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WASHINGTON — U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent traded policy complaints with Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng on Friday, with Bessent telling Beijing to do more to curb fentanyl trafficking and rebalance its economy, and He voicing concerns about President Donald Trump’s new tariffs, the two governments said.

The top economic officials from the world’s two largest economies agreed to keep up communications, the Treasury said in a readout of the introductory video call.

“Secretary Bessent expressed serious concerns about the PRC’s counternarcotics efforts, economic imbalances, and unfair policies, and stressed the Administration’s commitment to pursue trade and economic policies that protect the American economy, the American worker, and our national security,” the Treasury said, using the acronym for China’s official name, the People’s Republic of China.

Earlier, Chinese state media reported that He expressed concerns to Bessent over U.S. tariffs and trade restrictions on China during the call.

The two sides had an “in-depth” exchange of views on important issues in China-U.S. economic relations, and both agreed to keep communicating on matters of mutual concern, according to a readout released by Chinese state media.

He, the lead China-U.S. trade negotiator on the Chinese side, and Bessent recognized the importance of bilateral economic and trade relations, the readout said.

More tariffs

China and the United States are seeking to manage their relationship as they stand on the precipice of a renewed trade war.

Trump imposed 10% tariffs on all Chinese goods in early February, citing China’s failure to stanch fentanyl trafficking.

Beijing retaliated by imposing targeted tariffs of up to 15% on some U.S. imports, including energy and farm equipment, and put several companies, including Google, on notice for possible sanctions.

Trump has also planned further reciprocal tariffs for all countries that tax U.S. imports, a move that is likely to further escalate global trade tensions. During his election campaign, Trump threatened 60% tariffs on all Chinese imports.

Trump said earlier this week he expected Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit the U.S., without giving a timeline for such a trip.

Bessent said on Thursday he would tell his Chinese counterpart that China needed to rebalance its economy and rely more on domestic consumption for growth and less on investment and exports.

“They are suppressing the consumer in favor of the business community,” Bessent told Bloomberg Television.

Similar arguments

The U.S. had a $295.4 billion goods trade deficit with China in 2024, down from a peak of $418.2 billion in 2018, the year Trump began imposing new tariffs on some $370 billion of Chinese imports.

But last year’s deficit rose $16.3 billion from 2023 as Chinese exporters rushed to beat a new round of Trump tariffs.

Bessent’s predecessor, former Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, met several times with He in recent years and lodged similar complaints about China’s state-led economic policies.

She argued during a trip to China last year that those policies were leading to excess production capacity that was threatening the viability of firms in the U.S. and other market economies, a warning that laid the groundwork for former President Joe Biden’s steep tariff hikes on electric vehicles, semiconductors and solar products.

He and other Chinese officials never accepted U.S. excess capacity assertions, arguing that China’s EV and other key industries are simply more competitive.
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SYDNEY — Airlines modified flight paths between Australia and New Zealand on Friday after China notified Australia that the People’s Liberation Army Navy would hold live-fire exercises off the New South Wales coast in international waters, a rare event.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters on Friday afternoon that the time period for the Chinese navy exercises had expired, and it was unclear if live fire had been used by the Chinese navy.

“China issued, in accordance with practice, an alert that it would be conducting these activities, including the potential use of live fire. It’s outside of Australia’s exclusive economic zone,” he said, indicating it was at least 370 kilometers offshore.

“According to defense, there has been no imminent risk of danger to any Australian assets or New Zealand assets, and that’s why this notification occurs,” he added.

A People’s Liberation Army Navy frigate, cruiser and replenishment vessel last week entered Australia’s maritime approaches, and traveled down Australia’s east coast this week, monitored by the navies and air forces of Australia and New Zealand.

Airlines were contacted by Australia’s air traffic control agency on Friday warning them of reports of live fire where the Chinese navy task group was operating, the agency and Australian officials said.

“The Civil Aviation Authority and Airservices Australia are aware of reports of live firing in international waters,” air traffic control agency Airservices Australia said in a statement.

“As a precaution, we have advised airlines with flights planned in the area,” it added.

Qantas and its low-cost arm Jetstar were monitoring the airspace and temporarily adjusted some flights across the Tasman Sea between Australia and New Zealand. Air New Zealand said it had modified flight paths as needed to avoid the area, with no impact to its operations, while Virgin Australia was following instructions from Airservices Australia.

Albanese said he had contacted New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon about the matter.

“The chief of the defense force has advised that it’s not clear whether there was any actual live fire used in this area, but it is consistent with international law,” Albanese said. Foreign Minister Penny Wong would raise the matter with her Chinese counterpart in South Africa, where they are attending the G20 foreign ministers meeting, he added.

Wong said the live fire was “an evolving situation.”

“We do have concerns about the transparency associated with this and the notice, and I certainly will be having a discussion with (China’s) Foreign Minister Wang about that,” she said in an ABC television interview Friday.
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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — South Korea’s ousted premier said on Thursday that he had opposed suspended President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of martial law, testifying for the first time at his former boss’s impeachment trial about the events of a night that threw the country into turmoil.

Han Duck-soo was impeached by parliament as acting president and prime minister in December over alleged obstruction of the trial that could formally remove Yoon from office for his martial law decree.

He appeared before that trial for the first time on Thursday, telling Seoul’s Constitutional Court he had “expressed my opposition” to Yoon’s decision to suspend civilian rule on the night of Dec. 3.

Han said he and most of his fellow cabinet members “believed such a declaration would put South Korea in serious difficulty” and that he recalled them “being concerned and trying to dissuade it.”

The court said later on Thursday the final hearing will be held on the 25th.

The judges will then deliberate behind closed doors, with elections required within 60 days if Yoon is removed.

Yoon walked out of the court just five minutes after proceedings began on Thursday, according to a pool report.

His lawyer Yoon Kap-keun told reporters the ousted president felt it was “inappropriate” for him to sit in the same court room with Han “or for the president to watch the prime minister testify.”

“It is not good for the nation’s prestige,” his lawyer quoted Yoon as saying.

Yoon returned later to hear the testimony of former senior intelligence official Hong Jang-won, seen as a key figure in the decision to declare martial law.

Hong has claimed to be in possession of a memo containing a list of names of individuals Yoon ordered arrested during the night of the martial law declaration, including the leaders of the opposition and Yoon’s own ruling party.

“I will do my best to recount everything as I remember it,” Hong told reporters before the hearing.

Court footage showed Yoon shouting at Hong, accusing him of plotting his impeachment.

Given the opportunity to speak by one of the court’s eight judges, Yoon acknowledged that it was “unnecessary and wrong” to try to track the locations of politicians on the night of the decree but also said he was doing it simply to “monitor movements” and not to “arrest” them.

The head of South Korea’s National Police Agency, who is also on trial on insurrection charges related to the martial law decree, is another witness.

Courting controversy

The impeachment hearing was Yoon’s second of the day. He also appeared in court in the morning to answer charges of insurrection, becoming South Korea’s first sitting president to stand trial in a criminal case.

The 64-year-old former prosecutor has been behind bars since he was arrested last month on those charges, for which he could be sentenced to life in prison — or face the death penalty — if convicted.

Yoon attended that hearing but did not speak, an AFP journalist in the packed courtroom said.

Prosecutors have accused the suspended president of being the “ringleader of an insurrection.”

They argued on Thursday against releasing him, saying he could try to “influence or persuade those involved in the case.”

Yoon’s lawyer Kim Hong-il condemned the “illegal probe,” telling the court the “investigating body has no jurisdiction.”

“The declaration of martial law was not intended to paralyze the state,” Kim said.

Instead, he said, it was meant to “alert the public to the national crisis caused by the legislative dictatorship of the dominant opposition party, which had crippled the administration.”

Much of Yoon’s impeachment trial has centered on the question of whether he violated the constitution by declaring martial law, which is reserved for national emergencies or times of war.

The crisis has plunged South Korea into months of political turmoil with protests, two impeachments and a surge of online disinformation.

Yoon also sent a message rallying his supporters on Thursday, urging “the older and established generations to work together with the younger generation.”

“If that happens, I will be able to swiftly return to my duties and lead South Korea with the power of generational integration,” Yoon said, according to his lawyers. 
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U.S. President Donald Trump has said, “The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting.” Beijing rebuffed those plans, saying it opposes forced displacement of Palestinians to neighboring countries. How will a Gaza takeover plan impact the U.S.-China competition in the Middle East?

Click here for the full story in Mandarin. 
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Impeached South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol appeared in two Seoul courtrooms Thursday, first to hear criminal insurrection charges and then to face a Constitutional Court impeachment trial, both in connection with his short-lived, Dec. 3 imposition of martial law.

Yoon was taken by motorcade from the Seoul Detention Center, where he is being held, to the Central District Court for the preliminary hearing on the insurrection charges prosecutors filed last month.

In that hearing, Yoon’s lawyers argued that his declaration of martial law was not intended to paralyze the state, but to “alert the public to the national crisis caused by the legislative dictatorship of the dominant opposition party, which had crippled the administration.”

The lawyers also asked for Yoon’s release from detention, although it was unclear when the court would rule on that request.

Yoon next traveled to the Constitutional Court for the tenth and final scheduled hearing in the trial over validity of his impeachment for declaring martial law.

In Yoon’s first appearance at that trial, the court heard testimony from Prime Minister Han Duck-soo, who was also impeached by National Assembly lawmakers for his role in the early December declaration. Yoon briefly left the courtroom during Han’s testimony, with Yoon’s lawyers explaining they felt it was inappropriate for the two to be seen together.

Han told the court that while he shared Yoon’s views on the liberal opposition, he and the rest of the cabinet disagreed with the president’s declaration of martial law and even tried to dissuade him. To his knowledge, the prime minister added, none of the cabinet members supported the action.

The Constitutional Court is reviewing parliament’s Dec. 14 vote to impeach Yoon and will decide whether to permanently remove him from office or reinstate him.

The court is considering if Yoon violated the constitution while Yoon and his lawyers have argued that he never intended to fully impose martial law but had only meant the measures as a warning to break a political deadlock.

If Yoon is removed, a new presidential election must be held within 60 days. The court is expected to deliver its ruling in early or mid-March.

Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — The vast majority of human rights groups focused on North Korea face an existential crisis after receiving notices from the U.S. government that their grant funds have been frozen, according to several sources among the predominantly Seoul-based NGOs. 

The National Endowment for Democracy, or NED, established by Congress to strengthen democratic institutions globally, and the State Department’s Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Bureau, which provide most of the groups’ funding, sent the notices over the last several weeks, according to documents reviewed by VOA.

The freeze threatens to devastate an already fragile collection of North Korea human rights groups, potentially wiping out vital sources of advocacy and research on one of the world’s most closed and repressive states, which has a population of 25 million.

Hanna Song, executive director of the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights, told VOA her organization, like many others in Seoul, is now in “survival mode” because of the funding freeze.

“I just really don’t know how many will be able to survive,” said Song, whose organization works directly with North Koreans who have fled the North and has long been a key repository of data on Pyongyang’s abuses.

Trump policy shift

The funding freeze is part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s broader push to reshape the federal bureaucracy and realign taxpayer spending with his “America First” agenda, in coordination with billionaire businessman Elon Musk.

The NED has been repeatedly attacked by Musk, who has called it a “scam” and an “evil organization [that] needs to be dissolved.”

In a message sent last week to several North Korea-focused human rights organizations, the NED said it has “unfortunately been unable to access our previously approved funds” and “may not be able to provide additional payments to your organization.”

“Once you run out of money, consider your NED grant agreement suspended,” the message added.

Meanwhile, a January 24 notice from the State Department bureau ordered organizations receiving grants to immediately stop all work, even if already funded. 

The bureau has reportedly fired dozens of contractors and is also subject to a Trump executive order suspending foreign aid for 90 days. Although aid could theoretically resume, the pause has already had devastating consequences for many North Korea advocacy groups.

Survival mode

Song’s Seoul-based center, whose mission includes providing psychosocial support to North Korean defectors, has had to postpone counseling sessions while they look for new funding, Song said.

“It’s just absolutely destroying groups working on North Korea,” said Sokeel Park, South Korea country director at Liberty in North Korea, which helps North Korean defectors escape and resettle. “It’s by far the biggest crisis facing NGOs working on this issue since the start of the movement in the 1990s,” he said in an interview.

Although the group does not receive direct U.S. government funding, Park said other organizations have been forced to reduce salaries, furlough staff, or halt projects midstream.

The freeze threatens a broad range of activities, including support for North Koreans who have fled, efforts to transmit information into and out of the country, and raising global awareness of its abuses.

The crisis comes at a time when gaining insight into North Korea is more challenging than ever. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, strict border controls have made escapes rare and slowed the flow of information, leaving the outside world with extremely little insight into the reclusive country.

This isolation has coincided with a decline in global attention to North Korea more generally, which has made it harder for organizations to diversify their funding sources, activists say.

Seoul’s inconsistency

While South Korea, a wealthy democracy bordering the North, might seem like a natural alternative source of funds, it has failed to consistently support North Korea-focused NGOs, mainly because the issue is politically sensitive in Seoul. 

Conservative governments, which take a harder line on the North, often condemn its human rights abuses and provide more backing for civil society groups. In contrast, left-leaning governments tend to focus on improving ties with Pyongyang, favoring humanitarian aid directly to the North Korean government in the hope that better relations will eventually lead to improved human rights.

South Korea’s inconsistency on the issue is unfortunate, Lee Jung-hoon, former South Korean ambassador for North Korean human rights under conservative President Park Geun-hye told VOA.

“In fact, we should be the ones providing funding to American NGOs working on North Korea… we should be at the forefront of this,” Lee, now a dean and professor of international relations at Seoul’s Yonsei University, said.

After taking office in 2022, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol pledged to improve North Korea’s “horrendous” human rights situation. However, in December, Yoon unexpectedly declared martial law to combat what he called “anti-state forces,” leading to his impeachment and possible removal from office.

With Yoon’s future uncertain, the left-leaning Democratic Party is seen as the favorite to reclaim the presidency. Such political volatility has made many NGOs hesitant to accept South Korean government funding, fearing it could be easily withdrawn.

As a result, many organizations have felt compelled to rely on U.S. government funding – primarily from NED and the State Department. With that money now frozen, many groups are scrambling to fill the gaps by seeking support from European governments and major private donors, Park said.

North Korea-focused groups, though, are competing with countless global causes for limited funds.

Song said no one wants to be in a position where they’re saying North Korea is a more important issue events in Myanmar or Syria, “But it’s gotten to the point where it’s just survival mode.”
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SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA — North Korean state media on Thursday criticized the United States for a nuclear submarine deal with Australia under the AUKUS partnership signed in 2021, calling it a “threat to regional peace.”

A commentary carried by KCNA said Washington should be wary of consequences for what it said were nuclear alliances, naming AUKUS and the trilateral cooperation with South Korea and Japan.

Australia just made its first $500 million payment to the U.S. under the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal.

Under AUKUS, Australia will pay the United States $3 billion to boost the capacity of the U.S. submarine industry, and Washington will sell several Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to Australia in the early 2030s.

The KCNA commentary also argued the U.S. sees North Korea as an obstacle to its establishment of hegemony in the region and said nuclear states will not sit idly by, referring to itself.

North Korea has been criticizing the trilateral military cooperation between South Korea, Japan and the U.S. and has called the relationship “the Asian version of NATO.”

South Korea’s defense ministry on Thursday said that a joint air drill was held with the U.S. with at least one B-1B strategic bomber taking part.

The drill was to show extended deterrent capabilities by the United States in response to threats from North Korea’s nuclear and missile program, the ministry said in a statement.
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GENEVA — The World Trade Organization said on Wednesday that discussions on trade tensions were “constructive,” after China accused the United States of imposing “tariff shocks” that could upend the global trading system.

China condemned tariffs launched or threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump at a WTO meeting on Tuesday. Washington dismissed China’s comments as hypocritical.

Trump has announced sweeping 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to respond with retaliatory tariffs and to file a WTO dispute against Washington in what could be an early test of Trump’s stance towards the institution.

The majority of the six countries that participated in the talks on trade turbulence, put on the agenda by China, raised concern about mounting tensions, but also called for restraint, said WTO spokesperson Ismaila Dieng in a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday.

The United States, Nicaragua, Namibia, Malaysia, Trinidad and Tobago, and Russia took part in the discussions, which were part of broader talks on trade.

The large majority “stressed the importance of upholding WTO principles and values and called for action to preserve the stability and effectiveness of the global trading system,” Dieng added.

Two trade sources at the meeting told Reuters that some countries expressed deep concern about the ramifications of tariffs, while others criticized China for alleged market distortions.

It is the first time that mounting trade frictions were formally addressed on the agenda of the watchdog’s top decision-making body, the General Council.

‘Tariff shocks’

“These ‘tariff shocks’ heighten economic uncertainty, disrupt global trade, and risk domestic inflation, market distortion, or even global recession,” China’s ambassador to the WTO, Li Chenggang, said at a closed-door meeting of the global trade body on Tuesday, according to a statement sent to Reuters.

“Worse, the U.S. unilateralism threatens to upend the rules-based multilateral trading system.”

U.S. envoy David Bisbee called China’s economy a “predatory non-market economic system” in response and accused it of violating and evading WTO rules.

Negotiating tactic

Some delegates said they saw China’s intervention as an attempt to show itself supporting WTO rules — a posture that can help China win allies in ongoing global trade negotiations.

Disputes between the two top economies at the WTO long pre-date Trump’s arrival. Beijing has accused Washington of breaking rules while Washington says Beijing does not deserve its “developing country” status at the WTO.

The Trump administration has announced plans to withdraw or disengage from other global organizations, but the WTO has not yet been a major focus for the White House.

However, incoming U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer has called the WTO “deeply flawed.”
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