China has turned down a U.S. offer to hold military de-confliction talks after an unsafe air encounter involving Chinese and U.S. aircraft over the South China Sea last month.

According to U.S. diplomatic sources who spoke on background when discussing the sensitive issue, the proposed call on Friday between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe was canceled after Beijing declined to participate.

After the Pentagon was asked about Austin’s contacts with his Chinese counterpart, Pentagon spokesperson Lt. Col. Martin Meiners told VOA, “The last time Secretary Austin spoke to his People’s Republic of China (PRC) counterpart was in November.”

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel to China in a few weeks. Without discussing the specifics of the trip, State Department spokesperson Ned Price told VOA on Thursday that Blinken’s talks with senior Chinese officials would include “areas that are predicated by competition, areas where relations between our two countries have the potential to be even adversarial and ways we can ensure responsible management of those areas, but also areas in which we can seek and even deepen collaboration.”

The top U.S. diplomat is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping, China’s top diplomat and Chinese Communist Party Politburo member Wang Yi, as well as newly appointed Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang, Beijing’s envoy to Washington.

South China Sea ‘unsafe’ incident

The U.S. military said that on December 21, a Chinese Navy J-11 fighter pilot performed an unsafe maneuver during an intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft over the South China Sea and forced it to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision in international airspace.

China later rebutted the U.S. military’s account. A Chinese spokesperson said the United States violated international law, while accusing the U.S. of misleading public opinion.

China claims almost the entire South China Sea as its sovereign territory, a claim that the U.S. said is “expansive and unlawful.” Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also contest parts of the South China Sea.

US-China military talks

U.S. officials have encouraged China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to utilize the communication channels under the so-called Military Maritime Consultative Agreement mechanism to improve operational safety in the air and sea.

“We are disappointed that the PLA canceled MMCA in 2022 but encourage our PLA counterparts to join us for an MMCA meeting in 2023,” said Pentagon spokesperson Meiners.

Austin last spoke with Wei on the margins of the ASEAN Defense Ministers Meeting-Plus in Siem Reap, Cambodia in late November. ASEAN is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Wei is retiring in March. Li Shangfu, a new member of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission (CMC,) is widely seen as the PRC’s next minister of national defense. Li was former head of the CMC’s Equipment Development Department, a position that gave him direct influence over the Chinese military’s modernization.

In September 2018, Li was sanctioned by the United States for a military purchase from Russia.
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The number of people in the United States who speak a language other than English at home tripled between 1980 and 2019, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Almost 68 million people who live in the U.S. — about 1 in 5 — speak a second language at home. That number was 23 million in 1980.

“It says what the country is known for, it’s a melting pot,” says Dina Arid, a California mother of three who grew up also speaking Arabic at home. “So, it’s good that it’s not just primarily English. There’s a bunch of immigrants here.”

Arabic is one of the five most-spoken second languages in the U.S. Arid, who speaks mostly English to her children, is trying to teach them a little Arabic.

“Growing up honestly, I had cousins who didn’t get to learn Arabic as I did and they always kind of, not resented their parents, but who always wished that their parents spoke to them in Arabic more so that they have that language,” she says.

Spanish is by far the most popular second language in the United States, with more than 41 million people — 12 times more than the other most common second languages — speaking Spanish at home. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the United States. More than half (55%) of Spanish speakers were born in the United States.

The other languages in the top five are Chinese, Tagalog and Vietnamese.

“My parents also spoke English at home but they really tried to keep it, like I would speak English at school during the day and at night I would only speak Vietnamese just so I could keep the language and keep my proficiency at it up and not lose it,” says Jenny Nguyen, a Virginia dental student, whose parents emigrated from Vietnam. “When I was younger, I didn’t understand the importance, but I think now I’m very glad that I’m able to speak and write at such a proficient level.”

She was able to put her language skills to use when she traveled to Vietnam to offer free dental care to poor and underserved communities. Many of her peers were also Vietnamese Americans.

“They couldn’t really communicate with the patients because they didn’t have that baseline level of being able to speak and understand,” Nguyen says. “I was one of the very few young volunteers that were able to speak with the patients and communicate with them what was going on.”

Chinese, Vietnamese, Tagalog and Arabic speakers were more likely to be naturalized U.S. citizens than to not have U.S. citizenship at all, according to the Census Bureau.

Raymond John “R.J.” Mosuela, a Virginia health care recruiter whose parents are from the Philippines, can’t speak their native language, but says he understands when spoken to.

“Tagalog, the main dialect of the Philippines, was spoken in the house but that was also mixing with English,” Mosuela says. “I am the youngest of three brothers. Two of my older brothers were born in the Philippines. Both my parents were born in the Philippines and when they came over here, they had me… my mom will speak to me in Tagalog and I’ll respond in English.”

Passing his parents’ native culture along to his children is important to Mosuela.

“When I eventually get married and have kids, maybe not teach the language but at least like preserving the food and our own cultural traditions,” he says.

Cathy Erway, a New York-based food writer, is using a language application to try and become more proficient in her mother’s native Mandarin Chinese.

“The funny thing is that my dad, who is white American, also speaks Chinese,” Erway says. “And so my parents would speak in Chinese to themselves when they didn’t want the kids, me and my brother, to hear what they’re saying. So, they treated it as this like secret language.”

While more people than ever are speaking a second language at home, the Census Bureau reports that the number of people who spoke only English at home also increased – by about 25% – from 187 million in 1980 to 241 million in 2019.
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The National Weather Service said Monday that it is advising residents in some areas of California to prepare for “two major episodes of heavy rain and heavy mountain snow” that are expected “to impact California in quick succession during the next couple of days.”  

The wet weather forecast is complicated further the service said by an “energetic and moisture-laden parade of cyclones that are aiming directly for California.”    

Heavy precipitation is expected in central California with rainfall totals Monday of 7 to 13 centimeters near the coast, the weather forecasters said.  

On Tuesday, slightly less precipitation will fall, impacting locations farther south into southern California.  

The heavy rainfalls, the meteorologists said, “will lead to additional instances of flooding,” including “rapid water rises, mudslides, and the potential for major river flooding.” 

The Sierra Nevada, meanwhile, will likely receive “heavy snow exceeding 6 feet [2 meters] across the higher elevations before the snow tapers off Wednesday morning.” 

The NWS warned that the heavy snow expected in the Sierra Nevada could make travel “very dangerous to impossible at times.”   

The heavy snowfall could also “increase the threat of avalanches and strain infrastructure,” the NWS warned.  
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Mexican President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador hosts U.S. President Joe Biden for talks Monday in Mexico City ahead of a regional summit that will include Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. 

Migration, climate change, trade and manufacturing are among the major topics on the agenda. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that with his visit, the first to Mexico since becoming president, Biden expects to “promote a common vision for North America.” 

Jean-Pierre said Biden would be making announcements about expanding cooperation to combat trafficking of arms, drugs and humans, as well as addressing environmental challenges and steps to “jointly address irregular migration in the region.” 

Ahead of the Tuesday summit, Biden, Trudeau and Lopez Obrador are participating in a dinner along with their spouses. 

Biden arrived late Sunday in Mexico after visiting the Texas city of El Paso for a firsthand look at the influx of thousands of undocumented migrants crossing the border with Mexico.     

During his roughly four-hour visit to the border city, Biden stopped at the Bridge of the Americas port of entry where he met with Customs and Border Protection officers and watched as they demonstrated how they search vehicles at the border for drugs, money and other contraband.     

Biden also walked a stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border wall that separates the Texas city from Ciudad Juarez. Two Border Patrol agents walked with the president.    

He also visited the El Paso County Migrant Support Center where he met with local officials and community leaders.   

Upon his arrival in Texas, Biden was met by Governor Greg Abbott, who handed Biden a letter. Abbott cited “chaos” in his state, saying the situation is the result of Biden failing to enforce federal immigration laws. 

Biden tweeted after his visit that it is possible to secure the U.S.-Mexico border and make the immigration process “orderly, fair, safe, and humane.” 

“My Administration is using the tools available to limit illegal migration, expand legal pathways to immigration, and increase security,” Biden said. “The approach we’re taking is based on a model we know works. But to truly fix our broken immigration system, Congress needs to act.”    

Biden’s visit came days after announcing that 30,000 Cubans, Nicaraguans, Haitians and Venezuelans would be allowed into the U.S. per month and allowed to work legally for up to two years if they apply from their home countries, pass a background check and prove they have a financial supporter in the U.S.      

But Biden says they will be deported to Mexico if they enter the U.S. illegally, an expansion of a pandemic-era immigration policy that cited concerns over the spread of the coronavirus as the reason to keep out the waves of migrants trying to enter the United States.        

White House correspondent Anita Powell in El Paso, Texas contributed to this story. Some material for this report came from The Associated Press. 
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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida begins a weeklong trip Monday to strengthen military ties with Europe and Britain and bring into focus the Japan-U.S. alliance at a summit in Washington, as Japan breaks from its postwar restraint to take on more offensive roles with an eye toward China.

Kishida’s talks with U.S. President Joe Biden on Friday will highlight his five-nation tour that also takes him to France, Italy, Britain and Canada — some of the Group of Seven nations Japan has stepped up defense ties with in recent years. His first stop is Paris on Monday evening.

Kishida said his summit with Biden will underscore the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance and how the two countries can work more closely under Japan’s new security and defense strategies.

Japan in December adopted key security and defense reforms, including a counterstrike capability that makes a break from the country’s exclusively self-defense-only postwar principle. Japan says the current deployment of missile interceptors is insufficient to defend it from rapid weapons advancement in China and North Korea.

Kishida said he will explain to Biden the new strategy, under which Japan is also reinforcing defenses on its southwestern islands close to Taiwan, including Yonaguni and Ishigaki, where new bases are being constructed.

“Will will discuss further strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance, and how we work together to achieve a fee and open Indo-Pacific,” Kishida told a NHK national television talk show Sunday, referring to a vision of national and economic security cooperation the two countries promote to counter China’s growing military and economic influence.

Under the new strategies, Japan plans to start deploying in 2026 long-range cruise missiles that can reach potential targets in China, nearly double its defense budget within five years to a NATO standard of about 2% of GDP from the current 1%, and improve cyberspace and intelligence capabilities.

The idea is to do as much as possible in a short time as some experts see growing risks that Chinese President Xi Jinping may take action against self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.

Japan’s new strategy has been well received by the Biden administration and some members of the Congress. Experts say it would also widen cooperation with their main regional partners Australia and possibly South Korea.

“This is an opportunity to rethink and update the structure and the mechanisms of the alliance to reflect a much more capable partner that’s coming,” said Christopher Johnstone, senior adviser and Japan chair for the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

He said, however, that Japan’s focus on the strike capability and budget is a welcome but “a daunting agenda” that will require a lot of cooperation with the United States.

Paving the way for the summit, Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi will fly to Washington to meet their American counterparts, Lloyd Austin and Antony Blinken, respectively, on Wednesday, followed by separate defense ministers’ talks on Thursday.

The Biden administration, which also adopted its security strategy in October, expects Japan to assist in the supply and storage of fuel and munitions in case of a Taiwan emergency, experts say. Japan and the United States are also reportedly considering establishing a joint command.

During the talks at the White House, the two leaders are also expected to discuss China, North Korea’s nuclear and missile development as well as Russia’s war on Ukraine, Japanese officials said.

Cooperation in the area of supply chain and economic security will be also on the table. Last week, Japanese Economy and Industry Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo discussed in Washington the importance to work together to promote and protect critical and emerging technologies, including semiconductors, and export controls to address competitiveness and security concerns.

During his trip, Kishida will seek to further strengthen bilateral military ties with four other countries, Japanese officials say.

Japan’s joint development and production of its F-X next-generation fighter jet with Britain and Italy for a planned deployment in 2035 will be a top agenda item during his visits in Rome and London on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Japan and Britain have also been discussing a Reciprocal Access Agreement that would remove obstacles to holding joint military exercises in either country. Besides the Japan-U.S. security treaty that allows U.S. troops to station in Japan, Tokyo has a similar agreement only with Australia, and Britain would be second.

During his talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, Kishida is expected to share concern over China’s growing activity in the South Pacific and confirm stepping up joint military exercise between the two sides.
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Is the metaverse closer than we think?

It depends on whom you ask at CES, where companies are showing off innovations that could immerse us deeper into virtual reality, otherwise known as VR.

The metaverse — essentially a buzzword for three-dimensional virtual communities where people can meet, work and play — was a key theme during the four-day tech gathering in Las Vegas that ends Sunday.

Taiwanese tech giant HTC unveiled a high-end VR headset that aims to compete with market leader Meta, and a slew of other companies and startups touted augmented reality glasses and sensory technologies that can help users feel — and even smell — in a virtual environment.

Among them, Vermont-based OVR Technology showcased a headset containing a cartridge with eight primary aromas that can be combined to create different scents. It’s scheduled to be released later this year.

An earlier, business-focused version used primarily for marketing fragrances and beauty products is integrated into VR goggles and allows users to smell anything from a romantic bed of roses to a marshmallow roasting over a fire at a campsite.

The company says it aims to help consumers relax and is marketing the product, which comes with an app, as a sort of digital spa mixed with Instagram.

“We are entering an era in which extended reality will drive commerce, entertainment, education, social connection, and wellbeing,” the company’s CEO and co-founder Aaron Wisniewski said in a statement. “The quality of these experiences will be measured by how immersive and emotionally engaging they are. Scent imbues them with an unmatched power.”

But more robust and immersive uses of scent — and its close cousin, taste — are still further away on the innovation spectrum. Experts say even VR technologies that are more accessible are in the early days of their development and too expensive for many consumers to purchase.

The numbers show there’s waning interest. According to the research firm NPD Group, sales of VR headsets, which found popular use in gaming, declined by 2% last year, a sour note for companies betting big on more adoption.

Still, big companies like Microsoft and Meta are investing billions. And many others are joining the race to grab some market share in supporting technologies, including wearables that replicate touch.

Customers, though, aren’t always impressed by what they find. Ozan Ozaskinli, a tech consultant who traveled more than 29 hours from Istanbul to attend CES, suited up with yellow gloves and a black vest to test out a so-called haptics product, which relays sensations through buzzes and vibrations and stimulates our sense of touch.

Ozaskinli was attempting to punch in a code on a keypad that allowed him to pull a lever and unlock a box containing a shiny gemstone. But the experience was mostly a letdown.

“I think that’s far from reality right now,” Ozaskinli said. “But if I was considering it to replace Zoom meetings, why not? At least you can feel something.”

Proponents say widespread adoption of virtual reality will ultimately benefit different parts of society by essentially unlocking the ability to be with anyone, anywhere at any time. Though it’s too early to know what these technologies can do once they fully mature, companies looking to achieve the most immersive experiences for users are welcoming them with open arms.

Aurora Townsend, the chief marketing officer at Flare, a company slated to launch a VR dating app called Planet Theta next month, said her team is building its app to incorporate more sensations like touch once the technology becomes more widely available on the consumer market.

“Being able to feel the ground when you’re walking with your partner, or holding their hands while you’re doing that… subtle ways we engage people will change once haptic technology is fully immersive in VR,” Townsend said.

Still, it’s unlikely that many of these products will become widely used in the next few years, even in gaming, said Matthew Ball, a metaverse expert. Instead, he said the pioneers of adoption are likely to be fields that have higher budgets and more precise needs, such as bomb units using haptics and virtual reality to help with their work and others in the medical field.

In 2021, Johns Hopkins neurosurgeons said they used augmented reality to perform spinal fusion surgery and remove a cancerous tumor from a patient’s spine.

And optical technology from Lumus, an Israeli company that makes AR glasses, is already being used by underwater welders, fighter pilots and surgeons who want to monitor a patient’s vital signs or MRI scans during a procedure without having to look up at several screens, said David Goldman, vice president of marketing for the company.

Meanwhile, Xander, a Boston-based startup which makes smart glasses that display real-time captions of in-person conversations for people with hearing loss, will launch a pilot program with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs next month to test out some of its technology, said Alex Westner, the company’s co-founder and CEO. He said the agency will allow veterans who have appointments for hearing loss or other audio issues to try out the glasses in some of their clinics. And if it goes well, the agency would likely become a customer, Westner said.

Elsewhere, big companies from Walmart to Nike have been launching different initiatives in virtual reality. But it’s not clear how much they can benefit during the early stages of the technology. The consulting firm McKinsey says the metaverse could generate up to $5 trillion by 2030. But outside of gaming, much of today’s VR use remains somewhat of a marginal amusement, said Michael Kleeman, a tech strategist and visiting scholar at the University of California San Diego.

“When people are promoting this, what they have to answer is — where’s the value in this? Where’s the profit? Not what’s fun, what’s cute and what’s interesting.”

For more coverage of CES, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/technology
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