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| In this Nov. 9 file photo, US President Donald Trump waves next to Chinese President Xi Jinping after attending a joint press conference at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. (AP) China, Russia slam US ‘imperialist’ and ‘Cold War mentality’ AFP | Published — Tuesday 19 December 2017 BEIJING: China and Russia on Tuesday decried President Donald Trump’s first National Security Strategy — which pilloried both nations as challengers to US power — as a “Cold War mentality” with an “imperialist character.” The two global powerhouses hit back hours after the Trump administration unveiled its approach to the world with biting language framing Beijing and Moscow as global competitors. “We urge the United States to stop intentionally distorting China’s strategic intentions and to abandon outdated notions such as the Cold War mentality and zero-sum game, otherwise it will only harm itself or others,” Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said. Moscow issued its own denunciation moments later. “The imperialist character of this document is obvious, as is the refusal to renounce a unipolar world, an insistent refusal,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. The report’s tough tone contrasts sharply with Trump’s friendlier face-to-face encounters with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian leader Vladimir Putin. “China and Russia challenge American power, influence, and interests, attempting to erode American security and prosperity,” the document says … for more, go to http://www.arabnews.com/node/1211586/world |
Germans say ‘We must avoid new Cold War’! What rubbish!
KUALA LUMPUR (March 2018): The Reuters report titled “We must avoid new Cold War - German government's Russia expert” is both laughable and stupid.
Laughable because the rest of the world are well aware of the ongoing 21st Century Cold War - The US vs The China-Russia Combo. (Read this for context: https://ilovemalaysiachinasilkroad.blogspot.my/2017/10/whatever-analysts-say-china-russia.html - Whatever analysts say, the China-Russia Combo is keeping the US world hegemony in check!)
Stupid because - who is the German government’s so-called Russia expert trying to kid?
This is a clear case of news spinning without giving much thought or, worse still, taking readers to be morons.
And, there are no signs or indications that the war-waging US, led by President Donald Trump, has any plans to downplay its global economic and military rift with China and Russia.
After slapping tariffs on China imports of steel, and the debut of the PetroYuan Futures Market on Monday (March 26) which challenges the Greenback, Trump has heightened his hostility against China.
Bloomberg reported that the Trump administration is considering a crackdown on Chinese investments in technologies the U.S. deems sensitive by invoking a law reserved for national emergencies, among other options.
And, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, acquisitions by Chinese firms in the U.S. fell to US$31.8 billion last year from US$53 billion the year before.
So, the global scenario now is not about avoiding a new Cold War. It is about preparing for the worse, economically and militarily, and the Americans appear to be more on the receiving end of the stick:
"We must avoid new Cold War - German government's Russia expert
WORLD
Wednesday, 28 Mar 2018
11:07 AM MYT
BERLIN (Reuters) - Germany wants to keep up a dialogue with Moscow despite joining Western expulsions of Russian diplomats and must avoid a new Cold War, the German government's coordinator for Russia said in a newspaper interview.
Gernot Erler told the Passauer Neue Presse that Berlin's decision to send four diplomats back to Russia was a sign of solidarity with Britain after a nerve agent attack on former Russian spy Sergei Skripal in England.
But despite Berlin's firm position with Moscow, channels of communication will remain open, Erler said in comments released on Wednesday.
"We have a clear and unshakeable position, but we want to stay in dialogue with Moscow," said Erler, a member of the left-leaning Social Democrats (SPD). "We must do everything possible to prevent a new Cold War with Russia!"
European Union member Ireland as well as Moldova on Tuesday joined the list of countries expelling Russian diplomats over the attack on Skripal, a former double agent. The list includes 22 EU states; Britain led the way by kicking out 23 diplomats.
There has been broad consensus among German Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives and the SPD, her junior coalition partners, on standing with Britain in taking a tough stance towards Moscow over the Skripal case.
Merkel has repeatedly called on Russia to cooperate in the investigation. Russia has denied any responsibility for the poisoning of Skripal, 66, and his 33-year-old daughter Yulia with a nerve toxin in the English city of Salisbury on March 4.
The opposition far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) rebuked Merkel's government on Tuesday for joining the Western expulsions of Russian diplomats after the attack on Skripal, arguing that this harmed Germany.
The AfD campaigned to end sanctions on Russia imposed by Germany and other Western countries over Moscow's role in the Ukraine crisis, and says it wants to improve relations with Russia.
"Despite economic interests in an end to the Russia sanctions, politics must take precedence," Erler said.
(Writing by Paul Carrel; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
US said to weigh emergency law for China investment crackdown
MARKETS
Wednesday, 28 Mar 2018
11:03 AM MYT
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Treasury Department officials are working on plans to identify technology sectors in which Chinese companies would be banned from investing, such as semiconductors and so-called 5G wireless communications, according to four people with knowledge of the proposal, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
The investment curbs would be the latest step in President Donald Trump’s plan to punish China for what the U.S. sees as violations of American intellectual-property rights. The president asked Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to consider investment restrictions on Chinese firms after the administration released the results of its probe into China’s IP practices last week.
While investors have so far focused on Trump’s plan to impose tariffs on Chinese imports, new restrictions could deepen a slowdown in Chinese investments in the U.S. since Trump took office, hurting the ability of American companies to raise capital and holding down valuations.
“There will be limitations on foreign investment,” Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said Tuesday in an interview on Fox Business Network. Pending legislation in the Senate and House to bulk up the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., the panel that currently reviews foreign takeovers, will be part of the response, Ross said, adding that Trump will take “other action.”
The S&P 500 Index dropped 1.7 percent Tuesday, extending this month’s decline, on concern about heightened trade tensions between the world’s largest economies. Asian equity markets retreated Wednesday.
“The trade issue and uncertainty related to that is not going to fade in one day because all of a sudden we started thinking that we would reach some sort of a settlement with China,” said Krishna Memani, chief investment officer at OppenheimerFunds Inc. “This is going to be somewhat of a long process for things to settle down.”
Earlier this month, the U.S. president rejected Broadcom Ltd.’s hostile takeover of Qualcomm Inc., sending a message that his administration won’t look kindly on any deal that would give China an edge in critical technology. Although Broadcom is based in Singapore, China loomed large in the decision, because Qualcomm is locked in a race with China’s Huawei Technologies Co. to dominate the development of next-generation wireless technology.
Last year, Trump blocked the takeover of chipmaker Lattice Semiconductor Corp. by a private-equity firm backed by a Chinese state-owned asset manager.
Reciprocal Measures
If conflicts escalate, China may consider reciprocal measures on more agricultural products, aircraft, automobiles and semiconductors from the U.S., the official Economic Daily reported Wednesday, citing Gu Xueming, director of the Commerce Ministry’s Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
Trump gave Mnuchin 60 days from March 22 to propose executive actions the president can take to address concerns about Chinese investments in industries or technologies “deemed important” to the U.S. Treasury officials are looking at ways to impose tougher conditions on Chinese firms using legislation that underlies CFIUS, which currently vets foreign takeovers on a case-by-case basis.
But they are also weighing the use of a law that enables the president to regulate commerce in a national emergency, two of the people said.
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act, enacted in 1977, allows the president to declare a national emergency in response to an “unusual and extraordinary threat.” After declaring such an emergency, the president can block transactions and seize assets.
“It’s never been used in connection with unfair trade practices, but it’s broad enough that you could put restrictions on a wide variety of transactions,” said Christian Davis, an international trade lawyer at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP in Washington.
Strict Reciprocity
The Trump administration is considering enforcing strict reciprocity on Chinese acquisitions, meaning U.S. regulators would only approve deals in sectors in which American companies are allowed to invest, according to two of the people familiar with the matter. China restricts or bans foreign investment in a range of industries, from car manufacturing to telecommunications providers and rare-earth exploration.
The Trump administration hasn’t finalized its plans, and the options under consideration could still change, the people familiar with the matter said.
Enforcing sweeping bans on Chinese investment would mark a major departure from the existing CFIUS process, which reviews individual transactions to determine if it threatens U.S. national security. The administration could use CFIUS legislation to declare a policy that Chinese investment won’t be allowed in entire industries deemed sensitive, such as microchips and telecommunications, said Davis, the Akin Gump lawyer.
“The question is how different is that from what CFIUS is doing already with respect to Chinese investments in sensitive sectors,” he said. “Depending on how these restrictions are implemented, the answer may be not much.”
Republican Senator John Cornyn and Republican House member Robert Pittenger have introduced legislation that would expand the power of CFIUS to review foreign investments. Mnuchin has been supportive of the bill, which would broaden the scope of reviewable technologies to include investments in “critical” technologies.
Acquisitions by Chinese firms in the U.S. fell to $31.8 billion last year from $53 billion the year before, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
(Updates with China newspaper comment under â€Reciprocal Measures’ subheadline.) - Bloomberg"
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| File photo of a missile being fired from a North Korean naval vessel. (Photo: Reuters) Between US, Russia & China, Is it Cold War-II already? GULSHAN LUTHRA26.04.17 Mother of All Bombs (MOAB) strike by the United States on ISIS terrorists in Afghanistan has triggered suggestions that a second round of the Cold War is set to begin. Particularly as the new US President, Donald Trump, seems to be brash, abrasive and capable of taking action without thinking of consequences. In fact, the Second Cold War, or Cold War-II, has been in the making due to the rise of Islamic terrorism from Pakistan and Afghanistan to the Middle East, drawing inevitable military interventions by the major powers. Then there is Russia's anger at the US-led bombings in Syria where it wants President Bashar Assad to stay, and China's attempts to annex most of the South China Sea and also the acquisition of Pakistan's Arabian Sea port of Gwadar for 40 or more years, as a strategic naval base with its operational Command and Control lying with Beijing. Russia, China Up The Ante Against the US Both Russia and China have stepped up military movements on land, air and sea, particularly around US allies like Japan. The official Russian news agency Sputnik is steadily issuing hard-hitting statements against the US, particularly against Trump, and has let it be known that Russian strategic bombers like Tu-95 are flying near the US and Western countries, and battle ships are out in the Pacific near Japan and South Korea … for more, go to https://www.thequint.com/news/world/cold-war-2-tensions-between-usa-china-russia-north-korea |
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