Archives for April 2021

Biden’s virtual climate summit: Diplomacy sans human touch

WASHINGTON (AP) — There will be no hands to shake or backs to slap, no way to look a foreign leader in the eye. The small human moments that define statecraft will be reduced to images on a screen.

President Joe Biden, a most hands-on politician, this week will host a major climate summit with dozens of world leaders — all of them stuck on Zoom.

Biden has made clear that he wants to reassert U.S. leadership on the world stage, including on climate change, after four tumultuous, often inward-looking years of President Donald Trump. But as much as the White House staff has tried to dress up the remote meetings he has held so far, while eyeing the climate summit Thursday and Friday as an important moment, the president has made no secret of how much he misses diplomacy with a more personal touch.

“There’s no substitute for face-to-face discussions,” Biden said Friday as he welcomed Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to the White House for his first in-person world leader meeting.

“I greatly appreciate the chance to spend time with you in person and to exchange our ideas face to face,” he added.

Biden has expressed to aides and advisers how much he misses the in-person interactions and friendly asides that typically happen on the sidelines of international meetings, moments that can often lead to foreign policy breakthroughs, according to three White House officials not authorized to speak publicly about private discussions. He was disappointed, at times, with the stilted nature of his first remote bilateral meeting, held with Canada’s Justin Trudeau in February.

The White House has announced that South Korea’s Moon Jae-in will travel to Washington in May for Biden’s second in-person foreign leader meeting. And there are hopes the president will make his own overseas trip in June. But until then, expectations for major diplomatic developments have been reined in — and the climate summit is no exception.

Streamed 100% live with no backroom give-and-take, the summit will be more geared to sending a message about America’s return to the climate fight and nudging the world toward a greener planet than about specific deals or action.

The world is still trying to figure out what the climate gathering will be, but experts know what it’s not: Don’t expect negotiations akin to those that produced the historic 2015 Paris climate accord.

In Paris, “every comma, every period and every sentence was negotiated 100 times,” said Christiana Figueres, the former U.N. climate chief who was one of the chief architects behind the 6-year-old pact. By contrast, this week’s summit, she says, “is a public confirmation of intent for every country to come forward with its current best effort.”

Climate activists may hope for dramatic moments when countries like Japan, South Korea or even China are suddenly inspired by Biden and announce they will stop funding other nations’ coal power plants. But Henry “Jake” Jacoby, who cofounded the MIT Center for Global Change Science, just laughs at the idea: “On a Zoom call with 40 nations of the world watching? Yeah, not a chance.”

The summit instead is about planting seeds for a November climate meeting in Scotland, where expectations and stakes are higher. But because of in-person restrictions due to the pandemic and the short time period since Biden took office, this week’s meeting is more of a show-and-tell among leaders, all streamed to whomever wants to watch it. The real action comes later.

The bulk of the diplomacy over the next seven months will be done not by presidents, but behind the scenes by diplomats, such as the recent travels by special U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, said Nigel Purvis, a former State Department climate negotiator in the administrations of Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.

The in-person meetings in Scotland are meant to pull everything together, which still could work, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday.

Biden has made clear he understands the necessity of doing meetings remotely: first, to safeguard the health of the leaders as well as the large traveling party that comes with a visit from a head of state. Moreover, keeping things remote helps set an example that his administration is still discouraging travel amid a rise in virus variants and COVID-19 cases.

But he has not always enjoyed the virtual substitutes. He struggled with the mute button at a remote fundraiser and watched as German Chancellor Angela Merkel forgot to silence her own feed and interrupted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a virtual Group of Seven leaders’ meeting in February.

Biden’s foreign policy outreach to this point has lacked the small moments amid summits and state visits meant to flatter and make memories for foreign dignitaries.

President Barack Obama took Dmitry Medvedev to a burger joint in 2010 when the Russian president visited Washington. Obama’s younger daughter, Sasha, who was studying Chinese at her private D.C. school at the time, had a memorable moment trying out some simple phrases with China’s Hu Jintao during his 2011 state visit.

Vladimir Putin’s 2001 visit to George W. Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, included a barbecue dinner, a lesson on how to dance the Cotton-Eye Joe and a ride in the Republican president’s pickup truck.

Such moments are difficult to create in the pandemic era, but that hasn’t stopped Biden and his team from trying to bring some small flourishes to virtual statecraft. For example, Biden opened his recent virtual meeting with the leaders of Australia, India and Japan with a video of George W. Bush talking about the coalition’s beginnings after the 2004 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. It was part of an effort to stress bipartisanship and continuity in the alliance.

Miners’ union backs shift from coal in exchange for jobs

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s largest coal miners’ union said Monday it would accept President Joe Biden’s plan to move away from coal and other fossil fuels in exchange for a “true energy transition” that includes thousands of jobs in renewable energy and spending on technology to make coal cleaner.

Cecil Roberts, president of the United Mine Workers of America, said ensuring jobs for displaced miners — including 7,000 coal workers who lost their jobs last year — is crucial to any infrastructure bill taken up by Congress.

“I think we need to provide a future for those people, a future for anybody that loses their job because of a transition in this country, regardless if it’s coal, oil, gas or any other industry for that matter,” Roberts said in an online speech to the National Press Club.

“We talk about a ‘just transition’ all the time,” Roberts added. “I wish people would quit using that. There’s never been a just transition in the history of the United States.”

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., appearing with Roberts at the Press Club event, said measures to help coal miners in West Virginia and other rural states must be part of the $2.3 trillion infrastructure package taking shape in Congress.

“Basically what is needed … is the human infrastructure,” Manchin said. “You can’t leave anybody behind,” especially those in his hard-hit state, which has lost thousands of jobs in mining and other resource extraction industries jobs in recent years.

“I can tell you how West Virginia feels. We feel like returning Vietnam veterans,” Manchin said. “We’ve done every dirty job you’ve asked us to do. We never questioned. We did it and performed well. And now all of a sudden we’re not good enough, we’re not clean enough, we’re not green enough and we’re not smart enough. You want to know why they quit voting for Democrats, that’s the reason.”

A plan put forward by the mine workers’ union calls for significant expansion of tax incentives for renewable energy and preference in hiring for dislocated miners; full funding for programs to plug old oil and gas wells and clean up abandoned mines; and continued incentives to develop so-called carbon capture and storage technology that traps carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels and stores it underground.

The union proposal, and Manchin’s endorsement, comes as Congress is considering Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure package to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges and power grid, promote electric cars and boost clean energy such as solar and wind power. A bipartisan group of lawmakers met with Biden Monday to discuss the plan.

Republicans have slammed the infrastructure package as a Democratic “wish list” with huge tax hikes, including a proposal to raise the corporate tax rate to 28%. Manchin, a centrist and key Democratic vote, has said he prefers a 25% corporate rate.

In his remarks Monday, Manchin made it clear he wants to preserve the coal industry, despite continued declines nationwide amid steep competition from cheaper natural gas and other energy sources.

“I’m for innovation, not elimination” of coal, Manchin said, adding that even if coal was reduced to zero in the United States, thousands of carbon-polluting coal mines would still operate in China and other countries. “It’s not North America climate. It’s global climate,” he said.

As part of the mine workers’ proposal, Manchin endorsed a Democratic bill that would invigorate labor unions, following decades of court defeats and legislative setbacks. The House passed the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO Act, in March, but the measure faces a near-certain Republican blockade in a narrowly divided Senate.

The bill would reverse “right to work” laws that have crimped unions’ ability to collect dues from workers who refuse to join, yet benefit from deals negotiated on their behalf. It also would block tactics employers can use to drag out organizing drives, contract negotiations and ratification of labor agreements.

Manchin said the bill would “level the playing field” for union workers, but a pro-business group said Manchin was siding with “union bosses” over West Virginia’s workers and small businesses.

The bill would strip workers of “vital privacy rights,” forcing employers to turn over personal contact information to union organizers, said Kristen Swearingen, chair of the Coalition for a Democratic Workplace, a group representing the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers and other organizations.

“With unfettered access to employees, labor organizers would have the ability to harass and bully workers into joining a union against their will,” she said.

Biden’s infrastructure proposal includes $16 billion to plug hundreds of thousands of “orphaned” oil and gas wells and clean up abandoned coal and hardrock mines that pose serious safety and environmental hazards. The White House said the plan would create thousands of jobs and remediate pollution, including greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming.

Biden’s plan also includes tax incentives for renewable energy and billions in spending to deploy carbon capture and storage, two other elements of the union proposal.

Asian stock markets mixed after Wall St decline

BEIJING (AP) — Asian stock markets were mixed Tuesday after Wall Street was pulled lower by tech stock declines.

Tokyo and Hong Kong retreated while Shanghai and Seoul gained.

Overnight, Wall Street’s benchmark S&P 500 index lost 0.5%. Banks, energy companies and others that depend on consumer spending also retreated.

Investor optimism has been boosted by higher corporate profits, U.S. hiring and consumer confidence. Still, traders are uneasy about a rise in inflation and interest rates and renewed coronavirus infections that prompted some governments to reimpose anti-disease controls.

“Asian markets have experienced short-term volatility as investors balance the impact of higher interest rates with increasing optimism that pent-up demand will boost earnings,” said Janet Tsang of JP Morgan Asset Management in a report.

The Shanghai Composite Index gained 0.1% to 3,481.52 while the Nikkei 225 in Tokyo tumbled 1.9% to 29,114.27. The Hang Seng in Hong Kong shed less than 0.1%, to 29,099.73.

The Kospi in Seoul rose 0.3% to 3,209.13 and the S&P-ASX 200 in Sydney sank 0.4% to 7,038.20. New Zealand, Singapore and Jakarta declined while Bangkok advanced.

On Wall Street, the S&P 500 fell Monday to 4,163.26. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.4% to 34,077.63. Both hit highs on Friday.

Chipmaker Intel fell 1.7%, Capital One lost 0.9% and Valero Energy slid 2.3%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite slid 1% to 13,914.77.

Tesla dropped 3.4% after two people were killed in Texas in a crash of one of its models. Authorities say there was no one in the driver’s seat at the time of the crash. It’s unclear whether the car’s driver-assist system was being used.

This week, 81 of the 500 members of the index are due to report earnings, as are 10 of the 30 members of the Dow, including Johnson & Johnson, Verizon Communications and Intel.

On average, analysts expect quarterly profits across the S&P 500 to be up 24% from a year earlier, according to FactSet.

In energy markets, benchmark U.S. crude rose 44 cents to $63.87 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude, used to price international oils, gained 48 cents to $67.53 per barrel in London.

The dollar advanced to 108.22 Japanese yen from Monday’s 108.11 yen. The euro gained to $1.2049 from $1.2039.

Apple signals return of right-wing ‘free speech’ app Parler

Apple said it has reached an agreement with the right-wing social app Parler that could lead to its reinstatement in the company’s app store. Apple kicked out Parler in January over ties to the deadly Jan. 6 siege on the U.S. Capitol.

In a letter to two Republican lawmakers in Congress, Apple said it has been in “ substantial conversations ” with Parler over how the company plans to moderate content on its network. Before its removal from the app store, Parler was a hotbed of hate speech, Nazi imagery, calls for violence (including violence against specific people) and conspiracy theories.

Apple declined to comment beyond the letter, which didn’t provide details on how Parler plans to moderate such content. In the letter, Apple said Parlor’s proposed changes would lead to approval of the app.

Parler said it has implemented “several new safeguards” designed to detect posts that “would not fall within the protections of the First Amendment,” but added that it did not make broad policy changes.

“While the App Store version of Parler will prohibit some posts that Parler allows, those posts will still remain visible on the web-based and Android versions of Parler,” the company said in a statement.

The First Amendment does not apply to private companies such as Parler — it prohibits the government from making laws that impede free speech. But this has not stopped people from claiming that social media companies violate their free speech rights by moderating content, or from “free speech” apps such as Parler from popping up to fill a perceived void of “censorship-free” discussion sites.

As of midday Monday, Parler was not yet available in the app store and Apple did not give a timeline for when it will be reinstated. According to Apple’s letter, Parler proposed changes to its app and how it moderates content. Apple said the updated app incorporating those changes should be available as soon as Parler releases it.

Google also banned Parler from its Google Play store in January, but Parler remains available for Android phones through third-party app stores. Apple’s closed app system means apps are only available through Apple’s own app store. On Monday, Google reiterated its January statement that “Parler is welcome back in the Play store once it submits an app that complies with our policies.”

So far, this has not happened.

Parler remains banned from Amazon’s Web Services. Amazon said in January that Parler was unable to moderate a rise in violent content before, during and after the insurrection. Parler asked a federal judge in Seattle to force Amazon to reinstate it on the web. That effort failed, and the companies are still fighting in court.

Republican political donor Rebekah Mercer has confirmed she helped bankroll Parler and has emerged in recent months as the network’s shadow executive after its founder John Matze was ousted as CEO in February.

Asian Americans wary about school amid virus, violence

BOSTON (AP) — A Chinese American mother in the Boston suburbs is sending her sons to in-person classes this month, even after one of them was taunted with a racist “slanted-eyes” gesture at school, just days after the killings of women of Asian descent at massage businesses in Atlanta.

In the Dallas area, a Korean American family is keeping their middle schooler in online classes for the rest of the year after they spotted a question filled with racist Chinese stereotypes, including a reference to eating dogs and cats, on one of her exams.

As high schools and elementary schools across the country gradually re-open for full-time classes, Asian American families are wrestling with whether to send their children back out into the world at a time when anti-Asian hostility and violence is on the rise.

Some Asian American parents say they’re content to keep their children in virtual classes, especially with the school year winding down and COVID-19 cases rising in places. Others are conceding to adolescents craving normalcy, while still others refuse to shield their youths from bigotry.

Asian American students have the highest rates of remote learning more than a year after the coronavirus pandemic shuttered school buildings and forced districts to pivot to online classes. A federal government survey released earlier this month found just 15% of Asian American fourth graders were attending classes in-person as of February, compared with more than half of white fourth graders.

Those rates appear to be rising in some cities, but are still far lower than those of Black, Latino and white students. In Sacramento, Boston and Chicago public schools, for example, roughly a third of Asian American students are expected to return to in-person classes this month, compared with some 70% of white students, according to the most recent district data available.

Asian American youths have also not been spared anti-Asian harassment. A September report by Stop AAPI Hate found about 25% of Asian American youths surveyed experienced discrimination, including verbal harassment, social shunning, cyberbullying and physical assault, during the pandemic. The San Francisco-based group, which tracks incidents of discrimination against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, also says more than 12% of its reported incidents involved youths ages 17 and under.

Concerns about virus spread and rising racism are factors in the in-person learning disparities, but many Asian families also benefit from living in multi-generational households where grandparents and other relatives can help out, said Peter Kiang, director of Asian American Studies at the University of Massachusetts in Boston.

“These ethnic-defined support systems have been operating for more than a year already while parents are out working long hours, so there is no urgency to return to in-person classrooms,” he said.

Another factor is that many Asian Americans live in major urban areas like Boston where schools are only now starting to widely re-open, said Robert Teranishi, a professor of education and Asian American studies at UCLA. Meanwhile San Francisco, where about a third of public school students are of Asian descent, has no timetable for the return of middle and high school students.

For Grace Hu, a 16-year-old in Sharon, Massachusetts, who has been learning remotely all school year, the decision to go back to in-person classes later this month was easy.

The high school sophomore helped organize a recent rally against anti-Asian hate in Boston, but said she’s not concerned about facing vitriol in school. The district, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) south of Boston, has a sizeable Asian American student population and she’s felt generally safe and welcomed.

“I’m feeling trapped at home,” Hu said. “I just want to see my classmates again.”

Closer to Boston, in Quincy, a city with the highest concentration of Asian Americans in the state, Kim Horrigan said she and her husband have struggled with their decision to keep their 8-year-old son in remote learning this school year, but for altogether different reasons.

Horrigan said she’s never really considered racism a threat to her family, even though there’s been tension in Quincy over the years as the Asian American community has grown to roughly 25% of the population, transforming a city famous for being the birthplace of two American presidents.

Instead, she’s most concerned about exposing her household, which includes her Chinese immigrant parents, who are in their 70s, and two younger children, to COVID-19. At the same time, Horrigan worries about her son falling behind the longer he’s home.

“We’ve taken so many precautions and sacrificed so much,” she said. “Why would we drop our guard now, with just a few weeks left?”

Meanwhile, in Needham, another Boston suburb, Denise Chan said she hasn’t second-guessed placing her three young sons back in classes full-time in recent weeks, even after the “slanted-eyes” incident.

Chan said another student approached her 11-year-old son at lunchtime, made a comment about Korean eyes and pulled his eyelids upward in the mocking gesture as other students looked on.

She said her son called out the racist remark, and his teacher eventually had the student apologize and promised racism would be addressed in the class curriculum.

“If the teacher did not deal with it the way she did, I would be more worried about sending him back,” said Chan. “I was also proud of the way my son handled it. We’ve talked about why it’s important to speak out.”

But in Carrollton, Texas, Joy Lim said her parents decided to keep her younger sister in remote learning after publicly raising concerns about the racist test question.

The 21-year-old college student said the decision is in part because of fear of reprisals if the sixth-grader returns to classes. The district denounced the exam question as “derogatory and hurtful” and placed three teachers on administrative leave.

“What’s been most discouraging is that people are still defending these educators,” Lim said. “These aren’t joking questions. They’re cruel.”

Swan Lee, a Chinese American mother in the Boston suburb of Brookline, isn’t so sure keeping Asian American students at home is the answer to what ails the country.

Her two high school-age teens are preparing to return to classes full-time later this month, and she’s emphasized the importance of being strong and staying positive, though she admits she’s worried about what might happen outside the relative safety of the school building.

“It’s not about protecting and shielding them. That’s too passive and too defeatist,” Lee said. “It’s about confronting this in a constructive manner. People need to understand this kind of racism is wrong. That’s the only way it goes away.”

Archives for April 2021

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