Xi Jinping

Saturday June 22, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday June 22, 2019

Trudeau and Trump meet and U.S. president says he will press China to release detained Canadians 

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s third official visit to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump got off to a better start than his last disastrous G7 meeting with the unpredictable president.

May 24, 2019

Trump welcomed Trudeau to the Oval Office, calling him a “friend” and saying they would have a “positive day” and in a photo opportunity, Trump told reporters he would take up Canada’s cause with Chinese president Xi Jinping to release the detained Canadians “at Justin’s request.”

“I will represent him well, we have a meeting set up with President Xi and it’s obviously on the big transaction that we’re talking about and negotiating…but anything that I can do to help Canada I will be doing.”

Trump also said Trudeau’s going up to Capitol Hill to speak to members of Congress about ratifying the new NAFTA is “a good thing.”

Trump wavered for a moment on the ratification of the new NAFTA however, after a reporter asked about a promise of no more tariffs when the deal is ratified.

November 30, 2018

“I have to get the Democrats to approve it, so I like your positive thinking. But if — and the if is really subject to the Democrats, let’s see what happens — but I really believe that Nancy Pelosi and the House will approve it, I think the senate will approve it rapidly. It’s going to be very bipartisan.”

Trump did not rule out any further tariffs against Canada and Mexico, saying “they have to do what they have to do.”

He said if there are any “tremendous shipments of certain products” into U.S. markets, he might revive them.

“We were very pleased the steel and aluminum tariffs were lifted,” said Trudeau.

Trump replied: “There won’t be hopefully transshipping. If there’s transshipping, I’ll call Justin and he’ll take care of it, I’ll probably call him a second time and if he does it again, we’ll have to talk.” (Hamilton Spectator)

 

Friday June 28, 2019

June 28, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday June 28, 2019

Canada has ‘broad international coalition’ of support on China file, Freeland says

Canada is fortunate to have assembled a “broad international coalition” of countries who support Canada and believe arbitrary detentions are harmful, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said Friday at the G20 summit in Osaka.

August 10, 2018

Freeland, who spoke to reporters alongside her cabinet colleague Finance Minister Bill Morneau, said China has been hearing about the detention of two Canadians from a range of countries, adding that efforts continue here at the summit.

The Prime Minister’s Office said Trudeau had “brief, constructive interactions” with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the first day of meetings at the gathering of major economies.

Video footage from a working lunch on Friday showed the two leaders sitting beside each other but not interacting for several minutes while cameras were positioned on them. Trudeau could be seen making an effort to interact with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, located on his other side.

Trudeau and Xi greeted each other prior to the interaction in the footage, government officials said.

December 5, 2017

Canada has been open for a long time to having conversations with China in addition to discussions unfolding at some diplomatic levels, Freeland said Friday, adding it remains “very, very open” to having conversations at the summit at higher level.

At present, communication has proved to be difficult because the Chinese have indicated they have no interest in speaking with senior officials including Freeland or Trudeau.

To try and get through to China, Canada is now relying heavily on the influence of U.S. President Donald Trump to raise the issue in his own bilateral meeting with the Chinese president on Saturday. The president committed to doing so following a meeting last week with Trudeau in Washington.

Freeland wouldn’t speak to whether there was a specific ask of Trump going into the meeting, adding it is never prudent or appropriate to detail private meetings with partners.

June 22, 2019

In addition to having the backing of the U.S., the prime minister has been trying to establish heightened support as part of a strategy to encourage China to release two Canadians detained in China and to put an end to diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

The arrests of the detained Canadians is largely viewed as retaliation for the December arrest of Chinese high tech executive Meng Wanzhou.

Meng remains under house arrest in Vancouver, where she awaits extradition to the U.S. to face allegations of fraud in violating Iran sanctions.

It is important to see whether Trump does indeed raise the issue of the detentions, how he does that, and whether it has any impact, said Thomas Bernes, a fellow with the Centre for International Governance Innovation, a research think-tank. (CBC News) 

 

Saturday May 11, 2019

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 11, 2019

‘We won’t back down.’ Donald Trump talks tough on China trade ahead of high-stakes meeting

On the eve of high-stakes trade talks with China, President Donald Trump used a rally in Florida to ramp up his rhetoric about the prospects of a new agreement to de-escalate a widening tariff battle with Beijing.

“We won’t back down until China stops stealing our jobs,” Trump told the audience of a rally in Panama City Beach on Wednesday. “We don’t have to do business with them.”

While claiming earlier in the day that a Chinese trade delegation is “coming to the U.S. to make a deal,” Trump also said the trade rivals may be pulling back from an agreement in the hopes that a Democratic president will be elected in 2020.

November 30, 2018

“They broke the deal,” Trump told supporters. “They can’t do that.”

U.S. and Chinese negotiators are scheduled to meet Thursday, four days after Trump threatened new tariffs if China refused to sign onto a new trade agreement.

While Trump said China wants a deal, he has said he is also happy with tariffs that he claims put “over $100 Billion a year” in U.S. coffers – a claim most economists say is the wrong analysis because China retaliates with tariffs of its own, and both countries pass on the costs of tariffs to consumers.

Tariff revenue “is a transfer of wealth from Americans to the government, with new tariffs hitting more consumer goods and lower-income households,” said Riley Walters, a policy analyst for Asia’s economy and technology with The Heritage Foundation. “Chinese don’t pay American taxes.” (USA Today) 

 

Friday November 10, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday November 10, 2017

Trump trades barbs for flattery in gambit to win over China

Outside the Great Hall of the People here on Thursday, President Donald Trump watched with an unmistakable air of satisfaction as cordons of Chinese troops marched stiff-legged in his honor, an eight-cannon salute preceding their parade.

It was just the latest display of elaborate pageantry put on by his Chinese hosts, and inside the cavernous state edifice two hours later, the outsized display of flattery appeared to pay off.

Instead of lashing China for trade practices he once compared to rape and theft, he praised the country and its powerful leader, Xi Jinping, for cunningly exploiting the US to benefit his own citizens — and harm American workers.

“Who can blame a country for being able taking advantage of another country for the benefit of its citizens?” Trump said as Xi watched on from a few feet away. Nervous laughter rippled through the crowd of Chinese and American business executives, whose firms are inking new deals here in a spectacle meant to demonstrate Trump’s negotiating prowess.

“I give China great credit,” he added. “In actuality, I do blame past administrations for allowing this trade deficit to take place and grow.”

It was a remarkable show of deference to Xi, who emerged from last month’s Communist Party Congress the most powerful Chinese leader in a generation. And while US officials downplayed the significance of the remark, it nevertheless laid bare the lengths to which Trump is prioritizing his personal chemistry with his counterparts here as he seeks to advance an agenda of isolating North Korea and brokering new trade deals.

Trump’s praise for his Chinese counterpart wasn’t limited to the remarks at the signing ceremony for the $250 billion in US-Chinese business deals. At the top of a bilateral meeting, the accolades dripped from Trump’s mouth as he expressed his gratitude for the welcome mat Xi had laid out.

They had an “absolutely terrific” dinner. It was a “very, very great honor” to be together. The military display was “magnificent.” And their relationship? “A great one.” (Source: CNN) 

 

Saturday August 12, 2017

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 12, 2017

Trump warns North Korea’s Kim he will ‘truly regret’ further threats to US and allies

Donald Trump on Friday went further to turn the crisis over North Korea into a personal battle of wills between him and Kim Jong-un, warning the North Korean leader he would “truly regret” hostile acts against US territory or US allies.

The warning came a few hours after an early-morning tweet from the president that claimed US military options were “locked and loaded” for use if Pyongyang “acted unwisely”.

The tweet triggered worldwide alarm and a rebuke from German chancellor Angela Merkel, who said: “I consider an escalation of rhetoric the wrong answer.”

But Trump stood by his words when asked about them at his golf resort in New Jersey.

“I hope they are going to fully understand the gravity of what I said, and what I said is what I mean,” Trump said. “Those words are very, very easy to understand.”

He then issued an ultimatum to Kim Jong-un himself. “This man will not get away with what he’s doing,” he said. “If he utters one threat in form of overt threat – which, by the way, he’s been uttering for years – or if he does anything in respect to Guam or anyplace else that’s an American territory or an American ally, he will truly regret it.”

The North Korean leadership has warned it will launch four missiles at the waters around US Pacific territory of Guam as a warning to the US if it persisted with its practice sorties by long-range bombers based on the island.

Despite gung-ho language from the US president, there was no change in US deployments in the region or a change in the alert status of US forces. And it was reported on Friday that the Trump administration had reopened a channel of communication between US and North Korean diplomats at the U.N. (Source: The Guardian) 

 

 

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