‘Freedom loving people of Hong Kong would prevail’: Pompeo slams at China

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Friday that the Legislative Council elections scheduled for September 6 will be postponed over the COVID-19 threat

Condemning the delay in legislative elections in Hong Kong, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Sunday said the only reason for the postponement is Beijing’s fear that Chinese Communist Party candidates would be crushed.

“COVID-19 is not the reason for the delay in the election. The reason for the delay – there was scheduled to be an election in Hong Kong on September 6th. The reason for the delay is that the Chinese Communist Party candidates would be crushed, and the freedom-loving people of Hong Kong would prevail, and the leadership in Beijing simply can’t permit that to happen,” Pompeo told Fox News.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam announced on Friday that the Legislative Council elections scheduled for September 6 will be postponed over the COVID-19 threat. “Look, this is part of what we’re seeing happen all across the threat from the Chinese Communist Party: increased denial of freedom for people in their own country; and then extending that now to people outside of their country. That national security law can be applied to people all across the world,” The Us Secretary of State said.

Trump signs into law suspending US privileges to Hong Kong, blasts China

Beijing's new security law will end to Hong Kong's special status, say China critics.

International News: President Donald Trump signed into law the Hong Kong Autonomy Act on Tuesday and also gave his assent to an executive order ending US preferential treatment for Hong Kong. "Today, I signed a legislation and an executive order to hold China accountable for its oppressive actions against the people of Hong Kong," Trump told reporters at a White House press conference. The Hong Kong Autonomy Act was passed unanimously by the Congress, he said, adding that the law gives his administration powerful new tools to hold responsible the individuals in the entities involved in extinguishing Hong Kong's freedom.

"We have all watched what happened, not a good situation. Their freedom has been taken away, their rights have been taken away and with it goes Hong Kong in my opinion, because it will no longer be able to compete with free markets. A lot of people will be leaving Hong Kong I suspect and we are going to do a lot more business because of it because we just lost one competitor.

"We lost a very, very serious competitor, a competitor that we incentivised to take a lot of business and do well, and we gave them a lot of business by doing what we did. We gave them things that nobody else had the right to do and that gave them a big edge over other markets, and because of that edge, they have some really historic business, tremendous business, far bigger than anybody would have thought years ago when we did this gift. It was really a gift to freedom," Trump said...

Previous policy against China did not work, US to take new path: Pompeo

The National Security Law, he says, has taken away the freedom of the people of Hong Kong

International News: The United States has to take a different path with regard to China as the previous policy of helping them open up their economy with the believe that this would lead to more political freedom has not worked, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said.

"The theory of the case that was more economic opening will lead to more political freedoms, more fundamental rights being provided to the Chinese people, just turned out not to have been true. It just didn't work. I'm not criticising those who came before; we can now plainly see that it didn't work, and that means the United States has to take a different path," Pompeo told Tony Perkins of Washington Watch in an interview.

President Donald Trump, he said, has laid that path out pretty clearly.

"He is the first president and this is not partisan. This is Republican and Democrat presidents before him allowed China to engage in a trade relationship with the United States that caused middle (class) America, working people all across the United States, to lose their jobs," he said.

Trump sought China’s help to win 2020 US election, claims Bolton’s memoir

The book, ‘The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir’, is due to be published on June 23, but the Trump administration has sued to block its distribution

In a stunning accusation against his ex-boss, former US National Security Adviser John Bolton has claimed in his new book that President Donald Trump personally asked his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping to help him win the 2020 presidential election, CNN reported.

According to an excerpt from his upcoming memoir published by the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday, during one notable interaction between Trump and Xi at the G-20 Summit in Osaka last June, the US President “stunningly” turned the conversation to the upcoming 2020 election.Bolton went on narrating in the book that Trump had “stressed the importance of farmers and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome,” adding that he “would print Trump’s exact words, but the government’s prepublication review process has decided otherwise.” 

ALSO READ: Trump signs order on police reforms after meeting victims’ families

The former NSA also said the conversation turned back to the trade deal, and Trump “proposed that for the remaining $350 billion of trade imbalances (by Trump’s arithmetic), the US would not impose tariffs, but he again returned to importuning Xi to buy as many American farm products as China could.” The book, ‘The Room Where it Happened: A White House Memoir’, is due to be published on June 23, but the Trump administration has sued to block its distribution, claiming that it contains classified information and would compromise national security.

Our territorial rights in South China Sea in line with UN Charter: China

China and the US have been at loggerheads since the start of pandemic on several issues pertaining to the information sharing on Covid-19

China on Wednesday said that its territorial claims in the South China Sea is legitimate and were established throughout a long course of history which is in line with the international law including the United Nations Charter. “China’s territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests in the South China Sea have been formed in a long historical process and claimed by all Chinese administrations, which are also in line with UN Charter & UNCLOS. Accusations of China’s lawful claims are groundless,” Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian said in a press conference.

This remark came after US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo tweeted on June 2 that the US has sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General to protest China’s “unlawful South China Sea maritime claims”. Pompeo wrote: “We reject these claims as unlawful and dangerous. The Member States must unite to uphold international law and freedom of the seas.”

ALSO READ: Border situation with India stable; no need of third party mediation: China

China and the US have been at loggerheads since the start of a pandemic on several issues pertaining to the information sharing on Covid-19. Reaffirming China’s stand, Zhao Lijian has said, “China has never delayed releasing coronavirus information. China’s timeline on Covid-19 information sharing is clear and open to the world. It can stand the test of time.” Meanwhile, the United States on Wednesday said it will block Chinese airlines from flying into or out of the US starting on June 16, The New York Times reported…

‘The end of Hong Kong’? China’s new plan for the region has Trump fuming

China’s action could spark fresh protests in Hong Kong, which enjoys many freedoms not allowed on the mainland

China is set to impose new national security legislation on Hong Kong after last year’s pro-democracy unrest, a Chinese official said on Thursday, drawing a warning from President Donald Trump that Washington would react “very strongly” against the attempt to gain more control over the former British colony.

The US State Department also warned China, saying a high-degree of autonomy and respect for human rights were key to preserving the territory’s special status in US law, which has helped it maintain its position as a world financial centre, the Reuters reported. China’s action could spark fresh protests in Hong Kong, which enjoys many freedoms not allowed on the mainland, after often violent demonstrations of 2019 plunged the city into its deepest turmoil since it returned to Beijing’s rule in 1997. Trump, who has ratcheted up his anti-China rhetoric as he seeks re-election in November, told reporters “nobody knows yet” the details of China’s plan. “If it happens we’ll address that issue very strongly,” he said.

ALSO READ: Hong Kong police arrest 14 pro-democracy activists for organising protests

Zhang Yesui, spokesman for the China’s National People’s Congress, said details of the legislation would be given on Friday when the parliament holds its annual session. “In light of the new circumstances and need, the National People’s Congress (NPC) is exercising its constitutional power” to establish a new legal framework and enforcement mechanism to safeguard national security in Hong Kong, he told a briefing.

Bill introduced in US Congress to stop predatory acquisitions by China

The legislation will prevent companies with ties to China from owning more than 51 per cent of shares in the critical infrastructure

An influential American Congressman on Wednesday introduced a legislation in the House of Representatives that would prevent predatory investments of American companies by the Chinese government. Introduced by Congressman Jim Banks, member of the House Armed Services Committee, the Restricting Predatory Acquisition During Covid-19 Act would expand the scope of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) to review purchases by companies with ties to the Chinese Communist Party during the Covid-19 pandemic, news agency PTI reported.

“Our job is to ensure the Chinese Communist Party does not profit off a pandemic of their own making. President Trump won an election vowing to stop China from taking advantage of Americans. I am glad to be working with him now to stop Chinese predation,” Banks said in a statement. The bill proposes to increase the scope of cases the CFIUS reviews and sends to the president prior to a financial transaction…

ALSO READ: Will cancel trade deal if China fails to buy goods worth $200 bn : Trump

Congressman Sharice Davids on Wednesday introduced a legislation to rapidly increase the supply of equipment like face masks, hospital gowns, ventilators and testing materials needed to fight the coronavirus and keep the frontline workers safe. The bill would also promote manufacturing these goods in the United States. “We have seen first hand that relying on China to produce the vast majority of medical equipment we use in the US is a big problem,” Davids said….Click Here

'184 countries going through hell': Trump faults China for Covid-19 spread

The US is considering coronavirus scanning of air travellers from countries hit hard by the virus, says President Trump

US President Donald Trump doubled down on China for failing to tame the coronavirus at its very origin, saying it has led to 184 countries “going through hell”, as several American lawmakers demanded steps to reduce dependence on Beijing for manufacturing and minerals.

Trump has been publicly blaming China for the global spread of the “invisible enemy” and launched an investigation against it. He has also indicated that the US may be looking at “a lot more money” in damages from China than the $140 billion being sought by Germany from Beijing for the pandemic. Leaders of the US, the UK and Germany believe that the deaths and the destruction of the global economy could have been avoided, had China shared the information about the virus in its early phases, news agency PTI reported.

“It’s in 184 countries, as you hear me say often. It’s hard to believe. It’s inconceivable,” Trump told reporters at White House Tuesday. “It should have been stopped at the source, which was China. It should have been stopped very much at the source, but it wasn’t. And now we have 184 countries going through hell.” The virus, which originated in China’s Wuhan city in mid-November, has killed more than 200,000 people and infected over three million globally. The largest number of them are in the US: nearly 59,000 deaths and over one million infections…Read More

Donald Trump effort to keep US tech out of China alarms American firms

The Trump administration’s crackdown has already prompted foreign firms to shun American components and technology over concerns that access to parts they need could be abruptly cut off.

The US administration’s push to prevent China from dominating the market for advanced technologies has put it on a collision course with the same American companies it wants to protect. Firms that specialise in microchips, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and other industries have grown increasingly alarmed by the administration’s efforts to restrict the flow of technology to China, saying it could siphon expertise, research and revenue away from the United States, ultimately eroding America’s advantage.

The concerns, which have been simmering for months, have taken on new urgency as the Commerce Department considers adopting a sweeping proposal that would allow the United States to block transactions between American firms and Chinese counterparts. Those rules, on top of new restrictions on Chinese investment in the United States and proposed measures that would prevent American companies from exporting certain products and sharing technology with foreign nationals, have the tech industry scrambling to respond.

The Trump administration’s crackdown has already prompted foreign firms to shun American components and technology over concerns that access to parts they need could be abruptly cut off. American companies are watching warily as the United States considers restricting export licenses for companies that sell products or share intellectual property with China, including General Electric, which sells aircraft parts to China as part of a joint venture with Safran, a French firm…Keep Reading

‘Longer it goes on, the stronger we get’: Trump takes on China on trade war

Trump claimed that millions of jobs have been lost and thousands of companies are shutting down in China.

US President Donald Trump has said that China is doing very poorly as a result of the trade war and the “longer it goes on, the stronger we get”. Asserting that the United States is “having a very good discussion” on a trade deal with China, Trump told reporters at the Morristown airport in New Jersey that he will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping “very soon”.On the protests in Hong Kong which have been going on since early June, the US president said that Xi can “humanely” solve the problem so that “everybody is happy”.

“I think the longer the trade war goes on, the weaker China gets and the stronger we get. We’re taking in massive amounts of money. Billions and billions of dollars. And I think the longer it goes, the stronger we get. I have a feeling it’s going to go fairly short,” he said on Thursday.

As a result of the US China trade war, China is doing very poorly, Trump said. “The tariffs have really bitten into China. They haven’t bitten into us at all except for the reporters that want to make it look that way, but they don’t understand what’s happening,” he said.

“We’ve taken close to USD 60 billion in tariff money. The consumer has not paid for them. Now, at some point, they may have to pay something. But they understand that,” Trump asserted.He claimed that millions of jobs have been lost and thousands of companies are shutting down in China.

‘A perfect storm’: Trump, Xi make big bets in trade war that may backfire

For Trump, the bet is that a hard-line stance on China will help him win another four years; the political calculations for Xi are harder to grasp, given the secretive nature of the Communist Party

International News: When Xi Jinping first met Donald Trump back in 2017, the Chinese leader said they had “a thousand reasons to make the China-US relationship a success, and not a single reason to break it.”

Two years on, ties are at their lowest point in decades — and they appear to be worsening by the day. Trump’s threat to raise tariffs on all Chinese goods last week shattered a truce reached with Xi just weeks earlier, unleashing tit-for-tat actions on trade and currency policy that risk accelerating a wider geopolitical fight between the world’s biggest economies.

A big part of the problem is that neither leader believes the other is serious about making a deal: China sees Donal Trump as posturing ahead of the 2020 election, while US officials think Xi is looking to wait him out for a better deal. Either way, the political space for compromise is diminishing as hardliners take center stage, prompting investors to weigh the potential economic fallout.

“We are looking at a situation now that is a bit of a perfect storm,” said Dennis Wilder, former senior director for Asia on the National Security Council who is now at Georgetown University. “Both have a great deal to lose in this high-stakes poker.”

For Trump, the bet is that a hard-line stance on China will help him win another four years in the Oval Office. His administration has proudly trumpeted what it calls the most robust response in decades to a rising China, and most Democratic candidates agree with the need to stay tough on Beijing even if they don’t agree with Trump’s tariffs..