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How U.S. “de-risking” trick will jeopardize global economy

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The so-called “de-risking” is, in essence, “de-sinicization” and “reversing globalization.”

The international community has issued stern warnings over the global risks caused by the “de-risking” rhetoric.

BEIJING, June 3 (Xinhua) — Despite its much hyped rhetoric of the so-called “looking to de-risk and diversify,” the United States has in deed hastened its scheme to “decouple from China.”

Now by roping in more allies, Washington seeks to forge a parallel system to shut China out from such fields as global economy and trade, as well as advanced technology.

Designed to hoodwink the world into the ostensible purpose of “de-risking,” Washington’s scheme may well incur enormous risks to the deeply-integrated global economy and supply chains, spurring further division and untended losses across the world.

Following the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Hiroshima, Japan, the United States convened a so-called “Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)” ministerial meeting on May 27, calling on trade ministers of 14 countries to form a council to coordinate supply chain activities and a so-called “Crisis Response Network” to give early warnings to “IPEF” countries of potential supply disruptions.

Four days later, the U.S.-EU Trade and Technology Council (TTC) held its fourth ministerial meeting, in which America and the EU agreed to enhance collaboration “to address non-market policies, practices, and economic coercion.”

The United States, through these multilateral meetings, attempted to frame China as posing the alleged “potential risks,” so as to “de-risk” and in actuality contain China.

The so-called strategy of “de-risking,” as the Foreign Affairs magazine pointed out, aims to achieve three broad goals to contain China — limiting China’s abilities in strategic sectors that have national security implications, such as cutting-edge semiconductors and other advanced technologies; reducing Beijing’s leverage over the West by eroding Chinese dominance of the market for certain essential inputs, including critical minerals; and restricting the influence of the Chinese market in the world. The essence of “de-risking” is to create “a small yard with high fences” targeting China and make a more refined attempt to “decouple economies or sever supply chains,” with the aim of excluding and suppressing China.

The international community has issued stern warnings over the global risks caused by the “de-risking” rhetoric. Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has pointed out that “de-risking” instead of “decoupling” from China will also lead to a more fragmented and “decoupled” world economy, arguing that a fragmented global economy would split the world into mutually competing regional blocs, and there would be less trade, investment and the spread of ideas, all of which are key to the world’s economic progress.

So, is it actually feasible for the United States to promote “de-sinicization” in the name of “de-risking”? The answer is definitely no. There are at least three hurdles that the United States can hardly overcome.

First, it’s hard to change the mutually beneficial market structure for Chinese and U.S. companies. After all, it’s their nature for companies to pursue profits, and they will not blindly follow government orders that run against market rules. Second, for consumers, the absence of “Made in China” products would mean higher prices and more severe inflation. Finally, while Washington schemes to instigate allies to contain China together, it is not in the interest of most countries, including European nations, to do so and the costs would be extremely high.

The so-called “de-risking” is, in essence, “de-sinicization” and “reversing globalization.”

China is the world’s second-largest economy, a major trading partner of more than 140 countries and regions, and the largest manufacturing country. The world cannot do without China. Ignoring such reality, the United States has been coercing other countries into taking sides, which not only seriously disrupts the global market, but also threatens the stability of the global production and supply chain.

Besides, as China has developed ever-closer economic ties with the rest of the world, the cost of “de-risking” or “decoupling” from China is actually far greater than some countries can expect and afford. More importantly, for much of the world, China is not a risk but a source of opportunities.

Over the past four decades of reform and opening-up, China has accumulated huge advantages in infrastructure, market size, talent pool and industrial clusters. China has been a magnet for global commercial forces.

During his China visit in late May, Tesla’s founder Elon Musk praised the country’s vitality and potential, voiced confidence in the Chinese market, and expressed his willingness to deepen cooperation.

Echoing Musk, other international business tycoons like Jamie Dimon, chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase, and Laxman Narasimhan, new global CEO of the U.S. coffee giant Starbucks, have also expressed their hopes of expanding business in the world’s second-largest economy.

Under no circumstances could crafty word games, employed by Washington’s China hawks, serve to break market rules, cut industrial links, or block exchanges between China and other countries, let alone impede China’s peaceful development. Any attempt to alienate China from the rest of the world is fated to come to naught.

Source(s): Xinhua

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UN court orders Israel to stop Gaza famine, Hamas urges ceasefire

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The International Court of Justice on Thursday unanimously ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies to Gaza’s Palestinian population and stop the spread of famine.

The ruling is an addition to a January 26 verdict, in which the ICJ ordered Israel to take all possible measures to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, to halt incitement against Palestinians as a group, to preserve evidence and to take immediate measures to ensure humanitarian aid.

The order from the ICJ came as Israeli forces and Palestinian fighters battled in close combat around Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, where the armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they attacked Israeli soldiers and tanks with rockets and mortar fire.

Judges at the court said the people in the coastal enclave face worsening conditions.

“The court observes that Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, but that famine is setting in,” the judges said in their order.

The new measures were requested by South Africa as part of its case that accuses Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said the ruling did not go far enough and Israel must be ordered to end its military offensive to halt the suffering.

“We welcome any new demands to end this humanitarian tragedy in Gaza and especially in the northern Gaza Strip, but we hoped the court ordered a ceasefire as an absolute solution to all the miseries our people in Gaza are living through,” Naim told Reuters.

There was no immediate comment from Israel’s Foreign Ministry on the ICJ ruling. Israel has said it is making efforts to expand access for humanitarian groups to Gaza overland, through air drops and by ship.

Shortages of food, water and medicine

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Thursday that more than 1.1 million people in the Gaza Strip are facing “an extreme level of food insecurity,” as Israel prevents aid from entering the enclave.

The statement, posted on social media platform X, emphasized the need to distribute sufficient food aid via land routes to save lives, especially in the northern areas of the Strip.

However, “access impediments persist, and time is running out,” the OCHA said.

Meanwhile, medical sources announced on Thursday the death of a child in the northern Gazan city of Beit Lahia due to famine and lack of available treatment, raising the number of deaths due to malnutrition in the enclave to 30.

The Israeli army said it continued to operate around the Al-Shifa Hospital complex in Gaza City after storming it more than a week ago. Its forces had killed around 200 gunmen since the start of the operation, “while preventing harm to civilians, patients, medical teams and medical equipment,” it said.

Gaza’s Health Ministry said wounded people and patients were being held inside an administration building in Al-Shifa Hospital complex, which the Israeli army has stormed more than a week ago. Five patients had died since the Israeli raid began due to shortages of food, water and medical care, the Hamas-run ministry said.

Al-Shifa, the Gaza Strip’s biggest hospital before the Israel-Hamas conflict, had been one of the few healthcare facilities even partially operational in north Gaza before the latest fighting. It had also been housing displaced civilians.

Source(s): CGTN

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Russia says NATO preparing for potential conflict in Eastern Europe, Black Sea

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NATO’s activities in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region are focused on preparing its allies for a potential confrontation with Russia, said the Russian Foreign Ministry on Thursday, citing militarization activities in the region.

The Romanian authorities have previously announced their readiness to invest 2.5 billion euros ($2.7 billion) into modernizing the Mihail Kogalniceanu air base in Constanta County. The base is set to expand into a military town capable of accommodating the families of 10,000 military personnel, with plans to create urban infrastructure, said the ministry.

Construction has begun in the southern part of the future military town, where access roads and a robust power grid are currently being built. The modernization of the air base could make it the largest North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) base in Europe by 2040. The U.S. military has been using this base since 1999, it said.

“The expansion of the Romanian air base is yet another proof that the North Atlantic bloc continues its unrestrained militarization of Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region,” said the Russian Foreign Ministry.

The ministry added that “the forced enhancement of coalition capabilities is also taking place in Poland and the Baltics.”

“Such activity by NATO members is provocative, exacerbates military tension along our borders and creates additional security threats to Russia. All this is aimed at preparing the bloc’s allies for a potential collision with our country,” the ministry said.

“We will monitor the developments in Romania, assess the emerging risks and take them into account during military planning,” the ministry added.

Source(s): CGTN

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Israel truce team leaves Doha, official blames Hamas for ‘dead end’

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Israel has recalled its negotiators from Doha after deeming mediated talks on a Gaza truce “at a dead end” due to demands by Hamas, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday.

The official, who is close to the Mossad spymaster heading up the talks, accused Hamas’ Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar of sabotaging the diplomacy “as part of a wider effort to inflame this war over Ramadan”.

The warring sides had stepped up negotiations, mediated by Qatar and Egypt, on a six-week suspension of Israel’s offensive in return for the proposed release of 40 of the 130 hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group in Gaza.

Hamas has sought to parlay any deal into an end to the fighting and withdrawal of Israeli forces. Israel has ruled this out, saying it would eventually resume efforts to dismantle the governance and military capabilities of Hamas.

Hamas also wants hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who fled Gaza City and surrounding areas southward during the first stage of the almost six-month-old war to be allowed back north.

The Israeli official said that Israel had agreed to double the number of Palestinians it would release in exchange for the hostages to 700-800 prisoners and allow some displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Tuesday that Hamas had made “delusional” demands, which it said showed the Palestinians were not interested in a deal.

In Tel Aviv, a crowd of around 300 family members of hostages and their supporters gathered outside the Israeli defense headquarters demanding a deal be done to release the captives. Some locked themselves inside cages in protest, holding placards with photos of their loved ones. “No price is too high,” one of the signs said.

Hamas has accused Israel of stalling at the talks while it carries out its military offensive.

The discussions in Doha are continuing as Palestinians in Gaza face severe shortages of food, medicine and hospital care, and concerns grow that famine will take hold.

On Monday, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The vote was abstained by the U.S., prompting Netanyahu to cancel a planned visit by a government delegation to Washington.

Source(s): CGTN

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