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March 3: “If you have a broad historical
sense you will understand that even if Putin says he’s killing terrorists or
even if China says they’re fighting the Uyghur nationalists that doesn’t mean
they’re on our side,” [Sebastian] Gorka told Fox News’ Jeanine Pirro last May.
“Putin is a former KGB colonel, he’s a thug, he’s a vicious man. He runs a
country in which journalists get murdered if they disagree with the Kremlin... ”
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/gorka-was-critical-of-trump
March 7:South Korea Receives
First Components of Thaad Missile-Defense System
In a week of heightened tensions in the region, Foreign Minister Wang Li
cautioned the US in unusually frank language against the deployment of a
controversial missile defense system in South Korea. The system is vehemently
opposed by China.
But he also had strong words for North Korea, saying Pyonyang should suspend its
nuclear weapons program.
March 19:
This Visualization Shows China’s Jailed, Murdered And Missing
Political Prisoners
China says it has no political prisoners. A U.S. government database disagrees.
Last year was a relatively safe year for China’s democracy activists,
environmentalists and human rights campaigners, according to the database’s
records. Two hundred and sixty people were detained in 2016, compared to 448 in
2015. The worst years were 1989, the year of the Tiananmen protests, and 2008,
when Charter
08 ― the manifesto calling for human rights and democracy in China ― was
published.
March 20: China’s government has been
seeking advice from its think-tanks and policy advisers on how to counter
potential trade penalties from U.S. President Donald Trump, getting ready
for the worst, even as they hope for business-like negotiations.
The policy advisers believe the Trump administration is most likely to
impose higher tariffs on targeted sectors where China has a big surplus with
the United States, such as steel and furniture, or on state-owned firms.
China could respond with actions such as finding alternative suppliers of
agriculture products or machinery and manufactured goods, while cutting its
exports of consumer staples such as mobile phones or laptops, they said.
April 11: Death Penalty: World’s
biggest executioner China must come clean about ‘grotesque’ level of capital
punishment
China's horrifying use of the death penalty remains one of the country’s
deadly secrets, as the authorities continue to execute thousands of people
each year, Amnesty International said in its
2016
global review of the death penalty published today.
April 27: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Thursday that China
threatened the North Korean government with sanctions if it undertook another
nuclear weapons test. ... "They confirmed to us that they had requested that the
regime conduct no further nuclear test," Tillerson said of the Chinese. "In
fact, we were told by the Chinese that they informed the (North Korean) regime
that if they did conduct further nuclear tests, China would be taking sanctions
action on their own."
On Twitter: North Korea disrespected the wishes of China & its highly
respected President when it launched, though unsuccessfully, a missile today.
Bad!
April 28
@realDonaldTrump
April 29: Senator slams Trump’s North Korea tweet: ‘This is no
longer reality TV’ ... Democratic Sen. Chris Coons slammed President Donald
Trump’s tweet Saturday about North Korea’s latest missile test, saying Twitter
is no place to conduct diplomacy.
Trump took to Twitter shortly after the ballistic missile blew up over land in
North Korean territory. He decried the failed test while giving a nod to China,
one of North Korea’s only allies and a nation seen by the Trump administration
as a potential US ally in efforts to quash Pyongyang’s nuclear program.
http://q13fox.com/2017/04/29/senator-slams-trumps-north-korea-tweet-this-is-no-longer-reality-tv/
August 14: The softened language in Monday's
order is the second time in as many weeks that Trump has agreed to changes to
ease the potential backlash from China. Last week, the administration delayed
the trade move in favor of securing China's support for a United Nations
resolution imposing new sanctions on North Korea.
http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/14/news/trump-trade-china-ip/index.html
November 9: 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.
November 15: Trump's Diplomacy Probably
Pushed China To Start Talks With North Korea, Experts Say
China will soon send a senior diplomat to visit North Korea for the first time
in two years, indicating that President Donald Trump's recent pressure on
Beijing to tackle Kim Jong Un's regime and its nuclear program might finally be
working, experts say.
Chinese state media
reported on President Xi Jinping's decision Wednesday, days after Trump
finished a 12-day Asia tour in which he visited China and pleaded with regional
leaders to confront Kim.
“I don’t believe in coincidences, and they are sending this guy right after
Trump’s visit,” Robert Manning, a former State Department official and East Asia
expert, told Newsweek. “There was a comfort level between Xi and Trump
on North Korea during this recent visit. But we don’t know what they’ve agreed
to.”
http://www.newsweek.com/trump-china-north-korea-diplomat-visit-deal-712559 -- 2018 --
Back to top January 24: A Chinese wind turbine maker’s
conviction in Wisconsin over the theft of software code is threatening to
ratchet up already tense trade negotiations between the U.S. and China. It also
sent the shares of U.S. software maker
American Superconductor Corp. surging.
January 30: CIA chief says China 'as big a
threat to US' as Russia ... Chinese efforts to exert covert influence over the
West are just as concerning as Russian subversion, the director of the CIA has
said.
Mike Pompeo told the BBC that the Chinese "have a much bigger footprint" to do
this than the Russians do.
As examples he cited efforts to steal US commercial information and infiltration
of schools and hospitals - and this extended to Europe and the UK.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-42867076
February 20: President Trump is considering
more tariffs that would punish China. But he needs China more than ever in the
coming years to pay for the U.S. government.
March 3: President Donald Trump bemoaned a
decision not to investigate Hillary Clinton after the 2016 presidential
election, decrying a "rigged system" that still doesn't have the "right people"
in place to fix it, during a freewheeling speech to Republican donors in Florida
on Saturday.
In the closed-door remarks, a recording of which was obtained by CNN, Trump also
praised China's President Xi Jinping for
recently consolidating power and extending his potential tenure, musing he
wouldn't mind making such a maneuver himself.
March 5: China's global trade plan is piling
huge debt on smaller nations ... Big loans from China can come with big
headaches.
A
new report says China's massive plan to pump hundreds of billions of dollars
into ports, rail lines and other projects across Asia, Europe and Africa could
pile debt problems onto smaller countries.
Loans from China's Belt and Road Initiative "will significantly add to the risk
of debt distress" for eight countries, including Pakistan, Montenegro and
Djibouti, according to a report published Sunday by the Center for Global
Development, a US-based nonprofit think tank.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/05/news/economy/china-belt-road-debt-pakistan-laos/index.html
March 5: How Trump's tariffs could hand
trade leadership to China ... "If the U.S. abdicates as champion of the
international trading system, China may be the only country that can take the
reins. The question is, what would that mean for the current system of open and
free markets?"
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/is-trump-ceding-global-trade-leadership-to-china/
March 22: Dow dives 724 points as Trump's
China tariffs sink in
Trump’s decision to levy tariffs on Chinese imports
Opens a New Window. fueled concerns on Wall Street that other nations
will retaliate with their own measures targeting U.S. trade. Investors are also
weighing the impact on manufacturers and other companies that could be hit with
higher costs. The administration recently imposed tariffs on aluminum and steel,
although it exempted some nations including Canada and Mexico.
April 4: "I think the marketplace is
speaking for itself. Hog futures are down. Stock market is down," says David
Preisler, the CEO for the Minnesota Pork Board. "There are some pieces in the
President's trade policy that we really like, but this is a big piece that we
don't."
Though Republicans and industry experts in key congressional districts from
Minnesota to Florida argue that Trump has been good for their bottom lines, they
acknowledge that a trade war that makes it harder for American products to be
sold in key Chinese markets would not reflect well on Trump's trade rhetoric --
or his midterm hopes.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/04/politics/donald-trump-china-2018-iowa/index.html
April 6:
The Dow closed down 572 points, a drop of 2.3%, after President Trump threatened
to escalate a confrontation with China over trade. It fell as much as 767 points
earlier in the day. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq each declined more than 2%.
April 16: China’s holdings of U.S.
Treasuries rose in February, as net new foreign purchases increased to their
largest since May 2017, data from the Treasury Department showed on Monday.
Data showed China’s holdings rose to $1.177 trillion from $1.168 trillion in
January. China remains the largest non-U.S. holder of Treasuries.
May 15: State
Department hits China for shutting down church service
"We are deeply concerned by the Chinese government’s reported harassment of the
Early Rain Covenant Church, in Chengdu, Sichuan Province after they planned to
hold a memorial service on May 12, for the victims of the 2008 Wenchuan
earthquake," the department's spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a statement.
May 15: Rep. Adam Schiff: Chinese deal
linked to Trump properties violates emoluments clause ... “I certainly view this
as a violation of the emoluments clause,” Mr.
Schiff, California Democrat, said on CNN.
May
24: Trump on collision course with Congress on ZTE, the Chinese
telecommunications giant sanctioned for doing business with Iran and North
Korea.
Trump has publicly signaled his desire to ease the restrictions on ZTE as he
seeks China's cooperation on North Korea talks and hammering out a trade deal.
May 25:
President Donald Trump said the U.S. would allow Chinese
telecommunications-equipment maker ZTE Corp. to remain in business after paying
a $1.3 billion fine, changing its management and board and providing “high-level
security guarantees.”
Under the deal for ZTE to resume operations, it will also hire American
compliance officers to monitor its operations according to the people, who spoke
on condition of anonymity. Once ZTE complies, the Commerce Department will lift
an order under which the company had been cut off from U.S. suppliers including
Qualcomm
Inc., effectively shutting down its business.
http://fortune.com/2018/05/26/zte-fine-donald-trump-china/
May 27: China calls U.S. warships in South
China Sea 'a provocation'
If the U.S. insists on unilateral measures, China will respond accordingly,
foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters in Beijing on
Wednesday. The White House said in a statement on Tuesday that a final list of
imported goods to be targeted will be released by June 15, and levies imposed
“shortly thereafter.”
http://fortune.com/2018/05/30/china-donald-trump-flip-flop-tariffs-trade-war/
June 20: Chinese investment in the United
States has plummeted 92% this year
The dramatic decline comes as the fight between Washington and Beijing over
trade escalates, and US regulators increase their scrutiny of Chinese
acquisitions.
June 25: China's sudden currency slide
sparks rumors of an anti-Trump policy move
But analysts say while the currency has made a clear move lower since trade
rhetoric flared, the likelihood of China devaluing its currency to spite
President Donald Trump is very low. For now it appears the currency's drop could
just be a coincidence.
March 5: Trump’s tariffs and bitcoin’s boom
share the same unexpected source: Cheap Chinese electricity https://www.washingtonpost.com/
July 24: Education or espionage? A Chinese
student takes his homework home to China
Ruopeng Liu believes his work at a Duke lab was simply "fundamental research"
that he brought back to China. His former professor thinks otherwise.
Dr. David Smith of Duke University is one of the world's experts on something
called "metamaterials." Liu, who says he had long been a fan of Smith's, came to
the U.S. a dozen years ago with the express intent of studying at Smith's lab.
Some observers, including the former assistant director of counterintelligence
at the FBI, believe he was actually on a mission from the Chinese government.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/china/education-or-espionage-chinese-student-takes-his-homework-home-china-n893881
July 30: USDA said it would use a
Depression-era farm support fund to make direct payments to producers of
soybeans, sorghum, corn, wheat, cotton, dairy and pork.
... some of the benefits could go to Chinese-owned companies.
“The pork industry is dominated by very large corporations,” said Chris Hurt, an
agricultural economist at Purdue University in Indiana. “The largest hog
producer in the U.S., Smithfield, is owned by a Chinese company.”
And EU officials downplayed Trump’s claim they had made a commitment to buy more
U.S. soybeans.
September 7: Trump: Could impose tariffs
'soon' on $200B in Chinese goods
The tariffs would potentially hurt U.S. companies that import everything from
handbags to bicycle tires.
The tariffs would potentially hurt U.S. companies that import everything from
handbags to bicycle tires. A public comment period on the import taxes ended
Thursday. China has said it's ready to impose retaliatory tariffs on $60 billion
of U.S. goods.
September 18: China has a 'chilling' system
to control everyone
China's chilling dictatorship is moving quickly to introduce social scorecards,
in which all citizens will be monitored 24/7 and ranked on their behavior.
September 24: The Trump administration just
after midnight on Monday slapped tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods. China
responded with duties of its own on $60 billion in U.S. products. The Chinese
government also called off planned talks with U.S. officials as the consensus
grows in Beijing that substantive discussions will only be possible after U.S.
midterm elections in November, according to people familiar with the matter.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-24/trump-imposes-next-batch-of-china-tariffs-as-trade-war-escalates
November 28: When President Trump and
President Xi Jinping of China sit down to talk trade this week at the Group of
20 summit meeting, their negotiations are likely to be framed by a highly
charged topic: the White House’s insistence that China routinely steals American
technology and intellectual property.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/us/politics/intellectual-property-trump-xi.html
November 28: S. President Donald Trump’s
aggressive approach to China has been the most credible and consistent policy of
an often-criticized White House. The president’s assertions of Chinese
malfeasance in trade matters are undeniably true. Even
CNN’s Fareed Zakaria, no fan of the
president, has said, “Donald Trump is right: China is a trade cheat,” going on
to praise the U.S. trade representative’s exhaustive
report on China’s World Trade Organization noncompliance as a rare example
of a quality document from this administration.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/11/28/trumps-china-policy-is-a-triumph-wto-trump-gdp/
December 3: The White House is hailing the
Dec. 1 dinner meeting between Donald Trump and Chinese president Xi Jinping in
Buenos Aires as a landmark event that signals huge changes ahead for the warring
trade rivals.
However, no one can seem to say what, exactly, Trump and Xi agreed to.
Statements from each country are contradictory about fundamental issues and
offer no specifics about what might happen next. Given the fact that the history
of US trade negotiations with China is defined by China agreeing to radical
changes and then failing to actually make those changes, the Trump team’s
positive spin has been summed up by trade experts as “magical
thinking.”
https://qz.com/1482634/no-one-knows-what-trump-and-xi-agreed-to-at-the-g20/
December 4: He Said, Xi Said: U.S., China
Have Different Recollections Of Trump-Xi Trade Talks
“China has agreed to reduce and remove tariffs on cars coming into China from
the U.S. Currently the tariff is 40%,” his tweet said.
It’s doubtful that Xi agreed to any such thing, because World Trade Organization
rules forbid a country from imposing differential tariffs. If China eliminated
its tariffs on American cars, it would have to eliminate its tariffs on all
other countries’ cars. Trump and Kudlow apparently don’t know this. But
Japanese, Korean and German car companies know it and would be thrilled to have
duty-free access to the Chinese car market.
December 6: Trade deficit hits 10-year high
as China shuns soybeans, Americans snap up imports
Trade deficit rises to $55.5 billion in October, which is highest since 2008 ...
amid a record shortfall with China, keeping the U.S. on pace to record the
largest annual gap in a decade.
Imports rose 0.2% to a record $266.5 billion in October. The U.S. imported more
autos, drugs and other consumer goods
Part of the recent surge in imports reflects American companies stocking up on
Chinese goods ahead of the holidays to get ahead of another increase in U.S.
tariffs that was supposed to kick in on Jan. 1. The U.S. tariff increase has
been temporarily been postponed until March.
The sources told the Journal that criminal charges could land as soon as next
week. The newspaper reported that the goal was to gain access to the providers'
networks and steal intellectual property from American companies and agencies.
December 8: China reported far weaker than
expected November exports and imports, showing slower global and domestic demand
and raising the possibility authorities will take more measures to keep the
country’s growth rate from slipping too much.
November exports only rose 5.4 percent from a year earlier, Chinese customs data
showed on Saturday, the weakest performance since a 3 percent contraction in
March, and well short of the 10 percent forecast in a Reuters poll.
Analysts say the export data showed that the “front-loading” impact as firms
rushed out shipments to beat planned U.S. tariff hikes faded, and that export
growth is likely to slow further as demand cools.
December 11: A Canadian judge ruled Tuesday
a Chinese tech executive, detained at the request of the U.S., can be free on
bail while awaiting an extradition hearing.
The judge said Meng Wanzhou must meet stringent conditions aimed at making sure
she doesn't flee Canada for China.
December 19: The US justice department has
indicted two Chinese men accused of hacking into the computer networks of
companies and government agencies in Western countries.
The US and UK have accused China of violating an agreement relating to
commercial espionage.
Zhu Hua and Zhang Shilong worked for a company called Huaying Haitai and in
association with the Chinese Ministry of State Security, the US court filing
says.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-46638323
December 22: U.S., Canada call on China to
release detained Canadians amid Huawei spat
January 18: The German government is
considering blocking Chinese tech giant
Huawei from its next-generation mobile phone network, striking yet another
blow to the embattled company under facing accusations of espionage on behalf of
China.
The U.S. and Europe pushed back against Huawei’s presence in their markets,
fearing the company’s technology could endanger national security as it could be
used to spy on Western citizens.
January 26: China will join a group
including the United States and the European Union in negotiating new rules to
cover the US$25 trillion e-commerce market.
The EU and 47 other members of the World Trade Organisation have launched the
discussions, according to a Friday statement. If successful, a digital trade
accord hashed out through the Geneva-based trade body would establish a baseline
international regime for 21st century trade and reduce cross-border hurdles to
e-commerce.
China, which for years has heavily restricted use of the internet inside its
borders, had resisted joining the talks until Thursday, raising concerns over
the language in the statement advocating a “high standard outcome”, according to
people familiar with the talks who asked not to be identified because the
discussions were private.
In a statement, China’s ambassador to the World Trade Organisation Zhang
Xiangchen said China decided to join the negotiations out of concern over a
broader crisis surrounding the WTO, which has been coming under attack from US
President Donald Trump’s administration.
May 1: Former CIA officer Jerry Lee admits
conspiracy to spy for China
A former CIA case officer long suspected in the intelligence community of being
a devastating mole for the Chinese government admitted Wednesday he conspired to
commit espionage in that country. But no evidence was produced that Jerry Chun
Shing Lee shared any information.
