Thứ Hai, 1 tháng 6, 2020

FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES 1969-1976 From the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger) to the Ambassador to Vietnam (Bunker)1 (Part 2)

FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES 1969-1976
VIETNAM OCTOBER 1972 - JANUARY 1973
(FOREIGN RELATIONS of THE UNITED STATES, 1969-1976 Vol. IX, Vol. X)
Documents Excerpts for the Strategic Studies for The Republic of Vietnam
 
Part 1: “We believe that peace is at hand", Letter From President Nixon to South Vietnamese President Thieu, Message From the Ambassador to Vietnam (Bunker) to the President’s Deputy Assistant for National Security Affairs (Haig), Preface.
Part 8:  Memorandum of Conversation1 Saigon, December 19, 1972.
Part 9 Memorandum of Conversation Saigon, December 19, 1972 (Continued)

Thank you for reftel concerning changes in the agreement.  Following are our comments on the GVN suggestions, keyed to the paragraphs in your message.  You should immediately meet with the GVN to give our response.  You should make absolutely clear that these additional efforts we will make are as far as we can go.  You should remind them that the changes we had already given them were already beyond what we can realistically expect to get and therefore adding still more is apt to overload the circuit further.  We obviously will make maximum efforts in Paris but the GVN should be under no illusion that it is possible to obtain the very large number of changes we will now be seeking. With these caveats, you should seek the GVN’s final positions on any questions left outstanding in our comments below, while at the same time making clear that there is no give in our positions wherever we say we cannot accept their suggestions.  We must have this process wrapped up by opening of business Saturday, November 18 our time. The frame work for your approach remains the President’s determination to proceed as outlined in his letter,3 and his strong view that the changes in the agreement that we are now discussing are all insignificant in comparison to the importance of unity between our two countries, vigilance with respect to implementation of the agreement, and the need to maintain U. S. public support for our policies. 2.  Points of disagreement. 1) We believe trying for wording more specific than “return them to their homes” is totally unrealistic.  We will not be able to get the DRV to admit officially it has forces in the South.  Furthermore, the GVN
October 24–December 13, 1972 413
should consider the fact that if there were such an admission and then some NVA forces remained, the legitimacy of their presence is acknowledged.  There is nothing in the agreement now which establishes Hanoi’s right to have forces in the South. 2) There is no chance of getting international supervision of military assistance to North Vietnam.  We are handling this problem in two ways.  First, we have made a unilateral statement, which we will reiterate, (begin text) “in implementing the provisions of Article 7, the United States will take into account the need for replacement produced by the introduction of military equipment into those parts of Indochina not covered by that Article. ” (End text) Thus Hanoi knows, and the GVN should be reassured, that if military aid to the DRV threatens to upset the balance, we will compensate in our own aid to the GVN.  In any event, the GVN, particularly after our massive resupply program, is in excellent shape vis a` vis the DRV, in quality as well as quantity. Secondly, as I informed Thieu, we are working hard with Moscow and Peking on this question and they both know we expect them to limit their shipments under ceasefire conditions. 3) While it will not be possible to change the name of the council4in English, we will, as already promised, change the Vietnamese translation of the phrase “administrative structure. ” We will also try to further dilute the functions of what is already not a governmental body, as Xuan Thuy himself has pointed out.  We will try to delete “maintenance of the ceasefire” and replace “organize” with “have the specific task of organizing” the election.  These changes, if we can get them, would underline what is already clear, i. e. that the council is a facilitative and intermediary body, not a governmental body. 4) As a further concession to the GVN we will try to eliminate the sentence concerning councils at lower levels, but this change is likely to prove unobtainable.  In any event, as you pointed out, there is no obligation to set up such councils; the only obligation is to consult about the subject. With further reference to Articles 9(f) and (g) you should reassure the GVN that we will stand fast on not accepting the time limits that Lam raised per your paragraph 12 in reftel. 55) We will try to get the word “national” substituted for “general” with regard to elections, but we don’t believe this is either attainable or important.  We still don’t believe that the Vietnamese implies elections for a constituent assembly.  Furthermore, the record is clear on this
414 Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume IX
point and you should point out that Xuan Thuy himself stated in an AFP interview on November 10 that the question concerning the nature of the elections “had not yet been settled: this question will be discussed by the two parties during the period which will follow the ceasefire.  The two parties will together discuss the nature of the election. ”6) We cannot change the composition of ICCS.  Our position remains as expressed in the President’s letter, and in any event we note that this is a relatively small point for the GVN. 7) You should as diplomatically as possible point out that it is just too late to consider including the GVN in our discussions with Le Duc Tho.  However, we reaffirm our intention to consult daily with Ambassador Lam, and you should point out that we are seeking to engage the GVN in four party and two party negotiations in Paris concerning the protocols on the ICCS and the military commissions. 3.  Points of clarification and modification. 1) We will try to move Chapter I to after Chapter III to reduce its prominence, but doubt we will be successful. 62) As Haig and you have explained, we wish to insert “unconditional” to prevent the ceasefire being linked to other provisions, e. g. political conditions, and thus give a pretext for the war to start again if other aspects of the agreement run into difficulties.  We consider this very important for our domestic opinion and would think the GVN would find it advantageous as well.  Thus, unless we hear strong views to the contrary, we plan to seek this change. 3) We agree that reference to Article 9(i) is unnecessary and will refer to Article 9(b) only. 4) We thought our change would be helpful but we will defer to the GVN and keep the earlier version of Article 7, paragraph 2. 5) We were planning to substitute the word equality if we are successful in dropping the reference to three equal segments.  Deletion of the latter will be one of our most difficult tasks, and if we are unsuccessful, we will not seek the addition of “equality.” The phrase “representing all political tendencies” corresponds to the approach of the January 25 joint plan and indeed we envisage that there would be some neutral elements appointed by both sides, though the three segment aspect would be fuzzed if we are successful in getting our language.  The GVN; however, should be under no illusion that we are likely to be successful; if we fail, we will press for the sentence “each GVN party will
October 24–December 13, 1972 415
 appoint half the membership of the Council” in order to give the GVN sufficient control over the third segment.  As for deleting the first “national” in the council’s title, we consider this strictly marginal and do not plan to press for it. 6) The GVN should again be reminded that Article 9(g) says that the task of the Council is “promoting” various functions assigned to the two South Vietnamese parties.  To make this even clearer, we will try to have the sentence lead off by saying that “the Council shall have the task of promoting the following:” Also as indicated above, we will try to delete “maintenance of the ceasefire” and give the Council “the specific task of organizing” the election.  Thus, except for the elections, the Council only promotes functions which continue to remain with the South Vietnamese parties. 7) Our proposed addition of Quote within three months of the signing of this agreement End quote was designed to accommodate the GVN by giving some time frame for the demobilization provision.  We believe this is an important and helpful proposal, but if the GVN prefers, we will not seek this addition. 8) We will try for this additional change in Article 10, but it is highly doubtful that we can get it. 79) You should remind the GVN that the North Vietnamese only dropped India on the condition that we would drop Japan.  We will of course nominate only Japan and not India, but in view of the record we expect to be faced with the choice of getting both countries or neither country.  We still prefer having both countries at the conference, but the GVN comments imply that they prefer having neither.  Thus you should get definitive GVN views on this choice. 10) Thieu’s letter8 accepted our proposal Quote The Indochinese states End quote.  He said that it should be understood to mean the four Indochinese states.  The GVN of course is free to interpret it in this way, so their position is protected with our formulation, but the DRV will not accept Quote four End quote in the text. 11) We will try to make Articles 16 and 17 a separate agreement. 912) As indicated above, we will stand fast on keeping time limits out of Articles 9(f) and 9(g).  416   Foreign Relations, 1969–1976, Volume IX4.  We still await the GVN views on our proposed addition of the following sentence in Article 9(f): Quote until the completion of the political process provided for in Article 9(b), the existing authorities shall continue to exercise present internal and external functions.  End quote. We still think this has the virtue of further underlining the fact that the Council is not governmental.  Unless the GVN objects to this suggestion, we plan to go ahead with it. 5.  I wish to underline again the necessity of having the GVN’s final positions on each of the above questions by opening of business November 18 our time.
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Hiệp Ðịnh Paris 1973, Trước Cơn Giông Tố
Không ai có thể đoán trước những diễn biến có thể xãy ra, nhưng nếu đúc kết toàn sự kiện là bối cảnh thì có thể hình dung được một tương lai là hậu quả. Tình thế chính trị VNCH có vẻ là không thuận lợi, trong toàn văn kiện Hiệp Ðịnh Paris 1973 không có bất cứ điều nào nói về phản ứng của bốn bȇn trước các vi phạm, nếu có, trong khi Hiệp Ðịnh Paris 1973 có hiệu lực. Tất cả những cam kết về sự trả đủa chỉ có trȇn thư riȇng và những trao đổi không công khai giữa những nhà chính trị của chính quyền của Tổng Thống Hoa Kỳ Richard Nixon. Giữa khi ước lượng khoảng 150.000 đến 300.000 quân Bắc Việt đã đột nhập Nam Việt Nam hoặc trȇn Lào và Kampuchia và đang ém quân thì tình thế quân sự Nam Việt Nam như ngàn cân treo trȇn sợi tóc. Miền Nam Việt Nam xem là đã mất vào tay cộng sản Bắc Việt gần như vì những lý do ngoài chính trị, nhưng thực tế này, chưa ai biết được vào thời điểm năm 1973 đó. CSBV tin chắc rằng họ sẽ chiến thắng và sáp nhập (annex) Miền Nam Việt Nam vào Bắc Việt, nȇn sự kiȇu ngạo này dẫn đến ván bài quyết liệt nhất trước khi ký kết Hiệp Ðịnh Paris 1973.
Trong những bài tới, chúng ta sẽ đi qua những tài liệu chính trị và quân sự cực kỳ căng thẳng trước khi Hiệp Ðịnh Paris 1973 được ký kết. Cũng qua các tài liệu này, chúng ta nhận ra được những suy nghĩ của TT Richard Nixon và các nhân vật thân cận, nhất là Cố vấn An Ninh Quốc Gia Henry Kissinger, Tướng Haig, Bộ Trưởng Quốc Phòng Laird, Ðại Sứ Bunker và TT Nguyễn Văn Thiệu. Giữa khi tình thế chính trị và quân sự xen kẻ, đan quyện vào nhau, nhưng chúng ta chưa thấy dấu hiệu nào QLVNCH nhận biết tình hình đất nước lâm nguy. Chúng ta sẽ duyệt lại những đối thoại giữa Lȇ Ðức Thọ với Kissinger trong những bài tới. Hiệp Ðịnh Paris 1973 cũng cho chúng ta biết rằng nước cờ của Hoa Kỳ đều được sự “cảm nhận” của Sô Viết và Trung Cộng và Trung Cộng đã chọn thời điểm Hoa Kỳ rút quân để đánh chiếm Hoàng Sa ngày 19/01/1974 khi tình thế VNCH cực kỳ bối rối trước thù trong giặc ngoài và người bạn Hoa Kỳ “khăn gói” ra đi. Thật thương xót cho VNCH!
Với kiến thức thật nhỏ mọn, Hoàng Hoa sẽ cố gắng lưu lại những bài trích dịch sang Việt ngữ từ nguyȇn bản Anh ngữ của Bộ Ngoại Giao Hoa Kỳ trong hai tập sách Những Quan Hệ Ngoại Giao của Hoa Kỳ từ 1969-1976. Kính mong quý độc giả chú ý theo dõi. Nếu quý vị có câu hỏi về các ý nghĩa hoặc thắc mắc về từ ngữ trong các bài dịch này về email của tôi. Tôi sẽ tìm hiểu để trả lời.
Kính
Hoàng Hoa
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412 Quan hệ đối ngoại, 1969-1976, Tập IX
Bản dịch Việt ngữ Hoàng Hoa (June 2, 2020)
VNR Vietnam Review
110. Thông điệp Backchannel từ Trợ lý của Tổng thống về các vấn đề an ninh quốc gia (Kissinger) đến Đại sứ tại Việt Nam (Bunker) Washington, 17/11/1972
Cảm ơn ông đã điện tín liên quan đến những thay đổi trong thỏa thuận. Sau đây là những nhận xét của chúng ta về các đề nghị của GVN, được nhập vào các đoạn trong tin nhắn của Ông. Ông nên lập tức gặp ngay GVN để đưa trả lời của chúng ta. Ông nên làm rõ hoàn toàn rằng những nỗ lực bổ sung chúng ta sẽ thực hiện là sự cố gắng hết sức của chúng ta. Ông nên nhắc nhở họ rằng những thay đổi mà chúng ta đã đưa cho họ đã vượt quá những gì chúng ta mong đợi một cách thực tiển để có được và do đó, việc bổ sung thêm vẫn có thể làm quá tải các hoạt động (overload the circuit) hơn nữa. Chúng ta rõ ràng sẽ nỗ lực tối đa ở Paris nhưng GVN không nên ảo tưởng rằng có thể có được số lượng lớn các thay đổi mà chúng ta sẽ tìm kiếm. Với những cảnh báo này, Ông nên tìm kiếm các vị trí cuối cùng của GVN về bất kỳ câu hỏi nào còn nổi bật trong các nhận xét của chúng ta dưới đây, đồng thời làm rõ rằng không có sự nhượng bộ nào trong các vị trí của chúng ta ở bất cứ nơi nào chúng ta nói chúng ta không thể chấp nhận đề nghị của họ. Chúng ta phải kết thúc quá trình này trước giờ mở cửa làm việc vào Thứ Bảy, ngày 18 tháng 11. Phạm vi làm việc cho cách tiếp cận của Ông ấy vẫn là quyết tâm của Tổng thống để tiến hành như được nêu trong bức thư của Ông ta, và quan điểm mạnh mẽ của ông ấy là những thay đổi trong thỏa thuận mà chúng ta đang thảo luận là không đáng kể so với tầm quan trọng của sự thống nhất giữa hai nước chúng ta, cảnh giác đối với việc áp dụng thỏa thuận và nhu cầu duy trì sự hỗ trợ của công chúng Hoa Kỳ cho các chính sách của chúng ta. 2. Những điểm bất đồng. 1) Chúng ta tin rằng cố gắng dùng từ diễn đạt chi tiết cụ thể hơn là “trả  họ trở về nhà của họ” là hoàn toàn không thực tế. Chúng ta sẽ không thể khiến DRV thừa nhận chính thức nó có lực lượng ở miền Nam. Hơn nữa,
Ngày 24 tháng 10 ngày 13 tháng 12 năm 1972 413
nên xem xét thực tế rằng nếu đã có một sự thừa nhận như vậy và rồi một số lực lượng NVA vẫn còn, tính hợp pháp của sự hiện diện của họ được thừa nhận. Hiện tại không có gì trong thỏa thuận xác lập quyền của Hà Nội được phép có lực lượng ở miền Nam. 2) Không có cơ hội nhận được sự giám sát quốc tế về sự hỗ trợ quân sự cho Bắc Việt Nam. Chúng ta đang hành xử vấn đề này theo hai cách. Đầu tiên, chúng ta đã đưa ra một tuyên bố đơn phương, mà chúng ta sẽ nhắc lại, “khi thực hiện các quy định tại Điều 7, Hoa Kỳ sẽ chú ý đến nhu cầu thay thế được tạo ra bằng cách đưa thiết bị quân sự vào các khu vực của Đông Dương không được bao gồm bởi Điều đó.” Như thế Hà Nội biết, và GVN nên yên tâm, rằng nếu viện trợ quân sự cho DRV có nguy cơ làm đảo lộn sự cân bằng, chúng ta sẽ đền bù trong viện trợ của chúng ta cho GVN. Trong mọi trường hợp, GVN, đặc biệt là sau chương trình tái tiếp tế lớn của chúng ta, là một đối đầu tuyệt vời với DRV, về chất lượng cũng như số lượng. Thứ hai, như tôi đã thông báo cho Thiệu, chúng ta đang làm việc chăm chỉ với Moscow và Bắc Kinh về vấn đề này và cả hai đều biết chúng ta hy vọng họ sẽ hạn chế các chuyến hàng của họ trong điều kiện ngừng bắn. 3) Mặc dù không thể thay đổi tên của tiếng Anh của hội đồng, nhưng chúng ta sẽ, như đã hứa, sẽ thay đổi bản dịch tiếng Việt của cụm từ “cấu trúc hành chính.” Chúng ta cũng sẽ cố gắng làm loãng thêm các chức năng của những gì đã không phải là một cơ quan chính phủ, như chính Xuân Thúy đã chỉ ra. Chúng ta sẽ cố gắng xóa bỏ “việc bảo trì lệnh ngừng bắn” và thay thế “tổ chức” bằng “có nhiệm vụ đặc biệt tổ chức” bầu cử. Những thay đổi này, nếu chúng ta có thể có được chúng, sẽ nhấn mạnh những gì đã rõ ràng, tức là hội đồng là một cơ quan trung gian và thuận lợi, không phải là một cơ quan chính phủ. 4) Như một sự nhượng bộ hơn nữa đối với GVN, chúng ta sẽ cố gắng loại bỏ câu liên quan đến các hội đồng ở cấp thấp hơn, nhưng sự thay đổi này có vẻ chứng minh là không thể đạt được. Trong mọi trường hợp, như Ông đã chỉ ra, không bắt buộc phải thành lập các hội đồng như vậy; điều bắt buộc duy nhất là tham khảo ý kiến về chủ đề này. Với sự tham khảo thêm về Điều 9(f) và (g), Ông nên trấn an GVN rằng chúng ta sẽ giữ vững không chấp nhận giới hạn thời gian mà Lam nêu ra trong đoạn 12 của Ông trong bức điện tín (reftel, reference telegraph). 55) Chúng ta sẽ cố gắng để có được từ “quốc gia” thay thế cho “tổng quát” liên quan đến bầu cử, nhưng chúng ta không tin rằng điều này có thể đạt được hoặc quan trọng. Chúng ta vẫn không tin rằng người Việt Nam ngụ ý những cuộc bầu cử cho một hội đồng cấu thành. Hơn thế, bản ghi thì rỏ ràng về điểm này
414 Quan hệ đối ngoại, 1969- 1976, Tập IX
và Ông nên chỉ ra rằng chính Xuân Thủy đã tuyên bố trong một cuộc phỏng vấn của AFP vào ngày 10 tháng 11 rằng vấn đề liên quan đến bản chất của cuộc bầu cử “vẫn chưa được giải quyết: vấn đề này sẽ được hai bên thảo luận trong giai đoạn tiếp theo cuộc ngừng bắn. Hai bên sẽ cùng nhau thảo luận về bản chất của cuộc bầu cử.”  6) Chúng ta không thể thay đổi thành phần của ICCS. Vị trí của chúng ta vẫn được thể hiện như trong thư của Tổng thống và trong mọi trường hợp chúng ta lưu ý rằng đây là một điểm tương đối nhỏ đối với Chính phủ Việt Nam. 7) Ông nên ngoại giao hết mức có thể để nȇu ra rằng chỉ là quá muộn để xem xét bao gồm cả GVN trong các cuộc thảo luận của chúng ta với Lê Đức Thọ. Tuy nhiên, chúng ta tái khẳng định ý định tham khảo ý kiến hàng ngày với Đại sứ Lam, và Ông nên chỉ ra rằng chúng ta đang tìm cách tham gia GVN trong bốn cuộc đàm phán của hai bên và hai bên ở Paris liên quan đến các biȇn bản ngoại giao về ICCS và các ủy ban quân sự. 3. Những điểm làm rõ và sửa đổi. 1) Chúng ta sẽ cố gắng chuyển Chương I sang sau Chương III để giảm bớt sự nổi bật của nó, nhưng nghi ngờ chúng ta sẽ thành công. 62) Như Haig và Ông đã giải thích, chúng ta muốn chèn vào “không điều kiện” để ngăn chặn lệnh ngừng bắn được liên kết với các điều khoản khác, ví dụ như các điều kiện chính trị, và do đó đưa ra một cái cớ để chiến tranh bắt đầu lại nếu các khía cạnh khác của thỏa thuận gặp khó khăn. Chúng ta coi điều này rất quan trọng đối với quan điểm trong nước của chúng ta và sẽ nghĩ rằng GVN cũng sẽ thấy nó có lợi thế. Vì vậy, trừ khi chúng ta nghe thấy quan điểm mạnh mẽ ngược lại, chúng ta sẽ dự định tìm kiếm sự thay đổi này. 3) Chúng ta đồng ý rằng tham chiếu đến Điều 9(i) là không cần thiết và sẽ chỉ đề cập đến Điều 9(b) thôi. 4) Chúng ta nghĩ rằng sự thay đổi của chúng ta sẽ hữu ích nhưng chúng ta sẽ trì hoãn GVN và giữ phiên bản trước đó của Điều 7, đoạn 2. 5) Chúng ta dự định thay thế từ bình đẳng nếu chúng ta thành công trong việc bỏ tham chiếu ba thành phần bằng nhau. Xóa bỏ cái sau sẽ là một trong những nhiệm vụ khó khăn nhất của chúng ta và nếu chúng ta không thành công, chúng ta sẽ không tìm kiếm sự bổ sung của từ “bình đẳng.” Cụm từ “đại diện cho tất cả các khuynh hướng chính trị” tương ứng cho sự tiến đến kế hoạch phối hợp ngày 25 tháng 1 và thực ra chúng ta hình dung rằng sễ có một số phần tử trung lập được hai bȇn chỉ định tuy khía cạnh ba thành phần sẽ lõng lẽo. Chính phủ Việt Nam; tuy nhiên, không nên ảo tưởng rằng chúng ta có khả năng thành công; nếu chúng ta thất bại, chúng ta sẽ ép vào câu “mỗi bȇn Chính phủ Việt Nam sẽ
Ngày 24 tháng 10 - 13 tháng 12 năm 1972 415
 chỉ định một nửa số thành viên của Hội đồng” để cung cấp cho GVN đủ quyền kiểm soát thành phần thứ ba. Đối với việc xóa từ “quốc gia” đầu tiên trong tiêu đề của hội đồng, chúng ta xem xét điều này một cách nghiêm ngặt kém ý nghĩa và không có kế hoạch nhấn mạnh cho nó. 6) GVN một lần nữa nên được nhắc nhở rằng Điều 9(g) nói rằng nhiệm vụ của Hội đồng là “đề cử” các chức năng khác nhau được giao cho hai bȇn miền Nam Việt Nam. Để làm cho điều này rõ ràng hơn nữa, chúng ta sẽ cố gắng loại bỏ câu bằng cách nói rằng “Hội đồng sẽ có nhiệm vụ đề cử những điều sau:” Cũng như đã nêu ở trên, chúng ta sẽ cố gắng xóa “duy trì Lệnh ngừng bắn” và cho Hội đồng “nhiệm vụ đặc biệt tổ chức” bầu cử. Do đó, ngoại trừ các cuộc bầu cử, Hội đồng chỉ thúc đẩy các chức năng tiếp tục tồn tại với các bȇn miền Nam. 7) Việc bổ sung “được đề nghị của chúng ta trong vòng ba tháng kể từ ngày ký thỏa thuận này.” được thiết kế để phù hợp với GVN bằng cách đưa ra một số khung thời gian cho điều khoản xuất ngũ. Chúng ta tin rằng đây là một đề nghị quan trọng và hữu ích, nhưng nếu GVN thích hơn, chúng ta sẽ không tìm kiếm sự bổ sung này. 8) Chúng ta sẽ cố gắng cho sự thay đổi bổ sung này trong Điều 10, nhưng rất đáng nghi ngờ là chúng ta có thể có được nó. 79) Ông nên nhắc nhở GVN rằng Bắc Việt chỉ bỏ Ấn Độ với điều kiện chúng ta sẽ bỏ Nhật Bản. Tất nhiên chúng ta sẽ chỉ đề cử Nhật Bản chứ không phải Ấn Độ, nhưng theo quan điểm của hồ sơ, chúng ta hy vọng sẽ phải đối mặt với sự lựa chọn nhận cả hai quốc gia hoặc không phải quốc gia nào. Chúng ta vẫn thích có cả hai quốc gia tại hội nghị, nhưng các ý kiến của GVN ngụ ý rằng họ thích không có. Do đó, Ông nên có được quan điểm của GVN dứt khoát về lựa chọn này. 10) Thư của Thiệu đã chấp nhận đề nghị của chúng ta “Các quốc gia Đông Dương.” Ông ta nói rằng nên được hiểu là bốn quốc gia Đông Dương. GVN tất nhiên được tự do diễn giải nó theo cách này, vì vậy vị trí của họ được bảo vệ với công thức của chúng ta, nhưng DRV sẽ không chấp nhận “bốn” trong văn bản. 11) Chúng ta sẽ cố gắng biến Điều 16 và 17 thành một thỏa thuận riêng. 912) Như đã chỉ ra ở trên, chúng ta sẽ giữ vững lập trường giữ những giới hạn thời gian cho Điều 9(f) và 9(g).
416 Quan hệ đối ngoại, 1969 -1976, Tập IX4.
Chúng ta vẫn đang chờ các quan điểm của GVN về đề nghị bổ sung câu sau đây trong Điều 9(f): “cho đến khi hoàn thành quá trình chính trị được quy định tại Điều 9(b), các cơ quan hiện có sẽ tiếp tục thực hiện các chức năng bên trong và bên ngoài.” Chúng ta vẫn nghĩ điều này có ưu điểm là nhấn mạnh thêm thực tế rằng Hội đồng không phải là chính phủ. Trừ khi các đối tượng GVN bác bỏ đề nghị này, chúng ta dự định đi tiếp tục với nó. 5. Tôi muốn nhấn mạnh một lần nữa sự cần thiết phải có các vị trí cuối cùng của GVN cho từng mỗi vấn đề trên trước giờ làm việc ngày 18 tháng 11 thời gian của chúng ta.

Note by Hoàng Hoa, Editor in Chief (EIC) of VNR Vietnam Review
1. GVN: (Government of Vietnam)  Chính Phủ Việt Nam (Việt Nam Cộng Hòa)
2. ICCS: The International Commission of Control and Supervision (Ủy Ban Quốc Tế Kiểm Soát và Thanh Tra)
3. DRV: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa)
4. Xuân Thủy: Trưởng đoàn Ngoại Giao Bắc Việt (Việt Nam Dân Chủ Cộng Hòa) tại Hội đàm Paris 1973
5. Lȇ Ðức Thọ: Ðảng viȇn Ðảng Cộng Sản Việt Nam, có những họp công khai hay bí mật với Henry Kissinger về Hội nghị Paris 1973, Cố vấn An ninh Quốc gia của Tổng Thống Hoa Kỳ Richard Nixon.

ASIA PACIFIC (AP) Czech Senate speaker plans to visit Taiwan, angering China. (Reuters) Taiwan warns off Chinese fighters which approached island. (Reuters) Taiwan eyes $1.3 billion in foreign tech investment under new scheme. (The National Interest) Why Taiwan Needs Nuclear Weapons

ASIA PACIFIC
June 1, 2020
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World

Czech Senate speaker plans to visit Taiwan, angering China

FILE - In this file photo taken Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, mayor of Prague Zdenek Hrib, left, and Taipei city mayor Ko Wen-je shake hands before signing a partnership agreement between the two cities at the Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic. Speaker of the upper house of the Czech Parliament Milos Vystrcil announced on Tuesday June 9, 2020, that he will visit Taiwan despite threats from China. Vystrcil said he would be accompanied by a business delegation on his visit that is preliminary scheduled to open on August 30. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)
FILE - In this file photo taken Monday, Jan. 13, 2020, mayor of Prague Zdenek Hrib, left, and Taipei city mayor Ko Wen-je shake hands before signing a partnership agreement between the two cities at the Old Town Square in Prague, Czech Republic. Speaker of the upper house of the Czech Parliament Milos Vystrcil announced on Tuesday June 9, 2020, that he will visit Taiwan despite threats from China. Vystrcil said he would be accompanied by a business delegation on his visit that is preliminary scheduled to open on August 30. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek, File)

PRAGUE (AP) — The speaker of the Czech Republic's Senate announced Tuesday he will visit Taiwan despite warnings from China and a recommendation from his own government that he not take the trip.

Milos Vystrcil said he would be accompanied by a business delegation on his visit, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Aug. 30.

Vystrcil said he was also planning to meet Taiwan’s leaders, but didn’t immediately give details.

Vystrcil’s predecessor in the post, Jaroslav Kubera, was planning to travel to Taiwan before he died in January. His plans angered pro-China Czech President Milos Zeman.

A letter to Kubera from the Chinese Embassy in Prague warned him against going on the trip, saying the visit would have negatives consequences for future economic relations between China and the Czech Republic.

The Czech Republic has established informal relations with Taiwan but recognizes the one-China principle — the notion that Taiwan belongs to Communist Party-ruled China.

Vystrcil said China's pressure, including a warning from the Chinese Embassy against congratulating Taiwan's pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen on her re-election, contributed to his decision to travel to the island.

“The People's Republic of China believes it has a right to tell us what to do,” Vystrcil said. He said the Czech Republic will benefit from his trip.

Taiwan is an important business partner for the Czech Republic and has invested more in the Czech economy than mainland China.

In a separate development condemned by China, the Czech capital of Prague signed in January a partnership agreement with Taiwan's capital, Taipei, three months after canceling a similar deal with Beijing.

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World

Taiwan warns off Chinese fighters which approached island

Reuters

https://www.yahoo.com/news/taiwan-says-warns-off-chinese-045319761.html

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan's air force warned off several Chinese fighter jets that briefly entered Taiwan's air defence identification zone to its southwest on Tuesday, the defence ministry said.

The Su-30 fighters, some of China's most advanced jets, were given verbal warnings to leave and Taiwanese air force jets "drove away" the intruders, ministry added.

Taiwan has complained that China, which claims the democratic island as its own, has stepped up military activities in recent months, menacing Taiwan even as the world deals with the coronavirus pandemic.

China says such exercises are nothing unusual.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control. One of China's most senior generals last month said China would attack if there was no other way of stopping Taiwan becoming independent.

China is deeply suspicious of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, whom it accuses of being a separatist bent on declaring formal independence. Tsai says Taiwan is already an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name.

The United States has stepped up its military activities near the island too, with semi-regular navy voyages through the narrow Taiwan Strait.

A U.S. C-40A, a military version of the Boeing 737, had entered Taiwanese air space with permission, though it did not land at any Taiwanese airports, Taiwan's Defence Ministry said in a separate statement on Tuesday.

The U.S. aircraft took off from Japan's Okinawa island, where there is a major U.S. air base, and flew over northern and western Taiwan on its way to Southeast Asia, Taiwanese media reported.

While Washington and Taipei have no formal diplomatic ties, the United States is Taiwan's strongest international supporter and main arms supplier, becoming another source of U.S.-China tension.

(Reporting by Ben Blanchard and Yimou Lee; Editing by Tom Hogue and Stephen Coates)

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World

Taiwan eyes $1.3 billion in foreign tech investment under new scheme

Reuters
 General view of Taipei city during sunset hour

TAIPEI (Reuters) - Taiwan hopes a new programme will attract T$40 billion ($1.34 billion) of research and development investment by foreign tech companies, creating more than 6,300 jobs a year, the government said on Thursday.
Taipei will spend more than T$10 billion in subsidies over the next seven years to attract the investment, Lin Chuan-neng, the island's vice minister of economic affairs, said on Thursday.
"We will target three investment in three areas, which are 5G, artificial intelligence and semiconductors," Lin told a news conference in Taipei.
"We hope to get them to Taiwan to do research and development," he added. "We hope to boost related supply chains in Taiwan."
The export-reliant island is home to tech behemoths like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd <2330.TW>, the world's biggest contract chipmaker and supplier to U.S. tech giants such as Apple Inc <AAPL.O>.
Lin said the government wants to turn Taiwan into a "global hub for high technology" under the programme, in a bid to "seize the opportunity" amid a global reshuffle of the technology supply chain following U.S.-China trade tensions.
Taiwan's government is in talks with international companies for future investments, Lin added, declining to give details.
($1=29.8960 Taiwan dollars)

(Reporting by Yimou Lee; Writing by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Gerry Doyle)
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World

Why Taiwan Needs Nuclear Weapons

Michael Rubin
The National Interest
Chinese President Xi Jinping is on the warpath. He has abrogated the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration which guaranteed Hong Kong’s special status more than a quarter-century early. He has precipitated the worst military crisis with India since the 1962 Sino-India War. His repression and incarceration of the Uighur minority is on a scale far greater than what happened during the Balkan wars at the end of the 20th century. China’s artificial island-building in the South China Sea and its farcical and ahistorical claims to the “Nine-Dash Line” represent a land grab against the Philippines and the theft of maritime resources against other regional states.
Now, Chinese officials are again signaling they may attack Taiwan. On Friday, Li Zuocheng, chief of the Joint Staff Department and member of the Central Military Commission, promised to “resolutely smash any separatist plots or actions.” He added, “We do not promise to abandon the use of force, and reserve the option to take all necessary measures, to stabilize and control the situation in the Taiwan Strait.” What Li sees as “separatist plots or actions,” the Taiwanese might call popular sovereignty and the exercise of democracy. After all, Taiwanese—both those indigenous to the island and those who are more recent immigrants—have a very different narrative, one rooted more in history. They realize that while Chinese officials have long claimed the island nation as an indivisible part of China, historically and with the exception of just a few decades over the course of centuries, Taiwan has been distinct and its own entity. Any visitor to Taiwan can observe this the second they leave the airport.
Authorities in Taiwan cannot afford to take Chinese threats lightly. They recognize that the fact that Western democracies and regional Asian states have offered little more than rhetoric in response to Chinese aggression only emboldens Beijing and makes it more likely the fact that Chinese ‘salami-slicing’ will continue. And while the U.S. Navy will continue to traverse the South China Sea to demonstrate its commitment to maintain freedom of passage in international waters, the Pentagon is simply not prepared to risk war with China to counter the occupation of the Scarborough Shoal or Mischief Reef, let alone the Penghu islands or the Taiwanese mainland.
With communist authorities in China openly and gleefully shredding the post-World War II liberal order, it may be time for the United States and Taiwan to show Beijing the dangers of doing so by allowing Taiwan to become a nuclear weapons power.
The Clinton administration popularized the term “rogue regime” as a state that promoted terrorism or acted aggressively toward its neighbors but for political scientists, the origin of the concept was different. In 1977, for example, political scientist Richard K. Betts spoke wrote about nuclear ambitions among paranoid, pygmy, and pariah states. He defined both Israel and Taiwan as pariah states, not as a moral judgment, but rather because neighboring and regional states posed existential challenges to their national status. Two years later, the New York Times wrote about Israel, Taiwan, and South Africa as “nuclear outcasts” because they might require nuclear weapons to deter existential challenges.
While Israel has never signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and so is not governed by its constraints, Taiwan’s nuclear program was in violation of its treaty obligations. In 1968, Taiwan—then recognized at the United Nations—as the legitimate government of China has signed the NPT and was a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Officially, when Washington and the United Nations shifted recognition of China from Taipei to Beijing, the United States and Taiwan agreed that Taiwan would continue to abide by the NPT. As Taiwan nevertheless quietly pursued a nuclear capability, the Clinton administration acted covertly to sabotage Taiwanese ambitions.
In hindsight, that was a mistake. If the Trump administration wishes to push back on Xi’s aggression, it is time to reconsider the interpretation of Taiwan’s NPT commitments, both in Washington and Taipei. After all, if the international community will not uphold its obligations to Taiwan, then Taiwan should not bend over backward to preserve an order in which the People’s Republic of China is deliberately ending.
Should Taiwan start from scratch and indigenously build its program, it might precipitate further communist Chinese aggression. But, if Taiwan was gifted medium-range nuclear weapons which were placed under its control, it would both acquire a sufficient deterrent in order to maintain stability if not peace across the Taiwan Strait and absolve the United States of the need to deploy multiple carrier groups to the region should communist China attack the only remaining free and democratic Chinese republic.
Now is the time for hard decisions in Washington. If China digests Taiwan as it has Hong Kong, it is unlikely it will simply be satiated. As China faces its own economic turmoil, Xi can put forward baseless claims as fact and encroach further in Southeast Asia, the East China Sea, and the Pacific. And while Taiwan’s membership in the nuclear weapons club will be a blow to the spirit of the NPT, no country should be expected to sacrifice the freedom of 24 million people to preserve order and a system in which the international community lets Beijing deconstruct with ease.
Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). You can follow him on Twitter: @mrubin1971.

Read the original article.

US NEWS (AP) Trump OKs sanctions against international tribunal employees. (Time) Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Slams China's 'Coercive Bullying Tactics' Against the U.K. (Business Insider) The UK steps up its fight with China by preparing tough new laws to prevent hostile takeovers of British firms. (The National Interest) We Cannot Forget the Massacre At Tiananmen Square—China Is Going Back Down That Path. (Reuters) Exclusive: U.S. to impose restrictions on additional Chinese media outlets - sources. (Reuters) New U.S. restrictions on 33 Chinese firms and institutions take effect June 5. (NBC News) New U.S. ban on Chinese airlines hurts Chinese students who were already struggling to get home. (Reuters) Russia not welcome at G7, Canada's Trudeau says

US NEWS
Time Links: May 22, 2020

(Reuters Videos) Huawei's Meng Wanzhou drawn closer to extradition. (Bloomberg) What Hong Kong Losing Its ‘Special Status’ Would Mean. (Yahoo Finance) Bill to delist ‘deceitful’ Chinese companies could go further: investor. (AP) Pompeo says Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China. (AP) US Congress approves China sanctions over ethnic crackdown. (Fox News) Does China really want war? (Fox News) Sen. Kennedy: Trump is the only world leader standing up to China. (Reuters) Trump says U.S. to take action on China over Hong Kong this week. (Fox Bosiness) US will pay for companies to bring supply chains home from China: Kudlow(KGO- San Francisco) 'Everything is gone': Pier 45 fire puts 2020 crab season in jeopardy, millions in fishing equipment destroyed. (Market Watch) How the West can overcome the Chinese juggernaut. (AP) German companies flying 200 workers to China in mass return. (Politico) Tensions flare as U.S. signals broader crackdown on Chinese telecoms. (The Week) Official: U.S. might sanction China over Hong Kong security law. (CBS News) Trump will travel to Florida to attend historic SpaceX launch. (TechCrunch) China Roundup: A blow to US-listed Chinese firms and TikTok's new global face. (Fox News Videos) US dependence on Chinese imports posing potential threat on national security. (AP) 'Fire everywhere': More than 130 firefighters battle Pier 45 blaze in San Francisco's Fisherman's Wharf. (The Guardian) US security officials 'considered return to nuclear testing' after 28-year hiatus. (Reuters) Xi makes high-stakes power play in move to subdue Hong Kong. (Bloomberg) City Braces for Rallies; Police Issue Warning: Hong Kong Update. (Reuters) Exclusive: U.S. accuses China of blocking U.S. flights, demands action. (Fox News Videos) O'Brien: US ready to act if China violates human rights in Hong Kong. (The Policy Times) Indonesia to Hack the Crown in the US-China Trade War. (NYT) China's Hong Kong Crackdown Could Put Trump in an Unwelcome Spot. (Reuters Video) Trump warns China of strong U.S. response if it imposes new Hong Kong law

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World

Trump OKs sanctions against international tribunal employees

Attorney General William Barr speaks from behind a teleprompter as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens, during a joint briefing, Thursday, June 11, 2020 at the State Department in Washington, on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump aimed at the International Criminal Court. Trump has lobbed a broadside attack against the International Criminal Court. He's authorizing economic sanctions and travel restrictions against court workers directly involved in investigating American troops and intelligence officials for possible war crimes in Afghanistan without U.S. consent. The executive order Trump signed on Thursday marks his administration’s latest attack against international organizations, treaties and agreements that do not hew to its policies. (Yuri Gripas/Pool via AP)

US International Court

Attorney General William Barr speaks from behind a teleprompter as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo listens, during a joint briefing, Thursday, June 11, 2020 at the State Department in Washington, on an executive order signed by President Donald Trump aimed at the International Criminal Court. Trump has lobbed a broadside attack against the International Criminal Court. He's authorizing economic sanctions and travel restrictions against court workers directly involved in investigating American troops and intelligence officials for possible war crimes in Afghanistan without U.S. consent. The executive order Trump signed on Thursday marks his administration’s latest attack against international organizations, treaties and agreements that do not hew to its policies. (Yuri Gripas/Pool via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump lobbed a broadside attack Thursday against the International Criminal Court by authorizing economic sanctions and travel restrictions against court workers involved in investigating American troops and intelligence officials and those of allied nations, including Israel, for possible war crimes in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Trump's executive order marked his administration’s latest attack against international organizations, treaties and agreements that don’t hew to its policies. It would block the financial assets of court employees and bar those employees and their immediate relatives from entering the United States.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo denounced The Hague-based tribunal as a “kangaroo court” that has been unsuccessful and inefficient in its mandate to prosecute war crimes. He said that the U.S. would punish the ICC employees for any investigation or prosecution of Americans in Afghanistan and added that they could also be banned for prosecuting Israelis for alleged abuses against Palestinians.

Pompeo's comments were echoed by Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Attorney General Wiliiam Barr and national security adviser Robert O'Brien, who spoke at a State Department announcement of the new measures. Barr also announced that the U.S. would investigate possible corruption within the ICC hierarchy that he said raised suspicions that Russia and other adversaries could be interfering in the investigatory process.

None of the four men took questions from reporters at the event.

The Hague-based court was created in 2002 to prosecute war crimes and crimes of humanity and genocide in areas where perpetrators might not otherwise face justice. It has 123 state parties that recognize its jurisdiction.

Human rights groups deplored the Trump administration’s move.

“The Trump administration’s latest action paves the way for imposing sanctions against ICC officials and demonstrates contempt for the global rule of law,” said Andrea Prasow, the Washington director of Human Rights Watch. “This assault on the ICC is an effort to block victims of serious crimes whether in Afghanistan, Israel or Palestine from seeing justice. Countries that support international justice should publicly oppose this blatant attempt at obstruction.”

Thursday's announcement is the latest action that puts the administration at odds with allies in Europe and elsewhere. Since taking office, Trump has withdrawn from the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and two arms control treaties with Russia. He has pulled the U.S. out of the U.N. Human Rights Council and the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, threatened to leave the International Postal Union and announced an end to cooperation with the World Health Organization.

Unlike those treaties and agreements, though, the United States has never been a member of the International Criminal Court. Administrations of both parties have been concerned about the potential for political prosecutions of American troops and officials for alleged war crimes and other atrocities.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Trump's order “is a matter of serious concern,” describing the European Union nations as “steadfast supporters of the International Criminal Court.”

“The court has been playing a key role in providing international justice and addressing the gravest international crimes," he said. “It is a key factor in bringing justice and peace. It must be respected and supported by all nations.”

The executive order authorizes the secretary of state, in consultation with the Treasury secretary, to block financial assets within U.S. jurisdiction of court personnel who directly engage in investigating, harassing or detaining U.S. personnel. The order authorizes the secretary of state to block court officials and their family members involved in the investigations from entering the United States. The ICC-related travel restrictions go beyond what the State Department issued last year.

White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a statement that, despite repeated calls by the United States and its allies, the ICC has not embraced reform. She alleged the court continues to pursue politically motivated investigations against the U.S. and its partners, including Israel.

“We are concerned that adversary nations are manipulating the International Criminal Court by encouraging these allegations against United States personnel,” McEnany said. “Further, we have strong reason to believe there is corruption and misconduct at the highest levels of the International Criminal Court office of the prosecutor, calling into question the integrity of its investigation into American service members.”

The U.S. has extracted pledges from most of the court’s members that they will not seek such prosecutions and risk losing U.S. military and other assistance.

However, ICC prosecutors have shown a willingness to press ahead with investigations into U.S. service members and earlier this year launched one that drew swift U.S. condemnation.

Last year, after then-national security adviser John Bolton threatened ICC employees with sanctions if they went forward with prosecutions of U.S. or allied troops, including from Israel. Pompeo then revoked the visa of the court’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda. Bensouda had asked ICC judges to open an investigation into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan that could have involved Americans. The judges initially rejected the request, but the denial was overturned after Bensouda appealed the decision and the investigation was authorized in March.

The appellate ruling marked the first time the court’s prosecutor has been cleared to investigate U.S. forces, and it set the global tribunal on a collision course with the Trump administration. Bensouda pledged to carry out an independent and impartial investigation and called for full support and cooperation from all parties. Pompeo called the decision “a truly breathtaking action by an unaccountable political institution masquerading as a legal body.”

The case involves allegations of war crimes committed by Afghan national security forces, Taliban and Haqqani network militants, as well as U.S. forces and intelligence officials in Afghanistan since May 2003. Bensouda say there’s information that members of the U.S. military and intelligence agencies “committed acts of torture, cruel treatment, outrages upon personal dignity, rape and sexual violence.”

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Time

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Slams China's 'Coercive Bullying Tactics' Against the U.K.

Amy Gunia
Time

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo slammed the Chinese government Tuesday for what he called “coercive bullying tactics” against the United Kingdom.

Pompeo referred to Beijing’s reported threats to punish the London-based bank HSBC and to break commitments to build nuclear plants in the U.K. if Chinese telecoms giant Huawei is not allowed to build the country’s 5G networks.

“Free nations deal in true friendship and desire mutual prosperity, not political and corporate kowtows,” he said in a statement.

He added that the Chinese Communist Party’s “browbeating” of HSBC “should serve as a cautionary tale.” Last week, the bank’s Asia-Pacific CEO, Peter Wong, a member of China’s top political advisory body, signed a petition supporting a controversial national security law that Beijing plans to enact in Hong Kong following a year of anti-government protests in the semiautonomous territory.

“That show of fealty seems to have earned HSBC little respect in Beijing, which continues to use the bank’s business in China as political leverage against London,” Pompeo said.

HSBC, which is headquartered in London but has deep roots in Hong Kong, did not immediately respond to a request for comments.

Pompeo said that the U.S. stands ready to help the U.K. with building nuclear plants and developing 5G solutions. “Beijing’s aggressive behavior shows why countries should avoid economic overreliance on China,” he said.

Tensions have been ratcheting up between Washington and Beijing in recent months over the coronavirus outbreak and Beijng’s actions in Hong Kong. In late May, Pompeo said that Hong Kong no longer exercises the high degree of autonomy it was promised for 50 years after retroceding to China in 1997. His announcement came after Beijing decided to bypass Hong Kong’s legislature to impose the sweeping new national security legislation.

In May, Washington released a major China policy document that argues 40 years of U.S. engagement with China has failed to produce the “citizen-centric, free and open rules-based order” the U.S. had hoped it would. The document announced that the U.S. would take a “competitive approach” to China “based on a clear-eyed assessment of the CCP’s intentions and actions.”

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World

The UK steps up its fight with China by preparing tough new laws to prevent hostile takeovers of British firms

tcolson@businessinsider.com (Thomas Colson)
Business Insider
  • The UK risks further escalating tensions with China by preparing tough new laws to prevent takeovers of British firms.

  • Boris Johnson is reportedly planning new rules which make it compulsory for British firms to report attempted takeovers that could create risks to national security.

  • The move comes amid growing tensions between London and Beijing over COVID-19 and Huawei.

  • China is also angered by Johnson's pledge to offer millions of Hong Kong residents extended UK visas.

  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

The UK is stepping up its action against China by preparing tough new laws to prevent takeovers of British firms.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson risks putting more strain on London's relationship with Beijing by preparing legislation to prevent foreign takeovers that are deemed to pose a risk to UK national security.

Johnson is pushing for new rules which make it compulsory for British firms to report attempted takeovers that could create risks to national security, the Times of London newspaper reported.

The new legislation, which could be tabled within weeks, comes amid increasing concerns about China's growing influence in Britain and fears that UK firms could find themselves exposed to aggressive Chinese takeover bids during the expected coronavirus-induced recession.

Earlier this year, the UK Parliament's Foreign Affairs Select Committee launched an emergency inquiry into an apparent Chinese attempt to take control of AI firm Imagination Technologies, based in southern England.

The new takeover laws proposed by Johnson would require a UK business to declare when a company tries to buy more than 25% of their shares, or to acquire "significant" influence, to purchase assets, or intellectual property.

The new laws would make it a criminal offence for UK companies to fail to report such information, and company directors could be either jailed or fined hundreds of thousands of pounds, the report said.

Firms would have to report any such takeover if there was a risk that it could allow a company or a hostile state the power to undermine British national security by disrupting services or carry out espionage.

Tensions between London and Beijing have increased in recent months amid criticism of how China handled the outbreak of the coronavirus. 

Johnson is under growing pressure from Members of Parliament in his Conservative party to loosen ties with Beijing.

A number of Conservative MPs in April set up a new parliamentary bloc called the "China Research Group," which is pressuring Johnson's Conservative government to reset UK ties with China.

The prime minister is expected to reduce the role of Huawei in building Britain's 5G network amid concerns about espionage and national security, after striking a contentious deal with the telecomms firm earlier this year.

Johnson reportedly has a long-term ambition of forming an alliance with the US, Germany, and other nations, that together would develop technology and reduce their dependence on Chinese technology.

China has also been angered by the UK plan to offer millions of Hong Kong residents extended visas to live in the UK if Beijing pressed ahead with contentious new national security laws on the semiautonomous island.

Read the original article on Business Insider

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World

We Cannot Forget the Massacre At Tiananmen Square—China Is Going Back Down That Path

Olivia Enos
The National Interest
Click here to read the full original article.

The image from June 5, 1989, is etched in our minds.

One man.

Four tanks.

This iconic image has become a symbol of the resilience of the Chinese people during the Tiananmen Square massacre. Hundreds to thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators were killed by communist troops from June 3 to June 5, 1989.

It is a visual representation of the Chinese people’s fight for freedom, and the great lengths that the Chinese government will go to in order to quash it.

This June 4 anniversary of the Tiananmen Square protests is especially ominous.

It comes during the growing collapse of the “one country, two systems” framework that preserved liberty and prosperity in Hong Kong since 1997. Vigils commemorating the events of Tiananmen Square have even been outlawed.

It’s being commemorated against the backdrop of the Chinese Communist Party’s gross mishandling of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

It’s happening while at least 1 million Uighurs are languishing in political reeducation facilities in China’s Xinjiang region. Other religious minorities face persecution as well.

The oppression of the Chinese people is evident. Perhaps there has been no greater threat to freedom in China since Mao than Xi Jinping.

Xi has further tightened his grip on the levers of control. Widespread use of surveillance tracks ordinary Chinese citizens’ every move. Tracking is deployed for the purpose of measuring a person’s “social credit” to determine how well their personal behavior aligns with the Chinese Communist Party’s priorities.

The party is also undertaking efforts to Sinicize religion, making Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and all other religions conform to Chinese characteristics—replacing the sacred with the secular.

All private life is considered public, therefore falling under the party’s control. This we know well from the now famous whistleblower Dr. Li Wenliang.

His attempts to sound the alarm about the novel coronavirus resulted in him being called in for questioning by Chinese authorities, being forced to recant his statement, and eventually, succumbing to death by the very virus he tried to alert the public about.

It is for the Chinese people that we commemorate the anniversary of Tiananmen Square. We mark their fight for freedom—recognizing it as a battle that has not yet been won. We remember their plight because it is a poignant reminder that freedom is not free and that it is absolutely worth fighting for and defending where possible.

There is a battle over values being waged in Asia. One model suppresses and undermines freedom while the other seeks to preserve and promote it. One system blurs the lines between public and private, while the other keeps those lines distinct. One embraces authoritarianism where the other embraces liberty.

The U.S. must stand on the side of values. That means standing unwaveringly with the people of China wherever freedom is under threat—whether in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Tibet, or in the People’s Republic of China.

This article by Olivia Enos first appeared in The Daily Signal on June 3, 2020.

Image: Tank Man. Flickr/Mike Licht. Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).

Click here to read the full original article.

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World

UK to announce laws to prevent foreign takeovers posing national security risk - Times

Reuters
Prime Minister's Questions at House of Commons in London
Prime Minister's Questions at House of Commons in London

(Reuters) - British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is preparing to announce tough laws to prevent foreign takeovers that pose risks to national security amid growing concern about the influence of China, The Times newspaper reported.

The prime minister is said to be pressing for legislation to make it mandatory for companies to report attempted takeovers which could give rise to security risks, backed by the threat of criminal sanctions, according to the newspaper.

Companies that fail to report takeovers or ignore conditions imposed by the UK government after takeovers could see their directors jailed, disqualified or fined, the newspaper said.

The approach, which is being pushed by the prime minister's adviser Dominic Cummings, is said to have the support of finance minister Rishi Sunak and will require businesses to declare when a foreign company tries to buy more than 25% of shares, purchase assets or intellectual property, the Times said.

The prime minister also wants academic partnerships and research projects to be included under the rules, the newspaper added.

The legislation, which The Times said could be tabled within weeks, comes at a time of increased tension between Britain and China, after the country designated Huawei a "high-risk vendor" in January and expressed concern over Beijing's handling of the situation in Hong Kong.

Johnson has also come under pressure from the United States and lawmakers from his own party, who have argued that Huawei's equipment could be used by Beijing for spying, which the Chinese telecom giant has repeatedly denied.

(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

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World

Exclusive: U.S. to impose restrictions on additional Chinese media outlets - sources

Patricia Zengerle, Matt Spetalnick, Humeyra Pamuk and David Brunnstrom
Reuters

By Patricia Zengerle, Matt Spetalnick, Humeyra Pamuk and David Brunnstrom

https://www.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-u-designate-additional-chinese-185154018.html

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is expected to designate at least four additional state-run Chinese media outlets as foreign embassies, increasing restrictions on their operations on American soil, three people familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The action by the State Department, sure to further inflame U.S.-China tensions, could come as soon as Thursday, the sources told Reuters. It follows President Donald Trump's announcement on Friday of retaliatory measures against Beijing over its tightened grip on Hong Kong.

The designations are expected to include China Central Television (CCTV), the top state-owned network, and China News Service, the country's second-largest state-owned news agency, two sources said on condition of anonymity.

They would be added to five Chinese outlets placed under restrictions in February over U.S. allegations they were used by China and its Communist rulers to spread propaganda.

Like the others, they will be required to register their employees and U.S. properties with the State Department, similar to rules covering embassies and other diplomatic missions.

Though three sources said the announcement was on track for as early as Thursday, a fourth did not rule out a delay.

The White House and State Department did not respond to requests for comment. There also was no response from the Chinese embassy in Washington.

Tensions between Washington and Beijing have spiked, as Trump and his aides have complained about China's early handling of the coronavirus outbreak and its treatment of Hong Kong, which has enjoyed special U.S. treatment as a global financial center.

Chinese state media has been reveling over chaotic race-related protests in the United States and highlighting Trump's threat to use troops, even as the anniversary looms of its own bloody military crackdown on demonstrators in Tiananmen Square 31 years ago.


HONG KONG TENSIONS

Trump on Friday ordered his administration to begin the process of eliminating special U.S. treatment for Hong Kong on the grounds it no longer had enough autonomy, but stopped short of calling an immediate end to former British colony's privileges.

China's state-run Global Times newspaper called Trump's announcement "recklessly arbitrary."

The United States and China have clashed in recent months over journalists working in each other's countries.

Michael McCaul, top Republican on the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, said: “These are Chinese Communist Party propaganda outlets that peddle dangerous information to grow the Party’s power -- not report the news."

In February, the Trump administration said it would treat five major media entities with U.S. operations the same as embassies: Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corp. and Hai Tian Development USA, Inc.

In March, Washington said it was slashing the number of journalists allowed to work at U.S. offices of major Chinese media outlets to 100 from 160 due to Beijing's "long-standing intimidation and harassment of journalists."

In response, China said it was revoking accreditations of American correspondents with the New York Times, News Corp's Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post whose credentials expire by the end of 2020.

(Reporting by Patricia Zengerle, Humeyra Pamuk, Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom, Editing by Franklin Paul and David Gregorio)

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Business

New U.S. restrictions on 33 Chinese firms and institutions take effect June 5

David Shepardson and Karen Freifeld
Reuters

By David Shepardson and Karen Freifeld

https://www.yahoo.com/news/u-restrictions-33-chinese-firms-162134191.html

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S Commerce Department said on Wednesday that new restrictions on 33 Chinese firms and institutions it announced last month will take effect Friday.

The agency has added the companies and institutions to an economic blacklist, accusing them of helping China spy on its minority Muslim Uighur population in Xinjiang or because of alleged ties to weapons of mass destruction and China's military.

China's foreign ministry said last month it deplored and firmly opposed U.S. sanctions over Xinjiang, calling it a purely internal affair for China.

The move will restrict the sales of U.S. goods to the companies and institutions on the list, as well as certain items made abroad with U.S. content or technology. Companies can apply for licenses to make the sales, but they must overcome a presumption of denial.

Seven companies and two institutions were listed for being "complicit in human rights violations and abuses committed in China's campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, forced labor and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs" and others, the Commerce Department said.

Two dozen other companies, government institutions and commercial organizations were added over Washington allegations that they supported procurement of items for use by the Chinese military.

The blacklisted companies focus on artificial intelligence and facial recognition, markets in which U.S. chip companies such as Nvidia Corp <NVDA.O> and Intel Corp <INTC.O> have been heavily investing.

The new listings follow a similar October 2019 action, when the Department of Commerce added 28 Chinese public security bureaus and companies - including some of China's top artificial intelligence startups and video surveillance company Hikvision <002415.SZ> - to a U.S. trade blacklist.

The actions follow the same blueprint used by Washington in its attempt to limit the influence of Huawei Technologies Co Ltd [HWT.UL] for what it says are national security reasons. Last month, the Department of Commerce took action to try to further cut off Huawei's access to U.S. chipmakers.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Karen Freifeld; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Rosalba O'Brien)


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World

New U.S. ban on Chinese airlines hurts Chinese students who were already struggling to get home

Didi Martinez
NBC News

https://www.yahoo.com/news/department-transportation-ban-leaves-fate-191228204.html

A new Department of Transportation order banning Chinese airlines from flying to and from the U.S. is an added hardship for thousands of Chinese students in the U.S. who were already struggling to get back home due to their own government’s cap on international flights.

The U.S. DOT order, posted Wednesday on a federal website, is scheduled to take effect on June 16. Several Chinese students in New York tell NBC News that previous Chinese regulations limiting the number of flights into China because of the coronavirus pandemic have already had them scrambling for weeks to find flights home with little success. There are more than 400,000 Chinese students at U.S. universities.

“I know the relationships between the two countries are kind of frayed on multiple fronts, but you know, it’s your students, you’ve got to take care of us,” said Jiang Li, a former New York University student who has been trying to book a flight back to China since April.

Li, 30, said he was initially angry when he first heard of the decision Wednesday morning, but is hopeful that an agreement will be reached to resume flights later this month.

Li had hoped that the summer after his graduation would be the “perfect opportunity” to spend time with his family. “I have not spent more than two weeks with my family at a time,” said Li.

In March, the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) drastically reduced the number of international flights through its so-called “Five One” policy. Under the policy, foreign airlines can only fly one route into China and Chinese domestic airlines only one route out to any country -- both with no more than one weekly flight. The aviation authority also limited the number of passengers on each plane to no more than 75 percent capacity.

The policy created a dilemma for Chinese students: finish the semester here in the U.S. and risk being stranded or immediately buy a ticket home.

“I was pretty stressed, especially when they first announced the limited flights,” said Owen, 28, who was finishing his master of business administration at NYU. “I was debating whether I should just leave the country ASAP.”

Owen, who didn’t want his last name used, chose to stay in the U.S. to finish his degree. But the decision came at a price, as tickets back to China have become increasingly hard to obtain.

According to aviation analytics firm OAG, the number of flights into China dropped from 1,340 in January to 69 in April. Before Wednesday’s announcement, the number of scheduled flights from the U.S. to China for June 2020 was about 79 flights, compared to 1,524 for June 2019.

Given the estimated 410,000 Chinese students in the U.S., according to April figures from China’s Ministry of Education, the lack of commercial airline tickets has created a market that cannot keep up with consumer demand.

In Owen’s case, he purchased multiple tickets back to China in hopes that one of the flights would not get cancelled.

“I have to admit that it was a very draining process to have to constantly checking on the available tickets,” Owen, who showed NBC News the more than $20,000 worth of transactions he made to purchase plane tickets. “You have to bet on multiple tickets to be able to go back to China.”

None of those tickets worked, but he was able to return to China through a last-minute flight on Monday.

Others have not yet been as lucky.

Jenny Zhuang, a rising senior from NYU, says she tried to get back to China by buying tickets from a friend. Those tickets didn’t pan out, but by Tuesday night, she was already packing for a flight she was hoping to obtain through a ticket transfer.

“There's an uncertainty in it, but I still have to prepare for that,” the 21-year-old said.

CAAC has defended its policy to restrict flights as an effort to contain the risk of importing coronavirus infections.

Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, addressed questions about CAAC’s policy and its impact on students abroad in a May 27 press conference. He noted that the Chinese government had chartered planes to bring its citizens home and had pledged “to protect and assist Chinese nationals wherever they are.”

But China’s Foreign Ministry has also used its platform to address reports of growing tension between Chinese and U.S. transportation authorities -- a reality that led to Wednesday’s U.S. ban on Chinese airlines.

“China opposes any possible U.S. disruption of or restriction on Chinese airlines' normal passenger flight operations,” Lijian said in response to a May 22 U.S. DOT order for certain Chinese airlines to file schedules and flight details with the U.S. government.

According to the DOT, this earlier order was issued because of “the failure of the Government of the People’s Republic of China to permit U.S. carriers to exercise the full extent of their bilateral right to conduct scheduled passenger air services to China.”

At the time, the DOT had said that Delta and United Airlines had submitted applications to the Civil Aviation Authority of China (CAAC) to resume flights in June.

Delta told NBC News that its applications to CAAC have not been approved.

“We support and appreciate the U.S. government’s actions to enforce our rights and ensure fairness,” Delta said in a statement about Wednesday’s DOT order.

When asked about their CAAC applications to resume flights, United Airlines told NBC News that it is “not currently operating passenger flights between the U.S. and China.”

On Wednesday, in announcing its new restrictions on Chinese airlines, the U.S. DOT said, “[W]e continue to find that the Government of China has, over the objections of the U.S. Government, impaired the operating rights of U.S. carriers and denied U.S. air carriers the fair and equal opportunity to exercise their operating rights under the agreement.”

The department said the Chinese airline suspension is intended to “restore a competitive balance and fair and equal opportunity among U.S. and Chinese air carriers.”

CAAC and the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., also did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the Department of Transportation’s decision

Though China has continued to schedule chartered flights home for its citizens, Zhuang and Li say competition for these flights had already been fierce and does not make up for the shortage of commercial flight options.

“The government is sending way fewer flights than we actually need to get our students back,” Zhuang, who signed up for a charter flight, said.

Zhuang says she understands the reasoning behind the CAAC policy, but that for her family in Shenzhen, China, the waiting has been difficult.

“My father has experienced a mental breakdown or something,” Zhuang said. “He almost cried because he said he wants me to go back but why couldn't I? And I had to just tell him, ‘I'm okay. I'm safe here.’”

Similarly, Li, who says he wants to be reunited with his family in Hunan Province, stood outside the Chinese Consulate in New York with a sign that read, “My mom is waiting for me for dinner at home.” Li says he is frustrated with the current situation because his citizenship alone should enable him to return.

“I love my country,” he said. “And that's why I didn't choose to stay here.”

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World

Russia not welcome at G7, Canada's Trudeau says

Steve Scherer
Reuters

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada does not support Russia's return to the Group of Seven, proposed by U.S. President Donald Trump over the weekend, because Moscow continues to flout international law, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday.
"Russia was excluded from the G7 after it invaded Crimea a number of years ago, and its continued disrespect and flaunting of international rules and norms is why it remains outside of the G7, and it will continue to remain out," Trudeau said during his daily news conference.
Trump said on Saturday he would postpone a Group of Seven summit he had hoped to hold next month until at least September and expand the list of invitees to include Australia, Russia, South Korea and India.
On Saturday Trump said the G7, which groups the world's most advanced economies, was a "very outdated group of countries" in its current format.
When asked if he would attend the G7 if Russian President Vladimir Putin came, Trudeau did not answer, saying that there were still "many discussions" needed before the meeting.
But he did say the G20 group, which includes Russia, was a forum that included countries "we don't necessarily have great relations with".
"The G7 has always been a place for frank conversations with allies and friends who share so much. That's certainly what I'm hoping to continue to see," Trudeau said.
Trump spoke to Putin on Monday and informed him about his plans to hold an expanded G7 meeting later this year, the Kremlin said on Monday.
Russia was expelled from what was then the G8 in 2014 when Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama, was U.S. president, after Moscow annexed the Crimea region from Ukraine. Russia still holds the territory, and various G7 governments have rebuffed previous calls from Trump to re-admit Moscow.

(Reporting by Steve Scherer, Editing by Franklin Paul and Tom Brown)