World
Treasury’s Yellen to visit China this week to expand communications
WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) – U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will travel to Beijing from July 6-9 for meetings with senior Chinese officials on a broad range of issues, including U.S. concerns about a new Chinese counterespionage law, a senior Treasury official said on Sunday.
Yellen’s long-anticipated trip is part of a push by President Joe Biden to deepen communications between the world’s two largest economies, stabilize the relationship and minimize the risks of mistakes when disagreements arise, the official told reporters.
It comes just weeks after Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Beijing and agreed with Chinese President Xi Jinping to stabilize ties and ensure the two countries’ intense rivalry does not veer into conflict. China protested loudly when Biden subsequently referred to Xi as a “dictator,” but analysts say the remark had little impact on efforts to improve ties.
The Treasury chief plans to tell China’s new economic team that Washington will continue to defend human rights and its own national security interests via targeted actions against China, but wants to work with Beijing on urgent challenges such as climate change and debt distress faced by many countries.
“We seek a healthy economic relationship with China, one that fosters growth and innovation in both countries,” the official said. “We do not seek to decouple our economies. A full cessation of trade and investment would be destabilizing for both our countries and the global economy.”
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to give details on which Chinese officials Yellen would meet in Beijing. A second administration official told Reuters that Yellen was expected to meet the Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng.
Yellen would underscore Washington’s determination to strengthen its own competitiveness while responding with allies to what Washington calls “economic coercion” and unfair economic practices by China, the first official said.
One clear area of concern involved China’s new national security and espionage law, and the potential implications for foreign and U.S. firms, the official added.
“We have concerns with the new measure, and how it might apply, that it could expand the scope of what is considered by the authorities in China to be espionage activity,” the official said, citing possible spillovers to the broader investment climate and the economic relationship.
While no major “breakthroughs” were expected, Treasury officials hope to have constructive conversations and build longer-term channels of communication with China’s new economic team, including at the sub-cabinet level, the official said.
U.S. officials would also reiterate concerns about human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority, China’s recent move to ban sales of Micron Technology memory chips, and moves by China against foreign due diligence and consulting firms.
Yellen would also talk with Chinese officials about a long-awaited U.S. executive action curbing outbound investment in China in certain critical sectors, and “make sure they don’t think something is more sweeping than it is or than it’s intended to be,” the official said.
Reporting by Andrea Shalal; editing by Ross Colvin and Nick Zieminski
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
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World
Police bust finds over 700 pounds of drugs inside Transformers statues
Thailand authorities made a startling discovery when they busted open lifesize Transformer robot statues and retrieved over 700 pounds of ketamine.
“Currently, we are facing a drug trafficking problem with transnational crime networks hidden in all regions, using Thailand as a base to smuggle drugs to third countries continuously through international shipments via air or sea,” Police Lt. Gen. Phanurat Lhakbun told reporters of the bust, which happened on April 25.
Australian authorities found around 220 pounds of methamphetamine that an unidentified woman tried to smuggle inside a food processing machine on March 12, and they kept an eye on her activities in the following weeks, Viral Press reported.
She allegedly tried to smuggle an even bigger batch of drugs inside the bases of lifesize statues of the Transformers characters Optimus Prime, Bumblebee and Greenlight and others. The statues ostensibly were to go to a movie exhibition in Taiwan, Channel News Asia reported.
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The woman allegedly paid around $4,800 to the shipping company to help her transport the statues. Authorities said she had received instructions from another unidentified woman in Laos who would receive the drugs. The narcotics board claimed that the drugs originated in Cambodia, and they have agents working to track down any accomplices in Taiwan.
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“The ONCB has cooperation projects with the Airport Interdiction Task Force to suppress and intercept drugs in airports and the Seaport Interdiction Task Force for intercepting drug imports to the inner part of the country and exports to third countries,” Phanurat said.
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The Thai authorities have intercepted more than four tons of crystal meth, two tons of ketamine and over 580 pounds of heroin in busts.
The narcotics board claimed that the drugs would otherwise end up in lucrative markets in nearby areas of Australia, Taiwan, Malaysia and Hong Kong, Newsflare reported.
World
Ukraine’s military chief admits ‘difficult situation’ in Kharkiv region
General Syrskii says situation in northeastern oblast ‘significantly worsened’ this week as Russian forces continue to advance.
Ukraine’s military chief has admitted his forces are facing a “difficult situation” in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, where thousands more people have fled their homes as Russian forces continue to advance.
“This week, the situation in the Kharkiv region has significantly worsened,” Oleksandr Syrskii wrote on Telegram on Sunday. “There are ongoing battles in the border areas along the state border with the Russian Federation.”
While admitting that the situation is “difficult” and Russian attackers had achieved “partial successes” in some areas, he said, “Ukrainian defence forces are doing everything they can to hold defensive lines and positions.”
The intense battles have forced at least one Ukrainian unit to withdraw, leaving behind more land to Russian forces across less defended settlements in the so-called contested “grey zone” along the Russian border.
By Sunday afternoon, the town of Vovchansk, among the largest in the northeast with a pre-war population of 17,000, emerged as a focal point in the battle.
Volodymyr Tymoshko, the head of the Kharkiv regional police, said Russian forces were on the outskirts of the town and were approaching from three directions. “Infantry fighting is already taking place,” he said. A Russian tank was spotted along a major road leading to the town, Tymoshko said, illustrating Moscow’s confidence to deploy heavy weaponry.
Evacuation teams worked non-stop throughout the day to take residents, most of whom were elderly, out of harm’s way.
At least 4,000 civilians have fled the Kharkiv region since Friday when Moscow’s forces launched the operation, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said in a social media statement. Heavy fighting raged Sunday along the northeast front line, where Russian forces attacked 27 settlements in 24 hours, he said.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said Sunday that its forces had captured four villages on the border in addition to five villages reported to have been seized on Saturday. These areas were likely poorly fortified due to the dynamic fighting and constant heavy shelling, easing the Russian advance.
Ukraine’s leadership has not confirmed Moscow’s gains. But Tymoshko said Strilecha, Pylna and Borsivika were under Russian occupation and it was from their direction the Russians were bringing in infantry to stage attacks in the embattled villages of Hlyboke and Lukiantsi.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday that there were intense battles across parts of the region.
“Defensive battles and fierce fighting continue on a large part of our borderline,” Zelenskyy said, adding: “The idea behind the attacks in the Kharkiv region is to stretch our forces and undermine the moral and motivational basis of the Ukrainians’ ability to defend themselves.”
The gains are “significant not just because of the territory but also because in 10km (6 miles) or so they will be at a shelling distance of Kharkiv city, the second largest city in Ukraine,” Al Jazeera’s John Holman said, reporting from the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv.
“It also means that Ukraine is so stretched paper thin on different sides of the front, and it will probably have to divert soldiers from other areas and send them to the Kharkiv region,” he added.
Analysts said the Russian push is designed to exploit ammunition shortages before promised Western supplies can reach the front lines. Ukrainian soldiers said the Kremlin is using the usual Russian tactic by launching a disproportionate amount of fire and infantry assaults to exhaust their troops and firepower.
By intensifying battles in what was previously a static patch of the front line, Russian forces threaten to pin Ukrainian forces in the northeast while carrying out intense battles farther south, where Moscow is also gaining ground.
The advance comes after Russia stepped up attacks in March, targeting energy infrastructure and settlements, which analysts predicted was a concerted effort to shape conditions for an offensive.
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