кримськотатарською мовами її позбавили
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Міненерго: через нічний обстріл пошкоджені мережі у двох областях

SocNet Новини, Політика, Суспільство 0 Comment

«Через падіння уламків БПЛА пошкоджено лінію електропередачі на Київщині, без світла залишаються майже пів тисячі абонентів. Також через нічний обстріл пошкоджено мережі в Миколаївській області. Знеструмлено два населених пункти»
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Blinken Highlights Need for Direct Engagement in US, China Talks

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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday the United States and China have an obligation to manage their relationship responsibly, and that he told Chinese leaders during meetings in Beijing that direct engagement is the best way to ensure disagreements do not turn into conflict.     

Speaking to reporters in Beijing, Blinken said he had candid and substantive discussions Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping and top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi.     

“I would expect additional visits by senior U.S. officials to China over the coming weeks,” Blinken said during a news conference. He added that Washington welcomes further visits by Chinese officials to the United States.       

Xi called on the U.S. side to adopt a rational and pragmatic attitude, and work with China in the same direction, according to a statement issued by the Chinese government. 

While both sides agreed on the need to stabilize communication, Blinken will not return to Washington with an agreement from the Chinese side to set up military-to-military communication channels.     

“At this moment, China has not agreed to move forward with that,” Blinken said.   

Washington says military communication lines should remain open in the event of a crisis.     

Ali Wyne, a senior analyst with Eurasia Group’s Global Macro-Geopolitics practice, said in an email to VOA that while it is concerning that China did not accept Blinken’s proposal to establish military communication channels,   Xi’s decision to meet with Blinken “suggests that China, not just the United States, appreciates the importance of slowing the deterioration of U.S.-China ties.”  

“The trip will not — and was not — expected to change the fundamentally and intensely competitive nature of U.S.-China relations, but it will give the two countries an opportunity to increase the frequency and broaden the scope of high-level dialogues,” he said.  

Blinken said he raised U.S. concerns about provocative Chinese actions in the Taiwan Strait. He said he reiterated that the United States does not support Taiwan independence and that it continues to expect the peaceful resolution of cross-strait differences.     

US ready to cooperate, says Blinken

For decades, the U.S. has been clear that its decision to establish diplomatic relations with China in 1979 rested on the expectation that “the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means,” as stipulated in the Taiwan Relations Act.    

Moritz Rudolf, a research scholar at Yale Law School’s Paul Tsai China Center, told VOA’s Mandarin Service in a phone interview that Blinken’s comments on Taiwan were “key for the Chinese side” to hear.   

He said that while expectations were low for Blinken’s visit and there were no major breakthroughs, the talks did not go “as bad as some people might have anticipated.”  

“I think it went fairly well because … this visit laid the foundation for more visits and more exchanges in the future,” he said.    

Blinken told reporters he also raised human rights issues, including international concerns about the treatment of people in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, as well as the wrongful detention of U.S. citizens in China.     

Blinken also said the United States is ready to cooperate with China on issues of mutual interest. He said those include climate change, macroeconomic stability, public health, food security and counter-narcotics efforts.     

The United States and China have also agreed to set up “a working group” of joint efforts to address the illicit flow of fentanyl, according to Blinken.           

Blinken, who arrived in Beijing Sunday, is the highest-level U.S. official to visit China since 2018. His trip was rescheduled from February after a Chinese surveillance balloon flew through U.S. airspace and was shot down.                        

Americans wrongfully detained in China                              

Children of Americans who the U.S. considers wrongfully detained by Chinese authorities had asked Blinken to raise their fathers’ cases with his Chinese counterparts.                              

“Behind every hostage is a family suffering every day,” the Bring Our Families Home Campaign said in a tweet on Sunday.       

“This Sunday will be the 7th time I’ve missed Father’s Day with my dad,” said Harrison Li.  “Releasing my dad is one of the easiest things that the Chinese government can do to show they are serious about normalizing relations.”                 

Harrison Li’s father, Kai Li, is an American citizen who has been detained in China since September 2016. He was later sentenced to 10 years in prison for espionage, a charge his family rejects.               

Alice Lin is the daughter of American pastor David Lin, who was detained under unclear circumstances in 2006 and later sentenced to life in prison on charges of contract fraud. Lin’s family staunchly maintains his innocence. Lin’s sentence was later reduced, and he is expected to be released in 2029.               

“Secretary Blinken, we miss my dad. Please do everything possible to bring him home,” Lin told VOA.                             

Taiwan               

Washington has said China’s military escalation in the Taiwan Strait was “a global concern.”                   

A senior State Department official told VOA it is an “abiding interest” of the U.S. to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. China is seen as ramping up economic coercion targeting Taiwan ahead of its presidential election.    

In May, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told senators that a Chinese invasion of Taiwan could halt the world’s largest advanced semiconductor production, wiping out up to $1 trillion per year.               

“I will say this number is way too small,” because it only costs about 6% of China’s gross domestic product, said Chen-Yu Li, chief economist of Taishin Financial Holdings in Taiwan.               

Li said a military conflict in the Taiwan Strait will affect other Asian economies such as Japan and South Korea, whose GDP totals at least $5 trillion. He also cited the market value of tech giants such as Apple, Nvidia and AMD, which Li estimates is at least $3 trillion.               

“If Taiwan is under attack, the stock market in the U.S. may vanish $3 trillion,” Li said during a May 12 event hosted by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies.                                  

“If I am Xi Jinping, I’ll be very happy to attack Taiwan. It’s just 6%,”   Li said.                            

Some information for this story came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters. VOA Pentagon correspondent Carla Babb and Si Yang of VOA’s Mandarin Service contributed to this report.  
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US Judge Orders Trump Lawyers Not to Release Evidence in Documents Probe

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A U.S. judge in Florida on Monday ordered defense lawyers for former President Donald Trump not to release evidence in the classified documents case to the media or public, according to a court filing.

The order from U.S. Magistrate Judge Bruce Reinhart also put strict conditions on Trump’s access to the materials.

“The Discovery materials, along with any information derived therefrom, shall not be disclosed to the public or the news media, or disseminated on any news or social media platform, without prior notice to and consent of the United States or approval of the Court,” the order filed on Monday said.

It also specified that Trump “shall not retain copies” and that he may only review case materials “under the direct supervision of Defense Counsel or a member of Defense Counsel’s staff.”

The order granted a motion filed last week by prosecutors who had asked the court to put conditions on how the defense stores and uses the documents.

Trump, who is the front-runner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, was indicted on federal charges this month. He was accused of illegally retaining classified government documents after leaving the White House and then conspiring to obstruct a federal probe of the matter.

Trump has pleaded not guilty in court to all 37 counts.

He defended his handling of the boxes in an interview with Fox News on Monday, saying that he needed to go through the boxes to remove personal items including golf shirts, pants and shoes.

“Before I send boxes over, I have to take all of my things out. These boxes were interspersed with all sorts of things,” Trump said. “I was very busy, as you’ve sort of seen.”

Trump repeated his claim that the boxes contained magazine articles, personal items and art. The Justice Department told a court that the boxes contained highly classified documents, including a plan to attack Iran.

The former president faces other legal hurdles, having been indicted by New York City prosecutors in connection with an alleged hush-money payment to a porn star.

Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was appointed by Attorney General Merrick Garland, is also probing Trump’s alleged role in actions surrounding his loss in the 2020 presidential election that culminated in Trump supporters’ deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Trump is also being investigated in connection with efforts to change the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in Georgia.
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Ударами по півдню Росія намагається вразити резерви ЗСУ для наступу на цьому напряму – Гуменюк

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«Ворог, для себе зрозумівши, що там можуть бути зосереджені скупчення техніки і військових підрозділів, намагається тероризувати саме ці регіони»
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Aid Group: World Failing Afghanistan During Major Locust Outbreak

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A global aid agency warned Monday that a large-scale plague of locusts is ravaging northern Afghanistan and could destroy 1.2 million metric tons of wheat, almost one-quarter of the country’s annual harvest.

“The escalating situation threatens to plunge millions of people into worsening levels of hunger,” the nongovernmental aid group Save the Children said in a statement.

The locust outbreak comes as funding shortfalls have cut off food aid for 8 million people in Afghanistan in the past two months, the group said. It urged the international community to increase humanitarian aid and resume development assistance to help prevent the impoverished country from spiraling into “famine-like conditions.”

Save the Children said that the Moroccan locust, one of the world’s most damaging plant pests, is sweeping across eight of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, the country’s wheat basket.

The agency said the outbreak has come at the worst possible time for Afghanistan, where more than 15 million people — one-third of the population — are projected to face crisis levels of hunger over the next five months, including 3.2 million children.

Aid organizations face a $2.2 billion shortfall in humanitarian funding to support Afghanistan’s most vulnerable children and families, especially women and girls.

Arshad Malik, the Save the Children country director, said that millions of children would suffer unless humanitarian aid is immediately increased.

“However, humanitarian aid alone is not a quick fix. The underlying drivers of hunger, including resuming development aid and support to the country’s ailing economy, will also need to be addressed.”

Since the Taliban regained control of the conflict-torn South Asian nation in August 2021, the international community has suspended development assistance and imposed financial sanctions.

The United Nations says the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan, stemming from years of war and prolonged drought, has worsened since the Taliban took control of the country. 

U.N. officials say that the Taliban’s discriminatory policies against Afghan women have caused the humanitarian and economic situation in the country to deteriorate. The hardline group has barred Afghan women from working for the United Nations and other aid agencies. 

The Taliban have suspended girls’ education beyond the sixth grade and banned many women government employees from workplaces. 

The restrictions on Afghan women, and other human rights concerns, have deterred foreign governments from recognizing the Taliban as legitimate rulers of the country.   
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