World News

China’s President Xi Jinping’s Dream of Beating US Backfiring

SHANGHAI – A few months ago, Xi Jinping seemed unstoppable. He’d just abolished presidential term limits and announced the most sweeping government overhaul in decades.

Today, China’s president looks like he may have overreached. An economic slowdown, a tanking stock market, and an infant-vaccine scandal are all feeding domestic discontent, while abroad, in Western capitals and financial centers, there’s a growing wariness of Chinese ambitions. And then there is the escalating trade war with the U.S.

Chinese academics, economists, and some officials have begun to question whether the leadership could have done more to avoid the confrontation.

One day before the U.S. midterm elections, Chinese President Xi Jinping was in Shanghai, the country’s economic center, hosting what Beijing has dubbed the most important diplomatic event of the year: the first China International Import Expo.

Whenever China wants to show a conciliatory stance to foreign countries, it turns to the panda. And so the mascot of the Import Expo was a jumping, scarf-wearing panda, alongside the catchphrase “New era, shared future.”

Scheduled just before the U.S. vote, the expo was supposed to send a political message about China’s seriousness about cutting its huge trade surplus with the world’s largest economy. The chosen venue was Shanghai, where Xi served as Communist Party secretary, just before ascending to the country’s top leadership.

Since it was not just a trade fair but an important diplomatic event for Beijing’s relations with the U.S., Xi himself, rather than his head of economic affairs Premier Li Keqiang, attended the event.

The trade war has soured ties with the U.S., and all eyes were on how Xi would respond to U.S. President Donald Trump’s attacks on China.

“Having myself worked here, I know personally just how important it is for Shanghai to be open and for China to keep the city open,” Xi said. “Indeed, openness, innovation and inclusiveness have become the hallmark of Shanghai. They are also a vivid reflection of China in the new era,” he said.

There was no direct mention of Trump, the U.S. or Washington. But a closer look at Xi’s remarks reveals more subtle messages.

His speech is peppered with euphemisms intended to respond to Trump’s China bashing. For example, Xi said: “Countries need to improve their business environment by addressing their problems. They should not just point fingers at others to gloss over their own problems.”

While Xi and the organizers of the Shanghai expo had always had the U.S. in mind during the preparations, the actual atmosphere at the venue turned out to be quite different.

Foreign dignitaries who attended the event, such as Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, were mostly from countries participating in the China-led Belt and Road Initiative. No senior U.S. officials were present.

After delivering his keynote, Xi led Medvedev and other guests through the exhibition stands.

Many of the exhibits they saw were run by Japanese companies, reflecting the warming relations between China and Japan after the recent visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

In his Shanghai speech, Xi acknowledged the economic difficulties that China is facing, something also closely related to the Sino-U.S. trade war.

“The economic situation at home and abroad has created some significant challenges for the Chinese economy, such as more uncertainty in some sectors, more difficulties for some enterprises and growing risks in certain sectors,” Xi said.

Such a blunt acknowledgment of the country’s ills from the stage of a big international event is rare in China, and reflects Xi’s current woes.

Five days before the Shanghai expo, the Communist Party’s powerful 25-member Politburo met and expressed deep concern over the current state of the Chinese economy amid the escalating trade war with the U.S.

“The economy has seen changes amid overall stability with increased downward pressure,” the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported the Politburo as saying. “Some companies are suffering from operating difficulties while some risks accumulated a long time ago have been exposed.”

The Politburo meeting was convened and presided over by Xi, who doubles as the Communist Party’s general secretary.

It was the first time that Xi clearly admitted the difficulties of the current economic situation amid the bruising trade war launched by Trump.

The trade war has not been widely reported in China. The Communist Party has carefully controlled public opinion, giving top priority to maintaining social stability.

Due to a lack of information on the internet as well as in newspapers, many ordinary Chinese have been left in the dark about how serious the impact of the trade war between the world’s two biggest economies is.

Streets in Shanghai are full of glittering lights and bustling at night. Restaurants there are crowded with diners as usual. Many ordinary people still do not feel a strong sense of crisis about the state of the economy.

But its recent deterioration is so serious that the Communist Party can no longer ignore it.

Curiously, Premier Li Keqiang played a key role in convincing Xi to acknowledge the crisis.

A week earlier, on Oct. 24, Li had already presented a gloomy assessment of the Chinese economy, similar to the Politburo’s, at a gathering of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

“Many companies are facing difficulties and market confidence has been affected under rising downward pressures,” Li said. China should “pay close attention to difficulties and challenges,” he said.

China’s economy grew by 6.5% in the July-September quarter, down from 6.7% in April-June. Many analysts think the real economic situation is worse than the figures suggest.

From the timing of the speeches by Xi and Li, one can deduce that the premier has been leading China’s attempts to shield the economy from the effects of the Sino-U.S. trade war.

This marks a significant political change as Xi had reined in Li’s influence over the past five years. Li is ranked second in the Communist Party hierarchy after Xi, but has not always been treated as such. While Li Keqiang is now increasingly coming into the spotlight, Xi’s close aide Liu He, the vice premier in charge of economic affairs, is appearing less frequently, signaling a power shift.

Xi has also shifted his stance on private companies. On Nov. 1, the Chinese leader attended a round-table discussion with private sector entrepreneurs and said that while the public sector retains a “dominant position” in the economy, he will also attach importance to the private sector.

Ten entrepreneurs shared their opinions at the gathering and “Xi interacted with them,” Xinhua reported. “Private enterprises and private entrepreneurs belong to our own family,” Xi said.

It was quite a shift for the Chinese leader, who had always advocated “stronger and bigger” state-owned companies, arousing strong concern among private sector entrepreneurs. With darks clouds looming over the economy, Xi needed to appease them directly as the national leader.

The nature of the Import Expo, which was originally meant to strengthen ties with the U.S., changed after the Trump administration further toughened its stance on China. The turning point was Vice President Mike Pence’s highly publicized “anti-China speech” on Oct. 4.

What fueled Trump’s anger most was Xi’s declaration at the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th national congress in October 2017 that the country will “basically realize modernization by 2035.”

The meaning of his message is: China will catch up with the U.S., at least on the economic front, within 17 years.

Trump himself acknowledged this during his news conference on Wednesday. The U.S. president told reporters he thought Beijing’s industrial policy “Made in China 2025” was “insulting.”

“China ’25 means in 2025, they’re going to take over economically the world,” Trump said. “That’s not happening.”

Xi’s grand vision for his country is the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” which he calls the “Chinese dream.”

It is the route he sees to put himself on a par with Mao Zedong, Communist China’s founding hero. Xi may very well still be the man running the country in 17 years’ time.

Four decades ago, Deng Xiaoping, then the paramount Chinese leader, introduced an economic policy of “reform and opening-up.” On the security front, Deng advocated an external policy of “tao guang yang hui,” which argued for keeping a cool head, being composed, standing firm, hiding one’s claws, biding one’s time and never trying to take the lead.

Since coming to power in the autumn of 2012, Xi has shifted away from Deng’s policies, preferring a “great power” policy that positions China as a major country, almost equal to the U.S.

But Xi miscalculated. He had underestimated Trump, a “merchant president,” who hailed from the business world.

The U.S. wants to remain the world’s No. 1. It is prepared to make sacrifices to fight for that cause. On this issue, both the Republican Party and the Democratic Party share the same view.

Xi’s declaration of China’s intention to overtake the U.S. has provoked Washington.

And China is now paying a high price for hastily baring its claws.

By Katsuji Kakazawa
Nikkei Asian Review

World News

Marine Le Pen’s National Rally Wins the First Round in France 2024 Election

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) party scored historic gains in France

Exit polls in France showed that Marine Le Pen’s right-wing National Rally (RN) party made huge gains to win the first round of election on Sunday. However, the final outcome will depend on how people trade votes in the days before next week’s run-off.

Exit polls from Ipsos, Ifop, OpinionWay, and Elabe showed that the RN got about 34% of the vote. This was a big loss for President Emmanuel Macron, who called the early election after his party lost badly in the European Parliament elections earlier this month.

The National Rally (RN) easily won more votes than its opponents on the left and center, including Macron’s Together group, whose bloc was predicted to get 20.5% to 23% of the vote. Exit polls showed that the New Popular Front (NFP), a hastily put together left-wing alliance, would get about 29% of the vote.

The results of the exit polls matched what people said in polls before the election, which made Le Pen’s fans very happy. But they didn’t say for sure if the anti-immigrant, anti-EU National Rally (RN) will be able to “cohabit” with the pro-EU Macron in a government after the runoff election next Sunday.

Voters in France Angry at Macron

Many French people have looked down on the National Rally (RN) for a long time, but now it is closer to power than it has ever been. A party known for racism and antisemitism has tried to clean up its image, and it has worked. Voters are angry at Macron, the high cost of living, and rising concerns about immigration.

Fans of Marine Le Pen waved French flags and sang the Marseillaise in the northern French district of Henin-Beaumont. The crowd cheered as Le Pen said, “The French have shown they are ready to turn the page on a power that is disrespectful and destructive.”

The National Rally’s chances of taking power next week will rest on what political deals its opponents make in the next few days. Right-wing and left-wing parties used to work together to keep the National Rally (RN) out of power, but the “republican front,” which refers to this group, is less stable than ever.

If no candidate gets 50% of the vote in the first round, the top two candidates and anyone else with 12.5% of the registered voters immediately move on to the second round. The district goes to the person who gets the most votes in the runoff.

France is likely to have a record number of three-way runoffs because so many people voted on Sunday. Experts say that these are much better for the National Rally (RN) than two-way games. Almost right away on Sunday night, the horse trade began.

Macron asked people to support candidates who are “clearly republican and democratic.” Based on what he has said recently, this would rule out candidates from the National Rally (RN) and the hard-left France Unbowed (LFI) party. Leaders on the far left and the center left both asked their third-placed candidates to drop out.

Minority government

Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of France Unbowed, said, “Our rule is simple and clear: not a single more vote for the National Rally.” But the center-right Republicans party, which split before the vote when some of its members joined the RN, didn’t say anything.

The president of the RN party, Jordan Bardella, who is 28 years old, said he was ready to be prime minister if his party gets a majority of seats. He has said he won’t try to make a minority government, and neither Macron nor the communist NFP will work with him.

“I will be a “cohabitation” Prime Minister, respectful of the constitution and of the office of President of the Republic, but uncompromising about the policies we will implement,” he said.

A few thousand anti-RN protesters met in Paris’s Republique square on Sunday night for a rally of the leftist alliance. The mood was gloomy.

Niya Khaldi, a 33-year-old teacher, said that the RN’s good results made her feel “disgust, sadness, and fear.”

“This is not how I normally act,” she said. “I think I came to reassure myself, to not feel alone.”

Election Runoff

The result on Sunday didn’t have much of an effect on the market. In early Asia-Pacific trade, the euro gained about 0.23%. Fiona Cincotta, a senior markets expert at City Index in London, said she was glad the outcome “didn’t come as a surprise.”

“Le Pen had a slightly smaller margin than some of the polls had pointed to, which may have helped the euro a little bit higher on the open,” she noted. “Now everyone is waiting for July 7 to see if the second round supports a clear majority or not. So it does feel like we’re on the edge of something.”

Some pollsters thought the RN would win the most seats in the National Assembly, but Elabe was the only one who thought the party would win all 289 seats in the run-off. Seat projections made after the first round of voting are often very wrong, and this race is no exception.

On Sunday night, Reuters reported there were no final results for the whole country yet, but they were due in the next few hours. In France, exit polls have usually been very accurate.

Voter turnout was high compared to previous parliamentary elections. This shows how passionate people are about politics after Macron made the shocking and politically risky decision to call a vote in parliament.

Mathieu Gallard, research head at Ipsos France, said that at 1500 GMT, nearly 60% of voters had turned out, up from 39.42% two years earlier. This was the highest comparable turnout since the 1986 legislative vote. It wasn’t clear when the official number of people who voted would be changed.

World News

Pakistan Seeks US Support for Counter-Terrorism Operation Azm-e-Istehkam

(CTN News) – Pakistan’s Ambassador to the United States, Masood Khan, has urged Washington to provide Pakistan with sophisticated small arms and communication equipment to ensure the success of Operation Azm-e-Istehkam, a newly approved counter-terrorism initiative in the country.

The federal government recently approved the reinvigorated national counter-terrorism drive, which comprises three components: doctrinal, societal, and operational.

Ambassador Khan noted that work on the first two phases has already begun, with the third phase set to be implemented soon.

Addressing US policymakers, scholars, and corporate leaders at the Wilson Center in Washington, Khan emphasized the importance of strong security links, enhanced intelligence cooperation, and the resumption of sales of advanced military platforms between Pakistan and the US.

He argued that this is crucial for regional security and countering the rising tide of terrorism, which also threatens the interests of the US and its allies.

“Pakistan has launched Azm-i-Istehkam […] to oppose and dismantle terrorist networks. For that, we need sophisticated small arms and communication equipment,” said Ambassador Khan.

Pakistan–United States relations

The ambassador observed that the prospects of Pakistan-United States relations were bright, stating that the two countries “share values, our security and economic interests are interwoven, and it is the aspiration of our two peoples that strengthens our ties.”

He invited US investors and businesses to explore Pakistan’s potential in terms of demographic dividend, technological advancements, and market opportunities.

Khan also suggested that the US should consider Pakistan as a partner in its diplomatic efforts in Kabul and collaborate on counterterrorism and the rights of women and girls in Afghanistan.

He stressed that the bilateral relationship should be based on ground realities and not be hindered by a few issues.

“We should not base our engagement on the incongruity of expectations.

Our ties should be anchored in ground realities, even as we aim for stronger security and economic partnerships. Secondly, one or two issues should not hold the entire relationship hostage,” said the ambassador.

World News

China Urges Taiwanese to Visit Mainland ‘Without Worry’ Despite Execution Threat

China Urges Taiwanese to Visit Mainland Without Worry Despite Threats

China has reassured Taiwanese citizens that they can visit the mainland “without the slightest worry”, despite Taiwan raising its travel alert to the second-highest level in response to Beijing’s new judicial guidelines targeting supporters of Taiwanese independence.

Last week, China published guidelines that could impose the death penalty for “particularly serious” cases involving “diehard” advocates of Taiwanese independence.

In response, Taiwan’s government urged the public to avoid “unnecessary travel” to mainland China and Hong Kong, and raised its travel warning to the “orange” level.

However, Zhu Fenglian, a spokeswoman for a Chinese body overseeing Taiwan affairs, stated that the new directives are “aimed solely at the very small number of supporters of ‘Taiwan independence’, who are engaged in malicious acts and utterances”.

She emphasized that “the vast majority of Taiwan compatriots involved in cross-strait exchanges and cooperation do not need to have the slightest worry when they come to or leave mainland China”.

“They can arrive in high spirits and leave fully satisfied with their stay,” Zhu added.

What’s Behind The China-Taiwan Tensions?

The tensions stem from the longstanding dispute over Taiwan’s status. Mainland China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has refused to rule out using force to bring the democratic island under its control, while Taiwan sees itself as a sovereign state.

Beijing has not conducted top-level communications with Taipei since 2016, when the Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen became Taiwan’s leader. China has since branded her successor, President Lai Ching-te, a “dangerous separatist”.

“The DPP authorities have fabricated excuses to deceive the people on the island and incite confrontation and opposition,” Zhu said in her statement.
Despite the political tensions, many Taiwanese continue to travel to mainland China for work, study, or business.