The Wall Street Journal - 31.10.2019

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. **** Thursday, October 31, 2019 |A

requires the personal impri-

matur of the two countries’

top leaders,” said Scott Ken-

nedy, senior trade expert at

the Center for Strategic and

International Studies in Wash-

ington. “They still would have

to choose another venue.”

Setting up another meeting

in the near future could be

tricky because of sensitivities

in both countries about con-

ceding too much to the other

at a time of heightened dis-

agreement on security, eco-

nomic and trade issues. APEC

was seen as nearly ideal, since

Messrs. Trump and Xi were

both expected to attend along-

side with other world leaders,

reducing bilateral tensions,

people following the talks

said.

“While the cancellation of

the APEC summit may compli-

cate things, I would expect the

U.S. Trade Representative’s of-

fice to keep working with

China to achieve the phase-

one results,” said Stephen

Vaughn, former chief counsel

at the Trade Representative’s

office and a partner at law

firm King & Spalding LLP.

Chile has been rocked by

days of protests and rioting

that have caused several

deaths and destruction of

property, leading the center-

right Mr. Piñera to initially de-

clare a state of emergency, im-

plement a curfew and deploy

soldiers into the streets.

“This is a very difficult de-

cision that has caused us a lot

of pain because we understand

the importance that APEC and

the COP have for Chile and for

the world,” Mr. Piñera said in

announcing the cancellations

from the La Moneda presiden-

tial palace.

—Alex Leary in Washington

contributed to this article.

Jho Low, the businessman-

turned-fugitive accused of

masterminding a multibillion-

dollar fraud involving Malay-

sia’s sovereign-wealth fund,

agreed to forfeit more than

$700 million in assets U.S. au-

thorities sought to seize, ac-

cording to a settlement filed

Wednesday.

Mr. Low will give up assets

that include real estate, a lux-

ury yacht and a private jet, ac-

cording to the settlement,

which doesn’t resolve the

criminal cases against the Ma-

laysian businessman or in-

clude any admission of wrong-

doing by him.

Mr. Low remains a fugitive

from the U.S. criminal justice

system and is believed to be in

China or under Chinese pro-

tection elsewhere in the world.

In a statement, Mr. Low ad-

mitted no wrongdoing and

called the agreement “a suc-

cessful and satisfactory re-

sult.”

Mr. Low still faces criminal

cases in New York and Wash-

ington that accuse him of con-

spiring to launder billions of

dollars in proceeds from the

fraud and bribing Malaysian

government officials.

The settlement resolves a

set of civil-forfeiture suits the

U.S. has filed to recover prop-

erty valued at more than $

billion, including van Gogh

and Monet paintings and lux-

ury real estate in New York

and Los Angeles. Prosecutors

alleged that the assets were

obtained using funds Mr. Low

embezzled from 1Malaysia

Development Bhd., or 1MDB.

The scandal is believed to

be one of the largest financial

frauds in history, and has re-

sulted in the downfall of for-

mer Malaysian Prime Minister

Najib Razak.

BYBYRONTAU

ANDARUNAVISWANATHA

Fugitive

Settles

In 1MDB

Civil Case

WORLD NEWS

Chile Clouds U.S.-China Trade Talks

Government cancels

APEC summit where

Washington had hoped

to sign a limited pact

Antigovernment protesters marched in Santiago on Wednesday, the day President Sebastian Piñera called off the APEC summit.

MATIAS DELACROIX/ASSOCIATED PRESS

lectual property and a few

other issues.

The so-called minideal isn’t

expected to solve major struc-

tural overhauls to China’s

economy, including curbing

government subsidies or pre-

venting the forced transfer of

foreign technology when com-

panies enter the Chinese mar-

ket, people following the talks

said. Those issues would be

tackled in possible future

phases if both sides agree to

continue.

Still, business groups were

counting on the completion of

the phase-one deal in coming

weeks—and a high-profile

signing ceremony to show

both sides were serious—to

halt the Trump administra-

tion’s plans to impose major

new tariffs on imported cell-

phones, apparel and other Chi-

nese goods starting Dec. 15.

The White House said nego-

tiators, led by U.S. Trade Rep-

resentative Robert Lighthizer

and Chinese Vice Premier Liu

He, would continue to work

toward completing the limited

deal.

“We look forward to com-

pleting phase one of the his-

toric trade deal with China

within the same time frame,

and when we have an an-

nouncement, we’ll let you

know,” White House spokes-

man Hogan Gidley said.

Still, it isn’t clear that ne-

gotiators have bridged gaps on

thorny issues, including an en-

forcement mechanism U.S. of-

ficials say will help ensure

China follows through on its

commitments. Officials also

might need to find a time and

place for Messrs. Trump and

Xi to sign the deal.

“Although it’s a trade

agreement, it’s a political ar-

rangement, and therefore it

The cancellation of an Asia-
Pacific summit is complicating
efforts by the U.S. and China
to complete and sign a limited
trade agreement designed to
keep new tariffs at bay.

Chilean President Sebastian
Piñera on Wednesday said his
government had canceled a
November summit of nations
from the Asia-Pacific Eco-
nomic Cooperation in the Chil-
ean capital of Santiago to fo-
cus on restoring order and
security after protests against
inequality descended into vio-
lence. The government also
scrapped a United Nations cli-
mate-change conference,
known as COP25, that was
planned for early December.
Patricia Espinosa, executive
secretary of the U.N.’s frame-
work convention on climate
change, said alternatives to
COP25 are being explored.
The White House had been
hoping to have a so-called
phase-one trade deal ready by
mid-November, when it could
be signed by President Trump
and Chinese President Xi Jin-
ping on the sidelines of the
APEC summit.
While the U.S. says it would
still try to seal a formal agree-
ment with China, points of
contention remain and finding
a new venue for the countries’
leaders to sign it could prove
tough.
Negotiators for both sides
have been working to craft a
detailed version of an agree-
ment-in-principle that Mr.
Trump announced this month.
The deal is set to include ma-
jor purchases by China of
American agricultural prod-
ucts, rules to deter currency
manipulation, some provisions
to prevent the theft of intel-

By William Mauldin in

Washington and Ryan

Dube in Lima, Peru

pledging to boost the mini-

mum wage, raise pensions for

the poorest and raise taxes on

the upper class. He also fired

most of his cabinet.

Protesters say the conces-

sions are insufficient, and

many have called for the pres-

ident to resign and for Chile to

hold a constituent assembly to

rewrite a constitution that was

approved under the dictator

who ruled this country after a

1973 coup d’état.

“The protests will continue

until there is a real change be-

cause what the government

has done feels like a joke,”

said Paloma Brecanto, a 41-

year-old teacher who has been

protesting. “The inequality has

brought us to this chaos.”

With violence erupting

again this week, holding the

November summit of nations

from the Asia-Pacific Eco-

nomic Cooperation and a

United Nations climate-change

conference, known as COP25,

planned for early December

became untenable.

“These were two events

fundamental for the way Chile

sees itself and how it wanted

to be seen internationally,”

said Sergio Bitar, a former

government minister whose

party has been working with

Mr. Piñera’s administration to

find a solution to the crisis.

Juan Torres, a 21-year-old

student protester, said he

didn’t care about the suspen-

sion of the international con-

ferences. “That’s only a con-

cern for Piñera,” he said.

“We’re going to continue pro-

testing peacefully until there

is a structural change.”

Mr. Piñera, in his televised

remarks on Wednesday, la-

mented the loss of the two

conferences, which he said

promoted trade that gener-

ates jobs and the fight

against greenhouse-gas emis-

sions.

The cancellation of the No-

vember summit of 21 Pacific

Rim nations complicated

plans for the U.S. and China

to complete a limited trade

deal. Environmentalists,

meanwhile, had been looking

forward to the climate confer-

ence.

“We’ve lost a unique oppor-

tunity for the country,” said

Matías Asún, the head of

Greenpeace in Chile. “It won’t

be easy to overcome this fail-

ure, which is a true interna-

tional spectacle.”

SANTIAGO, Chile—Presi-
dent Sebastian Piñera has
spent his first 20 months in
office selling Chile as a pros-
perous and peaceful nation to
foreign investors.
Today, he faces a far darker
picture, as 17 days of unrest
have left at least 23 people
dead and prompted Mr. Piñera
on Wednesday to say the
country wouldn’t be able to
host two major international
conferences that would have
served as a showcase for his
vision.
The chaos in the streets,
where demonstrators have
burned buildings and hurled
Molotov cocktails at milita-
rized police, was just too
much for his government to
control. More than a million
people rallied this past Friday,
and protests continued
Wednesday.
“This is a very difficult de-
cision that has caused us a lot
of pain,” Mr. Piñera, who has
been tested like no other Chil-
ean leader in 30 years of de-
mocracy, said in a televised
announcement.
The end of the commodity
boom had already hit Chile’s
once-vibrant economy. The
government now says the pa-
ralysis in the capital Santiago,
a city of 6.7 million, has fur-
ther undermined this year’s
projected 2.5% economic
growth. On Wednesday, the
Santiago stock market fell
2.8%.
“The end of the year is go-
ing to be very bad for the Chil-
ean economy,” Finance Minis-
ter Ignacio Briones told
Cooperativa radio on Tuesday.
“But what’s most worrisome
are the signals that we’re
sending abroad...that are going
to reduce investments.”
The government has fever-
ishly tried to quell public an-
ger, which initially stemmed
from a proposed subway-fare
increase in Santiago, but
quickly grew to include a
range of grievances.
Mr. Piñera rescinded the
fare increase, along with

BYMAOLISCASTRO
ANDRYANDUBE

Widespread Unrest Tests

Chilean President’s Agenda

President Sebastian Piñera, left, on Wednesday scrapped two

international conferences that would have raised Chile’s profile.

MARCELO SEGURA/CHILE PRESIDENTIAL OFFICE/ASSOCIATED PRESS

The government has

tried to quell public

anger, but protesters’

demands have grown.

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