Even as the United States and China butt heads over trade, their top diplomats and defense chiefs were meeting in Washington on Friday, looking to tamp down tensions on other issues that have put a chill on relations between the two world powers.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis sat down with their counterparts Yang Jiechi and Wei Fenghe at the State Department. The talks were due to be held in Beijing last month but were postponed after Washington announced new arms sales to Taiwan, and U.S. and Chinese vessels came close to colliding in the South China Sea.
Although the rescheduling of the U.S.-China Diplomatic and Security Dialogue signals an effort by the two sides to contain the slide in the relationship, it's something of a placeholder ahead of a planned meeting at the end of the month between President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping at a Group of 20 summit in Argentina.
FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 8, 2018, file photo, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, shakes hands with Yang Jiechi, a member of the Political Bureau of the Chinese Communist Party, before a meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing. Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis will meet Friday, Nov. 9 with their counterparts Jiechi and Wei Fenghe at the State Department. (Daisuke SuzukiPool Photo via AP, File)
That's where the two leaders are likely to address the burgeoning trade dispute that's already hurting constituencies in both nations and threatens to weigh on the wider global economy. Trump has slapped tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese products, in a push to narrow the U.S. trade deficit and push back against what the U.S. views as predatory Chinese tactics on the high technology industry. Beijing has retaliated with tariffs on $110 million worth of U.S. goods.
"We want this to be a constructive, results-orientated relationship with China," the U.S. ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, told reporters on Thursday. "The United States is not trying to contain China, but we want fairness and reciprocity."
He described Friday's meeting as a chance for a "frank and open" exchange of views on issues like North Korea, human rights, and cooperation on Afghanistan and Iran, where the U.S. is pressing Beijing to cut oil imports. The U.S. also seeks action from China on the export of a synthetic form of opioids called fentanyl that is a scourge of drug addiction in America.
Branstad said they would also discuss "strategic security" and avoiding accidents between the two militaries. The U.S. Navy says a Chinese destroyer came close to the USS Decatur in late September in an "unsafe and unprofessional maneuver" near a disputed reef in the South China Sea, where Beijing has sweeping but disputed sovereignty claims.
China clearly views Friday's talks, which will be followed by a joint news conference, as a scene-setter for the upcoming meeting between Trump and Xi. Yang met Wednesday with U.S. national security adviser John Bolton and urged that the two sides "manage differences properly" and look to make that summit a success, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
"China is in damage control mode," said Yun Sun, a China expert at the Stimson Center think tank, noting Beijing's uncertainty about what exactly Trump wants out of a trade deal but its hopes that with U.S. midterm elections out of the way the mercurial American president may be more inclined to reach a compromise. "Their top priority is to stabilize relations," she said.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.
Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).
Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.
That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.
Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.
Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.
It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.
“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.
It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.
While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.
“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.
Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.
Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)
