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As South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for their third summit, there is increasing concern that the inter-Korean economic projects Seoul envisions could violate sanctions and fracture the U.S.-South Korean alliance.

“The South Korean government appears to be headed in the direction of, or inclined to violate bans on joint ventures with North Korea, support for trade with North Korea, and infrastructure projects with North Korea, all of which require the permission of the U.N. committee,” said Joshua Stanton, a Washington-based attorney who helped draft the North Korea Sanctions Enforcement Act that former President Barack Obama signed in February 2016. 

For South Korea to carry out joint economic projects with North Korea, it would need to seek exemptions on sanctions from the U.N. Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea.

However, “the mandate of the committee does not include the authority to modify existing terms specified in various resolutions,” said William Newcomb, a former U.S. Treasury official who is on the U.N. Security Council’s Panel of Experts on North Korea.

Disruption of relationship

If South Korea does not ask for exemptions from sanctions, Seoul will face a risk of rupturing its relationship with the U.S., Stanton said.

“It would be an extinction-level event for the U.S.-South Korean alliance,” he said. “This is an absolutely incomprehensible betrayal by a nation that calls itself our ally that Americans have defended with [their] blood and with their money.” 

And if sanctions are willfully violated, Stanton said South Korea would be, “in its own way, a rogue nation.” The roster of rogue nations includes North Korea, Iran, Sudan, Syria and others.

South Korea has been planning several joint economic projects with North Korea since April’s inter-Korean summit. As the U.S. and North Korean relationship has thawed in the aftermath of the Singapore summit held in June between President Donald Trump and Kim, Seoul stepped up its plans, and a third inter-Korean summit began Tuesday in Pyongyang.

Days before Moon and Kim met, however, the U.S. announced new unilateral sanctions against North Korea. On Thursday, Washington targeted North Korea’s China-based company, Yanbian Silver Star Network Technology, its North Korean CEO, Jong Song Hwa, and its Russia-based subsidiary, Volasys Silver Star, which sells IT services and products.

There is also talk of the U.S. using military force to curb North Korea from evading sanctions at sea by monitoring ship-to-ship transfers by coordinating its efforts with countries like Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Canada, France, and the U.K. as well as South Korea.

The projects South Korea has been planning with the North include constructing an inter-Korean railway, which Moon has publicly backed, reopening the Kaesong Industrial Complex, and resuming the tours to Mount Kumgang, a landmark of great natural beauty with a special hold on the Korean soul. The tours and the complex appeal to South Korean companies.

Possible sanction violations

Each could violate sanctions that were imposed on North Korea in 2016 in response to its fourth nuclear weapons test and a long-range missile launch.

“In the absence of waivers and exemptions from the United Nations, which the U.S. as one of the Security Council members would have to support, Mount Kumgang and Kaesong would violate sanctions,” said Troy Stangarone, senior director of the Korea Economic Institute, who is a specialist on South Korea trade and North Korea.  

Under U.N. Resolution 2375 issued in September 2017, “forming joint ventures or cooperative entities, new and existing, with DPRK (North Korean) entities or individuals” is prohibited.

Additionally, any products manufactured using North Korean labor, potentially including items fabricated in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, will be banned from U.S. commerce. The Countering America’s Adversaries through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) adopted in August 2017 stipulates that manufacturers purge any parts made with North Korean labor from their supply chains.

While Moon is expected to attempt to broker a denuclearization deal between the U.S. and North Korea at the summit and continue Seoul’s rapprochement with Pyongyang aimed toward eventual unification, South Korea must make sure that it does not violate sanctions as it pursues inter-Korean projects, Stanton said.

“I don’t think they actually did read the sanctions,” he said. “When you look at Moon Jae-in, he will go out and make all of these promises” and when it’s pointed out that “that there’s a provision that you’re violating here … they will respond by saying it’s not sanctions violation because it’s good for everyone to have peace.”

One of the projects is the construction of a railroad to connect Seoul and Sinuju, the North’s northeastern border near the Chinese city of Dandong, via Pyongyang, eventually linking to Beijing and then venturing toward Europe via the Trans-Mongolian and Trans-Siberian railways.

Railway project concerns

William Brown, a former U.S. intelligence official who is currently a professor of North Korean economy at Georgetown University, said for the railroad project to move forward, South Korea would have to finance the construction, which could end up funding the North Korean government. 

“A big railway project wouldn’t work without severe pullback of U.N. sanctions and probably U.S. sanctions as well,” said Brown. 

According to Stanton, providing both public and private financial support to North Korea is banned under U.N. Resolution 2321 adopted in November 2016.

However, plans for the railroad and the other projects are being formulated. Although South Korean officials said they do not expect to make any agreements on joint economic projects, top business leaders from Samsung, LG Group and Hyundai accompanied Moon to the summit.

Since Moon’s first summit with Kim, Hyundai has been developing a task force to prepare for restarting the Mount Kumgang tours and Kaesong factories.

When Mount Kumgang initially opened in 1998, Hyundai Asan had the exclusive right to operate tours. The company agreed to pay Pyongyang a fixed monthly sum, which was subsequently changed to a percentage of monthly profit when the attraction proved less profitable than anticipated, said Bradley Babson, an advisory council member of the Korea Economic Institute of America. 

The tours ended in 2008 after a North Korean guard shot and killed a South Korean tourist.

Resuming the tours under an arrangement similar to the original deal would violate current sanctions. 

Initially, the Kaesong Industrial Complex was mostly financed by the South Korean government and major South Korean companies. The complex that opened in 2004 included factories where South Korean manufacturers could employ inexpensive North Korean workers.

Each North Korean worker was supposed to be paid $70 a month, but they received a fraction of that from their government, Brown said. 

Wages likely diverted

In February 2016 during the administration of Park Geun-hye, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said wages were paid in U.S. dollars to the North Korean government and not directly to the laborers, and most of the money is believed to have been diverted to the North’s Office 39, which is thought to finance Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile programs.

The Treasury Department sanctioned Office 39, describing it as “a secretive branch” of the North Korean government that provides critical support to the regime’s leadership “in part through engaging in illicit economic activities and managing slush funds and generating revenues for the leadership.”

Moon, who was elected in May 2017 after Park’s impeachment, revived the “sunshine policy” of building ties with North Korea through aid and exchanges.

In July 2017, Moon’s office said that there was no proof that money from Kaesong funded North Korea’s weapons program. But Stangarone said the money would have indirectly supported the North’s weapons program even if it did not directly finance it. 

“The primary issue,” he said, “is even if North Korea were … to only spend that money on other things rather than nuclear program or its military in general, that funding then frees up other funding they would have had to use and allow them to spend it on those weapons program.”  

 
…

Lawyers for the woman who is accusing U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault more than 30 years ago says she wants the FBI to investigate her allegation before she testifies publicly.

Kavanaugh denies the charge and will apparently tell his side of the story before the Senate Judiciary Committee next Monday. 

His accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, has also been invited to testify. 

But Ford’s lawyers said in a letter Tuesday to Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that some of the senators on the committee “appear to have made up their minds” and believe Kavanaugh.

The lawyers also said Ford has become the subject of death threats and harassment, and expressed fears that the committee planned to have her “relive this traumatic and harrowing incident” while testifying at the same table as Kavanaugh and in front of national television cameras.

“Nobody should be subject to threats and intimidation, and Dr. Ford is no exception,” Grassley said in a statement later Tuesday.

The Republican senator said there were no plans to have Ford and Kavanaugh appear at the same time, and that the committee had offered her the opportunity to appear before a private hearing.

He further rejected calls for an FBI investigation, saying the Senate has the information it needs to handle the matter on its own.

“Dr. Ford’s testimony would reflect her personal knowledge and memory of events. Nothing the FBI or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay,” Grassley said.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Republicans are not taking Ford’s allegations seriously and are rushing into a “completely unfair” hearing.

“We should honor Dr. Blasey Ford’s wishes and delay this hearing. A proper investigation must be completed, witnesses interviewed, evidence reviewed and all sides spoken to. Only then should the chairman set a hearing date,” Feinstein said.

President Donald Trump gave Kavanaugh a ringing new endorsement Tuesday, saying he felt “so badly” that Kavanaugh is facing scrutiny over the allegations.

“This is not a man that deserves this,” Trump said. “I feel terrible for his family.”

The president renewed his criticism of Feinstein for not disclosing the allegations when she first learned of them in July. He accused Democrats of being “lousy politicians, but good obstructionists” in their efforts to derail Kavanaugh’s confirmation to a lifetime appointment on the country’s highest court. 

Feinstein reiterated Tuesday that making the allegations public was not her decision to make, but rather up to Ford to decide if and when we wanted to do so.

Ford, a California psychology professor, told The Washington Post Kavanaugh groped her at a suburban Washington house party when she was 15 and he was 17. 

She said Kavanaugh, “stumbling drunk,” threw her down on a bed, grinding his body against hers and trying to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she was wearing over it. Ford said when she tried to scream, he put his hand over her mouth.

She said she feared Kavanaugh might inadvertently kill her before she managed to flee.

Some Democratic lawmakers have also called for an FBI investigation. The agency conducted background checks six times over the years on Kavanaugh.

But Trump said ahead of his news conference, “I don’t think the FBI should be involved because they don’t want to be involved.” He said senators hearing Ford’s accusations, if she testifies, “will open it up and they will do a very good job” considering Ford’s allegations and Kavanaugh’s denial.

Grassley said the panel plans to call only two witnesses, Ford and Kavanaugh, and not another man, Mark Judge, whom Ford says was in the same bedroom during the alleged attack.

Grassley’s omission of Judge, who has said he has no memory of the alleged attack, and other possible witnesses, drew the ire of Feinstein. 

“It’s impossible to take this process seriously,” Feinstein said.

“What about other witnesses like Kavanaugh’s friend Mark Judge?” Feinstein said. “What about individuals who were previously told about this incident? What about experts who can speak to the effects of this kind of trauma on a victim? This is another attempt by Republicans to rush this nomination and not fully vet Judge Kavanaugh.”

Republicans, some of whom see the allegations as a stalling tactic by Democrats to thwart Kavanaugh’s confirmation, have been pushing to confirm him before November’s midterm elections, when they could lose their 51-49 majority control of the Senate.
…

Lawyers for the woman who is accusing U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault more than 30 years ago says she wants the FBI to investigate her allegation before she testifies publicly.

Kavanaugh denies the charge and will apparently tell his side of the story before the Senate Judiciary Committee next Monday. 

His accuser, Christine Blasey Ford, has also been invited to testify. 

But Ford’s lawyers said in a letter Tuesday to Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley that some of the senators on the committee “appear to have made up their minds” and believe Kavanaugh.

The lawyers also said Ford has become the subject of death threats and harassment, and expressed fears that the committee planned to have her “relive this traumatic and harrowing incident” while testifying at the same table as Kavanaugh and in front of national television cameras.

“Nobody should be subject to threats and intimidation, and Dr. Ford is no exception,” Grassley said in a statement later Tuesday.

The Republican senator said there were no plans to have Ford and Kavanaugh appear at the same time, and that the committee had offered her the opportunity to appear before a private hearing.

He further rejected calls for an FBI investigation, saying the Senate has the information it needs to handle the matter on its own.

“Dr. Ford’s testimony would reflect her personal knowledge and memory of events. Nothing the FBI or any other investigator does would have any bearing on what Dr. Ford tells the committee, so there is no reason for any further delay,” Grassley said.

Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, said Republicans are not taking Ford’s allegations seriously and are rushing into a “completely unfair” hearing.

“We should honor Dr. Blasey Ford’s wishes and delay this hearing. A proper investigation must be completed, witnesses interviewed, evidence reviewed and all sides spoken to. Only then should the chairman set a hearing date,” Feinstein said.

President Donald Trump gave Kavanaugh a ringing new endorsement Tuesday, saying he felt “so badly” that Kavanaugh is facing scrutiny over the allegations.

“This is not a man that deserves this,” Trump said. “I feel terrible for his family.”

The president renewed his criticism of Feinstein for not disclosing the allegations when she first learned of them in July. He accused Democrats of being “lousy politicians, but good obstructionists” in their efforts to derail Kavanaugh’s confirmation to a lifetime appointment on the country’s highest court. 

Feinstein reiterated Tuesday that making the allegations public was not her decision to make, but rather up to Ford to decide if and when we wanted to do so.

Ford, a California psychology professor, told The Washington Post Kavanaugh groped her at a suburban Washington house party when she was 15 and he was 17. 

She said Kavanaugh, “stumbling drunk,” threw her down on a bed, grinding his body against hers and trying to pull off her one-piece bathing suit and the clothing she was wearing over it. Ford said when she tried to scream, he put his hand over her mouth.

She said she feared Kavanaugh might inadvertently kill her before she managed to flee.

Some Democratic lawmakers have also called for an FBI investigation. The agency conducted background checks six times over the years on Kavanaugh.

But Trump said ahead of his news conference, “I don’t think the FBI should be involved because they don’t want to be involved.” He said senators hearing Ford’s accusations, if she testifies, “will open it up and they will do a very good job” considering Ford’s allegations and Kavanaugh’s denial.

Grassley said the panel plans to call only two witnesses, Ford and Kavanaugh, and not another man, Mark Judge, whom Ford says was in the same bedroom during the alleged attack.

Grassley’s omission of Judge, who has said he has no memory of the alleged attack, and other possible witnesses, drew the ire of Feinstein. 

“It’s impossible to take this process seriously,” Feinstein said.

“What about other witnesses like Kavanaugh’s friend Mark Judge?” Feinstein said. “What about individuals who were previously told about this incident? What about experts who can speak to the effects of this kind of trauma on a victim? This is another attempt by Republicans to rush this nomination and not fully vet Judge Kavanaugh.”

Republicans, some of whom see the allegations as a stalling tactic by Democrats to thwart Kavanaugh’s confirmation, have been pushing to confirm him before November’s midterm elections, when they could lose their 51-49 majority control of the Senate.
…

The U.S. border wall with Mexico is frequently in the news, but few people have a chance to visit it up close, or to see details of the various sections.

Kenneth Madsen, an Ohio State University geography professor and border wall expert, hopes his new photo exhibit will help bring the border closer to people at a time of heated discussion about the role of the wall, and of barriers in society overall.

“Up Close with U.S.-Mexico Border Barriers” opens Wednesday at the LeFevre Art Gallery on the Ohio State campus in Newark, 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Columbus. The free exhibit of 33 poster-sized pictures features border wall photos and maps.

One of the exhibit’s goals is creating awareness about the wall, which can include low-grade sections in rural areas meant to stop vehicles and much stronger barriers in cities meant to stop people, Madsen said.

“People don’t generally have a chance to see something up close, at that level of detail, to know what’s going on out there,” he said.

President Donald Trump has held out the possibility of a government shutdown before the November elections over his effort to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, even as Republican congressional leaders publicly urged him away from that path and predicted it wouldn’t occur. “Build the wall!” was a frequent rallying cry during Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Madsen has studied the border wall since his graduate school days 20 years ago. His photo exhibit consists of pictures taken with his iPhone mostly in 2017, when he was on sabbatical.

In one image, children play at a Mexican playground beside a barrier in Tijuana near the Pacific Ocean while a U.S. border agent watches from his SUV on the American side just a couple of hundred feet away.

In another, stadium lights atop tall poles oversee a pedestrian barrier stretching for miles along a section of the wall between Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta in the Mexican state of Sonora.

In a third, a post-on-rail type wall snakes through a Colorado River flood plain between Arizona and Baja California in Mexico, a design meant to minimize soil disturbance in fragile landscapes, as well as to prevent it being washed away in a flood.

U.S. communities tend to grow away from the border wall, while Mexican communities tend to hug them up close, Madsen said. That helps account for large murals or brightly painted panels along several sections on the Mexican side.

Madsen is also an expert on waivers along the wall, whereby the government can exempt fence construction from a variety of federal requirements, including archaeological and environmental surveys.

Madsen plans to attend an international conference on border walls next week in Montreal.

Another border expert attending that conference says it’s important to share the experience of the border with people through such exhibits because so many stereotypes about the wall are wrong.

“The social construction of the border is negative and it’s perpetuated by people that have never even seen it, been here, touched it, felt it, crossed it,” said Irasema Coronado, a political science professor at the University of Texas-El Paso and a past president of the Association for Borderland Studies.

Madsen’s exhibit isn’t overtly political, and provides useful information for people on both sides of the border debate. But he notes the irony that wall building has increased with the rise of globalization.

Though the free-flow of capital means more freedom for more people, “there also are these border walls and fences to restrict movement of people of lesser economic means with fewer opportunities available, who are maybe stuck in bad situations,” he said.
…

The U.S. border wall with Mexico is frequently in the news, but few people have a chance to visit it up close, or to see details of the various sections.

Kenneth Madsen, an Ohio State University geography professor and border wall expert, hopes his new photo exhibit will help bring the border closer to people at a time of heated discussion about the role of the wall, and of barriers in society overall.

“Up Close with U.S.-Mexico Border Barriers” opens Wednesday at the LeFevre Art Gallery on the Ohio State campus in Newark, 40 miles (64 kilometers) east of Columbus. The free exhibit of 33 poster-sized pictures features border wall photos and maps.

One of the exhibit’s goals is creating awareness about the wall, which can include low-grade sections in rural areas meant to stop vehicles and much stronger barriers in cities meant to stop people, Madsen said.

“People don’t generally have a chance to see something up close, at that level of detail, to know what’s going on out there,” he said.

President Donald Trump has held out the possibility of a government shutdown before the November elections over his effort to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border, even as Republican congressional leaders publicly urged him away from that path and predicted it wouldn’t occur. “Build the wall!” was a frequent rallying cry during Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Madsen has studied the border wall since his graduate school days 20 years ago. His photo exhibit consists of pictures taken with his iPhone mostly in 2017, when he was on sabbatical.

In one image, children play at a Mexican playground beside a barrier in Tijuana near the Pacific Ocean while a U.S. border agent watches from his SUV on the American side just a couple of hundred feet away.

In another, stadium lights atop tall poles oversee a pedestrian barrier stretching for miles along a section of the wall between Douglas, Arizona, and Agua Prieta in the Mexican state of Sonora.

In a third, a post-on-rail type wall snakes through a Colorado River flood plain between Arizona and Baja California in Mexico, a design meant to minimize soil disturbance in fragile landscapes, as well as to prevent it being washed away in a flood.

U.S. communities tend to grow away from the border wall, while Mexican communities tend to hug them up close, Madsen said. That helps account for large murals or brightly painted panels along several sections on the Mexican side.

Madsen is also an expert on waivers along the wall, whereby the government can exempt fence construction from a variety of federal requirements, including archaeological and environmental surveys.

Madsen plans to attend an international conference on border walls next week in Montreal.

Another border expert attending that conference says it’s important to share the experience of the border with people through such exhibits because so many stereotypes about the wall are wrong.

“The social construction of the border is negative and it’s perpetuated by people that have never even seen it, been here, touched it, felt it, crossed it,” said Irasema Coronado, a political science professor at the University of Texas-El Paso and a past president of the Association for Borderland Studies.

Madsen’s exhibit isn’t overtly political, and provides useful information for people on both sides of the border debate. But he notes the irony that wall building has increased with the rise of globalization.

Though the free-flow of capital means more freedom for more people, “there also are these border walls and fences to restrict movement of people of lesser economic means with fewer opportunities available, who are maybe stuck in bad situations,” he said.
…

China says it has no choice but to retaliate to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, risking a further escalation of trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.

In a brief statement posted online Tuesday, China’s Commerce Ministry said, “To protect its legitimate rights and interests and order in international free trade, China is left with no choice but to retaliate simultaneously.”

The statement did not say how China might respond. China has previously said it would respond with a list of tariffs that includes products from liquified natural gas to aircraft.  On Monday, the Communist Party backed Global Times newspaper warned that if Trump went ahead with the tariffs, China would not just play defense.

At about the same time the Commerce Ministry statement was released, a research director for North America and the Pacific at the Commerce Ministry also delivered a commentary on China’s state-run CCTV news network.

The official said the latest round of tariffs have brought uncertainty to ongoing efforts for representatives from both countries to meet again and hold trade talks.

“Under the party’s strong central leadership, China has the resolve and confidence to press ahead and use deeper reforms and deeper opening up as well as the development of our domestic market to counter United States unilateralism,” Li Wei said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily briefing Tuesday in Beijing that talks are the only correct way to resolve the issue and accused the United States of being insincere.  Last week, the United States extended an invitation to China’s top negotiator, Liu He, to resume talks later this month in Washington.

“As for what measures China may take in response, that will be announced at an appropriate time,” Geng said.

The $200 billion in U.S. tariffs go into effect in less than a week, on September 24, leaving the two sides little time to sit down.

On Monday, President Trump warned, in a statement announcing his move, if China retaliates against U.S. farmers or other industries, Washington “will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion in additional imports.”

The additional $267 billion in tariffs is expected to cover all Chinese imports to the United States.

American and European businesses operating in China say that if Washington presses ahead with more and more tariffs, it is likely to only add to the challenges businesses are already facing.

According to surveys conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China and the European Chamber of Commerce, trade tensions are already hitting and hurting supply chains of foreign businesses.  Some companies have begun to move manufacturing away from China and the United States to avoid the impact of growing trade tensions, the European Chamber said.

European Chamber President Mats Harborn said engagement on the part of Washington and Beijing is the answer.

He said that what the United States is doing now is “economic madness” that risks creating a vicious cycle for business that could have an impact in China and elsewhere.  But the root of the trade dispute is that China’s reform is lagging behind its development, creating a “reform deficit.”

“Closing the reform gap will create better private companies in China, foreign companies,” Harborn said.  “And reducing the reform deficit should also help reduce tensions in the ongoing trade war.”

In its annual position paper on European business in China, the chamber lists 828 recommendations for Chinese authorities to address that deficit.

One of the key hurdles both private Chinese enterprises and foreign companies face is the dominant position state owned enterprises (SOEs) enjoy.  State owned enterprises account for around 30 percent of the economy and yet enjoy nearly 70 percent of all financing, the report said.

Unfair trade practices and the way SOEs contribute to an unbalanced playing field in China are key elements of the investigation the Trump administration carried out prior to launching its first round of tariffs.

But how far China is willing to go to change is uncertain.  Later this month, a meeting on SOEs will be held that many are expecting will be an indicator of the future course China’s Communist Party leaders plan to chart.

“We hear that there is a move to make the SOEs stronger, bigger and better,” Harborn said.  “Such ambitions are hindering the further opening and development of the vibrant private Chinese sector.”

If reform of SOEs is not on the agenda at the meeting, that would be seen as a clear provocation, given the current climate, he said. 

 
…

China says it has no choice but to retaliate to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 10 percent tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, risking a further escalation of trade tensions between the world’s two biggest economies.

In a brief statement posted online Tuesday, China’s Commerce Ministry said, “To protect its legitimate rights and interests and order in international free trade, China is left with no choice but to retaliate simultaneously.”

The statement did not say how China might respond. China has previously said it would respond with a list of tariffs that includes products from liquified natural gas to aircraft.  On Monday, the Communist Party backed Global Times newspaper warned that if Trump went ahead with the tariffs, China would not just play defense.

At about the same time the Commerce Ministry statement was released, a research director for North America and the Pacific at the Commerce Ministry also delivered a commentary on China’s state-run CCTV news network.

The official said the latest round of tariffs have brought uncertainty to ongoing efforts for representatives from both countries to meet again and hold trade talks.

“Under the party’s strong central leadership, China has the resolve and confidence to press ahead and use deeper reforms and deeper opening up as well as the development of our domestic market to counter United States unilateralism,” Li Wei said.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told a daily briefing Tuesday in Beijing that talks are the only correct way to resolve the issue and accused the United States of being insincere.  Last week, the United States extended an invitation to China’s top negotiator, Liu He, to resume talks later this month in Washington.

“As for what measures China may take in response, that will be announced at an appropriate time,” Geng said.

The $200 billion in U.S. tariffs go into effect in less than a week, on September 24, leaving the two sides little time to sit down.

On Monday, President Trump warned, in a statement announcing his move, if China retaliates against U.S. farmers or other industries, Washington “will immediately pursue phase three, which is tariffs on approximately $267 billion in additional imports.”

The additional $267 billion in tariffs is expected to cover all Chinese imports to the United States.

American and European businesses operating in China say that if Washington presses ahead with more and more tariffs, it is likely to only add to the challenges businesses are already facing.

According to surveys conducted by the American Chamber of Commerce in China and the European Chamber of Commerce, trade tensions are already hitting and hurting supply chains of foreign businesses.  Some companies have begun to move manufacturing away from China and the United States to avoid the impact of growing trade tensions, the European Chamber said.

European Chamber President Mats Harborn said engagement on the part of Washington and Beijing is the answer.

He said that what the United States is doing now is “economic madness” that risks creating a vicious cycle for business that could have an impact in China and elsewhere.  But the root of the trade dispute is that China’s reform is lagging behind its development, creating a “reform deficit.”

“Closing the reform gap will create better private companies in China, foreign companies,” Harborn said.  “And reducing the reform deficit should also help reduce tensions in the ongoing trade war.”

In its annual position paper on European business in China, the chamber lists 828 recommendations for Chinese authorities to address that deficit.

One of the key hurdles both private Chinese enterprises and foreign companies face is the dominant position state owned enterprises (SOEs) enjoy.  State owned enterprises account for around 30 percent of the economy and yet enjoy nearly 70 percent of all financing, the report said.

Unfair trade practices and the way SOEs contribute to an unbalanced playing field in China are key elements of the investigation the Trump administration carried out prior to launching its first round of tariffs.

But how far China is willing to go to change is uncertain.  Later this month, a meeting on SOEs will be held that many are expecting will be an indicator of the future course China’s Communist Party leaders plan to chart.

“We hear that there is a move to make the SOEs stronger, bigger and better,” Harborn said.  “Such ambitions are hindering the further opening and development of the vibrant private Chinese sector.”

If reform of SOEs is not on the agenda at the meeting, that would be seen as a clear provocation, given the current climate, he said. 

 
…

The storm system that struck southeastern states along the U.S. East Coast as Hurricane Florence is now soaking areas in the northeast with heavy rain as forecasters warn of widespread flooding threats.

Flash flood watches and warnings are posted from Virginia into Vermont and New Hampshire through Tuesday.

WATCH: Florence dangers

​Those accompany the flooding in North Carolina, where Florence hit as a Category 1 hurricane last week and dropped up to 90 centimeters of rain as it lingered for several days.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said Monday many roads remained impassable in the hardest-hit areas in the eastern part of the state, and he called on people to avoid going out if they do not have to as emergency crews do their work.

“We’ve been preparing for and living through Hurricane Florence for more than a week now, but this remains a significant disaster that affects much of our state. The next few days will be long ones as the flooding continues,” Cooper said.

Florence is now what forecasters call a post-tropical cyclone, with top sustained winds of 35 kilometers per hour. 

Several tornadoes damaged buildings in the Richmond, Virginia, area Monday afternoon, killing at least one person. 

At least 32 deaths are blamed on the storm, the majority in North Carolina.

Hundreds of thousands of homes remained without power on Monday.

President Donald Trump praised the recovery effort, saying the federal government using every relevant resource, including sending nearly 20,000 personnel to help.

“Our administration is in constant contact with local and state authorities and we will not rest until that job is done and done perfectly,” he said.

Trump plans to visit areas hit by Hurricane Florence in the coming days, but the White House says that will only happen after it is determined his arrival will not disrupt the rescue and recovery efforts.
…

The storm system that struck southeastern states along the U.S. East Coast as Hurricane Florence is now soaking areas in the northeast with heavy rain as forecasters warn of widespread flooding threats.

Flash flood watches and warnings are posted from Virginia into Vermont and New Hampshire through Tuesday.

WATCH: Florence dangers

​Those accompany the flooding in North Carolina, where Florence hit as a Category 1 hurricane last week and dropped up to 90 centimeters of rain as it lingered for several days.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said Monday many roads remained impassable in the hardest-hit areas in the eastern part of the state, and he called on people to avoid going out if they do not have to as emergency crews do their work.

“We’ve been preparing for and living through Hurricane Florence for more than a week now, but this remains a significant disaster that affects much of our state. The next few days will be long ones as the flooding continues,” Cooper said.

Florence is now what forecasters call a post-tropical cyclone, with top sustained winds of 35 kilometers per hour. 

Several tornadoes damaged buildings in the Richmond, Virginia, area Monday afternoon, killing at least one person. 

At least 32 deaths are blamed on the storm, the majority in North Carolina.

Hundreds of thousands of homes remained without power on Monday.

President Donald Trump praised the recovery effort, saying the federal government using every relevant resource, including sending nearly 20,000 personnel to help.

“Our administration is in constant contact with local and state authorities and we will not rest until that job is done and done perfectly,” he said.

Trump plans to visit areas hit by Hurricane Florence in the coming days, but the White House says that will only happen after it is determined his arrival will not disrupt the rescue and recovery efforts.
…

The U.S. Air Force will next month introduce a new, more advanced aerial fuel tanker, the KC-46 Pegasus, that may some day be able to defend itself with a laser. 

Tankers re-fuel U.S. fighters and bombers in flight, allowing them to stay aloft longer and fly much farther. That important role makes tankers a key target for adversaries.

Air Force General Carlton Everhart, who oversaw the plane’s acquisition process, says the Air Force is working to add the unconventional feature, allowing the tanker to fly closer to the fight than ever before.

Everhart told VOA in a recent interview that Air Mobility Command, in coordination with Air Combat Command and Air Force Special Operations, will be testing lasers on airplanes “in about two years.”

“Those things are coming on right now. I’m pretty excited about it,” said Everhart, who recently stepped down as head of Air Mobility Command. 

The long-awaited tanker will carry up to 96,000 kilograms of highly flammable aviation fuel so it can refuel planes and helicopters in flight through a telescoping boom at its rear or through equipment on its wings.

While the new tanker comes equipped with technology to make it less detectable to enemies, less detectable isn’t the same as undetectable, and that’s a problem for both the tanker and the bomber and fighter jets it refuels.

Todd Harrison, the director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that because tankers are “so vulnerable,” the Air Force must keep them “far outside the threat ring of an adversary.” 

“That means that our planes cannot go as far into enemy territory before they have to turn around to come back and hit the tanker again,” Harrison said. 

Everhart said the idea of defending the KC-46 tanker with lasers is possible because the plane’s engines can generate a massive amount of power.

He said the extra defense would make the tanker better “able to support the fighter and bomber aircraft” during combat operations. 

If battle scenes from the movie Star Wars come to mind, with lasers shooting adversaries into oblivion, General Everhart says that’s not the idea. He calls it a “purely defensive weapon.”

The laser could be used to blind the sensors on another aircraft, or an incoming missile, said Harrison of CSIS.

“Or if it’s a high enough power laser, it could actually be used to burn a hole to weaken the skin of an incoming missile or aircraft,” he added. 

One major advantage of defensive lasers is that they don’t run out of ammunition, an important feature on an airplane with limited space. As long as they have electrical power, they can keep firing.

Once testing begins, it likely will take years before defensive lasers are fully operational.

Everhart hopes the technology will be finalized on the KC-46 Pegasus during the 2020s.
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