China Daily - 07.08.2019

WORLD

12 | Wednesday, August 7, 2019 CHINA DAILY

By SCOTT REEVES in New York [email protected]

Democratic leaders in the US House and Senate on Monday urged Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to call lawmakers back to Washington to vote on a gun background-check bill following deadly shootings in Texas and Ohio over the weekend. The House, controlled by Demo- crats, passed the bills in February, but the Senate, controlled by Repub- licans, has not called for a vote. Congress is on its August recess. Furthermore, Senate Majority Lead- er Mitch McConnell, 77, fell and broke his shoulder at home in Ken- tucky over the weekend. Earlier on Monday, US President Donald Trump said the nation must condemn “racism, bigotry and white supremacy” as he called for Republicans and Democrats to work together to develop strong background checks for gun buyers.

Trump suggested linking gun control measures with “desperately needed immigration reform” but did not outline a policy or say how that might happen in a sharply divided Congress. In a joint statement issued on Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Cali- fornia said: “In February, the new Democratic House Majority promptly did its duty and passed the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019, which is supported by more than 90 percent of the American people and proven to save lives. “However, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has called himself the ‘grim reaper’ and refus- es to act on this bipartisan legislation. It is incumbent upon the Senate to come back into session to pass this legislation immediately.” Trump called the shootings “domestic terrorism” and directed the FBI to devote more investigative

efforts and psychological profiling to prevent future attacks. The FBI said it feared the high- profile attacks might prompt copy- cat killings and urged the public to report suspicious behavior. The shootings took place less than 24 hours apart over the weekend at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, and in an area of downtown Dayton, Ohio, filled with bars and restaurants. Both shooters used legally purchased weapons. The man charged in the El Paso shootings, Patrick Crusius, 21, has been connected to an online “mani- festo” in which he complained about a “Hispanic invasion”. “Mental illness and hatred pulls the

trigger,” Trump said. “Not the gun.” In response, US Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat seeking her party’s presidential nomination, tweeted: “‘Mental illness & hate pulls trigger, not the gun’ is president’s dodge to avoid the truth: there’s mental illness & hate throughout the world, but US stands alone with rate of gun violence. When someone can kill 9 people in a minute, that gun should never have been sold. Action!” Trump has repeatedly told vot- ers that Democrats plan to “take your guns away” and has suggested that mass killers can be coun- tered by more citizens carrying weapons for self-defense rather

DPRK fires projectiles,

denouncing US drills

By PAN MENGQI [email protected]

In an apparent show of protest against the ongoing joint military exercise by Seoul and Washington, Pyongyang fired two short-range projectiles into its eastern waters on Tuesday, the fourth such launch in less than two weeks. According to a statement from the Republic of Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, the projectiles, pre- sumed to have been short-range ballistic missiles, were launched at 5:24 am and 5:36 am local time on Tuesday. Each projectile was launched from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s south- western county of Kwail. Both flew around 450 kilometers before splashing into the East Sea. The first recent launch was on July 25 when Pyongyang fired two rounds of a new type of ballistic missiles. It hadn’t launched any missiles in the previous 77 days. It then conducted two additional launches on July 31 and Aug 2. Media from the ROK said that all three previous launches involved a new type of short-range ballistic missiles, known as the DPRK version of Russia’s Iskander code-named “KN-23”. But the DPRK said the last two tests, conducted on July 31 and Aug 2, involved a new “multiple launch guided rocket system”. Tuesday’s firing also came a day after the ROK and the United States began their combined military exercise as scheduled, despite the DPRK’s repeated warnings against it. In a fresh warning after the firing on Tuesday, DPRK’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the ROK-US joint exercise violated a series of agreements that it had signed with the US and the ROK, adding that it could seek “a new road” other than engagement. “Seoul and Washington authorities remain outwardly talkative about dialogue. But when they sit back, they sharpen a sword to do us harm,” the ministry said, according to the DPRK’s state Korean Central News Agency in an English dispatch.

People in Seoul watch a TV news report on the DPRK’s launch of two unidentified projectiles on Tuesday. KIM HONG-JI / REUTERS

EU: No real

‘meaningful

talks’ over

Brexit deal

By JONATHAN POWELL in London [email protected]

European Union officials have said there is no real prospect of meaningful talks with the United Kingdom on a Brexit deal, even while British Prime Minister Boris Johnson insists on changes to the proposed withdrawal agreement. Brussels negotiators have con- cluded that the only way to avoid a no-deal Brexit would require major changes to the withdrawal agreement, such as the removal of the Irish backstop, which the EU finds unacceptable. The backstop is an insurance policy to prevent a hard border return- ing between Northern Ireland and the independent Republic of Ire- land, a member of the EU. If imple- mented, the backstop would see Northern Ireland staying aligned with some rules of the EU single market. The backstop would also involve a temporary single customs territory, effectively keeping the whole of the UK in the EU customs union. These arrangements would apply until both the EU and UK agreed they were no longer necessary. EU negotiators told European diplomats there was currently no basis for “meaningful discussions”

with the UK and talks were back where they were three years ago, before Johnson’s predecessor Teresa May worked out a divorce agreement subsequently rejected by the UK parliament. Brussels is said to be operating on a “working hypothesis of no-deal” after accepting the prime minister “isn’t bluffing” about crashing out of the bloc. In response, the UK government rejected the EU’s assessment that there may be no point talking at all, saying in a statement, “We will throw ourselves into the negotia-

tions with the greatest energy and the spirit of friendship and we hope the EU will rethink its current refus- al to make any changes to the withdrawal agreement. “The fact is the withdrawal agreement has been rejected by parliament three times and will not pass in its current form so if the EU wants a deal, it needs to change its stance.” That statement followed a meeting between Johnson’s top Europe adviser, David Frost, and senior EU figures last week. Frost was sent to Brussels to deliv- er the message that the UK will be

leaving on Oct 31 “whatever the cir- cumstances”. After this, a senior EU diplomat was quoted in British newspapers saying: “It was clear the UK does not have another plan. No intention to negotiate, which would require a plan. A no-deal now appears to be the UK government’s central sce- nario”. Frost reportedly sought discussions on how negotiations could be reset with the UK now expected to leave on Oct 31. Johnson has pledged to leave the EU on that date, with or without a deal.

Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson talks with ambulance crews during a visit to Pilgrim Hospital in Boston, northeast England, on Monday. Johnson promised new funding for Britain’s state-run national health service on Sunday. DARREN STAPLES / AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Donald Trump misrepresents facts on China’s currency

WASHINGTON — In the latest chapter of an escalating trade conflict with China, US President Donald Trump is again accusing Beijing of manipulating its currency to gain trade advantages. In doing so, he’s misrepresenting the facts. Trump has been making a charge of currency manipulation since the 2016 US presidential campaign, even promising to take action against Chi- na right after taking office in 2017. His administration took it to the next level on Monday, formally label- ing China a currency manipulator after China allowed its currency yuan to fall below the seven yuan- to-$1 level for the first time in 11

years. It was also the first time the US Treasury Department put China on the currency blacklist since 1994. The designation could pave the way for more US sanctions against China. Trump’s latest complaint in tweets earlier on Monday came after the dramatic drop in the yuan. Trump said on Twitter: “China dropped the price of their currency to an almost a historic low. It’s called ‘currency manipulation.’ Are you lis- tening Federal Reserve? This is a major violation which will greatly weaken China over time!” Trump also tweeted: “Historic currency manipulation by China.” But it is Trump’s own Treasury

Department which had failed to cite China as a currency manipulator in five reports it had issued since 2017. Treasury’s move came in a news release as opposed to a regular currency report issued every six months. A weaker yuan would make Chi- nese goods less expensive in the US, potentially offsetting some of the impact of the tariffs Trump has already imposed on $250 billion in Chinese goods and is threatening to widen to another $300 billion in goods next month. Those US tariffs drive up the cost of Chinese imports to US consumers. Trump seems to blame the US Federal Reserve for not taking action

against China in the currency area. In reality, the Treasury’s previous reports had repeatedly said that China did not meet the require- ments established in US law to be branded a currency manipulator. Trump’s mention of the Federal Reserve could also be an effort to pressure the US central bank to lower its benchmark interest rate further. It cut the rate for the first time in more than a decade last week, and many analysts believe it will cut rates again in September to keep the fallout from a trade conflict from derailing the US economy.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Briefly

RUSSIA

Putin urges arms talks

after nuke pact demise

Russian President Vladimir Putin
said on Monday that Russia would
only deploy new intermediate-range
missiles if the United States does and
called for urgent arms control talks to
prevent a chaotic arms race following
the demise of a key nuclear pact.
Putin made his statements after the
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces

Treaty ended on Friday, with the US announcing its intention to test and deploy weapons previously banned by the 1987 accord. The treaty banned the production, testing and deploy- ment of land-based cruise and ballistic missiles with a range of 500 to 5,500 kilometers. Such weapons were seen as destabilizing because of short- er time they take to reach targets compared to intercontinental ballistic missiles, raising the likelihood of a nuclear conflict over a false alert.

UNITED STATES Trump freezes all govt assets of Venezuela The Donald Trump administration froze all Venezuelan government assets in a dramatic escalation of ten- sions with Caracas that places Presi- dent Nicolas Maduro’s government alongside a shortlist of adversaries from Cuba, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Syria and Iran that have been targeted by such aggressive

US actions. The ban, blocking US companies and individuals from doing business with Maduro’s government, took effect immediately on Monday and is the first of its kind in the Western Hemisphere in more than three decades, following an asset freeze against general Manuel Norie- ga’s government in Panama and a trade embargo on the Sandinista leadership in Nicaragua in the 1980s.

AGENCIES

“If the US and the ROK authorities trust to luck, disregarding our repeated warnings, we will make them pay heavy price which will in turn make them very much dif- ficult,” it added. Analysts said the tests are conducted to pressure Washington to offer more concessions. “The negotiations have been at a standstill since the no-deal summit between US President Donald Trump and DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un in Hanoi, Vietnam, in February, and after an impromptu meeting between the pair at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjom in June, the situation is still stale- mated even if the two sides agree to resume working-level talks,” said Wang Junsheng, an associate research fellow at the National Institute of International Strate- gy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. These type of firings are not threatening, but rather intended to get attention and to add to Pyongyang’s bargaining chips in negotiations, Wang said. “However, the situations has hardly changed at the moment,” Wang said, as he explained that no one wants to be the first to make concessions and break the deadlock. “Unless Washington is willing to back down on sanctions and Seoul is willing to scale down its military dependence on Washington in exchange for Pyongyang’s disar- mament in the upcoming working- level talks, the standoff is likely to continue for some time,” he added.

Seoul and Washington authorities remain outwardly talkative about dialogue. But when they sit back, they sharpen a sword to do us harm.” DPRK’s Foreign Ministry

Democrats seek Senate recess vote on gun control

Trump condemns ‘racism, bigotry and

white supremacy’ and vows actions

than by the outlawing of guns. In the past, the president has vowed to veto legislation passed by Democrats in the House to broaden background checks — a stance he apparently reversed on Monday. McConnell has declined to take up bills the House of Representa- tives passed earlier this year that were intended to close loopholes in federal background checks.

‘National emergency’ US Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont seeking the Democratic presidential nomination, tweeted: “Mitch McConnell should bring the Senate back into session immediately to pass HR 8, the gun safety bill that has already passed the House. That’s the first step in addressing our serious gun violence epidemic.” US former vice-president Joe Bid- en tweeted: “We are in a battle for the soul of this nation. And in this moment, we all have a responsibility to declare with conviction that hatred and bigotry and white supremacy have no place in Ameri- ca. We will give hate no safe harbor.”

Biden called the mass shootings “a sickness”. In prior campaign statements, Biden vowed to defeat the National Rifle Association which opposes gun control. He called for a ban on assault weapons with high-capacity magazines. In 1994, then-president Bill Clin- ton, a Democrat, signed into law a 10-year “assault weapons ban” on firearms such as AK-47s and Uzis. A clause in the measure said it would expire unless Congress spe- cifically reauthorized it, which Con- gress did not do. Both the House, Senate and White House were controlled by Republicans that year. Pro- and anti-gun groups contest- ed the effectiveness of the law. US Senator Kamala Harris, a Cali- fornia Democrat, tweeted: “Let’s speak truth: Gun violence is a national emergency in our country.” Speaking to reporters before attending a service at an African- American church in Las Vegas, Har- ris said: “We have a president of the United States who has chosen to use his words in a way that have been about selling hate and division among us.”

We are in a battle for the soul of this nation. And in this moment, we all have a responsibility to declare with conviction that hatred and bigotry and white supremacy have no place in America. We will give hate no safe harbor.”

Joe Biden, US former vice-president

China Daily - 07.08.2019

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