Good Thursday Macron - Xi Jinping Pays Off, Although Gradually: Peace Between China and the West
Good Thursday Macron - Xi Jinping Pays Off, Although Gradually: Peace Between China and the West
5 High Rankings from the U.S., EU, and LATAM (Latin America) will (*per Thursday, April 13: already landed) visit Beijing this week (but no detailed data will be the same day or not): Brazilian President Luiz Inacia Lula da Silva (Thursday, April 13th) and even meet Former Brazilian President Dilma Rouseff in Shanghai, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles, Foreign Minister Germany Annalena Charlotte Alma Baerbock, and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Marie Raimondo. This is after “Good Thursday (April 6th)'“, “spectacular trip”, “change the game” by Macron last week after meeting with Xi Jinping.
Actually, Beijing won “a lot of cake” last week not only because of Macron: an old video (actually the moment happened in February 2023) between Dalai Lama and toddler, “sucking incident” and creating outcry across the world.
Another profile: President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s trip to China will include a tour of Huawei’s innovation center in Shanghai, a stop that may irk the US which alleges the technology company poses a threat to its national security.
The Brazilian leader will visit Huawei Technologies Co.’s site on Thursday, two people familiar with the plan said, requesting anonymity as his full schedule hasn’t been published yet. His trip to China, which includes a bilateral with President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday (April 14th), was delayed by a couple of weeks after Lula had a mild case of pneumonia late last month.
The trip, which comes a little more than a month after Lula visited Joe Biden in Washington DC (February 10th), shows the importance given by the leftist leader to both countries, which rank as Brazil’s two largest trading partners. His visit to Huawei sends a message that he won’t pick sides in the US fight against the technology giant. “Neutral” tone is the same as Macron.
Complicated: Macron not yet to persuade EU to withdraw banning Huawei, regardless of Xi Jinping's success to assure Macron about boosting cooperation between EU and China “in candid and mutual relation, dignity of each other, and not weaponization.”
Macron sticks to his guns: "We have to reduce our dependencies if we want to preserve [our] identity. It means that we must be able to choose our partners and shape our own destiny, rather than being a mere witness of the dramatic evolution of this world." Which means Europe should reduce its dependency on the US to preserve its identity and shape its destiny, instead of just having to suffer the consequences of US policies which it didn't decide and aren't designed to be in the EU's interests.
Actually, with Macron - Xi Jinping agreeing with each other, a more peaceful situation looks concrete in the Indo Pacific. But any western efforts at re engagement with China are vilified by the western media. Conflict resolution is not treasonous. Interesting how quickly all Western journalists (especially those based in Taiwan) have fallen in line with the State Department’s narrative of “China is about to invade Taiwan, hence the US needs to pre-emptively pile a shitload of weapons on the island” (hence creating the very threat that is likely to provoke an invasion). Almost as quickly as 20 years ago they fell in line with the “Iraq has weapons of mass destruction” narrative. Empire shills, every last one of them. Jacques Chirac (France) joined with Gerhard Schroeder (Germany) and, awkwardly, Vladimir Putin (currently Day - 413 war with Ukraine) to say no to invading Iraq on March 20th, 2003.
European Council President Charles Michel said that "European leaders are becoming increasingly favorable toward French President Emmanuel Macron's push for 'strategic autonomy' away from the United States.”
Everyone focuses on the difference between Macron and pro-US Ursula von der Leyen but Charles Michel is higher in rank in the EU than she is. It shows that Macron, despite what the media would have you think in the past few days, does speak for a significant constituency in the EU. Technically, it should be noted that Ursula Von der Leyen has no remit on foreign affairs and security issues. It appears Ursula VdL has usurped Charles Michel roles and responsibilities. No doubt this was causing problems with VdL overseas trips such as China as outwith her official role.
Complicated: Macron not yet to persuade EU to withdraw banning Huawei, regardless of Xi Jinping's success to assure Macron about boosting cooperation between EU and China “in candid and mutual relation, dignity of each other, and not weaponization.”
The decision by some EU countries to ban Huawei from supplying 5G infrastructure is based on "political motivation", the Chinese company has said, as it defended its legacy and ongoing investments in the region.
Abraham Liu, Huawei’s chief representative to the EU, said “when you talk about certain, very few countries who have made a different kind of decision based on their political motivation, I think that's politics”.
But he added that the multinational company was nevertheless working to be a part of Europe’s digital future by complying with European regulation and by collaborating with partners in the region.
Huawei has been forced to rethink its global strategy after former US President Donald Trump blacklisted the company over concerns it was using equipment to spy on the American government. Unfortunately for Huawei, a significant number of European governments followed the United States' lead.
The U.S.’s lonely clash with China, and Biden, an Irish descent, now in Ulster University to remark on the “25 Years of Good Friday Agreement”, may be admitting U.S. wrong strategy, wrong approach on China. There are virtually no US allies that are really all-in on the idea of a cold war with China." This is the momentous story of the moment. By trying to isolate China, the US is really isolating itself.
After Macron appeased Xi Jinping, reaffirming (new version of understanding) One China Policy, China indicated it will maintain pressure on Taiwan following its large-scale military drills, a sign that tensions over the democracy’s status will linger. 4 Hours ago (around 3 pm in Taipei), Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party has just chosen Vice President Lai Ching-te as its nominee for the 2024 presidential race. For Beijing, Lai Ching-te is even more of an extremist than Tsai when it comes to Taiwan independence. But in a way it makes the choice clear for the Taiwanese electorate at the next election, between DPP and KMT: are you for conflict with the mainland or not.
A veteran Chinese diplomat warned that unless the US fundamentally changes its attitude toward the nation, there’s no point in talks on ways to safeguard the relationship. This looked too vulgar when Secretary Blinken met Former FM Chinese (currently Premier) Wang Yi in marginal meeting / corridor talk in the middle of the Munich Security Conference last February. Sour situation, amid “Balloon Spy incident”. Beijing has effectively frozen high level bilateral diplomatic contact in the wake of the Chinese spy balloon incident in February. The situation became more uncomfortable after Wednesday’s meeting in California (April 5th) between Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. But Secretary Gina Marie Raimondo tried to break the iceberg between the two superpowers.
Senior officials from the Department of Commerce will be traveling to Beijing and Shanghai next week as part of an effort to lay groundwork for a potential trip by Secretary Gina Raimondo later this year, according to people familiar with the planning.
Elizabeth Economy, a senior advisor to the secretary on China issues, and Scott Tatlock, the deputy assistant secretary for China and Mongolia, will assess whether such a meeting between Raimondo and her Chinese counterparts would produce results to justify the visit.
A spokesperson for the Commerce Department confirmed the trip "to meet with U.S. Commercial Service officers, government counterparts and industry to discuss bilateral trade and commercial opportunities for U.S. businesses."
But the optics of a potential visit by Raimondo — the former governor of Rhode Island whose political ambitions are said not to end with the Commerce job — could be fraught with risk if the visit produces no deliverables, according to the people familiar with the planning. After a recent visit by French President Emmanuel Macron, for instance, Beijing agreed to deliver 160 Airbus planes, and Airbus agreed to double its production in the country, also build a 2nd assembly plant (in Tianjin).
Boeing's March 2023 jet deliveries, boosted by fresh airline demand for spring travel, suggest an acceleration of the rework on MAXs and 787s in storage. Flair Airlines of Canada, which has now taken three new 737 MAXs this year via lessor and part owner 777 Partners. Ramping up that rework as well as the production of new jets is vital to Boeing’s recovery efforts. Boeing finished the first quarter of the year with 130 jets delivered compared to 127 jets from Airbus. Because Airbus usually has blockbuster deliveries in December, it typically also has very light January deliveries. Boeing actually out-delivered Airbus in January 2019, 2022 and 2023. But those are the only three months when that happened in the past four years.
Outside diplomatic relation, on institutional relation, has a benchmark momentum between China and the West. China and the World Bank are exploring compromises over how to restructure billions of dollars of debt held by poor nations, seeking a breakthrough that could unlock desperately needed aid.