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US-China dialogue opens with tough talk on trade
Jul 20, 2017 | Asian Review
By Isaku Harada & Tsuyoshi Nagasawa
The U.S.-China relationship, relatively friendly in recent months, could take a contentious turn in talks here Wednesday as American officials take aim at the countries' growing trade imbalance and press Beijing for tougher action on North Korea. -
China Focus: PLA to celebrate 90th birthday with stronger, more peaceful military
Jul 20, 2017 | Xinhua Net
By Zhang Dongmiao
In April, China's first domestically produced aircraft carrier was launched, which was followed by the debut of its new generation of destroyer in June. In July, the country's first aircraft carrier allowed visits by the public for the first time. -
PetroChina unloading first Chinese purchase of oil from U.S. strategic reserves: shipping data
Jul 20, 2017 | Reuters
By Florence Tan
PetroChina is this week unloading the first Chinese purchase of crude oil from U.S. strategic petroleum reserves at a port in eastern China, according to shipping data and two industry sources. -
When will the other shoe drop in U.S.-China economic relations
Jul 19, 2017 | Los Angeles Times
By Don Lee
After an unexpectedly amicable start to U.S.-China relations under President Trump, including high-level economic talks Wednesday, many are wondering when the other shoe will drop. -
Why it’s difficult to trust China or Russia
Jul 19, 2017 | Asia Times
By Todd Royal
There are two recent examples, both of which illustrate why China and Russia still can’t be trusted on a moral, geopolitical scale. -
China plan to ban waste imports threatens US exports
Jul 20, 2017 | Journal of Commerce
By Dustin Braden
China’s notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it will no longer import solid waste by the end of this year imperils 8.2 percent, or nearly 1 million TEU, of all US exports, according to an analysis of data from PIERS. -
At Security Summit, China Cedes Initiative to U.S.
Jul 19, 2017 | The Maritime Executive
By Tuan N. Pham
Singapore hosted the 2017 Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) from June 2-4. The dialogue was well attended by defense ministers from the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, and France, with other regional countries sending varying levels of defense representation.
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US-China dialogue opens with tough talk on trade
Jul 20, 2017 | Asian Review
By Isaku Harada & Tsuyoshi Nagasawa
WASHINGTON -- The U.S.-China relationship, relatively friendly in recent months, could take a contentious turn in talks here Wednesday as American officials take aim at the countries' growing trade imbalance and press Beijing for tougher action on North Korea.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Chinese Vice Premier Wang Yang met in Washington for round one of the U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue. "It's time to rebalance in our trade and investment relationship in a more fair, equitable and reciprocal manner," Ross said in his opening statement, setting the tone for the meeting to come. America's trade deficit with China expanded to around $120 billion in the January-June half, according to Chinese figures, even as the Asian powerhouse's overall trade surplus with the rest of the world shrank.
Mnuchin also pushed for more openness on China's end, suggesting that more "foreign participation in China's financial sector will help improve the allocation of resources to the most productive sectors of the Chinese economy." Wang took a more conciliatory tone: "Dialogue cannot immediately address all differences, but confrontation will immediately damage the interests of both" parties, he said.
The vice premier announced in a speech Tuesday that China had begun importing such American goods as beef and liquefied natural gas as part of the so-called 100-day plan to address the trade imbalance that Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump agreed to in April. The first part of that plan was made public in May, and Wednesday's talks are intended to firm up other aspects.
But a number of stumbling blocks could hinder such progress. Overproduction of steel in China remains a thorny issue, particularly after the country logged record crude steel output in June. While China's steel exports to the U.S. appear, at first glance, to be falling, Washington charges the products are simply being rerouted through third countries like South Korea. Beijing, meanwhile, charges that limits America is considering on steel imports are protectionist, raising real concerns of a stalemate.
Getting tough
The shadow of North Korea's nuclear and missile development will also darken the proceedings. The Trump administration in the past has indicated a willingness to overlook certain economic issues if Beijing were to help it rein in Pyongyang. But the deadline for progress on that front is thought to be mid-July -- that is, when the 100-day economic plan is to have run its course -- and China remains leery of imposing sanctions on its neighbor that are as harsh as Washington would like.
And so the U.S. is taking a harder line. The Treasury Department at the end of June barred China's Bank of Dandong from doing business with American financial institutions, saying the bank helped North Korea launder money. Washington is now weighing further sanctions on Chinese companies doing business with the North.
The Bank of Dandong sanctions are intended more to make an example of the institution than to have a real impact, according to a diplomatic source in Shenyang, China. Given that Dandong is right across the border from North Korea, it is easier to simply carry in cash than risk leaving a paper trail by going through banks. But the message of the crackdown is clear: If Beijing's cooperation is not forthcoming, further punitive measures will be.
After the American and Chinese officials made their opening statements Wednesday, it was announced that neither side would hold news conferences planned for that evening. While Washington and Beijing have made quite a show of partnership since April, it is clear the honeymoon is over.
http://asia.nikkei.com/Politics-Economy/International-Relations/US-China-dialogue-opens-with-tough-talk-on-trade
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China Focus: PLA to celebrate 90th birthday with stronger, more peaceful military
Jul 20, 2017 | Xinhua Net
By Zhang Dongmiao
BEIJING, July 20 (Xinhua) -- It has been a big year for China's military.
In April, China's first domestically produced aircraft carrier was launched, which was followed by the debut of its new generation of destroyer in June. In July, the country's first aircraft carrier allowed visits by the public for the first time.
As the 90th birthday of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) approaches, the country's army has shown how much its military capacity has grown and how committed it is to maintaining world peace.
A STRONGER ARMY
The PLA has come a long way since its birth during the armed uprising in the city of Nanchang on August 1, 1927, when it had only 20,000 soldiers.
Ninety years later, the country boasts 2 million servicemen, making it the world's largest military force, according to a national defense white paper titled "China's Military Strategy," published in 2015.
Besides the growth in numbers, the PLA has armed its soldiers with world-class equipment.
During China's epic V-Day parade in September 2015, the country displayed its Dongfeng-5B intercontinental strategic missiles, designed to carry nuclear warheads, and its Dongfeng-21D anti-ship ballistic missiles, described by some media as the "carrier killer."
Other cutting-edge weaponry included the PLA's state-of-the-art tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles, and its new generation of airborne early warning and control aircraft, carrier-based fighters and attack helicopters that fly low across the sky.
In April of this year, China launched its second aircraft carrier in a Dalian shipyard in northeastern province of Liaoning. It is the first carrier designed and built by China. The country's first carrier, the Liaoning, was a refitted Soviet Union-made carrier put into commission by the PLA Navy in 2012.
Another Navy development was the launch of a new destroyer, a domestically designed and produced 10,000-tonne vessel.
The destroyer is the first vessel of China's new generation of destroyers equipped with new air defense, anti-missile, anti-ship and anti-submarine weapons.
For military observers, all these achievements can be seen in a video titled "PLA Today" released by the Ministry of National Defense (MND) last week.
The 16-minute English-language video, with Chinese subtitles, displayed a host of unmanned "smart" military vehicles, reconnaissance robots and drones, followed by footage of live-fire drills in the South China Sea and the East China Sea in July last year.
"If war is declared, we are ready," one line said.
A MORE OPEN ARMY
The video was not the PLA's only bid for attention on social media.
The military debuted a five-episode live-streaming program on China's Twitter-like Weibo service on Tuesday.
The first episode featured China's airborne troops and showed the tough training soldiers must undergo.
The other four episodes will focus on soldiers from other service branches, the descendants of war heros, and war veterans.
Last year, the military released an action-packed online video featuring rap music to attract young recruits.
The PLA has also made real-life outreach efforts.
In early July, a flotilla including the aircraft carrier arrived in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region for a visit. During the trip, the Liaoning opened to the public for visits for the first time.
More than 5,000 Hong Kong people boarded the aircraft carrier and three escorting warships, during their stay in Hong Kong from July 7 through July 11.
"I have witnessed the progress of my country, and I am so proud standing on board the Liaoning," said a Hong Kong visitor who spent 14 hours queueing for the free ticket.
A PEACEFUL ARMY
In 2017, China, the world's second largest economy, budgeted 1.04 trillion yuan (about 153 billion U.S. dollars) for annual military expenditures, according to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in March.
The figure is second only to the United States, which has a military spending budget of 583.7 billion dollars.
However, China's defense budget growth in 2017, at 7 percent, is actually the slowest in at least a decade. The increase last year was 7.6 percent, down from a multi-year run of double-digit growth.
"The majority of the defense budget will be spent on deepening national defense and military reforms, bolstering military and civilian integration, and improving the living, training and working conditions for service personnel at grassroots levels," said the MOF.
China's per capita military spending represented only about 5.6 percent of that of the United States, 11 percent of Britain's, and 25 percent of Japan's, said Maj. Gen. Chen Zhou.
Showing its determination in peaceful development, the country announced a cut of 300,000 troops from September 2015 levels.
China is also continuing its efforts in international cooperation.
As of June 2017, the Chinese military had participated in 24 UN peacekeeping missions, sending 31,000 personnel, 13 of whom lost their lives in duty, according to the MND's "PLA Today" video.
Since 2008, the Navy has dispatched 26 escort task force groups, including more than 70 ships for escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and off the coast of Somalia. More than 6,300 Chinese and foreign ships have been protected during these missions.
To improve cooperation in Africa and western Asia, China is setting up its first overseas support base in Djibouti in July. According to the PLA Navy, the base will ensure China's ability to perform missions, such as escorting, peacekeeping and humanitarian aid in the region.
The base will also assist with overseas tasks such as military cooperation, joint exercises, emergency rescue, evacuation and protection of overseas Chinese, and jointly maintaining the security of strategic international seaways.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2017-07/20/c_136458807.htm
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PetroChina unloading first Chinese purchase of oil from U.S. strategic reserves: shipping data
Jul 20, 2017 | Reuters
By Florence Tan
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - PetroChina is this week unloading the first Chinese purchase of crude oil from U.S. strategic petroleum reserves at a port in eastern China, according to shipping data and two industry sources.
The move comes as China, the world's No.2 oil consumer, steps up imports from the Americas to diversify supply sources.
PetroChina unit, PetroChina International America Inc, bought the 550,000-barrel cargo of Bryan Mound sour crude in a sale from U.S. strategic petroleum reserves in March for $28.8 million.
Supertanker Cosrising Lake, chartered by PetroChina, is unloading the U.S. oil at Qingdao port in Shandong province this week, shipping data on Thomson Reuters Eikon showed.
The crude has an API gravity of 33.3 degrees and sulphur content of 1.41 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's website, similar in quality to Middle East grades such as Oman crude.
After discharging that cargo, the ship will unload close to 1 million barrels of U.S. Mars crude at Rizhao port for independent refiner Shandong Wonfull Petrochemical, an industry source said, citing Chinese port data. He declined to be identified as he was not authorised to speak with media.
The Mars cargo is not from U.S strategic reserves.
PetroChina declined to comment, while Wonfull could not be reached for comment.
More Asian refiners are turning to the Americas for oil after OPEC cuts tightened heavy crude supplies and as governments respond to a call from United States President Donald Trump to buy U.S. oil and gas.
State-owned PetroChina is one of the key players moving Americas crude to Asia. It recently sold India that country's first U.S. crude import via an Indian Oil Corp tender.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-usa-oil-idUSKBN1A50S8
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When will the other shoe drop in U.S.-China economic relations
Jul 19, 2017 | Los Angeles Times
By Don Lee
After an unexpectedly amicable start to U.S.-China relations under President Trump, including high-level economic talks Wednesday, many are wondering when the other shoe will drop.
Trump early on was preoccupied with the North American Free Trade Agreement and then on trade rivals such as Germany, largely giving China, the biggest U.S. trading partner, a pass.
Trump neither labeled Beijing a currency manipulator as he had promised to do, nor has he yet hit China with any significant sanctions. Why rock the boat, Trump has said more than once, if Chinese President Xi Jinping might help the U.S. rein in North Korea’s nuclear weapons program.
But the honeymoon may be over. It has become clear to Trump that China can't or won't deliver on North Korea, and the 100-day action period after Trump welcomed Xi at his Mar-a-Lago estate ended this week with some notable but overall modest results, including a reopening of U.S. beef exports to China and a little more access to Chinese financial markets.
All the while, the U.S. trade deficit in goods with China, by far the largest, has widened since Trump assumed office. This deficit is on pace to surpass $360 billion this year.
On Wednesday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchinhosted a Chinese delegation led by Vice Premier Wang Yang, continuing an economic dialogue that has spanned three U.S. administrations and marks the institutionalizing of commercial relations between the two largest economies, which account for one-third of the world’s economic output.
Yet amid the usual pomp and toasts hailing the importance of cooperation, there were indications of rising tensions. Ross opened the dialogue by noting that although U.S. exports to China had grown on average 14% annually over the last 15 years, Chinese shipments to the U.S. have soared as well to the point where the Asian country now accounts for nearly 50% of America’s overall trade deficit.
“It is time to rebalance our trade and investment relationship in a more fair, equitable and reciprocal manner,” he said, adding that “a fundamental asymmetry in our trade relationship and unequal market access must be addressed.”
Wang, obliquely responding to U.S. complaints about an uneven playing field, said that the two nations are at different stages of development. He added that “confrontation will immediately damage the interests of both.”
After the meeting, Mnuchin and Ross issued a statement saying, "China acknowledged our shared objective to reduce the trade deficit which both sides will work cooperatively to achieve."
Both the American and Chinese parties earlier in the day abruptly canceled news conferences scheduled at the end of talks, with neither side explaining why.
Few analysts would be surprised at a deterioration of U.S.-China relations, given Trump’s harsh rhetoric on the campaign trail, when he bashed China’s mercantilistic practices and blamed its large trade surplus for the loss of American factories and jobs.
As president, Trump has continued to put trade front and center in his economic policy. But by making the trade deficit — its size and whether it is going up or down — the primary measure for judging bilateral economic relationships, Trump has put himself in a difficult position, economists said.
“It’s a strategy that’s almost certain to fail,” said Nicholas Lardy, a China economy expert at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.
That’s because U.S. trade deficits are largely the result of the shortfall in national savings relative to investments — a long-running imbalance that isn’t likely to change any time soon. China’s share of exports globally, meanwhile, is growing as it steadily moves up the value chain. The U.S. dollar remains strong, making its goods relatively expensive in foreign markets. And although China’s Wang urged the U.S. to relax its export controls to sell China more advanced technologies, political pressures in the U.S. appear to be moving in the opposite direction.
“Everything is working against Trump’s announced objective,” Lardy said.
In promising China a better deal on trade if it tightened the screws on North Korea, Trump hoped to score a big short-term win in what has become an increasingly worrisome threat to the U.S. and its allies in East Asia.
For presidents, linking national security and foreign relations to trade is nothing unusual. But Trump overtly and repeatedly put the North Korea issue ahead of others, even though Asia analysts agree it was never realistic to expect China to dramatically ratchet up the pressure on Pyongyang.
More recently the Trump administration has threatened to sanction businesses and even countries doing business with North Korea. And the administration is finding it has little common ground with China on some other international issues.
Unlike Obama, who sought Chinese cooperation on restraining Iran’s nuclear programand the problem of global warming, Trump has pulled out of the Paris accord on climate change and this week slapped new sanctions on Iran after reluctantly agreeing to recertify that Tehran is complying with an international nuclear agreement.
“Those issues provided ballast to the relationship, and now we’ve lost that ballast,” said David Dollar, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and formerly the World Bank’s China country director.
Even so, Dollar believes there’s an underlying stability to the U.S.-China economic relations that is independent of the politics, borne out of three decades of investments and activity from businesses on both sides that are keen on preventing disruptions in trade and commerce.
In a U.S.-China business leaders’ meeting in Washington this week ahead of the two-nation economic dialogue, executives including chiefs of e-commerce giant Alibaba and U.S. multinationals like General Motors and JPMorgan Chase urged leaders of the two countries to resolve disputes through negotiations instead of resorting to remedies such as sanctions, which could trigger a trade war.
One action the Trump administration could announce soon is tariffs on steel imports, of which there is a worldwide excess thanks to overproduction in China. Trump officials are considering applying tariffs on the grounds that the imports present a threat to U.S. national security, but businesses and analysts alike fear such a move could prompt retaliation from China and other countries.
Andy Rothman, a former career U.S. Foreign Service worker in China who is now an investment strategist at Matthews Asia in San Francisco, said the Trump administration would do better to work on opening China’s markets further rather than focusing on the trade deficit or sanctions on steel and aluminum.
From Xi and the Chinese, Rothman said, “all the signs are that they want to have a good, stable and productive relationship” with Trump and the U.S. But like other analysts, Rothman is more dubious about where Trump stands on the matter, given the erratic and the conflicting signals from the White House on trade and from Trump himself.
“I was expecting him to come out of the gates on January 20th blasting at China, based on what he said during the campaign,” Rothman said. “All of a sudden he and Xi are buddies…. It’s hard to know what the deal is.”
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-us-china-trade-20170719-story.html
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Why it’s difficult to trust China or Russia
Jul 19, 2017 | Asia Times
By Todd Royal
Interpreting and understanding political movements and societal disruptions usually don’t occur in large macro-settings like the recent Group of 20 Summit. Other than bashing Donald Trump along with China and Germany for their unwillingness to take on larger global roles from the United States, nothing significant happened. To track global movements it is the micro, internal actions of nations that should be followed.
There are two recent examples, both of which illustrate why China and Russia still can’t be trusted on a moral, geopolitical scale.
Recently human-rights pioneer Liu Xiaobo died of liver cancer after being locked in a Chinese prison because the Communist regime believed he was “inciting subversion of state power”. Liu famously said in response to this charge, “I have no enemies and no hatred.” For those timeless words he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010, “for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China”.
This petty, vindictive micro-behavior by the Chinese government shows that it is still not ready for the world stage – no matter how many climate agreements it says it is ready to enforce or islands it steals in the South China Sea. China is the biggest impediment to peace and stability in Asia, not North Korea, its proxy.
Duped Westerners continue believing that China will save the Paris Climate Agreement, yet few of them have actually read what China has pledged. According to projections from the US Energy Information Administration, China will actually increase emissions 32% through 2040. Moreover, The Wall Street Journal reported that China’s five-year energy and economic plan would “raise coal-fired power capacity from around 900 gigawatts last year to as high as 1,100 gigawatts by 2020”.
Reuters investigated China’s climate pledges and found that a joint venture with Pakistan would produce over the next 15 years a dozen coal-fueled power plants across the country at a cost of roughly US$15 billion.
But it is Beijing’s treatment of Liu Xiaobo and what that revealed about the Chinese population and government that is the most troubling, not the doubts over its supposed environmental credentials.
Non-violent protests in China are often met with government intimidation, harassment, arrests and unfounded criminal prosecution. It’s revealing that authoritarian regimes such as China are so unsure of themselves, but that’s the nature of socialism and communist governments. Vulnerability is their very nature, and suppression of information to keep their own citizens in the dark.
Very few Chinese have ever heard of Liu, and in numerous surveys the government enjoys unparalleled levels of trust and approval; however that comes with a caveat. The Communists aren’t ignorant of history, and understand that what happened to the Soviet Union could occur on their watch. They knows that unless they control the flow of information and maintains high economic growth fueled by debt, their regime could collapse.
But at least China wants to sustain economic growth. Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin and his cronies are intent on destroying whatever is in their path so they can create a buffer zone to protect Mother Russia.
What China and Russia have in common, besides not being ready for the world stage, are the ghosts of World War II that haunt them both.
The Ukrainian Institute for the Future (UIF) has released a damning report titled “Crimea: Three Years of Occupation”. The report paints a picture of the horrific human and economic costs of Russian rule in the region. It further claims that the Kremlin’s Crimean project is a threat to Russia and the Crimean population. It metaphorically compares the Russians to the locusts that devoured Egypt in the story in the Old Testament.
Under Putin’s administration, Crimea has seen the imposition of a large number of draconian new laws, an uptick of human-rights abuses, “systemic persecution” of Crimea’s indigenous Tatar population (even banning the Tatar governing body – mejlis – branding it a terrorist organization), and subjugating the local population to Moscow’s control.
To date more than 2 million Crimeans, out of a population of 20 million, have fled, creating a refugee crisis that has been unreported though it is similar in size and scope to that caused by the Syrian crisis. But the shrewd Russians have replaced them with Russian civil servants, military personnel and retirees – who have been given generous state subsidies and perks – to reside in Crimea. One study also notes plans to move an additional million Russians into the region over the next five years.
All of these moves have caused the Crimean economy to become a cash-intensive society a kind that is usually seen as a backward macroeconomic step.
What each narrative shows is how underreported and overlooked issues, which are the heart of micro-analysis, are many times what can reveal the movement, or lack of it, of nations in terms of human rights, equality for women, and differing points of view.
Both China and Russia portray reclamation of lands as their destiny, culminating in halting the hegemony of the US and its allies in the post-World War II order. But economic millstones hang around both countries’ proverbial necks. Sanctions, low oil prices and unusually high debt-to-GDP ratios will doom both economies, which will cause them to become expansionist powers.
The UIF’s lead study editor, Tara Beresovets, claims: “Crimea is a time bomb for Russia.” And I’d add that North Korea is one for China. These neo-imperial projects in Crimea and the South China Sea threaten Europe, Asia and global economic growth and peace.
What this should teach nations in both countries’ sphere of influence is to proceed with caution and arm militarily, treat your economy as a geopolitical weapon, use intelligence apparatuses wisely and consider acquiring nuclear deterrents. Independence should not be taken lightly when it comes to China and Russia. Their micro-movements reveal their macro-ambitions.
http://www.atimes.com/ds-difficult-trust-china-russia/
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China plan to ban waste imports threatens US exports
Jul 20, 2017 | Journal of Commerce
By Dustin Braden
China’s notification to the World Trade Organization (WTO) that it will no longer import solid waste by the end of this year imperils 8.2 percent, or nearly 1 million TEU, of all US exports, according to an analysis of data from PIERS.
The WTO will accept comments on the proposed ban until July 20, at which point it will begin deliberations on whether or not the ban is allowable under the rules and regulations of the WTO, which allow for bans on trade if those bans do not prioritize domestic industry and producers. WTO members' autonomy to determine their own environmental objectives has been reaffirmed on a number of occasions and there are specific carve outs from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade for the environment, according to the WTO website.
The ban would restrict US exports of waste paper, waste from the manufacture of iron or steel, ash and residues containing arsenic, metals or their compounds, plastic waste, wool and animal hair waste, garnetted stock of wool or animal hair, cotton waste, man-made fiber waste, and used and worn out twine, rope, cables, and cordage. “We found that large amounts of dirty wastes or even hazardous wastes are mixed in the solid waste that can be used as raw materials,” China said in its filing to the WTO. “This polluted China's environment seriously. To protect China's environmental interests and people's health, we urgently adjust the imported solid wastes list, and forbid the import of solid wastes that are highly polluted.” Underscoring just how essential waste exports are to the US export trade, three of the top five exporters on JOC.com’s Top 100 US Exporters rankings (http://www.joc.com/international-logistics/shifting-consumer-trends-shake-top-100- importers-and-exporters_20170521.html) ship paper or plastic waste for processing internationally. Recyclables made up 30 percent of Top 100 exporters, according to PIERS, a sister product of JOC.com within IHS Markit.
The Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) has said it will fight the ban. The group said it has heard China is considering expanding the ban push to include other scrap materials. “Upon receiving this information, ISRI immediately briefed US officials in preparation for tomorrow’s US-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue (CED) in Washington,” the group said. If the ban takes effect, US exporters of these commodities will lose access to the destination they shipped 77.8 percent of their products last year, according to PIERS. India is the second-largest market for US exports of these commodities, with a share of 7.9 percent.
South Korea (4.4 percent), Indonesia (2.1 percent) and Taiwan (1.3 percent) round out the top 5. Of the banned commodities, wastepaper made up 88.2 percent, or 1.2 million of the total 1.4 million TEU exported in 2016, with plastic parings and scraps making up 11.2 percent, or 155,967 TEU.
In addition to forcing waste exporters to search for new markets, the ban will make it more difficult for container lines to position empty containers to China to be refilled with goods for export. Rates on some trade lanes could also be impacted depending on how strong demand for space is on certain routes, if US waste exporters are only able to access a limited amount of markets.
http://www.joc.com/regulation-policy/import-and-export-regulations/international-importexport-regulations/china-plan-ban-waste-imports-threatens-us-exports_20170719.html?utm_source=Eloqua&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=CL_JOC%20Daily%207%2F20%2F17_PC9156_e-production_E-1897_DB_0720_0502
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At Security Summit, China Cedes Initiative to U.S.
Jul 19, 2017 | The Maritime Executive
By Tuan N. Pham
Singapore hosted the 2017 Shangri-La Dialogue (SLD) from June 2-4. The dialogue was well attended by defense ministers from the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, and France, with other regional countries sending varying levels of defense representation.
One conspicuous divergence from previous dialogues was the Chinese delegation, who curiously sent a relatively low-ranking representative. From 2013 to 2016, the Chinese delegation was led by a deputy chief-level People’s Liberation Army (PLA) general officer. This year, Beijing sent Lieutenant General He Lei, the Vice President of the PLA’s Academy of Military Science.
Many have speculated about China’s motives, and Shannon Tiezzi of The Diplomat offers one of the best analyses to date. The focus of this article is to build on the extant analysis and explore whether the deliberate choice produced a diplomatic win or loss for Beijing. To do so, I will recap some of the rhetoric aimed at China during the SLD along with the Chinese response. China’s Decision Why did China send a “lower-ranking” representative with no formal government position and no apparent defense credential to lead its delegation to Asia’s premier security forum?
Tiezzi provided some possible explanations (analytical baseline) in her well-written article titled “Why is China Downgrading Participation in the Shangri-La Dialogue?” She suggested that Beijing’s decision was a preemptive and subtle refutation of the SLD’s agenda, and pointed to a deeper problem that China has with the annual dialogue itself.
The statedagenda of “upholding the rules-based regional order, practical measures to avoid conflict at sea, and nuclear dangers in the Asia-Pacific,” made Beijing an easy target of reproach for its provocative actions in the South and East China Seas (ECS/SCS) and perceived inability to curtail Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile development ambitions. Beijing also chooses not to discuss its maritime disputes in any multilateral forum, asserting that bilateral negotiations are the appropriate mechanism debating such contentious issues. The SCS is a recurrent SLD topic – and China, much to its chagrin, has little influence over the non-friendly –and the Chinese might say hostile – agenda. Besides a desire for bilateral negotiations, other explanations for the lower-ranked SLD representation include Beijing not wanting to undermine its public diplomacy campaign of global governance and desire to extend its strategic momentum from the inaugural Belt and Road Forum (BRF) in Beijing 14-15 May and the 19th China-European Union (EU) Summit (CES) in Brussels 1-2 June. Since the release of a white paper outlining its updated foreign policies on “Asia-Pacific Security Cooperation” last January, Beijing has pushed a harder strategic narrative of global benevolence. China’s guiding principlesfor its new altruistic foreign policy are based on its Confucian culture of universal peace and sharing, and are rooted in its belief that the 21stCentury is an epoch of globalization and economic interdependence. Ideally, a strategic network will be established in all the regions of the world to achieve “universal peace, international order, and global prosperity.” China will increasingly be called upon to find solutions to global challenges (and opportunities), such as terrorism, climate change, free trade, and economic development. In his opening BRF remarks, President Xi Jinping stated that “we should build the Belt and Road into a road for peace, road of prosperity, road of opening up, road of innovation, and road for connecting different civilizations.”
While at the CES, Premier Li Keqiang said that China and the EU are “contributors and beneficiaries of world multipolarization and process of economic globalization, and under the current situation, China and the EU should confront the instability of the international situation with a stable bilateral cooperation.”
Rhetoric Aimed at China Beijing’s decision to downgrade its footprint at the SLD may not be so surprising considering the keynote speech by Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, remarks by American Secretary of Defense James Mattis during the first plenary session (United States and Asia-Pacific Security), and comments by Japanese Minister of Defense Tomomi Inada during the second plenary session (Upholding the Rules-based Regional Order). Important highlights from these speeches include: – Turnbull asserted that Asia’s future peace and prosperity depend on preserving the rules-based regional order that has worked so well for so long.
He suggested that China can only expand its strategic influence to match its economic might within the bounds set by the same rules-based regional order; implied that Beijing was undermining that order in Asia by unilaterally seizing or creating territory and militarizing disputed areas; warned that a coercive China would drive its regional neighbors to bolster alliances and partnerships between themselves and the United States; and exhorted his regional neighbors to assume greater responsibility for their own security and prosperity.
Mattis called out China for disregarding other nations’ interests and international law, militarizing the SCS, and undermining regional stability. He reiterated that the United States would continue “to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows, and demonstrate resolve through operational presence in the SCS and beyond”; urged China to recognize that North Korea has become a strategic liability and cautioned Beijing that seeking cooperation on Pyongyang did not mean Washington would not challenge Chinese activities in the SCS; and restated the United States’ steadfast commitment to the defense of Taiwan as outlined in the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA).
Lieutenant General He Lei, vice-president of the Chinese PLA Academy of Military Science, talks with foreign officials during this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. (chinamil.com) – Inada leveled similar criticism against China in her speech. She implied that Beijing bore most of the responsibility for the extant regional instability; criticized China for “unilaterally” altering the status quo in the ECS and SCS and undermining the rules-based regional order; called out China for its continued destabilizing militarization of the SCS; urged Beijing to follow international law and respect last year’s tribunal ruling on the SCS; and expressed support for U.S. freedom of navigation operations in the SCS. Chinese Response.
The Chinese response was expectedly swift and coordinated, but ultimately uninspiring. The Chinese delegation held a media briefing on the summit’s sidelines at the end of the second day, defending China’s position as a rising power that abides by international law and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea; repeating longstanding policy positions on Taiwan, North Korea, and SCS; and expressing frustration that Beijing is unfairly singled out for criticism.
China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs followed the tepid response the next day and called out Mattis and Inada’s statements on the SCS and Taiwan as “irresponsible” and recycled previous talking points: – China has indisputable sovereignty over the Spratly Islands and their adjacent waters, and stays committed to peacefully resolving disputes with countries directly concerned through negotiation and consultation and upholding peace and stability of the SCS with Association of Southeast Asian Nations countries. – China respects and safeguards all countries’ freedom of navigation and overflight in the SCS under international law, but definitely opposes certain country’s show of force in the SCS under the pretext of navigation and overflight freedom, challenging and threatening China’s sovereignty and security. – China builds relevant facilities on the islands and reefs of the Spratly Islands for the purpose of improving the working and living conditions for people stationed there, and better defending its sovereignty and performing China’s international obligations and responsibilities.
– Thanks to the efforts of countries in the region, the situation in the SCS Sea has calmed down and turned positive.
– The Senkaku Islands have been part of China’s territory since ancient times; patrol and law enforcement activities by Chinese government vessels in the relevant waters are justified and legitimate; China is resolute in safeguarding its territorial sovereignty and maritime rights and interests, and will continue with its patrol and law enforcement activities in the future.
–China’s position on the Taiwan question is clear-cut and consistent; China stands firmly against the socalled “TRA” unilaterally made by the United States and requires the United States to honor the OneChina policy and the three China-U.S. joint communiqués.
– China is clear and consistent about opposing relevant countries’ deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system, and again urge them to immediately stop the deployment. So What and Now What Given the circumstances, Beijing may have miscalculated. By downgrading its presence at the SLD, China ceded the strategic narrative and initiative to the United States. Specifically, Beijing yielded Washington and its regional allies and partners a public platform to stake out their strategic positions, counter the Chinese strategic messaging, and further encourage China to become a more responsible global stakeholder that contributes positively to the international system. To date, Beijing has “2 (wins), 2 (losses), and 1 (tie), and 1 (undetermined)” in major international affairs for 2017
– Xi under performed at the Trump-Xi Summit; Xi recovered and outperformed at the BRF; Li acquitted himself (and China) well at the CES; the SLD delegation seemingly did not; and the inaugural U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue (D&SD) resulted in no joint U.S.-China readout, fact sheet, or outcomes document – indications suggest dialogue made no significant progress on North Korea or the SCS; and the G20 Summit outcomes are still being ascertained. Next up are the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders Meeting in Danang (Vietnam) 11-12 November, and the East Asia Summit (EAS) in Manila (Philippines) 13-14 November, and the second Trump-Xi Summit in Beijing (TBD). All in all, the apparently poor showing at the SLD was a setback for Xi’s 2017 strategic agenda. He wants and needs a successful diplomatic year to build political capital and momentum leading into the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in late 2017.
There is widespread speculation that Xi is trying to promote more members of his faction to the Central Committee and the Politburo, a necessary interim step if he wants to change CPC’s rulesto serve an unprecedented third term as president (and/or retain his other two titles of general secretary of the CPC and chairman of the Central Military Commission) and maintain power and influence beyond 2022.
https://www.maritime-executive.com/editorials/at-security-summit-china-cedes-initiative-to-us
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