US-China Relations - 83. page

Two Chinese media, Xinhua and Caixin reported with much different attitudes on Trump’s speech made in Phoenix on August 22. The Chinese Communist Party Propaganda Department heavily controls Xinhua. It is the traditional mouthpiece of the state. Caixin is a relatively new media, commonly believed to have a close connection to Wang Qishan.

Xinhua Report: A Split America – Trump’s Speech at a Gathering Caused Controversy

In his near 80-minute speech, Trump spent about half of his time raging at the media. He defended his position on the violent incident in Charlottesville.  …

When Trump scoffed at the media, the audience booed. His supporters shouted, “CNN sucks!” The TV news reporter while shaking his head and sighing said, “This is the President we elected.”

Later Trump moved to immigration, the border wall and NAFTA. …

About 4,500 people said on Facebook that they participated in the protest event next to Trump’s gathering. Over 3,000 more people said that they participated in the anti-Trump event that a local immigration rights group had organized in downtown Phoenix.

After the gathering, the anti-Trump protesters clashed with the police. Police used tear gas on the protesters and smoke was everywhere. At least three protesters were arrested. No injuries were reported.

Afterwards, some U.S. media commented that Trump’s speech, “increased the split in American society.”

Caixin Report: “Trump Criticized the Media for Quoting Him out of Context and Threatened to Shut down the Government if Congress Does not Fund the Border Wall”

On August 22, Trump countered the external criticism (of his position on the Charlottesville clash) and criticized the media for quoting him out of context.

Trump said, “It’s time to expose the crooked media’s deceptions and to challenge the media for their role in fomenting divisions.” “(A)nd yes, by the way, they are trying to take away our history and our heritage. You see that.”

Trump took out a few (copies of) his statements on Charlottesville’s violence incident and criticized the media for quoting him out of context.

“These are truly dishonest people. It’s not all of them. Not all of them. You have some very good reporters. You have some very fair journalists, but for the most part, honestly, these are really, really dishonest people, and they’re bad people. I really think they don’t like our country.”

While he made those statements, the audience booed at and shouted at the reporter area, “CNN sucks! CNN sucks!” About 19 thousand people participated in the gathering. Many of them waved the banners of “Drain the Swamp,” “Make America Great Again,” and “Women Supporting Trump.”

Trump said that the media ignored his statement on unity. “Just like they don’t want to report that I spoke out forcefully against hatred, bigotry and violence and strongly condemned the neo-Nazis, the White Supremacists, and the KKK.” …

Arizona is one of the states that strongly supported Trump during the Presidential election. A few hundred people gathered to protest Trump outside the rally. Phoenix’s Mayor, Greg Stanton, a Democrat, had asked the White House to cancel the gathering and warned about potential violence. However, in reality, the pro- and anti-Trump people didn’t have a direct confrontation that day.

Sources:
1. Xinhua, August 23, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2017-08/23/c_1121532170.htm
2. Caixin, August 24, 2017
http://international.caixin.com/2017-08-24/101134637.html
3. Time, August 23, 2017
http://time.com/4912055/donald-trump-phoenix-arizona-transcript/

China Central Television (CCTV) recently published a commentary on its official website responding to the Religious Freedom Annual Report that the U.S. State Department just released. The report pointed out that China, along with six other countries, had a bad record on respecting religious freedom. The Chinese government officially described this Report as “ignoring the facts and being flat out wrong.” The commentary used the recent Charlottesville, Virginia incident as an example of the “chaotic situation” inside the United States. The author suggested that the U.S. really has no moral authority to judge other countries. Even the U.S.’s own industrial leaders in the area of manufacturing resigned from the Trump Manufacturing Council. The commentator urged the U.S. government to give up its attempt to interfere with other nations’ internal affairs in the name of religious freedom and stated that, “Americans should really just mind their own business.”

Source: CCTV, August 16, 2017
http://news.cctv.com/2017/08/16/ARTIUUTVFyYRGdtDpwqJbF44170816.shtml

On August 18, the U.S. officially launched an investigation into China’s trade policy on intellectual property under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. On August 20 Xinhua published an analytical article on the “301 investigation.” As to the motive for the investigation, the article stated that it was because Trump wants to fulfill his campaign promise and solve the “so called” unbalanced trade issue. Also the U.S. is taking advantage of the length of the investigation, which may take between six months and one year, to further push China to open its market in service or high value-added industries. As to the impact of the investigation, the article quoted an expert who said that it is unlikely that a trade war between the U.S. and China will take place as the investigated products only account for a small portion of the total U.S. China trade and because the U.S. and China are heavily dependent on each other economically. It further quoted a source that said some believe that the investigation will hurt Chinese companies, their suppliers, and their sales agents, as well as the retail business in the U.S. Others said that China needs to be on the alert for the investigation having a chain effect because other countries may follow the same path. As to how China should react, the article stated that China should monitor the progress closely and use international rules to protect its own interests. According to one expert, in order to minimize the impact of a “301 investigation,” China should change itself from a “factory” into a “headquarters” that is equipped with the capability of doing research, manufacturing, and sales.

Source: Xinhua, August 20, 2017
http://news.xinhuanet.com/world/2017-08/20/c_1121512818.htm

People’s Daily recently published a commentary that started with the joke that the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund expressed the possibility of moving the IMF’s headquarters to Beijing (from Washington D.C.). The commentary suggested that the joke at least reflected a view on the changing role of the United States. The author referred to the IMF’s latest World Economic Outlook (WEO) report that adjusted down the U.S. and the British growth rates while adjusting up China’s as well as the Eurozone’s. The United States seems to be losing its power in terms of being the engine of the world economy. Instead, the emerging economies led by China and India contributed three quarters of the global economic growth. In the meantime, the commentary pointed out, the U.S. role on the world stage is heading downhill, especially since President Trump has brought his country a dramatically worsened global image. According to a study that a Californian institute published, France ranks as number one in world soft power (the U.S. being number three). Even the proud American “soft power” is no longer “glowing.” According to the commentator, even the Germans expressed the belief that the U.S. is no longer interested in global cooperation and has broken a “great union” with Europe. The article concluded that, although a new world order is being formed, one cannot just ignore the U.S., yet.

Source: People’s Daily, July 29, 2017
http://world.people.com.cn/n1/2017/0729/c1002-29436087.html

After the first round of China-U.S. comprehensive strategic economic dialogue, Duowei, an overseas Chinese news media close to Beijing, reported that, in light of the U.S. President Trump’s “stubborn” and “fickle” personality as well as the different interests and propositions among the different factions in Trump’s administration since Trump took office, China’s top leaders, including Xi Jinping and his team, no longer mention the concept of “bedrock ” in Sino-U.S. relations.

The report said that in 2013, Xi Jinping proposed to Obama’s finance minister Jacob Lew, that “economic relations” are the “bedrock” of Sino-U.S. relations. With the progress of the bilateral relations in economics and trade, climate change, Iran’s nuclear agreement, and other multilateral issues, this concept is no longer confined to the economic field. Xi Jinping upgraded the concept and regarded that the “pragmatic cooperation” between China and the U.S. is the “Bedrock” for the stability of the world.

In order to honor his election promises, however, Trump now overly allows trade and economic interests to dominate diplomacy. The result is that he allows the military and security policy interests to enter into the negotiations on (economic) trade.

Because Trump has been very hostile to China’s economic and trade area and has tied it to North Korea’s nuclear issue, Xi Jinping did not mention the “bedrock” concept of the bilateral cooperation and international cooperation in his two formal meetings with (Trump).

Source: Duowei, July 22, 2107
http://global.dwnews.com/news/2017-07-22/59826698.html

China’s state media Global Times published an opinion article stating that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership for cooperation is an extremely important diplomatic asset for both countries. It proposed that China and Russia should continue to move forward in the direction of an all-around strategic partnership.

The article stated, “The same day that Chinese leaders received a call from Washington, they left for Moscow, arriving three days later. Inevitably they let the public relations between China and the United States continue with China to make contact. Thinking about the twists and turns that happened between China and the United States in the previous week, they looked at the long-term stability of the China-Russian relationship. China does not know how many people cannot help but think that the United States is still unreliable but that China and Russia are real friends.”

“The China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation is true to its name. The two countries have reached a high level of strategic mutual trust; leadership exchanges are like visiting relatives. Since becoming president, Xi has visited Russia six times. Xi and Putin have met together a total of 21 times.”

“Both China and Russia have a very positive attitude toward the development of China’s and Russia’s strategic cooperation with each other. It is not for a temporary purpose; both countries regard the relationship with the other side as a strategic ballast stone to deal with the complex world. The China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of cooperation is an extremely important diplomatic asset for both countries.”

“Washington has not given up on the idea of ‘transforming’ China; its attitude towards China’s policies is very complicated. On the one hand, they want to maximize the interests of the United States through Sino-U.S. economic cooperation. On the other hand, and at the same time, they want to restrict China strategically to ensure that the U.S. has the absolute advantage in security.”

“One cannot be impulsive in thinking the worst about Sino-U.S. relations, allowing the friction to ferment. One cannot hold an unrealistic fantasy either. The strategic issue between China and U.S. is very deep. One can only find the answers slowly.”

Source: Global Times, July 4, 2017
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2017-07/10931314.html