CHINA

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Re: CHINA

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THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

"Russia and China ran joint military operation while Biden was in Japan"


Mike Brest

24 MAY 2022

Russia and China conducted a joint military operation involving nuclear-capable bombers while President Joe Biden was in Japan.

The drills took place on Tuesday when Biden was in Tokyo for the Quad leaders summit that includes leaders from the United States, Japan, India, and Australia.


He had been on a trip to multiple Asian countries.

In a Telegram post, Russia's Ministry of Defense said, "A group of Tu-95ms Strategic Missile Carriers of the Russian Aerospace Forces and Xian H-6 Strategic Bombers of the [Chinese] Air Force conducted air patrol over the waters of the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea."

"The exercise shows that China is continuing its military cooperation with Russia in the Indo-Pacific, even as Russia brutalizes Ukraine," a senior administration official told Fox News.

"It also shows that Russia will stand with China in the East and South China Seas, not with other Indo-Pacific states."


"Joint strategic bomber exercises such as this one cannot be planned quickly and was likely planned well in advance by both countries," the official added.

"To further demonstrate just how seriously China considers its military partnership with Russia, Chinese naval vessels likely participated in this joint exercise."

Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi told the Wall Street Journal, "We have conveyed to both China and Russia our grave concerns," and he explained that this was the fourth such drill they've conducted but the first since last November.

"I consider that the fact such action was taken during the Quad summit indicates the degree of provocation was raised compared with the previous cases."

South Korea's military said it scrambled jets in response to the incursion in the country's self-identification zone.

The test demonstrates the partnership between China and Russia, while the former has been put in a difficult position with the latter's invasion of Ukraine.

The Chinese and Russian leaders released a communique that outlined a wide range of plans for economic and diplomatic cooperation back in February, weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine.

While China claims to promote "peace" between Russia and Ukraine, the country has simultaneously been amplifying Russian disinformation claims of justification.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/ru ... cdf730e506
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Re: CHINA

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MSNBC

"Biden's confusing Taiwan-China remarks reveal a troubling pattern"


Opinion by Zeeshan Aleem

23 MAY 2022

President Joe Biden turned heads on Monday when he pledged that the U.S. would militarily intervene against China if it invaded Taiwan, and signaled that his commitment to the island was stronger than to Ukraine.

The confrontational statement marked a sharp departure from the U.S. policy of “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan that has prevailed for decades.

But shortly after his remarks, Biden’s administration downplayed the statement, saying that the president had in fact not meant to signal a policy change, and that the usual U.S. posture on Taiwan remained intact.

It’s becoming a familiar pattern: Biden makes a bold statement expressing a new degree of readiness for war with a rival or adversary like China or Russia, and then his own staff walks it back.

It’s also becoming a troubling pattern — while domestic audiences can laugh off Biden’s gaffes and missteps, there is no guarantee foreign powers will give him the benefit of the doubt.


Biden is marring the credibility of his own speech, and potentially unwittingly causing the U.S.’s opponents to come to the conclusion that the U.S. is more inclined toward war than it is.

Biden’s newsmaking moment happened during a press conference in Tokyo alongside Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

Here’s the exchange, per NBC News:

“You didn’t want to get involved in the Ukraine conflict militarily for obvious reasons,” a reporter asked.

“Are you willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan if it comes to that?”

“Yes,” Biden responded.

“That’s the commitment we made,” he added.

That is in fact not the commitment the U.S. has made.

The traditional posture of the U.S. is to deliberately not specify what the U.S. would do in response to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a self-governing island populated by 23 million people which China has considered a breakaway province that belongs to it since 1949.

Under the One China policy that’s been in place since 1979, the U.S. officially recognizes China’s position on Taiwan, but also maintains significant informal diplomatic ties with the island nation — and supplies it with arms.

It’s a delicate, paradox-laden policy space that requires careful maneuvering and nuance — and one Biden should know well.

He’s traveled to Taiwan, passed legislation that set in motion decades-long policy on the U.S. relationship with Taiwan, and he even once chided George W. Bush for doing … exactly what he just did himself.

After Bush said in 2001 that he would do “whatever it took” to defend Taiwan from China, then-senator Biden penned a critical op-ed in The Washington Post.

“As a matter of diplomacy, there is a huge difference between reserving the right to use force and obligating ourselves, a priori, to come to the defense of Taiwan,” he wrote.


In the piece, Biden emphasized that “words matter, in diplomacy.”

But it’s unclear exactly how much Biden’s words matter.

Shortly after his remarks, a White House official told NBC News “our policy has not changed,” which is tantamount to a walkback.


That’s because Biden responded affirmatively to a question about whether the U.S. would intervene militarily to defend Taiwan in contrast to the U.S. declining to do so in Ukraine.

He also did not qualify his statement, or hedge in any way.

And at another point, Biden emphasized how he perceived defending Taiwan as more high-stakes than Ukraine.

“The idea that that can be taken by force, just taken by force, it’s just not appropriate,” he said of Taiwan.

“It would dislocate the entire region and be another action similar to what happened in Ukraine."

"And so it’s a burden that is even stronger.”

Yet while Biden certainly sounded like he was signaling a policy shift to the world, his administration claimed he didn't.

The Biden administration has actually done this whole dance at least twice before on Taiwan, each time the president seeming to stake out a new, more bellicose position, and his staff doing clean-up after.

And Biden has also had similar things happen with Russia policy, when, for example, his staff had to clarify that the U.S. was not seeking regime change in Moscow after Biden said “Putin cannot remain in power.”


Call it unstrategic ambiguity — a lack of clarity born of incompetence or indiscipline rather than a deliberate decision to keep the opponent guessing.

While strategic ambiguity can be a source of strength, unstrategic ambiguity signals a bumbling foreign policy apparatus.

Biden weakens the gravity of his words if his remarks are constantly being mopped up and it’s evident that he isn’t able to stay on message.

Worst of all, countries like Russia and China may perceive Biden as more of a saber-rattler than he intends to be, and in turn consider or pivot toward more confrontational policy regimes against the U.S. than they would have otherwise.

Much of Biden’s proposition when campaigning for president was to restore American credibility to the U.S. after Donald Trump’s tenure.

Being careful and consistent with language is an important part of achieving that goal.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... cdf730e506
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Re: CHINA

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THE NEW YORK TIMES

"Biden’s Words on Taiwan Leave Allies in an Awkward Spot"


Zolan Kanno-Youngs

24 MAY 2022

TOKYO — Even before President Biden traveled to Tokyo this week to strengthen a partnership with Australia, India and Japan, the alliance was struggling to present a united front, as India refrained from condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Now, with remarks that President Biden made about Taiwan on Monday, the Indo-Pacific bloc is facing another, unexpected complication.

On the eve of a summit of the four nations, Mr. Biden said he would defend the democratic island militarily if it were invaded by China, sending shock waves around the globe and placing the allies in a tricky position as they seek to avoid further antagonizing Beijing.

On Tuesday in Tokyo, Mr. Biden sought to temper his comments.

Standing alongside the three other leaders of the grouping known as the Quad, he said his administration had not abandoned the “strategic ambiguity” over Taiwan long embraced by the United States.

Asked if he would send in troops if China attacked Taiwan, Mr. Biden said, “The policy has not changed at all.”

Still, his comments the day before, when he answered “yes” after being asked by a reporter if he “was willing to get involved militarily to defend Taiwan,” left political leaders around the world trying to determine his true thinking and calibrate their own positions.

Mr. Biden’s remarks presented an immediate and probably unwanted challenge for Australia’s new prime minister, Anthony Albanese.

Just hours after he was sworn in on Monday, Mr. Albanese flew to Tokyo with his new foreign minister, Penny Wong, who had harshly criticized her party’s election opponents during the campaign for suggesting that Australia would follow the United States into any war over Taiwan.


“Amping up the prospect of war against a superpower is the most dangerous election tactic in Australian history,” Ms. Wong said at the time.

Before the election, analysts had expected Mr. Albanese, if he became prime minister, to shift the government’s tone toward China, even if he did not make any major policy changes.

Australia’s previous prime minister, Scott Morrison, often spoke about the Chinese government with belligerence as relations hit a decades-long nadir.

While Mr. Albanese was on his way to Tokyo, China’s premier, Li Keqiang, offered a message of congratulations, ending an almost three-year-long freeze in diplomacy between Australia and China with a call for “sound and stable” relations.

Chinese state media said the meeting of the Quad, which it has called an anti-China alliance, would be viewed as an immediate test of Mr. Albanese’s “political wisdom.”

Now, raising questions once more about whether Australia would support a military defense of Taiwan could throw off whatever détente might be emerging.

It also might shift the focus from subjects Mr. Albanese’s government would rather emphasize: greater ambition on climate change and increased aid and diplomatic engagement with countries in Southeast Asia and the Pacific islands.

Mr. Albanese and his administration would prefer “cautious, incremental change” on China, said James Curran, a historian at the University of Sydney.

At the same time, he added: “They will not want to be seen easing up the pressure in terms of our policy on China.”

Japan, too, was put in a complicated position.

With Japan’s westernmost inhabited island just 65 miles from Taiwan, a war with China could pull a nation that has disavowed armed conflict into dangerous territory.

The Japanese government is moving toward a large increase in defense spending as it confronts China’s growing ambitions in the region, and it has discussed plans to acquire weapons capable of striking missile launch sites in enemy territory.

But in contrast to Mr. Biden’s declaration on Monday, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan made an effort to maintain ambiguity when asked about Taiwan.

“Our two countries’ basic position on Taiwan remains unchanged,” Mr. Kishida said.

While some hawks in Mr. Kishida’s governing Liberal Democratic Party said they were pleased that Mr. Biden had revealed his “true intentions,” more cautious voices expressed concern that the president could heighten tensions with China and accelerate an arms race.

Still, as the Quad leaders met on Tuesday, they sought to play up consensus where they could.

The bloc announced new initiatives on cybersecurity, space, vaccine distribution and a data-sharing partnership to monitor shipping routes in the South China Sea, an effort to combat what the administration has described as aggressive maritime tactics by China in the region.

The nations released a joint statement calling for “peace and stability” in Ukraine and acknowledged “the tragic humanitarian crisis” the war had created.

At the start of his meeting with Mr. Modi of India, Mr. Biden said the two of them would discuss the “unjustified invasion of Ukraine.”

But Mr. Modi did not mention Russia.

His nation has been hesitant to criticize the Kremlin, in part out of fear of undermining its security and economic ties.

Biden administration officials said that while the two nations disagreed on Russia, they could still collaborate on investments in the Indo-Pacific region that counter China’s growing influence.

Mr. Kishida, in a news conference after his own meeting with Mr. Modi, stressed that the two countries agreed on principles like the rule of law and sovereignty.

“No one should mistake the Quad for a partnership based on shared values, despite rhetoric along those lines,” said Aaron Connelly, a research fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore.

“The real hope among the four governments is that it develops into a balancing coalition which deters Beijing from aggressive actions along China’s periphery."

"This a coalition based on realpolitik, not values.”

Mr. Connelly, however, noted that “there is a lot of skepticism toward the Quad in Southeast Asia,” where nations are feeling unwanted pressure to choose sides between the United States and China.

“Many here see it as heightening geopolitical tensions in ways that raise risks,” Mr. Connelly said.

Mr. Biden’s remarks on Taiwan came as the United States launched a new economic framework with a dozen other allies meant to counter China’s dominance.

Wang Yi, China’s foreign minister, said on Monday that the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework should not become a tool for America to “coerce regional countries to choose sides,” and he said attempts to box China in were bound to fail.

While China’s initial response on Monday to the president’s comments was relatively muted, Wang Wenbin, a spokesman for the foreign ministry, escalated his language on Tuesday, accusing the United States of implicitly supporting Taiwanese independence, a red line that Beijing has said it will never allow to be crossed.

“If it continues down the wrong path, this will not only cause irreversible damage to U.S.-China relations, but will also in the end make America pay an unbearable price,” Mr. Wang said.

He quoted an old Chinese song: “When a friend comes, there is good wine; if a jackal comes, he will be greeted with a shotgun.”

Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, said China’s words reflected its isolation.

“China wants America out of their backyard,” he said.

“They hate that we have allies and friends, since it highlights all that they have is subjects and dependents."

"Everything we do in defense, national security, economic partnership and political engagement underscores our alliances and staying power.”

Reporting was contributed by Vivian Wang in Hong Kong, John Liu in Taipei, Damien Cave in Sydney, Australia, and Motoko Rich in Tokyo.

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Re: CHINA

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BLOOMBERG

"Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine Forces Biden to Rewrite US Security Plan"


Peter Martin and Jennifer Jacobs

3 JUNE 2022

(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted a major rewrite of the Biden administration’s National Security Strategy, according to people familiar with the matter.

Early versions of the text, which is still being finalized, show how the administration’s priorities are shifting in response to Putin’s war in Ukraine and the burgeoning partnership between Beijing and Moscow.

The document’s publication, originally slated for this past January, was delayed after US officials came to believe that a Russian invasion of Ukraine was likely.

It is now being substantially rewritten to reflect the ways the world has changed since the war began, the people said.

It’s not yet clear when it will be published, and one of the people emphasized it may still undergo changes.

The new draft emphasizes the importance of both Europe and Asia to US national security interests, a shift from an earlier version that focused more squarely on China and Asia.

Rather than downplaying the importance of China, the document argues that events in Europe and Asia are intricately connected, according to the people.

Produced by every administration since Ronald Reagan’s presidency, the National Security Strategy provides one of the most important windows into the White House’s thinking on foreign policy issues.

The document, mandated by Congress, is designed to help lawmakers evaluate the administration’s budget priorities for national security; to clarify US relationships with allies, partners, and adversaries; and to ensure that representatives from across the US national security apparatus speak to foreign counterparts with one voice.

Spokespersons at the National Security Council didn’t respond to a request for comment.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s recent speech on US policy toward China suggests one potential formulation for the way the document will weigh threats from Beijing and Moscow.

Russia, Blinken said, is a “clear and present threat,” whereas China is “the most serious long-term challenge to the international order.”


More fundamentally, the strategy is likely to argue that neither Russia’s challenge in Europe nor China’s in Asia can be dealt with in isolation.

“For us, there is a certain level of integration and a symbiosis in the strategy we are pursuing in Europe and the strategy we’re pursuing in the Indo-Pacific,” National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on May 18.

“President Biden’s unique capacity to actually stitch those two together is, I think, going to be a hallmark of his foreign policy presidency.”


In particular, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has brought China’s ambitions toward the democratically-governed island of Taiwan into sharp focus for US policy makers.

Even before the war began, Biden officials argued that China would likely view America’s response to the Ukraine crisis as a proxy for how it would deal with more aggressive action by Beijing against Taiwan.

Since the war began, American officials have viewed several developments as sending a powerful message to Beijing, including the rapid deployment of sanctions against Russia in partnership with European allies, the bolstering of European defense budgets and the willingness of NATO allies to abandon decades of more cautious policies to aid Ukraine with financial and military support.

“The Chinese are going to watch this very, very carefully,” Lieutenant General Scott Berrier, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, said last month of Putin’s war in Ukraine.

“It’s going to take some time for them to sort out.”

Officials in President Xi Jinping’s government have repeatedly rejected accusations that they seek to attack Taiwan, which China views as part of its territory despite never controlling it.

At the same time, Xi’s government has warned that the US is taking a “Cold War” approach toward Asia.

Beijing has sought to counter that by bolstering ties with Pacific Island nations while reiterating its claims to disputed areas of the South China Sea.

The Biden administration’s focus on the interconnected nature of Europe and Asia has also been driven by a growing recognition of the partnership between Beijing and Moscow, as well as the willingness of Asian countries such as Japan and South Korea to sanction Moscow over the invasion, the people said.

The result has been a burgeoning US dialog with Asian nations about events in Europe and with European countries about events in Asia, officials say.

Whereas discussions with European nations about the Indo-Pacific during the Obama administration were “difficult, challenging, often suspicious,” they are now “deeply productive,” White House Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell told the Center for Strategic and International Studies on May 9.

The revised security document is also expected to feature a clearer articulation of the link between emerging transnational threats such as climate change and traditional geopolitical competition, one of the people said.

Outer-space, for example, is both a transnational issue as well as a venue where geopolitics plays out, the person said.

The Trump administration published its National Security Strategy, which focused on “American sovereignty,” in December 2017.

The Biden administration published its “Interim National Security Strategic Guidance” in March 2021, but is yet to publish its full-fledged National Security Strategy.

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Re: CHINA

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REUTERS

"Russia and China open cross-border bridge as ties deepen"


Reuters

June 10, 2022

June 10 (Reuters) - Russia and China opened a new cross-border bridge in the far east on Friday which they hope will further boost trade as Moscow reels from sweeping Western sanctions imposed over its actions in Ukraine.

The bridge linking the Russian city of Blagoveshchensk to the Chinese city of Heihe across the Amur river - known in China as Heilongjiang - is just over one kilometre long and cost 19 billion roubles ($342 million), the RIA news agency reported.

Amid a firework display, freight trucks from both ends crossed the two-lane bridge that was festooned with flags in the colours of both countries, video footage of the opening showed.

Russian authorities said the bridge would bring Moscow and Beijing closer together by boosting trade after they announced a "no limits" partnership in February, shortly before President Vladimir Putin sent his forces into Ukraine.

"In today's divided world, the Blagoveshchensk-Heihe bridge between Russia and China carries a special symbolic meaning," said Yuri Trutnev, the Kremlin representative in the Russian Far East.

China wants to deepen practical cooperation with Russia in all areas, Chinese Vice Premier Hu Chunhua said at the opening.

Russia's Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev said the bridge would help boost bilateral annual trade to more than 1 million tonnes of goods.


CUTTING JOURNEY TIME

The bridge had been under construction since 2016 and was completed in May 2020 but its opening was delayed by cross-border COVID-19 restrictions, said BTS-MOST, the firm building the bridge on the Russian side.

BTS-MOST said freight traffic on the bridge would shorten the travel distance of Chinese goods to western Russia by 1,500 kilometres (930 miles).

Vehicles crossing the bridge must pay a toll of 8,700 roubles ($150), a price that is expected to drop as toll fees begin to offset the cost of construction.

Russia said in April it expected commodity flows with China to grow, and trade with Beijing to reach $200 billion by 2024.

China is a major buyer of Russian natural resources and agricultural products.

China has declined to condemn Russia's actions in Ukraine and has criticised the Western sanctions on Moscow.


Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Gareth Jones

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/rus ... 022-06-10/
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Re: CHINA

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REUTERS

"U.S. lawmakers agree on China investment curbs"


Reuters

June 13, 2022

WASHINGTON, June 13 (Reuters) - A bipartisan group of lawmakers said on Monday they have agreed on legislation that would give the U.S. government sweeping new powers to block billions in U.S. investment into China.

The measure is part of a bill that would also grant $52 billion to chipmakers to expand operations, a boon to the industry.


"The refined proposal released today has bipartisan, bicameral support and addresses industry concerns, including the scope of prospective activities, industries covered, and the prevention of duplicative authorities," said U.S. Senators Bob Casey and John Cornyn, and Representatives Rosa DeLauro, Bill Pascrell, Jr., Michael McCaul, Brian Fitzpatrick and Victoria Spartz, in a statement.

The initial "outbound investment" proposal had run into opposition on the fear it could reduce companies' investments abroad, leading some chipmakers to oppose its inclusion in the chips bill being hammered out by Senate and House lawmakers.

The outbound investment measure was originally proposed as a standalone bill by Republican Senator John Cornyn and Democratic Senator Bob Casey, but was later added to the House version of a massive bill that includes the grants for chipmakers and is aimed at countering China's rise.

The concept behind the measure has support within the Biden administration.

U.S. President Joe Biden's National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said in July the government was working on new investment screening and considering outbound investment as it seeks to better position the United States for competition in technology.


A study by Rhodium said 43% of U.S. foreign direct investment transactions in China over the past two decades could have been subject to screening under the broad categories set out by the original proposal.

Reporting by Alexandra Alper and David Shepardson in Washington; Karen Freifeld in New York; Editing by Nick Zieminski and David Gregorio

https://www.reuters.com/business/us-law ... 022-06-13/
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Re: CHINA

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REUTERS

"China's holdings of U.S. Treasuries skid to 12-year low; Japan also cuts holdings"


By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

JUNE 15, 2022

NEW YORK (Reuters) - China’s holdings of U.S Treasuries tumbled in April to their lowest since May 2010, data showed on Wednesday, with Chinese investors likely cutting losses as Treasury prices fell after Federal Reserve officials signaled sizable rate hikes to temper soaring inflation.

Chinese holdings dropped to $1.003 trillion in April, down $36.2 billion from $1.039 trillion the previous month, according to U.S. Treasury Department figures.

China’s stock of Treasuries in May 2010 was $843.7 billion, data showed.

The reduction in Treasury holdings may also have been aimed at diversifying China’s foreign exchange holdings, analysts said.

The Chinese sales contributed to a drop in overall foreign holdings of Treasuries in April that helped propel yields higher.

U.S. benchmark 10-year Treasury yields started April with a yield of 2.3895%, and surged roughly 55 basis points to 2.9375% by the end of the month.

Japan’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries fell further in April to their lowest since January 2020, amid a persistent decline in the yen versus the dollar, which may have prompted Japanese investors to sell U.S. assets to benefit from the exchange rate.

Japanese holdings fell to $1.218 trillion in April, from $1.232 trillion in March.

Japan remained the largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries.

Overall, foreign holdings of Treasuries slid to 7.455 trillion, the lowest since April 2021, from $7.613 trillion in March.

On a transaction basis, U.S. Treasuries saw net foreign outflows of $1.152 billion in April, from net new foreign inflows of $48.795 billion in March.

This was the first outflow since October 2021.


The Federal Reserve, at its policy meeting in March, raised benchmark interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point.

It lifted rates by 50 bps in May, but at the June policy meeting on Wednesday lifted rates by a hefty 75 bps to stem a disruptive surge in inflation.

The Fed also projected a slowing economy and rising unemployment in the months to come.

In other asset classes, foreigners sold U.S. equities in April amounting to $7.1 billion, from net outflows of $94.338 billion in March, the largest since at least January 1978, when the Treasury Department started keeping track of this data.

Foreign investors have sold stocks for four consecutive months.

U.S. corporate bonds, on the other hand, posted inflows in April of $22.587 billion, from March’s $33.38 billion, the largest since March 2021.

Foreigners were net buyers of U.S. corporate bonds for four straight months.

U.S. residents, meanwhile, decreased their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $36.7 billion, data showed.

Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Paul Simao and Richard Pullin

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-tre ... SL1N2Y23CF
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ASSOCIATED PRESS

"Russia and China slam NATO after alliance raises alarm"


By JILL LAWLESS, JOSEPH WILSON and SYLVIE CORBET, Associated Press

30 JUNE 2022

MADRID (AP) — NATO was facing rebukes from Moscow and Beijing on Thursday after it declared Russia a “direct threat” and said China posed “serious challenges ” to global stability.

The Western military alliance was wrapping up a summit in Madrid, where it issued a stark warning that the world has been plunged into a dangerous phase of big-power competition and myriad threats, from cyberattacks to climate change.

NATO leaders also formally invited Finland and Sweden to join the alliance, after overcoming opposition from Turkey.

If the Nordic nations’ accession is approved by the 30 member nations, it will give NATO a new 800-mile (1,300 kilometer) border with Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned he would respond in kind if the Nordic nations allowed NATO troops and military infrastructure onto their territory.

He said Russia will have to “create the same threats for the territory from which threats against us are created.”

China accused the alliance of “maliciously attacking and smearing” the country.

Its mission to the European Union said NATO “claims that other countries pose challenges, but it is NATO that is creating problems around the world.”


Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told the summit that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had brought “the biggest overhaul of our collective defense since the end of the Cold War.”

The invasion shattered Europe’s peace, and in response NATO has poured troops and weapons into eastern Europe on a scale unseen in decades.

Member nations have given Ukraine billions in military and civilian aid to strengthen its resistance.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who addressed the summit by video link, asked for more.

He urged NATO to send modern artillery systems and other weapons and warned the leaders they either had to provide Kyiv with the help it needed or “face a delayed war between Russia and yourself.”

“The question is, who’s next?"

"Moldova?"

"Or the Baltics?"

"Or Poland?"

"The answer is: all of them,” he said.

At the summit, NATO leaders agreed to dramatically scale up military force along the alliance’s eastern flank, where countries from Romania to the Baltic states worry about Russia’s future plans.

It announced plans to increase almost eightfold the size of the alliance’s rapid reaction force, from 40,000 to 300,000 troops, by next year.

The troops will be based in their home nations but dedicated to specific countries in the east, where the alliance plans to build up stocks of equipment and ammunition.

President Joe Biden, whose country provides the bulk of NATO’s firepower, announced a hefty boost in America’s military presence in Europe, including a permanent U.S. base in Poland, two more Navy destroyers based in Rota, Spain, and two more F35 squadrons to the U.K.

The expansion will keep 100,000 troops in Europe for the foreseeable future, up from 80,000 before the war in Ukraine began.

Biden said Putin had believed NATO members would splinter after he invaded Ukraine, but he got the opposite response.

“Putin was looking for the Finland-ization of Europe,” Biden said.

“You’re gonna get the NATO-ization of Europe."

"And that’s exactly what he didn’t want, but exactly what needs to be done to guarantee security for Europe.”


Still, strains among NATO allies have also emerged as the cost of energy and other essential goods has skyrocketed, partly because of the war and tough Western sanctions on Russia.

There also are tensions over how the war will end and what, if any, concessions Ukraine should make.

Money remains a sensitive issue — just nine of NATO’s 30 members currently meet the organization’s target of spending 2% of gross domestic product on defense.

At what Stoltenberg called a “transformative” summit, the leaders published NATO’s new Strategic Concept, its once-a-decade set of priorities and goals.

The last such document, in 2010, called Russia a “strategic partner.”

Now, NATO is accusing Russia of using “coercion, subversion, aggression and annexation” to extend its reach.

The 2010 document made no mention of China, but the new one addressed Bejing’s growing economic and military reach.

“China is not our adversary, but we must be clear-eyed about the serious challenges it represents,” Stoltenberg said on Wednesday.

NATO said that China “strives to subvert the rules-based international order, including in the space, cyber and maritime domains” and warned of its close ties with Moscow.

The alliance said, however, that it remained “open to constructive engagement” with Beijing.

China shot back that NATO was a source of instability and vowed to defend its interests.

“Since NATO positions China as a ‘systemic challenge,’ we have to pay close attention and respond in a coordinated way."

"When it comes to acts that undermine China’s interests, we will make firm and strong responses,” its statement said.

NATO also stressed the need to address political instability in Africa’s Sahel region and the Middle East — aggravated by “climate change, fragile institutions, health emergencies and food insecurity” — that is driving large numbers of migrants toward Europe.

Host Spain and other European countries pushed for this new focus.
___

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine.

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Re: CHINA

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REUTERS

"Japan, China cut holdings of U.S. Treasuries to multi-year lows - data"


By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss

JULY 18, 2022

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Japan and China pared back holdings of U.S. Treasuries in May to multi-year lows, data from the U.S. Treasury department showed on Monday.

Japan’s holdings fell to $1.212 trillion, the lowest since January 2020, when the country’s stash of Treasuries was $1.211 trillion.

In April, Japan’s holdings were at $1.218 trillion.

China’s hoard of U.S. government debt dropped as well to $980.8 billion in May, still the lowest since May 2010 when its holdings were at $843.7 billion, data showed.

In April, China had $1.003 trillion in Treasuries.


The world’s second largest economy has reduced holdings Treasuries for six straight months.

Although China and Japan sold Treasuries in May, U.S. Treasury yields slid.

The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield started the month of May at 2.996%, down about 15 basis points to 2.844% by the end of the month.

Overall, foreign holdings of Treasuries slid to $7.421 trillion in May, the lowest since May 2021, from $7.455 trillion in April.

“It’s another month of selling by foreign investors."

"But it seems like the selling is starting to slow because in May, the move higher in interest rates faded a little bit,” said Gennadiy Goldberg, senior rates strategist at TD Securities in New York.

“Japan and China were selling which is real a continuation of recent trends."

"We got another month of selling from Japan, but if you look at the pace, there was certainly a deceleration."

"Nothing like we saw in March at the end of Japan’s fiscal year.”

On a transaction basis, U.S. Treasuries saw net foreign inflows of $99.84 billion in May, the largest since March 2021, from outflows of $1.153 billion in April.

The Federal Reserve raised benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points in May and in June lifted rates by a hefty 75 basis points to curb stubbornly strong inflation.

Investors have priced in another 75 basis point rate hike at the Fed meeting later this month.

In other asset classes, foreigners sold U.S. equities in May for a fifth straight month amounting to $9.15 billion, from outflows of $7.04 billion in April.

The S&P 500 has been down nearly 20% since the beginning of the year.

U.S. corporate bonds posted inflows in May of $4.46 billion, compared with inflows of $22.5 billion the previous month.

Foreigners were net buyers of U.S. corporate bonds for five straight months.

The data also showed U.S. residents once again reduced their holdings of long-term foreign securities, with net sales of $22.8 billion in May from sales of $36.7 billion in April.

Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Sam Holmes

https://www.reuters.com/article/usa-tre ... SL1N2YZ23Q
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"U.S. wants to end dependence on China rare earths, Yellen says"


By Andrea Shalal

July 18, 2022

SEOUL, July 18 (Reuters) - The United States wants to end its "undue dependence" on rare earths, solar panels and other key goods from China to prevent Beijing from cutting off supplies as it has done to other countries, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

Yellen, who arrived in Seoul late on Monday, told Reuters she was pushing for increased trade ties with South Korea and other trusted allies to improve the resilience of supply chains and avert possible manipulation by geopolitical rivals.

"Resilient supply chains mean a diversity of sources of supply and eliminating to the extent we can the possibility that geopolitical rivals will be able to manipulate us and threaten our security," she said in an interview en route to Seoul.

Yellen will map out her concerns in a major policy address in Seoul on Tuesday after touring the facilities of South Korean tech heavyweight LG Corp during the final leg of an 11-day visit to the Indo-Pacific region.

According to excerpts of her remarks, Yellen will make a strong pitch for "friend-shoring" or diversifying U.S. supply chains to rely more on trusted trading partners, a move she said would also combat inflation and help counter China's "unfair trade practices."

Yellen said South Korea had “tremendous strengths in terms of resources, technology, abilities” and its companies, including LG, were already investing in the United States.

"They have substantial capacity to produce advanced semiconductors," was particularly important given the United States' "huge dependence" on Taiwan Semiconductor, she said.

It was critical to reduce U.S. dependence on certain Chinese exports since Beijing had cut off supplies to countries such as Japan in the past, while applying pressure in other ways to Australia and Lithuania, a senior Treasury official said.

"They have used coercion to pressure a number of countries whose behavior they have disapproved of," Yellen said.

"We know that’s a reason we don’t want to be dependent on China."

Despite her strong words, Yellen said the relationship with China was not "totally negative or escalating into tremendously hostile territory."

She said China was listening to U.S. concerns in other areas and that it had now made some constructive moves on restructuring the debt of low-income countries.

"We have real concerns with respect to China and we’re pressing them, but I don’t want to convey a picture of purely escalating hostilities with China,” she said.

Reporting by Andrea Shalal; Editing by Edmund Blair and Bernadette Baum

https://www.reuters.com/markets/us/us-w ... 022-07-18/
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