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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 28 July 2020
Trade, technology and security at risk in US-China feud

BEIJING (AP) — They have an arsenal of missiles seen
the largest economies as a threat to U.S. vessels
in the world. They spend and bases in the region.
more than anyone else on Military tensions have large-
their militaries. From high- ly focused on the South Chi-
tech chips to control of the na Sea, a crucial waterway
high seas, their interests are that is the subject of over-
closely intertwined. lapping territorial claims by
The ongoing sharp dete- China and several smaller
rioration in U.S.-China ties Asian nations.
poses risks to both countries In 2018, a Chinese destroy-
and the rest of the world. er came perilously close to
In the latest escalation, a colliding with a U.S. destroy-
U.S. consulate in Chengdu er, the USS Decatur, while
in southwestern China shut- executing what the Navy
tered Monday, ordered by called an "unsafe and un-
China to close in retaliation professional maneuver" in
for the U.S. shutting down the South China Sea.
its consulate in Houston last A Chinese fighter jet collid-
week. With the U.S. presi- ed with a U.S. Navy surveil-
dential campaign heating lance plane in international
up, all bets are that rela- airspace over the South
tions with China will only In this June 29, 2019, file photo, U.S. President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Chinese China Sea in 2001, lead-
get worse. A look at what's President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Osaka, western Japan. ing to major diplomatic in-
at stake: Associated Press cident after the U.S. plane
TRADE semiconductors and oth- only to their exporters but threatens to disrupt those made an emergency land-
Both countries already er goods declined 11.4% also to other Asian econo- flows and cost suppliers, in- ing on a Chinese island.
have suffered heavy losses last year but still exceed- mies that supply China's cluding Silicon Valley com- Taiwan is another poten-
in a tariff war that erupted ed $100 billion. Exports to factories with raw materials panies, billions of dollars in tial flashpoint. China claims
in 2018 over Beijing's tech- China support just under 1 and components. lost revenue. China is also the self-governing island
nology ambitions and trade million American jobs, ac- ___ a top market for Apple and as its territory, to be taken
surplus. If talks on ending cording to the U.S.-China TECHNOLOGY other U.S. tech brands, and by force if necessary. The
the dispute fail, the world Business Council, though U.S. and Chinese produc- is increasingly becoming U.S. is bound by its own law
could face downward that was down 10% from ers of telecom, computer, a technology competitor to ensure the island has a
pressure on trade at a time 2017's peak. medical and other tech- with its own brands in smart- credible defense and has
when the global economy China is the biggest export nology and their markets phones, medical equip- approved military sales to
is already reeling from the market for Iowa and oth- are tightly interwoven. Ap- ment and other fields. Taiwan under Trump.
coronavirus pandemic. er American farm states, ple, Dell, Hewlett-Packard The United States often Taiwan's foreign minister
The United States is China's which were slammed when and others rely on Chinese is the top market for Chi- said last week that Chinese
biggest single-country ex- Beijing suspended imports factories to assemble most na's highest-value-added military flights near the is-
port market, even after of soybeans and raised of their smartphones, com- goods. Beijing has been land have been taking
President Donald Trump tariffs on pork and other puters and other consumer urging exporters to find oth- place on a near-daily basis,
imposed punitive tariffs on goods. electronics. Those factories er markets, but many say more frequently than previ-
Chinese goods. And Chi- That briefly boosted sales for need processor chips and Asian and even European ously reported.
na is the No. 3 market for soybean exporters in Bra- other components from markets won't buy such Washington upped the
American exporters, as well zil and Argentina, though the United States, Japan, high-value goods. ante earlier this month by
as a huge market for goods China resumed buying low- Taiwan and Europe. ___ declaring that it did not
and services produced in er-priced American beans The disruption caused by SECURITY recognize most of China's
China by U.S. companies under the "Phase 1" trade moves including the Trump While the U.S. has long maritime claims in the
ranging from General Mo- truce signed in January. administration's curbs on been the predominant mili- South China Sea, a break
tors Co. to Burger King. But if the two can't resolve Chinese tech giant Hua- tary power in the Pacific, with its previous policy of
Chinese purchases of broader differences on wei's access to U.S. com- China now has two opera- not taking a stance on the
American farm goods, trade, it will be a blow not ponents and technology tional aircraft carriers and sovereignty disputes.q

Protesters destroy colonial statues on French Caribbean isle

PARIS (AP) — Cheering protesters tugging on As drummers beat out a rhythm, they at- ures as has happened in some other countries
ropes tore down a statue of Napoleon's wife tached cords to it, brought it crashing down in the wake of Black Lives Matter movement.
on the Caribbean island of Martinique and and stamped and jumped on it. Also brought Josephine was born on Martinique and lived
another from the French territory's colonial his- down Sunday to screams of delight was a there into her teens before moving to Paris.
tory, adding to a growing list of monuments statue of Pierre Bélain d'Esnambuc, a French She and Napoleon Bonaparte married in
being ripped down and defaced in spread- trader who in 1635 established France's first 1796. Bélain established France's first Caribbe-
ing global revulsion of racial injustice. permanent Caribbean colony on Martinique. an colony on St. Kitts, which later became Brit-
France's government on Monday con- The mayor of Fort-de-France, the island's capi- ish, before taking possession of Martinique for
demned the "vandalism." Prime Minister Jean tal, had said that he wanted to take down the France's King Louis XIII. Other statues have also
Castex said "violence, albeit symbolic, and statue in coming weeks but the protesters beat been torn down in Martinique and in French
hatred will never push forward any cause." him to it. The protesters' actions directly chal- Guiana. Statues have come down outside of
Protesters with sledgehammers first hacked at lenged a vow in June from French President France, too, as the Black Lives Matter move-
the stone base of the statue of Empress Jo- Emmanuel Macron that France will not take ment has gathered pace in the wake of the
sephine, which was already missing its head. down statues of controversial, colonial-era fig- death in the United States of George Floyd.q