Taiwanese Zhongguo Shibao or Taipei’s China Times made headlines Sunday for the end of the military exercise around Taiwan. He highlighted that the Chinese forces “have taken the opportunity to cross the middle line of the strait”, after decades.
But since Saturday, attention has already turned to the new exercises announced on Chinese CCTV, now to the seas between Beijing and the Koreas. It was also announced that exercises beyond the Taiwan Strait midline will become “regular”.
The New York Times defended in an editorial (with the illustration above, by Rebecca Chew) that the “US relationship with China doesn’t need to be so tense”, calling Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan a “provocation”.
He stressed that “it is past time for Joe Biden to break with the Trump administration’s failed move to intimidate China into economic concessions by imposing tariffs.” He closed by saying that “the uncomfortable reality is that the US and China need each other. There is no better illustration than the ships that continued between Guangzhou and Long Beach during Pelosi’s visit — and will continue.”
Over the weekend, China’s foreign trade figures for July came out and, in the Wall Street Journal subheadline, “Export growth remains surprisingly robust,” in “defying forecasts of slowing demand for Chinese-made goods.” Year-over-year, sales to the US were up 11%.
In the headline of Beijing’s Global Times or Huanqiu, “China-US trade rises despite rising tension.”
ERDOGAN & PUTIN
Headlined in Turkish Hurriyet was President Recep Erdogan’s interview about the results of his trip to Russia, including the adoption of the Russian payment system by Turkish banks.
It was echoed in outlets linked to the Saudi government, such as Arab News and Al Arabyia, and above all in the Financial Times — with headlines on Saturday and Sunday, “Alarm mounts in Western capitals as Turkey’s ties with Russia deepen.”
XI ALSO
In the same vein, at Beijing’s Caixin, “Yuan bonds make their debut in Russia and the challenge to dominate the dollar grows.” Aluminum giant Rusal raised four billion in Chinese currency on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
