California Gov. Gavin Newsom discussed critical issues with senior
Chinese officials, including climate change, human rights, and trade, as
part of his weeklong tour of China.
Notably, the topic of human rights wasn't addressed in his Oct. 25 meeting with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
“We accelerated our progress on climate in meaningful and substantive ways,” Mr. Newsom told reporters after the meeting in Beijing on Oct. 25.
Mr. Newsom said the two talked about the Israel–Hamas war and fentanyl. Mexican cartels have been buying precursor chemicals from China to make the synthetic opioid drug, and shipping the finished products to the United States.
Mr.
Xi told Mr. Newsom about the importance of improving ties between China
and California, which the Chinese leader said would serve to advance
ties between Beijing and Washington, according to state-run media outlet
Xinhua.
The Newsom–Xi exchanges came less than a
month before an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit that's
scheduled to take place in San Francisco. While the potential exists for
a meeting at the summit between U.S. President Joe Biden and Mr. Xi,
President Biden has only stated that such a meeting is a "possibility," and officials in Beijing haven't confirmed whether the Chinese leader will travel to the United States.
The leaders of the world's two largest economic powers haven't had an in-person meeting since last year's G20 summit in Indonesia. Despite the Biden administration's efforts
to resume diplomatic engagement with Beijing, the two nations still
trade blame over issues ranging from Taiwan to human rights.
Mr.
Newsom was warmly received by senior officials in Beijing. In a meeting
earlier on Oct. 25, China’s deputy leader, Han Zheng, addressed Mr.
Newsom as an “old friend” and said his visit would “inject positive
energy into the development of the China–U.S. relationship.”
“I’m
here in expectation, as you suggest, of turning the page, of renewing
our friendship and reengaging [on] foundational and fundamental issues
that will determine our collective faith in the future,” Mr. Newsom said
in brief opening remarks ahead of his meeting with Wang Yi, China’s top
diplomat, earlier in the day.
Mr. Wang is set
to arrive in Washington on Oct. 26 for a three-day visit, during which
he will meet with Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House
national security adviser Jake Sullivan. Currently, it isn't known if
Mr. Wang will speak to President Biden directly.
In 2017, then-California Gov. Edmund Brown met with Mr. Xi during a trip to China.
Human Rights
According to a statement
from the governor’s office, Mr. Newsom spoke about numerous human
rights issues on Oct. 25, although not with Mr. Xi. Those issues
included rights violations and anti-democracy efforts in Hong Kong,
Tibet, and Xinjiang.
Before his visit to China,
Mr. Newsom's spokesperson told reporters that the trip “is wholly
focused on climate,” suggesting that human rights wouldn't be on the
agenda during meetings with Chinese officials. The spokesperson’s remark
prompted a group of House Republicans to issue a letter calling on the governor to cancel his trip.
However,
Mr. Newsom said he brought up human rights issues with Mr. Wang. When
asked why he didn’t do the same with Mr. Xi, the California governor
said, “I can’t be everything to everyone at every moment.”
Ahead of Mr. Newsom’s trip, a coalition of more than 50 human rights and pro-democracy organizations issued a letter saying that Mr. Newsom should demand the release of 1,672 political prisoners in Hong Kong, including Jimmy Lai.
Many
Hong Kong students participated in the 2019–2020 anti-Chinese Communist
Party (CCP), pro-democracy protest movement. However, many protesters
have since been arrested and sentenced, some found guilty under the
city’s national security law. Mr. Lai, the former publisher of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, has been incarcerated in Hong Kong since December 2020.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (R) speaks on the state's experience in
combating climate change with professor Gong Peng at the University of
Hong Kong, in Hong Kong, on Oct. 23, 2023 (Xinqi Su/AFP via Getty
Images)
‘Strategic Red Lines’
Mr. Newsom told reporters that there are "strategic red lines" in the U.S.–China ties but that the two nations could manage it.
Chinese diplomats have repeatedly asserted that the Taiwan issue was its “first red line,” warning Washington not to cross it.
On Oct. 25, China's defense ministry criticized the Pentagon’s "2023 China Military Power Report,"
blaming the United States for tensions in the Taiwan Strait and
reiterating the vow to achieve unification with Taiwan. The CCP views
Taiwan as part of its territory to be taken by force if necessary.
Rejecting the claim, the self-ruled, democratic Taiwan has pledged to defend its freedom.
The
Defense Department said in the report that the Chinese regime
"amplified diplomatic, political, and military pressure against Taiwan"
in 2022, with its military increasing "provocative and destabilizing
actions in and around the Taiwan Strait" including "ballistic missile
overflights of Taiwan."
Climate Agenda
Mr. Newsom took part in a “fireside chat” at Hong Kong University on Oct. 23. According to a statement, the governor told the audience that Hong Kong and California have been leading the fight against climate change.
Li
Yongsheng, deputy commissioner of the Chinese foreign ministry in Hong
Kong, also took part in the event at the school, according to Hong Kong
media. Mr. Li had previously served as the deputy director-general of
the Chinese foreign ministry in Xinjiang.
On Oct. 24, Mr. Newsom
signed a new climate partnership with China’s southern Guandong
Province, according to a statement. China’s state-run media reported
that the California governor also boarded an electric bus and test-drove
an electric SUV, both made by China’s biggest electric vehicle
manufacturer, BYD.
“We’re proud to have a partner like Guangdong in our efforts to make the tailpipe a thing of the past,” Mr. Newsom said.
BYD
was one of 82 foreign and Chinese companies found to be “potentially
directly or indirectly benefiting from the use of Uyghur workers outside
Xinjiang through abusive labour transfer programs as recently as 2019,”
according to a 2020 report by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
In
2021, the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation sent a letter to the
CEOs of 84 companies, including BYD, urging them to decouple their
supply chains from Xinjiang.
Rep. Michelle Steel
(R-Calif.), one of the House Republicans who wrote the letter calling on
the governor to cancel his China trip, took to X, formerly known as
Twitter, on Oct. 24 to ask why Mr. Newsom would want to work with the
CCP.
Trade Issues
Mr. Newsom signed
a memorandum of understanding with Zheng Shanjie, the head of the
National Development and Reform Commission, China’s top economic
planner. The governor’s office said the memo is focused on climate
issues.
Aside from climate, trade was also the focus of the Oct.
24 meetings between Mr. Newsom and the regime’s senior officials.
According to the readout from his office, Mr. Newsom discussed how to
strengthen the two-way trade between California and China, which he said
rose to $166 billion. He also "made clear that foreign investments must
continue to be predicated on fair competition."
U.S. lawmakers,
however, warned on Oct. 24 that the CCP has taken advantage of the
United States for decades, saying it’s time to change that situation.
Sens.
Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) introduced the
"True Reciprocity Act of 2023," a proposal that addresses the
“substantial imbalance” in the U.S.–China relationships across a series
of sectors, including trade, diplomacy, and media.
Mr. Sullivan said in a statement,
“For decades, American citizens, businesses, and organizations
operating in China have faced significant restrictions and censorship,
in sharp contrast to the treatment faced by their CCP counterparts who
operate largely unencumbered in the United States."
No comments:
Post a Comment