China is a source of both economic opportunities and significant concerns for U.S. officials, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday, highlighting the tensions that will be the centerpiece of Chinese President Hu Jintao’s visit to Washington next week.
Geithner, in a statement that could presage discussions between presidents Hu and Barack Obama, said Beijing must do more to address U.S. complaints about intellectual property theft and the undervaluation of the yuan if China is to be given greater access to investment and technology opportunities in the U.S.
“We are willing to make progress on these issues, but our ability to move on these issues will depend of course on how much progress we see from China,” Geithner said in a speech.
He noted that President Hu’s visit to the White House comes at a time of “important transition” for the world economy. The recent financial crisis has left many developed economies in flux, while emerging economies like China are at the beginning of what he described as a “long period of very rapid economic growth.”
The U.S., Geithner continued, lies somewhere in between those two paths. While the U.S. economy should grow about twice the rate of Europe and Japan, that growth will be about half of that experienced by major emerging economies.
“These dynamics will fundamentally change the balance in the world economy, forcing changes in the architecture of the trade and financial systems,” Geithner said.
U.S. officials have aggressively pushed countries like China, India and Brazil to focus more on domestic growth, warning that a reliance on the U.S. consumer to drive growth in their countries is unsustainable. But this rebalancing effort has been met with mixed reaction abroad, and in the case of China a key issue is the government’s practice of managing the value of the yuan.
Geithner and other U.S. officials have stressed the need for Beijing to allow the currency to appreciate, and since the middle of last year the yuan has been allowed to appreciate. But the increase to date is not enough, Geithner warned, suggesting that the current effort by Beijing to combat high inflation in China could be aided by allowing greater appreciation.
“We believe it is in China’s interest to allow the currency to appreciate more rapidly in response to market forces,” Geithner said. “And we believe China will do so because the alternative will be too costly–for China and for China’s relations with the rest of the world.”
Despite the warnings, Geithner also sought to offer a conciliatory tone ahead of next week’s meetings in Washington. Even though the two countries are direct competitors, “our economic strengths are largely complementary,” he said. He also stressed that it is the policies pursued by U.S. policy makers, not Chinese officials, that will have the greatest effect on the U.S. economy.
“In any discussion of China, I think it is important for Americans to understand the solutions to our challenges in the United States rest first and foremost in the policies of Washington, not of Beijing,” Geithner said.
Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. met for talks here Wednesday with top civilian and military leaders, looking to reinforce a strategic partnership with Pakistan and to reassure a skeptical nation of American intentions.
It was Mr. Biden’s first trip as vice president to Pakistan, intended both as a sign of the United States’ unbroken commitment after the sudden death in December of Richard C. Holbrooke, the special envoy to the region, and to signal high-level concern.
As American officials have for months, Mr. Biden was likely to use the occasion to push the Pakistani military for operations in North Waziristan, where insurgents run a virtual mini-state, training militants and organizing attacks against NATO forces in Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials say that they want to undertake the offensive at a time of their own choice, but for American officials, looking to lock in tentative gains in Afghanistan, time is of the essence.
Largely successful American operations this fall in the southern Afghanistan pushed many Taliban forces across the border to Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province. American officials will now be seeking Pakistani cooperation in preventing the Taliban from returning to Afghanistan to fight in the spring.
But Mr. Biden’s public remarks indicated that he also wanted to continue to shift relations to a broader, longer term agenda, including economic assistance, and to move the two countries away from what he described as a “transactional” relationship.
Flanked by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Mr. Biden sought to dispel what he described as misconceptions about the United States in Pakistan, including that it was anti-Islam. He dismissed notions that United States wanted to dismantle or weaken Pakistan and that it favored India, Pakistan’s arch rival. He emphasized that United States would not abandon the country, as many Pakistanis feel it did in the past.
He underscored the threat of extremism and rebuffed criticism that the United States was violating Pakistani sovereignty, saying it was instead groups like Al Qaeda who had done so. Pakistan and the United States had forged a partnership against extreme ideologies, he said.
“Our relationship, in my view and the view of President Obama, is absolutely vital, absolutely vital, to the interest of the United States, and I believe you believe it is vital to the Pakistani interest as well,” Mr. Biden, said in remarks to reporters broadcast live on the state-run television.
“Al Qaeda has found refuge in some of the most remote parts of your country,” he said. “Al Qaeda has worked with allies who have targeted the Pakistani people.”
“There are those who accuse the United States of violating your sovereignty,” he added. “I respectfully suggest that it is the extremists who violate Pakistan’s sovereignty and corrupt its good name.”
He said the United States would work with Pakistani leaders “to restore and strengthen sovereignty in those areas of the country where extremists had violated it.”
He also rejected the idea that Washington was tilting toward India: “That is dead wrong. We want what you want: a strong, stable, prosperous, democratic Pakistan at peace with itself and its neighbors, including India,” Mr. Biden said.
He said the only productive way forward for the United States and Pakistan was “a long term enduring partnership.”
The White House’s strategic review of policy in December made particular mention of the need for Pakistan to do more to eliminate havens for the Taliban and other extremist groups. American strikes by unmanned drones, which have provoked popular outcries over violations of sovereignty in Pakistan, have been successful in degrading Al Qaeda, but progress remains uneven, the review said. “Furthermore,” it stated, “the denial of extremist safe havens cannot be achieved with military means alone, but must continue to be advanced by effective development strategies.”
The competing forces squeezing Pakistan were on full display Wednesday. Eighteen people were killed when a suicide bomber in a district adjacent to North Waziristan rammed a vehicle packed with explosives into a mosque during evening prayers, according to a security official.
Meanwhile, an American drone fired two missiles into a compound in Mirali, in North Waziristan, killing five suspected militants, a local official said. Given the success of the drones strikes in North Waziristan, Mr. Biden may also push to expand their use.
Mr. Biden did not take any questions, saying that he was late for a meeting with the country’s powerful army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani. Lt. Gen. Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the director general of the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate, was also expected to attend.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Biden met with President Asif Ali Zardari. “The atmosphere of the meeting was good,” said Farahnaz Ispahani, media adviser to the president Zardari who was present during the encounter.
Mr. Biden said he had earlier made a telephone call to express condolences to Aamna Taseer, the wife of Punjab governor, Salman Taseer, who was assassinated by a religious extremist on Jan. 4.
Mr. Biden said he and President Obama were saddened by the murder. “There is no justification for such senseless acts,” he said, and he warned that “societies that tolerate such actions end up being consumed by those actions.”
Mr. Zardari, in turn, expressed hopes for an early recovery for the United States Representative, Gabrielle Giffords, who remained in a critical condition after being shot while greeting constituents in her Arizona district on Saturday.
After a week in which economic reforms all but collapsed as the prime minister sought to hold together his coalition government, Mr. Biden and Mr. Zardari also discussed the International Monetary Fund, American aid and a potential increase in trade ties. However, Ms. Ispahani said Mr. Biden announced no concrete aid package.
“Both leaders talked about the country’s economy and understand that Pakistan is going through a very bad time,” Ms. Ispahani said. “Mr. Biden has been a long-time friend of democracy and understands Pakistan and the challenges the country faces very well.”
Despite criticism at home, both Mr. Zardari and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi are expected to attend Mr. Holbrooke’s memorial in Washington on Jan. 14, in recognition of his efforts to elevate the bilateral relationship to a long-term strategic partnership.
In the wake of Saturday's tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona - in which six were killed and Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) and 13 others were injured - Sarah Palin has maintained a relatively low profile.
After expressing her "sincere condolences" to the shooting's victims and their families via Facebook on Saturday, Palin has made only one other statement to the press: an e-mail to Glenn Beck, which he excerpted on his show on Monday.
In the e-mail, Palin allegedly told Beck, "I hate violence," and - in a characteristic swipe at mainstream "politicos" - added that "our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this."
But as signs point increasingly to a Palin presidential bid in 2012, some wonder if the former governor's notoriously controlled media presence - which is largely limited to Tweets, Facebook "notes," her reality television show and appearances on Fox News (the conservative cable news network where she is a paid contributor) - will end up working against her.
In the aftermath of the Arizona shooting, in which 22-year-old Jared Lee Loughner allegedly opened fire at a political gathering outside of a grocery store, many have criticized the politically inflammatory and seemingly gun-invoking rhetoric and imagery Palin has employed on the campaign trail in the past.
In March, Palin's SarahPAC released an ad pointing to 20 House Democrats Palin was targeting for defeat in the midterm elections. The candidates' districts are marked on a map with what appear to be gun sights, and their names and districts are listed beneath the map. Giffords was featured as a target on it.
Palin was also criticized for a Tweet, posted the same month, which instructed followers: "Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!"
A spokeswoman for the former vice presidential candidate has since denied that she intended for the images on the map to resemble gun sights, but Palin herself has yet to publicly acknowledge the criticism. Neither has she made a public appearance addressing the violence in Tucson on Saturday.
Some have wondered, then, if Palin, in order to be taken seriously as a prospective presidential candidate, needs to "step out of the political comfort zone she has defined for herself" - regardless of whether or not she agrees with the criticism being lobbed at her.
"At a time like this, what the nation wants more than anything else is for people to rise above the nonsense and the politics and to be gracious," said Ari Fleischer, former White House spokesman for President George W. Bush, in an interview with the New York Times. "There's nothing like letting people see your heart, your emotion. Facebook and Twitter don't convey emotion."
And at a moment that could end up being a crossroads in her political career, the PR path that Palin chooses - whether to ignore the criticism or confront it in the public spotlight - is crucial.
If Palin wants to return to the political arena, she will likely have to do so soon, as the 2012 GOP presidential primary will quickly be in full swing. Republican Rep. Mike Pence of Indiana said on Monday he will make a decision about his own presidential bid by the end of the month. Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has also given clear signs he may soon jump into the race.
Recent signs show that Palin may not yet be ready to give up a life in politics: A TLC representative recently confirmed that the TLC series "Sarah Palin's Alaska" will not return to the air next year, despite consistently strong ratings - a possible indicator that Palin is clearing her schedule to prepare for a presidential bid.
A spokeswoman for the show, however, emphasized that the show had only been scheduled for one eight-episode run, and that it had not been cancelled. "It's not a cancellation. It's not a lack of renewal," said TLC's Laurie Goldberg.
The young mother of three bids her neighbors farewell as they pack up and leave the Khartoum slum where they have lived for years to return to their homeland in south Sudan, jubilant at the imminent realization of their dream of independence. But Ajak Majak is not joining the celebrations - she's staying.
The 27-year-old Majak says she can't leave the north for the time being. Her kids are in school and she has a decent job. In the meantime, she's deeply afraid of attacks by northern Sudanese angry over the south's imminent secession.
She has locked herself in the safety of her home for the week of voting in the independence referendum that began Sunday in the south and among southern Sudanese in the north.
"I am really afraid," she told The Associated Press. "On the second and third day (of voting), if it is better, I may go out. If not, I will stay inside."
The status of the estimated 1.5 to 2 million southerners living in northern Sudan is one of the major sticking points that needs to be resolved in negotiations between north and south if south Sudan, as expected, votes for independence in this week's referendum.
The tens of thousands of southerners who remain in the north - either short or long term - are deeply anxious. Northern officials have said that if the south becomes Africa's newest nation, remaining southerners will be stripped of their nationality and jobs. The southerners fear being left vulnerable to angry mobs.
The southerners came here over decades, fleeing the long civil war between the mainly Arab Muslim north and the largely Christian and animist south that killed 2 million people.
The refugees packed into impromptu slums that rose up in the deserts around the capital and other northern cities. Majak's neighborhood was dubbed "Jabarouna" by its southern residents, Arabic for "they forced us." Over the years, they have built their lives and become part of the north's social fabric - an uneasy part, facing discrimination, sometimes violence, and having to adjust to Islamic customs.
Many are now elated at the prospect of having their own nation and are streaming home. The U.N. Refugee Agency said 120,000 southerners returned ahead of the referendum and that they continue at a pace of 2,000 a day crossing south.
Majak's neighbor, Angelina Aliel, 55, is eager to get back. During her 27-year stay in northern Sudan, Aliel said one of her sons was stabbed to death by an angry Arab mob.
"I have put up with living here and death here. It is time to go home," she said.
But her situation raises yet another problem. Aliel packed her belongings and left her home nine days ago and since then has been waiting by the side of a dusty road for a space on the buses heading south. International referendum observers say repatriation was hastily organized by the southern government and many like Aliel have been left stranded.
They "have sold their homes, are stranded under the sun and in the wind, some waiting for 30 days. There is fear at the end of the polling of what will happen to them. What kind of security do they have?" said Charles Kariuki, an observer from Kenya.
Many more - perhaps tens of thousands - intend to stay behind because they have children in school or businesses and properties here. Or they just don't want to leave the place they were born or have lived long stretches of their lives, especially to uproot themselves for the impoverished south, a Texas-sized territory with almost no infrastructure.
Johnson Makier, a 60-year old originally from the southern town of Rumbek, has worked in the police force in the north for 18 years. His children were born in Khartoum and are in schools.
"I know nothing about Rumbek. I have no land and no home there," he said. But, he added, "if the government says I can't stay, then I will just have to go."
Majak says she wants to return eventually, but not until her children - the eldest of whom is 9 - finish this school year at least. She says she also has a good job, working in a restaurant kitchen in Khartoum.
But for however long she stays, she worries about reprisals against her children. "There will be many problems, and there will be envy. I will fear for them. There is no safety," said Majak, her hair and shoulders covered with the scarf she wears to fit in with the Muslim northerners.
Northerners and southerners have clashed in the past. After the 2005 death of the south's iconic leader John Garang in a plane crash, southerners in the north protested, suspecting it was an assassination. The protests sparked ethnic violence that left nearly 50 people killed, homes torched and properties damaged. The government beefed up security around Khartoum and elsewhere in the north ahead of the referendum, and there have been no reports of violence here so far.
Father John Denghi, parish priest of Khartoum's Catholic Saint Matthew Cathedral, said his church is stocking up supplies in case violence breaks out and people seek refuge.
Further fanning anxiety are President Omar al-Bashir's repeated vows to step up enforcement of Islamic Shariah law if the south secedes. Denghi fears Christians may be targeted or church lands seized by the government.
"I am sure if Shariah law is implemented all the women will be covering their faces," he said. "It is worrying because we are not sure of the future."
Government and ruling party officials dismiss those fears. But they say that southerners employed by the government - about 20 percent of the government work force in accordance with the peace accord's provisions - will be removed from their jobs, if the two nations separate.
The officials are also firm that southerners will not be granted dual citizenship. It's not clear if that means southerners will be given a choice or if their Sudanese nationality will simply be taken away. All that is being discussed in ongoing negotiations. The prospect of arbitrary stripping of nationality is worrying to many. The U.N. refugee agency warns that if left unresolved, the issue could spark even larger movement south.)
"There will be no dual nationality. There may be reciprocal arrangements ... Nobody will be without a nationality, but (it will be) given according to the national interest of the country," Ibrahim Ghandour, a senior ruling party official said.
Many northerners, meanwhile, are stunned at the prospect of losing a large chunk of the country.
"This is a part of our body being torn away," Mohamed al-Hafez, a 22-year old northern university student, said. "I just can't imagine this separation. Politicians have been trying to prepare us but I am really upset ... For us, Sudan is still one."
More than $300 million dollars and thousands of volunteers — all powered by religious faith — have poured in to earthquake-shattered Haiti to help rebuild the country and restore its spirit.
Church by church, parish by parish, hundreds of thousands of Americans have donated funds or traded vacations for mission trips. Although international governmental aid is the mainstay of Haiti relief, faith-based groups offer significant muscle in funds and volunteers.
Among the leaders, Catholic Relief Services has raised $192 million, including $80 million raised in a special U.S. parish collection. About 80% of Haitians say they are Catholic.
The agency doubled its Haiti-based staff from 300 workers before the quake to 600 now. It expanded its focus from agriculture and HIV/AIDS work to emergency food and shelters, reconstruction employment for 10,000 Haitians and, now, to fighting the cholera epidemic on the northern side of the island, spokesman Tom Price says. And $33 million will be set aside to rebuild Catholic churches, schools and seminaries.
Also, nearly 500 U.S. parishes and Catholic institutions have partnerships in Haiti, regularly sending aid and volunteers.
Samaritan's Purse, an evangelical Christian global relief agency, "raised more for Haiti this year than for any project we've ever undertaken, $51 million — most with $40 individual donations," agency founder Rev. Franklin Graham says.
About $30 million of that has been spent, focused in the quake epicenter. Initially, Samaritan's Purse volunteers concentrated in the devastated capital, Port-au-Prince. Fourteen shiploads of cargo and machinery arrived to provide tons of food. Volunteers also helped build shelters and housing for more than 50,000 Haitians. In October, they switched their focus full time on fighting the cholera outbreak.
"We fly in incredible volunteer doctors and nurses who work in the most filthy, horrific conditions in 24-hour shifts at our two clinics. Cholera can kill a weakened person in four hours, and we have no idea how many have died already," Graham says.
Recently, he led Sarah Palin and a Fox News team on a tour of their efforts, hoping the news coverage would prompt the release of medical supplies that have been stalled in Haiti customs wrangling.
Graham returned to Haiti on Sunday, at the request of 500 Haitian churches, to lead an evangelism festival. Graham says, "We felt it was time to focus on what God has done, on the lives that have been saved, and to give God the glory for all he's done for good."
The United Methodist Church raised more than $43 million for Haiti after the quake. Its Committee on Relief has sent more than 80 volunteer mission teams last year and expects to double that number in 2011 to work in clearing rubble, distributing food and rebuilding infrastructure.
Meanwhile, Methodist churches across the USA have contributed with fundraisers and projects such as assembling health kits or building mobile medical clinics. The church is drafting a five-year relief and recovery plan.
The North American Mission Board (NAMB), the Southern Baptist Convention's agency for relief efforts at home and abroad, has helped steer more than $10 million to Haiti. More than 2000 Baptist volunteers from 39 states and Canada worked in Haiti relief this year and joined with the two major Haitian Baptist organizations to deliver tons of food, build hundreds of temporary shelters, launch repair of 186 damaged churches and build 72 churches. Baptist churches in the USA have sent 150,000 Buckets of Hope, each holding a week's worth of food staples for a family.
Still ahead: a pledge to build 6,200 cement block homes by the end of 2013 by teaching construction skills to Haitians. So far, 250 pilot homes have been built in a program parallel to the NAMB's Operation Noah, a mainstay in New Orleans reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina.
