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China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

Published

1 month ago

2024-04-10

On Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping met with a former Taiwanese president who advocates stronger ties with China. This was a very uncommon encounter just weeks before the democratic island swears in a new leader whom Beijing openly despises.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, Ma Ying-jeou, Taiwan’s president from 2008 to 2016, met with Xi on Wednesday afternoon while on an 11-day tour of China.

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

The carefully choreographed moment is rich in political symbolism: it marks the first time China’s top leader in Beijing has hosted a former Taiwanese president since Chiang Kai-shek’s Kuomintang (KMT) retreated to Taipei in 1949.

This is Xi’s first meeting with former KMT leader Ma since their historic summit in Singapore in 2015.

However, their reunion illustrates the expanding political split across the Taiwan Strait and how Xi’s increasingly hostile posture toward Taipei has driven more Taiwanese away from China.

In his opening remarks, Xi thanked Ma for opposing “Taiwan independence,” encouraging cross-strait relations, and recognizing that both sides of the strait belong to “one China.”

“Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are all Chinese. “There is no grudge that cannot be settled, no issue that cannot be debated, and no force that can separate us,” Xi told his visitor. “External interference cannot stop the historic trend of the reunion of the family and the country.”

Ma responded by stating that while the two sides of the strait grew under different regimes, the people on both sides were Chinese.

“If a war breaks out between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, it will be an unbearable burden for the Chinese nation,” he added. “I sincerely hope that both sides respect the values and way of life treasured by the people and maintain peace across the strait.”

However, as Xi increases military, economic, and diplomatic pressure on its democratic island neighbor, the appeal of a shared Chinese identity has declined significantly in Taiwan.

That tendency was highlighted in January when Taiwanese voters ignored China’s warnings and gave the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) an unprecedented third term by electing Lai Ching-te, who has long faced Beijing’s anger for defending Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Since then, Beijing has snatched another of Taipei’s dwindling diplomatic allies, increased patrols around Taiwan’s frontline islands after two Chinese fishermen perished in neighboring waters, and continues to fly fighter jets near the self-ruled island.

Ma’s encounter with Xi comes during a busy week of diplomatic action in Washington. President Joe Biden will host the first-ever leaders’ summit involving the United States, Japan, and the Philippines. Joint fears about China’s growing assertiveness under Xi, notably toward Taiwan, are a primary motivation for the summit.

A senior source in Taiwan’s administration informed CNN. Beijing rescheduled the meeting from Monday to coincide with Biden’s summit with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Wednesday.

According to Amanda Hsiao, senior China analyst at the International Crisis Group, China’s pressure methods are meant to drive Taiwan’s next Lai administration into a more accommodating political attitude toward China.

“Ma’s visit continues this effort by underscoring Beijing’s position that cross-strait dialogue is only possible with those in Taiwan who accept the idea that the two sides of the strait belong to ‘one China,'” she said.

Beijing has severed high-level official contacts with Taipei since President Tsai Ing-wen of the DPP took office in 2016. A wave of outrage over Ma’s contentious trade agreement with Beijing served as the impetus for this action, which took advantage of the growing number of Taiwanese voters determined to preserve the island’s unique identity.

Unlike the KMT, the DPP rejects Beijing’s prerequisite for official talks, an agreement in which both sides accept “one China,” albeit with different views.

Official communication is unlikely to restart for Lai, who has pledged to uphold Tsai’s cross-strait policies. Beijing has consistently rejected Lai’s offer of negotiations, describing him as a dangerous separatist and “troublemaker.”

However, by focusing on Ma, who has been out of office for years and has little power to shape Taiwan’s political reality, Beijing may be revealing “its inability to find or cultivate another Taiwanese political figure of comparable stature who is willing to play dove toward Beijing today,” said Wen-Ti Sung, a Taiwan-based fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Global China Hub.

Ma is becoming a frequent flyer to the Chinese mainland.

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

The 73-year-old became Taiwan’s first former president to visit the mainland in late March last year, embarking on a 12-day journey across the Taiwan Strait. However, he was unable to gain a meeting with any member of Beijing’s Politburo Standing Committee, the country’s most powerful body.

This year’s visit, like the previous one, coincided with the Qingming Festival when people pay tribute to deceased family members and worship their ancestors; it also occurred just weeks before Lai’s inauguration as Taiwan’s president on May 20.

He said, “A meeting at this juncture enables Beijing to highlight the shared cultural roots between Taiwan and China and to exert pressure on Taiwan’s next administration.”

“Beijing is using the meeting between Xi and Ma to highlight the credibility and longevity of its carrots – that Beijing is good to its allies, whether incumbent or retired. It sends a message to political leaders around the world that embracing Beijing is a wise long-term investment.”

China’s welcoming of Ma’s visit signals Taiwan and others that peaceful unification by winning hearts and minds remains Beijing’s favored choice, at least for the time being, despite simmering cross-strait tensions, Sung noted.

Carefully edited footage of the talks, which is likely to reach millions of households in China via prime-time television news, sends a message to the Chinese public that unification with Taiwan is still feasible despite the DPP’s historic election triumph.

“For Beijing, Ma’s visit is also a useful way of assuring its domestic audience – ‘We have not lost the hearts and minds of the Taiwanese people, there remains cultural and historical connections that bind us, and the DPP does not represent mainstream Taiwanese views,'” Hsiao, the analyst, said.

Ma’s agenda, including his meeting with Xi, has been widely observed in Taiwan.

“The ruling party DPP will likely play down the significance of Ma’s China visits, preferring to describe it as the private act of tourism by a retiree,” Sung, a member of the Atlantic Council, said.

China’s Xi Hosts Former Taiwan President In Beijing, In Rare Meeting Echoing Bygone Era Of Warmer Ties

“Taiwan’s opposition KMT will be torn – it wishes to celebrate Ma’s achievements with Beijing, but is also hesitant to flaunt it in the face of the Taiwanese electorate, which remains wary about closer cross-strait ties.”

Ma remains a senior member of the KMT, which won the most seats in Taiwan’s parliamentary elections in January but failed to win the presidency for the third time.

The KMT, Taiwan’s largest opposition party, is eager to demonstrate that it is capable of handling relations with both China and the United States, but James Chen, an assistant professor of diplomacy and international relations at Tamkang University, says Ma’s meeting may do more harm than good.

“The DPP and its supporters have questioned Ma’s loyalty at home and labeled the KMT as pro-China.” “Washington, particularly Capitol Hill, may not appreciate Ma’s trip to China due to bipartisan anti-China sentiment,” he stated.

Few experts expect the conference will significantly alter the status quo in cross-strait ties.

“The value of this meeting is primarily in its symbolism – an attempt to shape the cross-strait narrative to both parties’ favor while fundamental political differences remain,” said Hsiao of the International Crisis Group.

However, regardless of the summit’s outcome, Ma believes it will cement his legacy on cross-strait policy.

“He likely wishes to be remembered as the sole Taiwanese leader who can break the ice with Beijing,” he said.

SOURCE – (CNN)

News

Video Appears To Show Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Beating Singer Cassie In Hotel Hallway In 2016

Published

13 hours ago

2024-05-17

Kiara Grace

Los Angeles — CNN’s security footage purports to show Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel corridor in 2016, the latest in a months-long sequence of public allegations and discoveries of physical and sexual abuse by the hip-hop entrepreneur.

The footage, which debuted on Friday, shows Combs striking and kicking the R&B singer, his protege and long-term girlfriend. The video also shows Combs pushing and dragging Cassie and hurling a vase at her.

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Video Appears To Show Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Beating Singer Cassie In Hotel Hallway In 2016

The security camera video, dated March 5, 2016, closely resembles the description of an incident at an InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles’ Century City neighborhood described in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, who claimed years of sexual abuse and other violence from Combs.

The lawsuit claims Combs paid the hotel $50,000 for the security footage. CNN could not specify how it received the video but did state that it validated the location by comparing it to publicly available photographs of the InterContinental Hotel.

Cassie’s complaint was resolved the day it was filed, but it prompted intensive scrutiny of Combs, with numerous additional claims filed in the months that followed, as well as a federal criminal sex-trafficking probe that led investigators to raid Combs’ residences in Los Angeles and Miami.

Representatives for Combs did not immediately respond to the video, but he has previously rejected the allegations in the lawsuits, and his lawyers have stated that he rejects all wrongdoing and would fight to prove his innocence.

“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed Mr. Combs’ disturbing and predatory behavior,” said Douglas Wigdor, Cassie’s attorney, who has filed earlier complaints against him. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”

The Associated Press normally does not identify persons who claim to have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura has.

According to the lawsuit, Combs became “extremely intoxicated” earlier that evening and hit Ventura, resulting in a black eye. According to the lawsuit, she attempted to depart after he fell asleep. This appears to be the beginning of the video. Ventura can be seen walking towards a bank of elevators with a packed backpack.

The suit claims Combs awoke and began screaming at her, following her down the corridor.

In the video, he forcibly grabs her and yanks her to the ground before kicking her and throwing vases at her.

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Video Appears To Show Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Beating Singer Cassie In Hotel Hallway In 2016

According to the lawsuit, she managed to flee but later returned for fear of further violence. The suit claims that hotel workers pushed her to return to her apartment when she returned. She would run and seek refuge with a friend in Florida.

The lawsuit claims Combs paid the hotel $50,000 for the security footage.

It is doubtful that Combs will face criminal charges for the attack. In California, the statute of limitations for assault or battery ranges from one to three years, depending on whether the offense is charged as a misdemeanor or felony.

The tape was released just as Combs and his legal team began responding to the claims coming in steadily since November. They recently filed motions to dismiss portions of a complaint alleging he sexually attacked a woman in 1991, as well as the entire lawsuit alleging he and two other men raped a 17-year-old girl in 2003. According to the court pleadings, both sets of allegations are baseless.

On March 25, Homeland Security Investigations executed search warrants on Combs’ houses in Los Angeles and Miami as part of a sex trafficking investigation. His lawyer described it as “a gross use of military-level force.” The investigation is continuing. Combs hasn’t been charged.

Combs, a three-time Grammy winner and the founder of Bad Boy Records, is one of hip-hop’s most prominent producers and executives during the last three decades. He parlayed his hip-hop fame into a larger economic empire encompassing private-label spirits, clothes, and a television network. Since the charges surfaced, he has had to stand down from several of his corporate positions.

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Video Appears To Show Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Beating Singer Cassie In Hotel Hallway In 2016

He and Ventura started dating in 2007, dating intermittently for over ten years.

She became well-known for her hit single “Me & U,” which peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart 2006. The song was the main single from her self-titled and only studio album.

She has acted in numerous television episodes and films, including Fox’s “Empire,” “Step Up 2: The Streets,” and “Spenser Confidential.”

SOURCE – (AP)

News

Dabney Coleman, Actor Who Specialized In Curmudgeons, Dies At 92

Published

13 hours ago

2024-05-17

Kiara Grace

AP News - VOR News Image

NEW YORK — Dabney Coleman, the mustachioed character actor who played smarmy villains like the chauvinist boss in “9 to 5” and the cruel TV director in “Tootsie,” has died. He was 92.

Coleman died Thursday at his Santa Monica home, according to his daughter, Quincy Coleman, who spoke with The Associated Press. She stated that he “took his last earthly breath peacefully and exquisitely.”

“The great Dabney Coleman developed, or defined, in a unique way, an archetype as a character actor. “He was so good at what he did that it’s difficult to imagine movies and television in the last 40 years without him,” Ben Stiller wrote on X.

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Dabney Coleman, Actor Who Specialized In Curmudgeons, Dies At 92

Coleman worked as a talented but underappreciated actor in films and television shows for two decades. That changed dramatically in 1976 when he was cast as the incorrigibly corrupt mayor of Fernwood’s Hamlet in “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman,” a satire soap opera so outrageous that no network would air it.

Producer Norman Lear was ultimately able to syndicate the show, which starred Louise Lasser in the titular character. It rapidly became a cult favorite. Coleman’s role, Mayor Merle Jeeter, was particularly popular, and film and television executives noted his brilliant, humorous deadpan delivery.

Coleman, a six-footer with an enormous black mustache, went on to make his mark in other blockbuster films, including roles as a stressed-out computer scientist in “War Games,” Tom Hanks’ father in “You’ve Got Mail,” and a firefighting official in “The Towering Inferno.

He received a Golden Globe for “The Slap Maxwell Story” and an Emmy Award for best supporting actor in Peter Levin’s 1987 small-screen legal thriller “Sworn to Silence.” Some of his most recent credits include “Ray Donovan” and a regular part in “Boardwalk Empire,” for which he received two Screen Actors Guild Awards

In the revolutionary 1980 smash “9 to 5,” he played the “sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot” employer who harassed his underappreciated female subordinates — Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin, and Dolly Parton — until they turned the tables on him.

In 1981, he played Fonda’s kind, well-mannered lover, who asked her father (played by her real-life father, Henry Fonda) whether he could sleep with her during a visit to her parents’ holiday house in “On Golden Pond.”

In Tootsie, opposite Dustin Hoffman, Coleman played the unpleasant director of a daytime soap opera that Hoffman’s character joins by pretending to be female. Coleman’s other films included North Dallas Forty, Cloak and Dagger, Dragnet, Meet the Applegates, Inspector Gadget, and Stuart Little. He reconnected with Hoffman as a land developer in Brad Silberling’s Moonlight Mile, starring Jake Gyllenhaal.

Coleman’s arrogant roles didn’t transition so well to television, where he appeared in a few network comedies. Although some became cult favorites, just one lasted more than two seasons, and some critics questioned if a show with a lead character with no redeeming characteristics could appeal to a large audience.

“Buffalo Bill” (1983-84) was an excellent example. Coleman played “Buffalo Bill” Bittinger, the smarmy, arrogant, dimwitted daytime talk show presenter who, dissatisfied with his relegation to the small-time market of Buffalo, New York, takes it out on everyone else. Despite being cleverly written and containing a strong ensemble cast, it only lasted two seasons.

Another was 1987’s “The Slap Maxwell Story,” in which Coleman played an unsuccessful small-town columnist attempting to repair his marriage while also wooing a gorgeous young reporter.

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Dabney Coleman, Actor Who Specialized In Curmudgeons, Dies At 92

Other failed attempts to get a large TV audience were “Apple Pie,” “Drexell’s Class” (in which he portrayed an inside trader), and “Madman of the People,” a newspaper show in which he clashed with his younger employer, who was also his daughter.

He performed better in a co-starring role in The Guardian (2001-2004), when he played the father of a corrupt lawyer. He also liked his part as Principal Prickly in the Disney cartoon series Recess from 1997 to 2003.

Underneath all the bravado was a quiet individual. Coleman stated he was quite shy. “I’ve been shy my whole life. Perhaps it derives from being the last of four gorgeous children, including a sibling who resembled Tyrone Power. “Maybe it’s because my father died when I was four,” he told the Associated Press in 1984. “I was incredibly little, a little man there, the youngster who never caused trouble. I was drawn to fantasy; therefore, I made games for myself.”

As he grew older, he began to leave his stamp on pompous authority figures, most notably in 1998’s “My Date With the President’s Daughter,” in which he played not only an egotistical, self-absorbed president of the United States but also a dumb father to a teenage girl.

Dabney Coleman—his real name—was born in 1932 in Austin, Texas. After two years at the Virginia Military Academy, two at the University of Texas, and two in the Army, he was a 26-year-old law student when he met Zachry Scott, an Austin resident who appeared in “Mildred Pierce” and other films.

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Dabney Coleman, Actor Who Specialized In Curmudgeons, Dies At 92

“He was the most vibrant guy I had ever met. He convinced me to become an actress, and I went to study in New York the next day. “He didn’t think that was very wise, but I made my decision,” Coleman told The Associated Press in 1984

Early credits include television shows like Ben Casey, Dr Kildare, The Outer Limits, Bonanza, The Mod Squad, and The Towering Inferno. He made his Broadway debut in 1961 with the play A Call on Kuprin. He played Kevin Costner’s father in the film Yellowstone.

The four children Coleman had—Meghan, Kelly, Randy, and Quincy—as well as his grandchildren Hale and Gabe Torrance, Luie Freundl, and Kai and Coleman Biancaniello—survived him. Coleman had two divorces.

“My father crafted his time here on earth with a curious mind, a generous heart, and a soul on fire with passion, desire and humor that tickled the funny bone of humanity,” Quincy Coleman wrote in his memory.

SOURCE – (AP)

News

China Rolls Out New Measures To Fix Its Property Crisis, Spur Growth

Published

13 hours ago

2024-05-17

Kiara Grace

AP News - VOR News Image

China launched a slew of new steps Friday to revitalize its struggling real estate business, as the latest data revealed that house prices had fallen over 10% since the beginning of the year.

Among other measures, the central bank said it will lower the minimum down payment for mortgages and eliminate the floor on interest rates for first and second homes.

China’s housing market has plummeted following a crackdown on excessive borrowing by property developers many years ago. This has dragged down a wide range of other sectors, including home furnishings, appliances, and construction, and delayed growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

Dozens of developers, whose armies of high-rise apartments have changed China’s metropolitan landscapes, still need to pay their obligations. Many initiatives have just stagnated, incomplete.

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China Rolls Out New Measures To Fix Its Property Crisis, Spur Growth

He Lifeng, a deputy premier, stated that officials would implement laws tailored to each city and “fight the tough battle of dealing with the risk of unfinished commercial housing.”

“We will solidly advance key tasks such as guaranteed housing delivery and absorption of existing commercial housing,” He said during a top-level property policy teleconference, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

The drive to entice more families to buy homes has gathered traction after previous moves, such as interest rate cuts and government-backed financing, failed to attract buyers when developers struggled to produce housing that had already been promised and paid for.

Housing is a mainstay of Chinese investment due to the cheap interest rates paid by banks, and many potential purchasers may be waiting for the market to bottom out before making fresh purchases. Furthermore, layoffs and other economic disruptions caused by the pandemic have made many individuals wary of spending.

The People’s Bank of China said that beginning Saturday, the interest rate for first-time housing provident fund loans for less than five years will be reduced by 0.25 percentage points to 2.35%. The loan rate for loans for more than five years has decreased by 0.25 percentage points to 2.85%.

According to the report, the minimum down payment for first-time homebuyer loans will be 15% of the total purchase price. The tax on second residences will be 25%.

According to Chen Wenjing of China Index Holdings, a Nasdaq-listed company that specializes in information about China’s real estate market, the latest efforts, which have reduced down payment levels and mortgage interest rates to historic lows, demonstrate Chinese leaders’ determination to stabilize the real estate market.

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China Rolls Out New Measures To Fix Its Property Crisis, Spur Growth

“Reducing the down payment threshold and home purchase costs for residents will likely boost their willingness to buy homes,” Chen stated. He said that if large cities follow through with such initiatives, market sentiment would likely rise even further.

Dong Jianguo, vice minister of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, stated that officials should focus on ensuring that property buyers receive what they paid for, and if that is not possible, the courts may have to intervene.

“In judicial proceedings, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of homebuyers should also be a top priority,” Dong said at a news conference in Beijing.

Earlier Friday, officials from the National Bureau of Statistics acknowledged that domestic demand — spending by consumers and businesses — remained “insufficient” and said the government was considering additional ways to revitalize the property industry after housing prices fell 9.8% in January-April compared to the previous year.

“The complexity, harshness, and uncertainty of the external environment are rapidly growing. “There is insufficient effective domestic demand, high business pressure, and numerous risks and hidden dangers,” said Liu Aihua, a bureau spokesperson.

“The foundation for recovery needs to be strengthened,” Liu stated.

One of the primary measures being implemented is for local governments to buy units that have gone unsold owing to low demand and rent them out as cheap housing in pilot schemes that are national policy.

As part of the newest policy easing, the central bank announced the establishment of a 300 billion yuan ($42 billion) fund to finance the purchase of vacant homes by state-owned enterprises and local governments for use as affordable housing.

China’s economy expanded at a healthy 5.3% rate in the first quarter of this year, but this is rather slow for a developing country, and signals of fragility remain.

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China Rolls Out New Measures To Fix Its Property Crisis, Spur Growth

On Friday, the National Bureau of Statistics said that manufacturing output increased by 6.7% in April compared to the previous year, while investment in fixed assets such as factory equipment increased by 4.2%.

However, housing starts plummeted nearly 25% yearly, while sales by floor area fell 20%. Financing for property projects declined by 25%.

Retail sales increased only 2.3% in April.

Officials predicted demand would revive as the government implemented initiatives encouraging people to sell their old cars and appliances and acquire new ones.

SOURCE – (AP)