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Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas, the main challenger in the Republic of Congo’s presidential election, has died of COVID-19.A spokesman for Kolelas’s campaign says the 61-year-old candidate died Sunday as he was being evacuated from Brazzaville to France for treatment. FILE – Guy Brice Parfait Kolelas speaks to supporters while receiving oxygen, in Brazzaville, Congo Republic, in this still image taken from Reuters TV video said to be filmed March 19, 2021. (Parfait Kolelas/Handout via Reuters)Kolelas was too ill to participate in a final campaign rally Friday, two days before the election. He recorded a video from his hospital bed Saturday holding an oxygen mask, declaring that he was “battling against death” but urging his supporters to “stand up and vote for change.” Sunday’s election was the second time Kolelas had challenged incumbent President Denis Sassou Nguesso, having finished second in the 2016 election. The results are not expected for several days, but observers believe the 77-year-old Sassou Nguesso will emerge the winner and extend his decades-long grip on power.  Sassou Nguesso first took office in 1979 and served until 1992, and has served uninterrupted since winning the presidency again in 1997.   
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EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Monday approved sanctions over abuses in China, Myanmar and Russia, as the bloc expands measures targeting global rights breaches.The 27 nations are due to place four Chinese officials and one state-run entity on a blacklist over Beijing’s crackdown on the Uighur minority after ambassadors gave the go-ahead last week.The highly symbolic move — reported by EU diplomats and expected to be formally unveiled in the EU’s official journal later Monday — is the first time Brussels has hit Beijing over human rights abuses since it imposed an arms embargo in 1989 after Tiananmen Square.China’s foreign ministry has warned that Beijing will “react with a firm hand” against any punishment over its actions in the western Xinjiang region.The measures are part of a package of human rights sanctions targeting a dozen people that also includes individuals in Russia, North Korea, Eritrea, South Sudan and Libya, diplomats said.”This is a very important step which shows how committed we are,” Slovak Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok said.The mechanism — designed to make it easier for the bloc to target rights abusers — was launched this month with sanctions on four Russian officials over the jailing of Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.Diplomats said the fresh sanctions on Russia will target individuals behind abuses in the country’s Chechnya region, which is ruled with an iron-fist by Kremlin loyalist Ramzan Kadyrov.The EU will also slap asset freezes and visa bans on 11 officials of Myanmar’s junta over the military coup last month and crackdown on demonstrators.”What we see there in terms of excesses of violence is absolutely unacceptable,” German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said. “That is why we will not be able to avoid imposing sanctions.”Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, triggering a mass uprising that security forces have sought to crush with a campaign of violence and fear. Diplomats have said businesses tied to the military will likely be placed under sanctions in the coming weeks.People stage a protest in support of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democracy Party, or HDP, in Istanbul, in Istanbul, March 18, 2021. The European Union voiced concerns over the “backsliding of rights” in Turkey.Turkey tiesTurkey will feature prominently at the meeting as member states debate efforts to improve ties after a spike in tensions last year over the eastern Mediterranean.Brussels has welcomed steps by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to reduce tensions by restarting talks with Greece over their disputed maritime border. But there remain major concerns, including over domestic freedoms after moves to ban a key opposition party and Erdogan’s decision to leave a global treaty to prevent violence against women. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell has drawn up a report outlining the bloc’s options to be discussed by leaders at a video conference this week.Warming ties have seen efforts to impose sanctions agreed on in December over Turkish drilling off Cyprus put on the back burner for fear of derailing the rapprochement.”There are different signals from Turkey,” Maas said.”We will continue to try to remain in dialogue, but also to use this dialogue to address the issues where we believe that Turkey is sending out the wrong signals.”
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North Korean diplomats vacated their embassy in Malaysia and prepared to leave the country Sunday, after the two nations cut diplomatic relations in a spat over the extradition of a North Korean criminal suspect to the United States.   The North Korean flag and embassy signage have been removed from the premise in a Kuala Lumpur suburb. Two buses ferried the diplomats and their families to the airport, where they were seen checking in for a flight to Shanghai.   Ties between North Korea and Malaysia have been virtually frozen since the 2017 assassination of the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un at Kuala Lumpur International Airport.   Two days after Kuala Lumpur extradited a North Korean man to the U.S. to face money laundering charges, a furious North Korea on Friday announced it was terminating ties with Malaysia. Malaysia denounced the decision and in a tit-for-tat response, gave North Korean diplomats 48 hours to leave.   Kim Yu Song, the chargé d’affaires and councilor in Kuala Lumpur, said Malaysia had “committed an unpardonable crime.” Echoing Pyongyang’s earlier statement, he accused Malaysia of being subservient to the U.S. and being part of a U.S. conspiracy aimed at “isolating and suffocating” his country.   “The Malaysian authority delivered our citizen to the U.S. in the end, thus destroying the foundations of the bilateral relations based on respect of sovereignty,” he said in a short statement outside the embassy, before heading to the airport.   North Korea has called the money laundering charges an “absurd fabrication and [a] sheer plot” orchestrated by the U.S. and warned Washington will “pay a due price.”   Some experts say cutting ties with Malaysia was North Korea’s way of showing anger with President Joe Biden’s administration, without jeopardizing an eventual return to nuclear negotiations with Washington.   North Korea has insisted it will not engage in talks with Washington unless it abandons what Pyongyang’s perceives as a “hostile” policy. But experts say North Korea will eventually seek to return to diplomacy to find ways to get sanctions relief and revive its moribund economy.   Malaysia has defended its move to extradite Mun Chol Myong, saying it was carried out only after all legal processes have been exhausted. A top court ruled Mun can be extradited after rejecting his appeal on grounds that the U.S. charges were politically motivated.   Mun, who lived in Malaysia for a decade and arrested in May 2019, has denied U.S. accusations that he was involved in supplying luxury goods from Singapore to North Korea in violation of U.N. sanctions while working in the city-state. He denied laundering funds through front companies and issuing fraudulent documents to support illicit shipments to his country.   North Korea has long used Malaysia as a crucial economic hub where it handled trade, labor exports and some illicit businesses in Southeast Asia, but their relations suffered major setbacks over the 2017 killing of Kim Jong Nam.   Two women — one Indonesian and the other Vietnamese — were charged with colluding with four North Koreans to murder Kim Jong Nam by smearing his face with VX nerve agent, a toxic and lethal chemical weapon. The four North Koreans fled Malaysia the day Kim died. The two women were later released.   Malaysian officials never officially accused North Korea of involvement in Kim’s death, but prosecutors made it clear throughout the trial that they suspected a North Korean connection.   North Korea denied the victim was Kim Jong Nam and disputed it had any role in the man’s death. Longtime North Korea watchers believe Kim Jong Un ordered his brother’s killing as part of efforts to remove potential rivals and cement his grip on power.  
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Dozens of pro-democracy protesters and police officers were injured Sunday when Thai police used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse a crowd gathered near the Grand Palace in the capital Bangkok.Police arrested at least 20 demonstrators for insulting the monarchy and breaching public gathering laws, saying that their actions were in accordance with international standards.Speaking to reporters, the deputy head of the Bangkok police, Piya Tavichai said that the “violence originated from the protesters’ side and police have to defend the law and protect national treasures.”Protesters said, however, that police used excessive force first before the demonstrators did anything.Videos circulated on social media showed police in riot gear clashing with demonstrators, hitting and stomping on people, some of them running to take refuge in a nearby McDonald’s restaurant.Thailand’s protest movement started last year and is presenting the biggest challenge for the government of Prime Minster Prayuth Chan-ocha, a retired army general who seized power after the 2014 military coup. The pro-democracy protesters demand that the prime minister and his government relinquish power, demand a constitutional amendment and call on the monarchy to reform.The military-monarchy establishment drafted the constitution for which the protesters say gives the king too much power and keeps Prayuth as prime minister after a 2019 election.Prayuth and his supporters reject that claim. 
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Saudi Arabia’s state-backed oil giant Aramco announced Sunday that its profits fell sharply in 2020 to $49 billion, a big drop that came as the coronavirus pandemic roiled global energy markets.Saudi Arabian Oil Co. released its financial results a year after the pandemic sent the price of oil crashing to all-time lows as people stopped moving around the world to stem the spread of the virus. In recent weeks, however, the price has edged up as movement restrictions ease, commerce increases, and more people get vaccinated against COVID-19. Still, analysts caution that a peak in demand may still be far off.The public figures, obligatory ever since the mostly state-owned company listed a sliver of its worth on Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange in 2019, offer valuable insight into the health of the region’s largest economy. Despite Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to diversify the economy away from oil, the kingdom remains heavily dependent on oil exports to fuel government spending.Saudi Aramco profit of $49 billion in 2020 is down from $88.2 billion in 2019 and $111.1 billion in 2018. Still, Aramco remains one of the world’s most valuable companies.The company produced the equivalent of 9.2 million barrels per day of crude oil over the course of the year, its annual results said. Capital expenditure was down in 2020 to $27 billion compared to $32.8 billion the year before. Aramco expects to spend $35 billion this year, significantly lower than the previous estimates of $40 billion-$45 billion.
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The founder of BioNTech, which partnered with Pfizer in making one of the first coronavirus vaccines to be approved for use, is optimistic that the virus will be under control in most European countries by the end of the summer despite a faltering vaccine rollout.In Germany, owners of shuttered shops and would-be vacationers are increasingly restive over COVID-19 restrictions. Some 20,000 people protested against lockdowns in the central city of Kassel on Saturday.European Union governments are facing criticism over the slow start to their vaccination campaigns, with supply hiccups leaving the bloc lagging far behind countries such as Israel, Britain and the United States.But BioNTech founder Ugur Sahin said he was optimistic the problems would prove temporary, adding it was possible to ensure 70% of Germans were vaccinated by the end of September, at which point he said the virus would pose few problems.’Background noise'”In many European countries and the U.S., we will probably not need lockdowns by summer’s end,” he told the Welt am Sonntag newspaper. “There’ll be outbreaks, but they’ll be background noise. There’ll be mutations, but they won’t frighten us.”Almost 9% of the German population had received at least one vaccine shot by Saturday. Meanwhile, Britain passed the halfway point with 50% of adults having received at least one dose.Protesters hold up an umbrella with lettering reading “Be free” as they gather for a demonstration to demand provision of basic rights and an end to restrictive coronavirus measures in Kassel, Germany, March 20, 2021.Protesters from across Germany converged on Kassel for a march Saturday that was organized by the “Lateral Thinkers,” an online conspiracy movement.Police used water cannon and pepper spray after the protests against lockdowns and other coronavirus rules turned violent.”Bottles were thrown and there were attempts to break through barriers,” police said on Twitter.In Germany, the sluggish vaccine deployment and continuing restrictions are weighing heavily on the fortunes of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives, who are slipping in the polls in an election year even as rising COVID-19 case numbers look set to force authorities to put the brakes on attempts to gradually reopen the economy.Above the limitThe number of newly diagnosed cases is more than 100 cases per 100,000 population over a week, the threshold above which authorities say they must impose stricter distancing rules to stop the health care system from being overburdened.”Many are simply disappointed,” Bavaria’s conservative Premier Markus Soeder, a likely candidate to succeed Merkel in the national election, told the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.”A false move now risks turning this third wave [of the virus] into a permanent wave,” he said ahead of a meeting on Monday of national and regional leaders at which they are expected to discuss the next stage of coronavirus measures.”We have a tool: the emergency brake. It must be applied strictly everywhere in Germany,” Soeder said, referring to the possibility of halting the easing of restrictions.  
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Police in the Thai capital used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets Saturday night to break up a rally by pro-democracy protesters calling for the release of detained activists, constitutional changes and reform of the nation’s monarchy.The rally held outside Bangkok’s Grand Palace was a continuation of student-led protests that began last year and have rattled Thailand’s traditional establishment, which is fiercely opposed to change, especially with regard to the monarchy.The rally organizers had said they planned to have demonstrators throw paper planes with messages over the palace walls.Barrier breachedThe demonstrators, who numbered nearly 1,000, broke through a barrier of shipping containers stacked two high outside the ceremonial palace. Police behind the containers responded first with warnings and then by shooting water cannons and rubber bullets. Police drove the crowd back, but skirmishes continued as the crowd dissipated and was gone by 10 p.m.During the skirmishes, protesters tossed smoke bombs and giant firecrackers at police, and also splashed a royal portrait with paint, but failed in an attempt to set it on fire, though they did burn tires and trash at several locations.Police deputy spokesman Colonel Kissana Phathanacharoen said at least six police officers were injured and about five protesters detained. The city’s Erawan emergency services said 11 people in all had been sent to hospitals.A demonstrator takes part in an anti-government protest, in Bangkok, Thailand, March 20, 2021.Kissana said police had warned in advance that the rally was illegal, but the demonstrators proceeded anyway. He said that in addition to throwing various objects, they used slingshots to fire nuts and bolts at police and hit them with metal rods. He said police had used water cannons, tear gas and rubber bullets according to proper procedures.The rally was called by REDEM, a faction of a broader protest movement last year that started with three core demands: that Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha and his government step down; that the constitution be amended to make it more democratic; and that the monarchy be reformed to make it more accountable.REDEM, which stands for Restart Democracy, claims to have no leaders and holds online voting to decide on rally dates and activities.Lese majeste lawThe movement sharpened its campaign to focus on the monarchy and Thailand’s lese majeste law, which makes criticizing, insulting or defaming the king and some other senior royals punishable by up to 15 years in prison.The monarchy has long been treated as a sacred institution in Thailand, and public criticism is not only illegal but has long been considered socially unacceptable. Many people still revere the monarchy, and the military, a major power in Thai society, considers defense of the monarchy a key priority.As protesters last year stepped up criticism of the monarchy, the government responded by charging outspoken protesters under the lese majeste law, and in the last month, eight were jailed pending trial.The movement was able to attract crowds of as many as 20,000 to 30,000 people in Bangkok in 2020 and had followings in major cities and universities. However, a new coronavirus outbreak late last year caused it to temporarily suspend activities, and it lost momentum. 
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On this edition of PCUSA, Host Kim Lewis and VOA Senior White House Correspondent Patsy Widakuswara speak with Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, former US Ambassador to Malta about achieving gender parity and gender equality in a COVID-19 world and how the Biden Administration can set the example.  Abercrombie-Winstanley’s assignments have included election monitoring in the Gaza Strip and an extraordinary assignment where she actively supported gender equality in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She was the first woman to lead a diplomatic mission in the country.
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Mass protests and gang violence have roiled Haiti for months and many people blame the president for not doing enough to stop it. As Sandra Lemaire reports, ongoing kidnappings and jailbreaks are threatening to derail elections planned for summer.Camera: Matiado Vilme, Sandra Lemaire, Reuters, AP 
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A year ago on March 11, the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic. As Henry Ridgwell reports for VOA from London, European countries hoped their well-funded health systems would offer some protection, but the continent was hit hard early on and continues to face high infection rates. 
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Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni is suing a local media group for reporting a claim that he and his inner circle were vaccinated against COVID-19 weeks before the first doses arrived in the country.  Lawyers representing President Yoweri Museveni said they filed a case against the Daily Monitor after the independent newspaper carried a story first published by The Wall Street Journal with the title: “Members of President Yoweri Museveni’s inner circle were offered vaccines from China state-owned drug maker Sinopharm.”According to the Wall Street Journal investigation, the offer by the Chinese government was meant to promote their vaccines.  Similar offers were also reported in Peru and the Philippines.The newspaper said in Peru, nearly 500 politically connected people, including then-President Martin Vizcarra, were secretly given the vaccine, which was undergoing clinical trial.The lawsuit alleges the article published by the Monitor was intentionally reckless, malicious and published without due care.   Museveni’s lawyers said the story presented him as having engaged in the dishonest activities of influence peddling, nepotism, scheming and conspiracy. They added that the article also portrayed Museveni as having abdicated his duties and obligations to frontline workers fighting COVID-19, and other groups vulnerable to the pandemic. “That presents him in a very bad light,” said Oscar Kihika, Museveni’s head of legal affairs. “So, he’s praying for damages for defamation.” Museveni’s lawyers also attached a copy of Twitter messages in response to the article in which different social media users commented on the allegation. One Twitter user Identified as Hotim 3mmy tweeted, “What if I told you the jab also cure corruption and ensure immortality on its recipients.” Mugema Stephen responded, “Few Ugandans would take it then if it cured corruption.” Museveni attacked the Daily Monitor twice recently, saying it is one of Uganda’s problems. He described the newspaper as evil, irresponsible and needing self-discipline. Museveni denied the claims in the article and instead warned he would drive the Daily Monitor bankrupt.  “That was before we imported the vaccine,” Museveni said. “Now, Monitor must apologize. In front page. To say that I got vaccinated secretly when my people were still in danger. I only care about myself. Monitor must apologize. Big, big letters.  If they don’t, I go for you. And I have already told the lawyers, get massive money from those crooks.” Daily Monitor managing director Tony Glencross said it is an independent newspaper, free to publish what it believes its audience needs to know, and the paper is preparing a defense. “In these kind of cases, the court will order that mediation must take place,” he said. “If the mediation is not successful, then we will battle it out in court.” In their letter acknowledging receipt of the suit, the newspaper’s lawyers said that the words quoted in the suit, even if untrue, cannot pass the test of defamatory publication.  They said that any immunization against a pandemic should be sought by any right-thinking member of society and cannot therefore lower the reputation of anybody. They added that the president takes precedence over all persons and if he and those close to him are immunized first against a pandemic for the president’s own safety, there cannot be any interference of loss of reputation. The newspaper has 15 days to file a response. 
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The Biden administration is contrasting its criticisms of Iran’s poor human rights record from those made by former President Donald Trump, with a senior official saying the U.S. is trying to make its Iran critiques more credible by stressing a need to also solve rights problems at home.“President Joe Biden has made clear … that human rights are going to be a priority in Iran and in the region as a whole,” said U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley in a Wednesday interview with VOA Persian at the State Department. “And I think we have restored a more principled approach in which we push for the respect of human rights throughout the world, including, by the way, in the United States.”Prior to Malley’s interview, the Biden administration had issued eight public statements about Iran’s human rights record since taking office on Jan. 20, with the toughest being a March 9 announcement of sanctions against two interrogators of Iran’s paramilitary Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for allegedly violating the rights of anti-government protesters in 2019 and 2020.The Trump administration had frequently been vocal about Iran’s poor rights record during its four-year term and sanctioned multiple Iranian government-linked individuals and entities for alleged human rights abuses.In an echo of Trump’s approach, Malley told VOA the Biden administration has tried to “shine a spotlight on Iran [and] the struggle of courageous activists” such as jailed Iranian human rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. A U.S. official in Geneva had mentioned Sotoudeh in a March 9 statement to the U.N. Human Rights Council urging Iran to end its “systematic use of an arbitrary and unfair justice system to detain and impose sentences against human rights defenders.”In another message similar to that of the Trump administration, Malley said U.S. officials were putting a “huge emphasis” on trying to bring home Iranian American dual citizens seen as unjustly detained in or prevented from leaving Iran. He named businessman Siamak Namazi, who was arrested in October 2015; Siamak’s father and former U.N. official Baquer Namazi, who was detained in February 2016 and has been on a medical furlough from prison since 2018; and environmentalist Morad Tahbaz, who was arrested in January 2018.Malley said the U.S. also will continue to seek the return of the remains of retired FBI agent Robert “Bob” Levinson, who disappeared in Iran after being abducted in 2007 and later died in captivity according to U.S. intelligence assessments.“It is unconscionable that … the Iranian government would use the lives of individuals as pawns in a political game to try to extract benefit,” Malley said. “This is not something [where] you sign an agreement and that’s enough. What you need to do is push and make sure that there’s pressure, and make sure that the Iranian people themselves know that the United States is standing with them in that fight.”Sorry, but your browser cannot support embedded video of this type, you can
download this video to view it offline.Download File360p | 3 MB480p | 4 MB540p | 4 MB1080p | 17 MBOriginal | 34 MB Embed” />Copy Download AudioUS Envoy Talks Human RightsIn an effort to contrast his message from that of the previous administration, Malley said the U.S. views the human rights fight as one involving not just Iran but other countries.“And it’s [involving] the U.S. trying to restore its own faith with its commitments back at home, commitments on democracy, on the respect of human rights,” he said. “One of the first decisions President Biden made was to lift the travel ban on Muslims and Africans to try to restore the U.S. to a stronger position in terms of being able to argue for universal human rights everywhere.”Biden repealed the Trump travel ban on Iran and 12 other nations within hours of being sworn in. He said the visa restrictions on citizens of those nations, seven of them predominantly Muslim states in the Middle East and Africa, were inconsistent with a U.S. tradition of welcoming people of all faiths and undermined national security.Trump had said the bans were justified by concerns about foreign terrorist entry to the United States and about the ability of U.S. authorities to screen visa applicants from nations afflicted by terrorism.Malley’s human rights comments drew mixed reactions from U.S. analysts and policy advocates contacted by VOA Persian.Barbara Slavin of the Atlantic Council welcomed the U.S. envoy’s position. “The Trump administration approach was riddled with double standards, condemning Iran vociferously while ignoring or soft-peddling egregious abuses by countries ‘friendlier’ to the United States such as Saudi Arabia. I thought it was important that he admitted that the U.S. record is hardly perfect in this regard,” she said.National Iranian American Council policy director Ryan Costello said the Biden administration should not only speak out “more evenly” on human rights abuses in the Middle East and the world but also ease Trump-imposed Iran sanctions that he said, “have hurt ordinary Iranians and contributed to the securitized political environment in Iran.” Biden has offered to ease those sanctions if Iran first resumes compliance with a 2015 deal in which it promised world powers to curb nuclear activities that could be weaponized, in return for sanctions relief.Alireza Nader of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies said he does not believe Biden will achieve any human rights improvements in Iran without maintaining the Trump-era sanctions that were part of the former president’s “maximum pressure” campaign against the Islamist-ruled nation. “The Iranian people want the Islamic Republic gone and an easing of pressure only helps the regime,” he said.Iran International senior analyst Jason Brodsky said the newly defined U.S. human rights approach to Iran is unlikely to influence an Iranian supreme leader who has gone to great lengths to ensure the survival of Iran’s ruling system. “A U.S. universal and self-critical policy by itself won’t change that calculus, and the international community needs to understand that dynamic,” Brodsky said.This article originated in VOA’s Persian Service.  
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Cost of college tuition in the United States remains at an all-time high – even higher for international students. US politicians who are examining the future of higher education after COVID-19 say tackling the cost is essential to students and universities. Jesusemen Oni has more.
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The United States and China leveled sharp rebukes Thursday of each other’s policies in the first high-level, in-person talks of the Biden administration, with deeply strained relations of the two global rivals on rare public display during the meeting’s opening session in Alaska.The United States, which quickly accused China of grandstanding and violating the meeting’s protocol, had been looking for a change in behavior from China, which had earlier this year expressed hope for a reset to sour relations.On the eve of the talks, Beijing had presaged what would be a contentious meeting, with its ambassador to Washington saying the United States was full of illusions if it thinks China will compromise.Sparring in a highly unusual extended back-and-forth in front of cameras, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan opened their meeting with China’s top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and State Councilor Wang Yi in Anchorage, fresh off Blinken’s visits to allies Japan and South Korea.White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, right, speaks as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, center, looks on at the opening session of U.S.-China talks at the Captain Cook Hotel in Anchorage, Alaska, March 18, 2021.”We will … discuss our deep concerns with actions by China, including in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Taiwan, cyberattacks on the United States, economic coercion of our allies,” Blinken said in blunt public remarks at the top of the first meeting.”Each of these actions threaten the rules-based order that maintains global stability,” he said.Yang responded with a 15-minute speech in Chinese while the U.S. side awaited translation, lashing out about what he said was the United States’ struggling democracy and its poor treatment of minorities, and criticizing its foreign and trade policies.”The United States uses its military force and financial hegemony to carry out long-arm jurisdiction and suppress other countries,” Yang said.”It abuses so-called notions of national security to obstruct normal trade exchanges and incite some countries to attack China,” he added.”Let me say here that in front of the Chinese side, the United States does not have the qualification to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength,” Yang said. ” … The U.S. side was not even qualified to say such things even 20 years or 30 years back, because this is not the way to deal with the Chinese people.”ProtocolApparently taken aback by Yang’s remarks, Blinken held journalists in the room so he could respond.Sullivan said the United States did not seek conflict with China but would stand up for its principles and friends. He touted this year’s Mars rover landing success and said the United States’ promise was in its ability constantly reinvent itself.Yang Jiechi, center, director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, second left, speak with U.S. counterparts at the opening session of U.S.-China talks in Anchorage, Alaska, March 18, 2021.What is typically a few minutes of opening remarks open to reporters for such high-level meetings lasted for more than an hour, and the two delegations tussled about when journalists would be ushered out of the room.Following the exchange, a senior U.S. administration official said China had immediately violated agreed-to protocol, which was two minutes of opening remarks by each of the principals.”The Chinese delegation … seems to have arrived intent on grandstanding, focused on public theatrics and dramatics over substance,” the official told reporters in Alaska.The United States would continue with its meeting as planned, the official said, adding that “exaggerated diplomatic presentations often are aimed at a domestic audience.”Before taking office, U.S. President Joe Biden had been attacked by Republicans who feared his administration would take too soft an approach with China. But in recent weeks, top Republicans have given the president a gentle nod for revitalizing relations with U.S. allies in order to confront China, a shift from former President Donald Trump’s go-it-alone “America First” strategy.While much of Biden’s China policy is still being formulated, including how to handle the tariffs on Chinese goods implemented under Trump, his administration has so far placed a stronger emphasis on democratic values and allegations of human rights abuses by China.’Pretty tough’ conversationsThe U.S. administration has said Blinken’s Asia tour before the meeting with Chinese officials, as well as U.S. outreach to Europe, India and other partners, shows how the United States has strengthened its hand to confront China since Biden took office in January.But the two sides appear primed to agree on very little at the talks, which were expected to run into the evening in Anchorage and continue Friday.Even the status of the meeting has become a sticking point, with China insisting it is a “strategic dialogue,” recalling bilateral mechanisms of years past. The U.S. side has explicitly rejected that, calling it a one-off session.On the eve of the talks, the United States issued a flurry of actions directed at China, including a move to begin revoking Chinese telecom licenses, subpoenas to multiple Chinese information technology companies over national security concerns, and updated sanctions on China over a rollback of democracy in Hong Kong.”We’re expecting much of these conversations will be pretty, pretty tough,” a senior U.S. administration official told reporters in Alaska before the meeting began.Yang questioned Blinken on whether the sanctions were announced ahead of the meeting on purpose.”Well, I think we thought too well of the United States. We thought that the U.S. side would follow the necessary diplomatic protocols,” he said.FILE – A protester holds a sign calling for China to release Canadian detainees Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig outside a court hearing for Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou in Vancouver, March 6, 2019.China, however, indicated this week that it was set to begin trials of two Canadians detained in December 2018 on spying charges soon after Canadian police detained Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of telecom equipment company Huawei Technologies, on a U.S. warrant.Meng awaits the results of a case that could see her extradited to the United States, but China’s foreign ministry rejected assertions that the timing of the trials was linked to the Anchorage talks.Washington has said it is willing to work with China when it is in the interests of the United States and has cited the fight against climate change and the coronavirus pandemic as examples. On Thursday, Blinken said Washington hoped to see China use its influence with North Korea to persuade it to give up its nuclear weapons.Uyghurs’ demandThe largest group representing exiled Uyghurs has written to Blinken urging him to demand that Beijing close its internment camps in the Xinjiang region, where U.N. experts say that more than 1 million members of the ethnic group and other Muslim minorities have been held.Blinken had pledged to raise the issue, his State Department having upheld a Trump administration determination that Beijing was perpetrating genocide in Xinjiang, something China vehemently denies.Yang said China firmly opposed U.S. interference in its internal affairs. The United States should handle its own affairs and China its own, he said. 
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