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Afghans in droves head to border to leave Pakistan ahead of a deadline in anti-migrant crackdown
Large numbers of Afghans crammed into trucks and buses in Pakistan on Tuesday, heading to the border to return home ahead of the expiration of a Pakistani government deadline for those who are in the country illegally to leave or face deportation.
The deadline is part of a new anti-migrant crackdown that targets all undocumented or unregistered foreigners, according to Islamabad. But it mostly affects Afghans, who make up the bulk of migrants in Pakistan.
The expulsion campaign has drawn widespread criticism from U.N. agencies, rights groups and the Taliban-led administration in Afghanistan.
Pakistani officials warn that people who are in the country illegally face arrest and deportation after Oct. 31. U.N. agencies say there are more than 2 million undocumented Afghans in Pakistan, at least 600,000 of whom fled after the Taliban takeover in 2021.
Human Right Watch on Tuesday accused Pakistan of resorting to "threats, abuse, and detention to coerce Afghan asylum seekers without legal status" to return to Afghanistan. The New York-based watchdog appealed for authorities to drop the deadline and work with the U.N. refugee agency to register those without papers.
Although the government insists it isn't targeting Afghans, the campaign comes amid strained relations between Pakistan and the Taliban rulers next door. Islamabad accuses Kabul of turning a blind eye to Taliban-allied militants who find shelter in Afghanistan, from where they go back and forth across the two countries' shared 2,611-kilometer (1,622-mile) border to stage attacks in Pakistan. The Taliban deny the accusations.
"My father came to Pakistan 40 years ago," said 52-year-old Mohammad Amin, speaking in Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan.
"He died here. My mother also died here and their graves are in Pakistan," said Amin, originally from Afghanistan's eastern Nangarhar province. "We are going back today as we never tried to register ourselves as refugees with the U.N. refugee agency."
"I am going back with good memories," he told The Associated Press, adding he planned to head to the Torkham border crossing later Tuesday and that he'd asked the Taliban government for help to start a new life.
Nasrullah Khan, 62, said he'd heard the Taliban are considering helping Afghans on their return from Pakistan. He said he was not worried by the prospect of Taliban rule but that it was still "better to go back to Afghanistan instead of getting arrested here."
Pakistani officials said the Torkam and Chaman border crossings with Afghanistan will remain open beyond their daily 4 p.m. closure to allow for those who have arrived there to leave the country.
More than 200,000 Afghans have returned home since the crackdown was launched, according to Pakistani officials. U.N. agencies have reported a sharp increase in Afghans leaving Pakistan ahead of the deadline.
Also read: Passenger train slams into another in southern India, killing 13 people and injuring 25
Pakistan has insisted the deportations would be carried out in a "phased and orderly" manner.
A Taliban delegation traveled to Nangarhar Tuesday to find solutions for Afghans returning through the Torkham border.
Sayed Ahmad Banwari, the deputy provincial governor, told state TV that local authorities are working hard to establish temporary camps.
Banwari said that families with nowhere to go can stay in the camps for a month until they find a place to live.
Also read: G-7 nations back strong supply chains for energy and food despite global tensions
The crackdown has worried thousands of Afghans in Pakistan waiting for relocation to the United States under a special refugee program since fleeing the Taliban takeover. Under U.S. rules, applicants first had to relocate to a third country — in this case Pakistan — for their cases to be processed.
A U.S. diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the policy, said Washington's priority was to facilitate the safe and efficient resettlement and relocation of more than 25,000 eligible Afghans in Pakistan to the U.S.
Even before the Pakistani campaign was announced, Washington had asked Islamabad "to ensure the protection of Afghan refugees and asylum seekers, including those in the U.S. resettlement and immigration pipelines," the diplomat said. "We are in the process of sending letters to those individuals that they can share with local authorities to help identify them as individuals in the U.S. pipeline".
Also read: Internet, phone service gradually returns after vanishing for most of Gaza amid heavy bombardment
The applicants often protest in Pakistan against the delay in the approval of their U.S. visas.
Afghanistan is going through a severe humanitarian crisis, particularly for women and girls, who are banned by the Taliban from getting an education beyond the sixth grade, most public spaces and jobs. There are also restrictions on media, activists, and civil society organizations.
Jan Achakzai, a government spokesman in Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province, said on Tuesday that anyone who is detained under the new policy will be well treated and receive transport to the Chaman border crossing point.
India Hosts 6th Session of the International Solar Alliance Assembly in New Delhi
The Sixth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) convened in New Delhi today, presided over by Raj Kumar Singh, Minister of Power and New & Renewable Energy, Government of India, who serves as the President of the ISA Assembly.
Ministers from 20 countries and delegates representing 116 Member and Signatory countries gathered for this important event, according to a press release.
In his opening remarks, Raj Kumar Singh emphasized the crucial role of renewable energy sources in addressing global energy challenges. He stated that renewable energy has the potential to supply 65 percent of the world's total electricity by 2030 and decarbonize 90 percent of the power sector by 2050. The International Solar Alliance is committed to making solar energy the preferred energy source, attracting investments, and ensuring ample energy availability to meet growing global demands.
To support this, ISA has expanded its Viability Gap Funding (VGF) mechanism, increasing the grant to 35% of the project cost based on the capacity and needs of member countries.
Co-President of the Assembly, Chrysoula Zacharopoulou, France's Minister of State for Development, Francophonie, and International Partnerships, emphasized France's commitment to the ISA. France has provided significant financial support for solar projects, including the construction of the Onigbolo solar power plant in Benin, bringing 25 megawatts of clean energy to the people of Benin.
She emphasized the importance of supporting partner countries in their energy transition plans, said the release.
Dr Ajay Mathur, Director General of the International Solar Alliance, stressed the need to accelerate the deployment of solar energy, particularly in developing countries and for applications that enhance the daily lives of those without reliable energy access. ISA is facilitating over 9.5 GW of solar applications in 55 developing countries and providing training to thousands of people in supporting solar energy. The organization is working on establishing STAR Centers as hubs of technology, knowledge, and expertise in solar energy, it said.
The Assembly also discussed the ISA's initiatives, including the development of solar mini-grids to provide universal energy access and mechanisms to attract private sector investment through guarantees provided by the Global Solar Facility.
In May 2020, ISA initiated Demonstration Projects in Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to showcase scalable solar technology applications and build the capacity of beneficiary member countries. Four projects, including solarization of the parliament building of the Republic of Malawi, solarization of health care centers in Fiji, installation of solar-powered cold storage in Seychelles, and solarization of a school in Kiribati, were inaugurated, it added.
Singh dedicated these projects to the respective countries, highlighting ISA's commitment to advancing the cause of energy transition through solar energy. The Assembly serves as the apex decision-making body of ISA and meets annually to assess the progress of solar energy deployment and discuss key initiatives related to energy access, energy security, and energy transition.
The Sixth Assembly of the International Solar Alliance demonstrated the commitment of member countries to harnessing solar energy to address global energy and environmental challenges, the release also said.
International Forum "Primakov Readings" to be held on November 27-28 in Moscow
The ninth edition of the International Forum "Primakov Readings" will be held on November 27-28, 2023 in Moscow.
The theme of the forum is "Postglobalization Horizons". Sergey Lavrov, Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, will speak at the forum.
“The consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic, the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, rising tensions between China and the United States, energy risks, as well as security challenges such as climate and migration crises – these and other factors are shaping the post-global world and in this regard are in the focus of this year's Primakov Readings,” Member of the Forum Organizing Committee – Director of Primakov Institute, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Feodor Voitolovsky said.
Also read: Russia takes aim at urban areas; Biden vows Putin will ‘pay’
The forum will bring together the leading Russian and foreign experts in the field of international security, world politics and economics, representatives of public organizations, politicians and diplomats.
The discussions will center on political risks for the world energy markets, Russia's cooperation with the countries of Central Asia and the South Caucasus, the relationship between China and the United States, and the development of the countries of the "Global South".
Also read: Russia rehearsed 'massive' nuclear strike: Kremlin
The participants will also discuss the balance of power in the Baltic region and the prospects for Russia's relations with the countries of the Middle East and the African continent, said a media release on Tuesday.
The forum program includes a special session with the participation of Alexei Likhachev, Director General of the State Atomic Energy Corporation "Rosatom".
The event is organized by the Primakov Institute of World Economy and International Relations, Russian Academy of Sciences, with the assistance of its partners Primakov Center for International Cooperation, World Trade Center and the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The project is supported by the Presidential Grants Foundation.
Media accreditation is available on the official forum website (https://www.primakovreadings.ru/en).
International Scientific and Expert Forum "Primakov Readings" is an annual international discussion platform for analysing problems of world economy, politics and security with the participation of leading representatives of Russian and foreign research centers and think tanks.
Also read: Ukrainians prepare firewood and candles to brace for a winter of Russian strikes on the energy grid
It was first held in 2015 and was named after Yevgeny Primakov, a Russian scientist, politician and diplomat who served as Prime Minister of Russia from 1998 to 1999.
UN agency in Gaza says urgent cease-fire is `matter of life and death' for millions of Palestinians
The head of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees told a U.N. emergency meeting Monday “an immediate humanitarian cease-fire has become a matter of life and death for millions,” accusing Israel of “collective punishment” of Palestinians and the forced displacement of civilians.
Philippe Lazzarini warned that a further breakdown of civil order following the looting of the agency’s warehouses by Palestinians searching for food and other aid “will make it extremely difficult, if not impossible, for the largest U.N. agency in Gaza to continue operating.”
Briefings to the Security Council by Lazzarini, the head of the U.N. children’s agency UNICEF and a senior U.N. humanitarian official painted a dire picture of the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza 23 days after Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks in Israel, and its ongoing retaliatory military action aimed at “obliterating” the militant group, which controls Gaza.
According to the latest figures from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, more than 8,300 people have been killed – 66% of them women and children – and tens of thousands injured, the U.N. humanitarian office said.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell that toll includes over 3,400 children killed and more than 6,300 injured. “This means that more than 420 children are being killed or injured in Gaza each day – a number which should shake each of us to our core,” she said.
Lazzarini said:. “This surpasses the number of children killed annually across the world’s conflict zones since 2019.” And he stressed: “This cannot be `collateral damage.’”
Many speakers at the council meeting denounced Hamas’ Oct. 7 surprise attacks on Israel that killed over 1,400 people, and urged the release of some 230 hostages taken to Gaza by the militants. But virtually every speaker also stressed that Israel is obligated under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and their essentials for life including hospitals, schools and other infrastructure – and Israel was criticized for cutting off food, water, fuel and medicine to Gaza and cutting communications for several days.
Lazzarini said “the handful of convoys” allowed into Gaza through the Rafah crossing from Egypt in recent days “is nothing compared to the needs of over 2 million people trapped in Gaza.”
“The system in place to allow aid into Gaza is geared to fail," he said, "unless there is political will to make the flow of supplies meaningful, matching the unprecedented humanitarian needs.”
The commissioner-general of the U.N. agency known as UNRWA said there is no safe place anywhere in Gaza, warning that basic services are crumbling, medicine, food, water and fuel are running out, and the streets “have started overflowing with sewage, which will cause a massive health hazard very soon.”
UNICEF oversees water and sanitation issues for the U.N., and Russell warned that “the lack of clean water and safe sanitation is on the verge of becoming a catastrophe.”
U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield urged the divided Security Council – which has rejected four resolutions that would have responded to the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and the ongoing war – to come together, saying “the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is growing more dire by the day.”
Stressing that all innocent civilians must be protected, she said the council must call “for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages, address the immense humanitarian needs of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, affirm Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorism, and remind all actors that international humanitarian law must be respected.” She reiterated President Joe Biden's call for humanitarian pauses to get hostages out, allow aid in, and safe passage for civilians.
“That means Hamas must not use Palestinians as human shields – an act of unthinkable cruelty and a violation of the law of war,” the U.S. ambassador said, “and that means Israel must take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians.”
In a sign of increasing U.S. concern at the escalating Palestinian death toll, Thomas-Greenfield told the council Biden reiterated to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday “that while Israel has the right and responsibility to defend its citizens from terrorism, it must do so in a manner consistent with international humanitarian law.”
“The fact that Hamas operates within and under the cover of civilians areas creates an added burden for Israel, but it does not lessen its responsibility to distinguish between terrorists and innocent civilians,” she stressed.
Following the rejection of the four resolutions in the 15-member Security Council – one vetoed by the U.S., one vetoed by Russia and China, and two for failing to get the minimum nine “yes” votes – Arab nations went to the U.N. General Assembly last Friday where there are no vetoes.
The 193-member world body adopted a resolution calling for humanitarian truces leading to a cessation of hostilities by a vote of 120-14 with 45 abstentions. Now, the 10 elected members in the 15-member Security Council are trying again to negotiate a resolution that won’t be rejected. While council resolutions are legally binding, assembly resolutions are not though they are an important barometer of world opinion.
Israel’s U.N. Ambassador Gilad Erdan was sharply critical of the council’s failure to condemn Hamas’ attacks and asked members: “Why are the humanitarian needs of Gazans, the sole issue, the sole issue you are focused on?”
Recalling his grandfather who survived Nazi death camps but whose his wife and seven children perished in the Auschwitz gas chamber, Erdan told the council he will wear a yellow star – just as Hitler made his grandfather and all Jews wear during World War II – “until you condemn the atrocities of Hamas and demand the immediate release of our hostages.”
The ambassador then put a large six-pointed yellow star of David saying “Never Again” on his suit jacket, as did other Israeli diplomats sitting behind him, and said: “We walk with the yellow star as a symbol of pride, a reminder that we swore to fight back to defend ourselves. Never again is now.”
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian U.N. ambassador, also urged the Security Council to follow the General Assembly, end its paralysis, and demand “an end to this bloodshed, which constitutes an affront to humanity, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and a clear and imminent danger for regional and international peace and security.”
“Save those who still can be saved and bury in a dignified manner those who have perished,” Mansour said. “Allow members of the same families who have survived to embrace each other and to mourn their loved ones who did not. Allow us to pay the tribute owed to the families wiped off the face of this earth. … Treat us as human beings with the respect we deserve.”
Gaza receives largest aid shipment so far as deaths top 8,000 and Israel widens military offensive
Nearly three dozen trucks entered Gaza on Sunday in the largest aid convoy since the war between Israel and Hamas began, but humanitarian workers said the assistance still fell desperately short of needs after thousands of people broke into warehouses to take flour and basic hygiene products.
The Gaza Health Ministry said the death toll among Palestinians passed 8,000, mostly women and minors, as Israeli tanks and infantry pursued what Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “second stage” in the war ignited by Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7 incursion. The toll is without precedent in decades of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Over 1,400 people have died on the Israeli side, mainly civilians killed during the initial attack, also an unprecedented figure.
Communications were restored to most of Gaza's 2.3 million people Sunday after an Israeli bombardment described by residents as the most intense of the war knocked out phone and internet services late Friday.
Israel has allowed only a trickle of aid to enter. On Sunday, 33 trucks carrying water, food and medicine entered the only border crossing from Egypt, a spokesperson at the Rafah crossing, Wael Abo Omar, told The Associated Press.
Read: Israeli settler shoots and kills Palestinian harvester as violence surges in the West Bank
After visiting the Rafah crossing, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court called the suffering of civilians “profound" and said he had not been able to enter Gaza. “These are the most tragic of days,” said Karim Khan, whose court has been investigating the actions of Israeli and Palestinian authorities since 2014.
Khan called on Israel to respect international law but stopped short of accusing it of war crimes. He called Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack a serious violation of international humanitarian law. “The burden rests with those who aim the gun, missile or rocket in question,” he said.
The Israeli military said Sunday that it had struck more than 450 militant targets over the past 24 hours, including Hamas command centers and anti-tank missile launching positions. Huge plumes of smoke rose over Gaza City. Military spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said dozens of militants were killed.
Hagari, who said ground operations were intensifying, also reiterated calls for Gaza residents to move south, saying they'd have better access to food, water and medicine there.
“This is a matter of urgency,” he said.
Read: Internet, phone service gradually returns after vanishing for most of Gaza amid heavy bombardment
Israel says most Gaza residents have heeded its orders to flee to the southern part of the besieged territory, but hundreds of thousands remain in the north, in part because Israel has also bombarded targets in so-called safe zones. More than 1.4 million people in Gaza have fled their homes.
The Hamas military wing said its militants clashed with Israeli troops who entered the northwest Gaza Strip with small arms and anti-tank missiles. Palestinian militants have continued firing rockets into Israel, including toward its commercial hub, Tel Aviv.
The aid warehouse break-ins were “a worrying sign that civil order is starting to break down after three weeks of war and a tight siege on Gaza," said Thomas White, Gaza director for the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees, known as UNRWA. "People are scared, frustrated and desperate.”
UNRWA spokesperson Juliette Touma said the crowds broke into four facilities on Saturday. She said the warehouses did not contain any fuel, which has been in critically short supply since Israel cut off all shipments. Israel says Hamas would use it for military purposes and that the militant group is hoarding large fuel stocks for itself in the territory. That claim couldn't be independently verified.
One warehouse held 80 tons of food, the U.N. World Food Program said. It emphasized that at least 40 of its trucks need to cross into Gaza daily just to meet growing food needs.
President Joe Biden in a call with Netanyahu on Sunday “underscored the need to immediately and significantly increase the flow of humanitarian assistance to meet the needs of civilians in Gaza,” the U.S. said.
Federal judge reimposes limited gag order in Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case
The federal judge overseeing Donald Trump's 2020 election interference case in Washington on Sunday reimposed a narrow gag order barring him from making public comments targeting prosecutors, court staff and potential witnesses.
The reinstatement of the gag order was revealed in a brief notation on the online case docket Sunday night, but the order itself was not immediately available, making it impossible to see the judge’s rationale or the precise contours of the restrictions.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan, who is presiding over the federal case charging Trump with plotting to overturn the results of the 2020 election, had temporarily lifted the gag order as she considered the former president's request to keep it on hold while he challenges the restrictions on his speech in higher courts.
But Chutkan agreed to reinstate the order after prosecutors cited Trump's recent social media comments about his former chief of staff they said represented an attempt to influence and intimidate a likely witness in the case.
Read: Trump campaign reports raising more than $7 million after Georgia booking
The order is a fresh reminder that Trump's penchant for incendiary and bitter rants about the four criminal cases that he's facing, though politically beneficial in rallying his supporters as he seeks to reclaim the White House, carry practical consequences in court. Two separate judges have now imposed orders mandating that he rein in his speech, with the jurist presiding over a civil fraud trial in New York issuing a monetary fine last week.
A request for comment was sent Sunday to a Trump attorney, Todd Blanche. Trump in a social media post late Sunday acknowledged that the gag order was back in place, calling it “NOT CONSITUTIONAL!”
Trump's lawyers have said they will seek an emergency stay of the order from the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The defense has said Trump is entitled to criticize prosecutors and “speak truth to oppression."
Trump has denied any wrongdoing in the case. He has made a central part of his 2024 campaign for president vilifying special counsel Jack Smith and others involved the criminal cases against him, casting himself as the victim of a politicized justice system.
Read: Trump is set to surrender at a Georgia jail on charges he sought to overturn his 2020 election loss
Prosecutors have said Trump's verbal attacks threaten to undermine the integrity of the case and risk inspiring his supporters to violence.
Smith's team said Trump took advantage of the recent lifting of the gag order to “send an unmistakable and threatening message” to his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, who was reported by ABC News to have received immunity to testify before a grand jury.
The former president mused on social media about the possibility that Meadows would give testimony to Smith in exchange for immunity. One part of the post said: “Some people would make that deal, but they are weaklings and cowards, and so bad for the future our Failing Nation. I don’t think that Mark Meadows is one of them but who really knows?”
In a separate case, Trump was fined last week $10,000 after the judge in his civil fraud trial in New York said the former president had violated a gag order.
Passenger train slams into another in southern India, killing 13 people and injuring 25
A passenger train crashed into another in southern India on Sunday, killing 13 people and inuring 25, officials said.
The incoming train slammed into a stationary train in Andhra Pradesh state’s Vizianagaram district, causing a derailment of at least three rail cars, senior railway officer Saurab Prasad said.
Prasad said a preliminary investigation found human error was the cause.
Read: Kishoreganj train crash: 16 bodies handed over to families
Train crashes are common in India and are often blamed on human error or outdated signaling equipment.
In June, more than 280 people were killed in one of the country’s deadliest rail crashes in decades when two passenger trains rammed into each other in eastern India.
Read more: Kishoreganj Train Collision: Three probe committees formed for crash that killed 17
More than 12 million people ride 14,000 trains across India every day, traveling on 64,000 kilometers (40,000 miles) of track.
Israeli settler shoots and kills Palestinian harvester as violence surges in the West Bank
A Jewish settler shot dead a Palestinian man harvesting olives near the West Bank city of Nablus, the man’s uncle said Sunday. This brings the number of Palestinians reported killed by settlers to seven since Hamas’s bloody incursion into Israel three weeks ago.
Tayseer Mahmoud said his nephew, Bilal Saleh, was working in the grove in the village of Sawiya with his wife and their four children on Saturday when a group of settlers attacked them. Saleh, concerned about the safety of his children, tried to leave the area, but a settler shot him in the chest, Mahmoud said.
Read:Syria, Lebanon call for immediate stop to deadly Israel-Hamas conflict
Mahmoud said he didn't witness the confrontation but was close by and reached the scene within minutes of the shooting. Saleh died before he could be taken for medical care, he said.
Settler leader Yossi Dagan said in a video posted on the social media p(platform Facebook Saturday that the shooter was accompanied by family members and fired in self-defense after they were “attacked with rocks by dozens of rioting Hamas supporters.”
The deadly shooting took place amid a spike in settler violence since Hamas militants infiltrated Israel on Oct. 7, killing more than 1,400 Israelis and taking over 230 others hostage. The incursion touched off a war that has killed more than 7,700 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Read: UNGA adopts resolution with 2/3rd majority calling for humanitarian truce in Gaza
In addition to the killings, Palestinians in the West Bank have reported attacks on people and property, as well as denial of access to their land.
The violence has gotten so intense that it has drawn condemnation from U.S. President Joe Biden. Attacks by extremist settlers, Biden said, amounted to “pouring gasoline” on fires already burning in the Middle East since the Hamas attack.
The Israeli military said it received a report of a “violent confrontation” between Palestinians and Israeli civilians, and that a Palestinian was reported killed. Police have opened an investigation, it said.
Read: Parts of Gaza look like a wasteland from space following relentless Israeli bombing raids
This year has been the deadliest in the West Bank since the second Palestinian uprising against Israel two decades ago.
Since the outbreak of the war alone, more than 100 Palestinians, including civilians, have been killed, most during military arrest raids and violent protests in the West Bank.
China's foreign minister says Xi-Biden meeting in San Francisco would not be 'smooth-sailing'
China’s foreign minister considers that the road to an expected meeting between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden would not be "smooth-sailing” and that both sides must work together to achieve results, the foreign ministry said on Sunday.
Wang Yi met with Biden, as well as secretary of state Anthony Blinken and national security advisor Jake Sullivan, during a three-day visit to Washington. Both sides agreed to work toward a bilateral meeting at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in San Francisco in November.
Read: G-7 nations back strong supply chains for energy and food despite global tensions
In an statement released by China’s foreign ministry summarizing the discussions with members of the “U.S. strategic community,” Wang said that the road to the bilateral meeting would not be “smooth sailing” and that they could not rely on “autopilot” to make it happen.
Wang's three-day visit to Washington came at a time when tensions between the two countries remain high, including over U.S. export controls on advanced technology and China’s more assertive actions in the East and South China seas.
The statement said that although there are still many issues to be resolved, both sides believe that it is both beneficial and necessary for the U.S. and China to maintain dialogue.
The meeting is the latest in a series of high-level contacts between the two countries as they explore the possibility of stabilizing an increasingly tense relationship at a time of conflict in Ukraine and Israel.
According to the foreign ministry statement, Wang also said that China and the U.S. needed a “return to Bali,” in a reference to Xi and Biden’s previous meeting at a G20 summit last year, where both officials discussed issues relating to Taiwan, U.S.-China trade tensions as well as cooperation to address issues like climate change, health and food security.
Read: US military says Chinese fighter jet came within 10 feet of B-52 bomber over South China Sea
Wang said that the two countries must “eliminate interference, overcome obstacles, enhance consensus and accumulate results.”
Other issues discussed between Wang and Biden included military exchanges between the U.S. and China, as well as financial, technological and cultural exchanges and cooperation, as well as the crises in the Middle East and Ukraine.
G-7 nations back strong supply chains for energy and food despite global tensions
Trade and economy officials from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies strengthened their pledge Sunday to work together to ensure smooth supply chains for essentials like energy and food despite global uncertainties.
The nations promised to maintain “a free and fair trading system based on the rule of law and enhancing economic resilience and economic security,” officials said in a joint statement.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, who co-hosted the two-day event in the western city of Osaka, pointed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war as the latest threats to stable energy and food supplies.
“We nations that share important values have a position of responsibility amid growing uncertainties,” she said in closing the meeting, stressing democracy, inclusiveness and human rights.
Worries are growing among developed nations about maintaining a stable supply of computer chips as well as essential minerals, like lithium, which are critical these days amid the demand for electric vehicles and other green energy.
Read: US military says Chinese fighter jet came within 10 feet of B-52 bomber over South China Sea
The G-7 includes the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Britain. The European Union, Australia, Chile, India, Indonesia and Kenya were invited to take part in the two-day meeting, as were economic organizations such as the World Trade Organization.
The G-7 nations reiterated their criticism of what they called in their joint statement “Russia’s brutal, unprovoked, unjustifiable and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine.”
The participants discussed how trade policy can contribute to tackling climate change, strengthening food security, promoting digital trade and working toward sustainable development.
Trade is one sector where growing political tensions with China have been playing out, although China was not directly mentioned in the meetings.
China, while absent at the meetings, loomed as a focal point. China has imposed export curbs on two metals used in computer chips and solar cells — gallium and germanium — that it said were intended to “safeguard national security.”
At the G-7 summit in Hiroshima in southwestern Japan earlier this year, participants referred to “economic coercion” in an oblique reference to China’s leveraging some nations’ dependence for economic items. That phrase was again used at the Osaka G-7.
Read: China sends its youngest-ever crew to space as it seeks to put astronauts on moon before 2030
As the host nation, Japan focused on how China has banned imports of Japanese seafood after the recent massive release of treated wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear plant, which experienced reactor meltdowns in 2011.
Yasutoshi Nishimura, the Japanese minister in charge of trade and the economy, said G-7 nations expressed support and understanding for Japan’s position, stressing the safety of Japanese food based on scientific evidence, including that from Fukushima. Japan will continue to press for the food bans to end, he told reporters.
Nishimura also said the guest nations that took part in the G-7 meeting, including Australia and India, were potentially powerful allies in strengthening the supply chain in valuable materials.
Bilateral agreements on the sidelines included one between Britain and Japan to work together on mineral-supply chains that both sides said were essential to achieve clean energy and effective national defense.
Read: India conducts space flight test ahead of planned mission to take astronauts into space in 2025
Japan also reached a deal with the EU on digital data exchanges, affirming a commitment to work together on standards to facilitate digital-sector trade, including online exchanges.
Kamikawa also met with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai and reaffirmed bilateral ties in support of “the free and fair economic order,” and traded notes about the importance of women playing bigger roles on the G-7 stage.