China Says Open to Meeting with US Defense Secretary 

China's State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe speaks at a plenary session during the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore June 12, 2022. (Reuters)
China's State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe speaks at a plenary session during the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore June 12, 2022. (Reuters)
TT
20

China Says Open to Meeting with US Defense Secretary 

China's State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe speaks at a plenary session during the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore June 12, 2022. (Reuters)
China's State Councilor and Defense Minister General Wei Fenghe speaks at a plenary session during the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore June 12, 2022. (Reuters)

China said on Sunday it is open to a meeting with the US defense secretary on the sidelines of a regional security forum in Cambodia this week, in a sign of thawing relations after the countries' top leaders met earlier this month.  

China Defense Minister Wei Fenghe and US Secretary of Defense Austin Lloyd previously confirmed separately that they would attend the forum with Southeast Asian countries, the ASEAN Defense Ministers' Meeting-Plus.  

On Sunday, China's defense ministry issued a statement featuring a question about whether the two would meet, with spokesman Tan Kefei quoted as saying, "China holds a proactive and open attitude for exchange with the United States."  

He also said both sides are coordinating regarding an "exchange" at the forum, set to take place on Wednesday.  

A meeting would represent the first high-level military exchange between the countries since China halted regular dialogue between military commanders in August in retaliation for US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan. 

China regards democratically ruled Taiwan as a renegade province.  

In Indonesia last week, on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit, China President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden held their first face-to-face meeting since the latter took office in early 2021.  

Ties between the world's two largest economies have deteriorated in recent years amid issues such as trade, human rights and Taiwan. 



France Says Supports Harvard, Welcomes Foreign Students

'We stand with universities facing the threat of government control," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. JULIEN DE ROSA / POOL/AFP
'We stand with universities facing the threat of government control," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. JULIEN DE ROSA / POOL/AFP
TT
20

France Says Supports Harvard, Welcomes Foreign Students

'We stand with universities facing the threat of government control," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. JULIEN DE ROSA / POOL/AFP
'We stand with universities facing the threat of government control," said French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot. JULIEN DE ROSA / POOL/AFP

France's foreign minister on Saturday said his country supported students and staff at Harvard, after President Donald Trump tried to ban foreign students from the prestigious US university.

"We stand with universities facing the threat of government control, restriction to their funding, constraints on their curricula or research projects," Jean-Noel Barrot said during a commencement address at the high-profile HEC business school in Paris.

"We stand with Harvard faculty, with Harvard students, facing unjustified stress and anxiety right now," he added in English.

"Should US courts uphold decisions to ban international students, France will offer (them) a safe place to complete their degrees," he said.

Universities and research facilities in the United States have come under increasing political and financial pressure under Trump, including with threats of massive federal funding cuts, said AFP

Harvard has been at the forefront of Trump's campaign against top American universities after it defied his calls to submit to oversight of its curriculum, staffing, student recruitment and "viewpoint diversity".

A US court last week put a temporary stay on Trump's latest effort to stop foreign students from enrolling at Harvard.

A White House proclamation a day earlier had sought to bar most new international students at Harvard from entering the country, and said existing foreign enrollees risked having their visas terminated.

The US government has already cut around $3.2 billion of federal grants and contracts benefiting Harvard and pledged to exclude the institution from any future federal funding.

France and the European Union are seeking to encourage disgruntled researchers to relocate from the United States to Europe.

European Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said last month that the EU would launch a new incentives package worth 500 million euros ($580 million) to make the 27-nation bloc "a magnet for researchers".

French President Emmanuel Macron in April unveiled plans for a funding program to help national universities and other research bodies cover the cost of bringing foreign scientists to the country.