AFP

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Chinese leaders in Beijing on Friday that Berlin expected equal treatment on trade as he tried to drum up greater economic cooperation despite growing distrust of the Asian superpower in the West.

Scholz is under pressure to push Beijing to get tough on Russia over the war in Ukraine, and he said Friday that Germany and China had agreed they both opposed any use of nuclear weapons in the conflict.

The German chancellor is the first G7 leader to visit China since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which led the world’s number two economy to close its borders and President Xi Jinping to largely eschew in-person diplomacy.

But his trip has prompted criticism at home over Berlin’s growing economic reliance on Beijing, and sparked controversy for coming so soon after Xi strengthened his hold on power in China just last month.

Tensions are also running high between the West and Beijing on issues ranging from Taiwan to alleged human rights abuses.

Scholz held talks with human rights lawyers critical of the regime in Beijing ahead of the trip, a source in his entourage told AFP.

Received by a smiling Xi at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People shortly after arriving, Scholz said he hoped to “further develop” economic cooperation — while alluding to areas of disagreement.

“It is good that we are able to have an exchange here about all questions, including those questions where we have different perspectives — that’s what an exchange is for,” Scholz said. 

“We also want to talk about how we can further develop our economic cooperation on other topics: climate change, food security, indebted countries.”

“Xi underscored the need for China and Germany, two major countries with great influence, to work together in times of change and instability and contribute more to global peace and development,” Beijing’s Xinhua News Agency reported.

Scholz also spoke with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in which he called for fair trade between the two countries. 

At a press briefing during which Chinese officials said there was “not enough time” for questions, Scholz urged Beijing to do more to “use its influence” on its ally Russia, currently engaged in a months-long war in Ukraine.

Both sides said they opposed the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict, with Scholz telling reporters: “Everyone says clearly that an escalation via the use of a tactical nuclear weapon is ruled out”.

China has steadfastly avoided criticising Russia for invading Ukraine and instead blames the United States and NATO for the war.

– ‘Keep doing business’ –

The German delegation of more than 60 people was met on the tarmac at Beijing airport by a military guard — as well as health workers in white hazmat suits who conducted mandatory PCR tests in buses converted into mobile laboratories. 

Scholz’s PCR test was taken in his plane by a German doctor he brought with him and supervised by Chinese health officials, according to the German government.

China’s economic importance is seen by some in Berlin as more crucial than ever, as Germany hurtles towards a recession battling an energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine war. 

China is a major market for German goods, from machinery to cars.

But German industry’s heavy dependence on China is facing fresh scrutiny after the over-reliance on Russian energy imports left it exposed when Moscow turned off the taps.

Scholz’s approach is still underpinned by the idea that “we want to keep doing business with China, no matter what that means for the dependence of our economy, and for our ability to act”, opposition lawmaker Norbert Roettgen told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

Concern about China has also come from within Germany’s ruling coalition, with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock saying past mistakes with Russia must not be repeated.

– ‘All the more important’ –

There are also concerns that the trip — coming on the heels of Xi securing a historic third term at a Communist Party Congress last month — may have unsettled the United States and the European Union.

“For Beijing, this is less about concrete outcomes and more about the symbolism of the German chancellor paying Xi a visit so soon after the party congress,” said Noah Barkin, visiting senior fellow in the Asia Program at the US German Marshall Fund.

“It gives international legitimacy to his leader-for-life status, and it shows that China is not isolated,” he added.

Berlin, however, says there have been consultations with key partners, and Scholz has insisted he is visiting China as a “European” as well as the leader of Germany.

In an article published before his departure, he said direct talks with Chinese leaders were “all the more important” after the long hiatus caused by the pandemic.

He promised to raise thorny topics such as respect for civil liberties and the rights of minorities in Xinjiang.

“We strongly agree with what he (Scholz) shared in that op-ed”, including “encouraging President Xi to press President Putin on never using a nuclear weapon of any kind”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Germany.

Twitter sacked half of its 7,500-strong staff on Friday as new owner Elon Musk launched his major overhaul of the troubled company just a week after his blockbuster takeover.

An internal document seen by AFP said “roughly 50 percent” of employees were impacted and would be denied access to company computers and email on an immediate basis.

Workers around the world were shown the door and took to Twitter to vent their frustration or disbelief and say good-bye to one Silicon Valley’s most iconic companies.

“Woke up to the news that my time working at Twitter has come to an end. I am heartbroken. I am in denial,” said Michele Austin, Twitter’s director of public policy for the US and Canada.

Ahead of the  layoffs, Twitter closed access to its offices worldwide, asking employees to stay at home to await news of their fate at the company.

The cull is part of Musk’s push to find ways to pay for the mammoth $44 billion deal for which he took on billions of dollars in debt and sold $15.5 billion worth of Tesla shares, his electric car company.

Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX chief, has been scrambling to find new ways for Twitter to make money after his mammoth buyout, including an idea to charge users $8 a month for verified accounts.

The moves would help overcome the potential loss of advertisers, Twitter’s main source of revenue, with many of the world’s top brands putting their ad buys on hold, spooked by Musk’s well-known disdain for content controls.

The mercurial tycoon on Friday complained on Twitter of a “massive drop in revenue” that he blamed on “activist groups” that were pressuring advertisers.

“We did everything we could to appease the activists. Extremely messed up! They’re trying to destroy free speech in America,” he added.

This appeared to refer to Musk’s recent meeting with civil rights groups in which he heard concerns that Twitter would open the floodgates to hate speech a week before midterm election in the United States.

In an effort to soothe nerves, Musk had vowed that Twitter will not become a “free-for-all hellscape,” but his pledge was quickly followed by a tweet relaying a conspiracy theory about an assault on the husband of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“We are witnessing the real time destruction of one of the world’s most powerful communication systems. Elon Musk is an erratic billionaire who is dangerously unqualified to run this platform,” said Nicole Gill, Executive Director of Accountable Tech.

She was part of a coalition of 60 rights groups calling on Friday for a boycott by advertisers of the Musk-owned platform.

“Elon Musk has demonstrated that it’s not possible for him to keep the brand safeguards that have existed on Twitter in place. There’s no more time for trust but verify, it’s time for escalation,” said Angelo Carusone, President and CEO of Media Matters for America.

Though extremely influential with opinion-makers and celebrities, the California company has long struggled to generate profit and has failed to keep pace with Facebook, Instagram and TikTok in gaining new users.

Twitter employees have been bracing for this kind of bad news since Musk completed his acquisition late last week and quickly set about dissolving its board and firing its chief executive and top managers.

Late on Thursday, a group of five Twitter employees who had already been fired filed a class action complaint against the company on the grounds that they had not been given the required 60-day notice period as required by law.

The lawsuit references the US Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, which provides workers a right to advance notice in cases of mass layoffs or plant closings.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Chinese leaders in Beijing on Friday that Berlin expected equal treatment on trade as he tried to drum up greater economic cooperation despite growing distrust of the Asian superpower in the West.

Scholz is under pressure to push Beijing to get tough on Russia over the war in Ukraine, and he said Friday that Germany and China had agreed they both opposed any use of nuclear weapons in the conflict.

The German chancellor is the first G7 leader to visit China since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, which led the world’s number two economy to close its borders and President Xi Jinping to largely eschew in-person diplomacy.

But his trip has prompted criticism at home over Berlin’s growing economic reliance on Beijing, and sparked controversy for coming so soon after Xi strengthened his hold on power in China just last month.

Tensions are also running high between the West and Beijing on issues ranging from Taiwan to alleged human rights abuses.

Scholz held talks with human rights lawyers critical of the regime in Beijing ahead of the trip, a source in his entourage told AFP.

Received by a smiling Xi at Beijing’s Great Hall of the People shortly after arriving, Scholz said he hoped to “further develop” economic cooperation — while alluding to areas of disagreement.

“It is good that we are able to have an exchange here about all questions, including those questions where we have different perspectives — that’s what an exchange is for,” Scholz said. 

“We also want to talk about how we can further develop our economic cooperation on other topics: climate change, food security, indebted countries.”

“Xi underscored the need for China and Germany, two major countries with great influence, to work together in times of change and instability and contribute more to global peace and development,” Beijing’s Xinhua News Agency reported.

Scholz also spoke with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang at a meeting in which he called for fair trade between the two countries. 

At a press briefing during which Chinese officials said there was “not enough time” for questions, Scholz urged Beijing to do more to “use its influence” on its ally Russia, currently engaged in a months-long war in Ukraine.

Both sides said they opposed the use of nuclear weapons in the conflict, with Scholz telling reporters: “Everyone says clearly that an escalation via the use of a tactical nuclear weapon is ruled out”.

China has steadfastly avoided criticising Russia for invading Ukraine and instead blames the United States and NATO for the war.

– ‘Keep doing business’ –

The German delegation of more than 60 people was met on the tarmac at Beijing airport by a military guard — as well as health workers in white hazmat suits who conducted mandatory PCR tests in buses converted into mobile laboratories. 

Scholz’s PCR test was taken in his plane by a German doctor he brought with him and supervised by Chinese health officials, according to the German government.

China’s economic importance is seen by some in Berlin as more crucial than ever, as Germany hurtles towards a recession battling an energy crisis triggered by the Ukraine war. 

China is a major market for German goods, from machinery to cars.

But German industry’s heavy dependence on China is facing fresh scrutiny after the over-reliance on Russian energy imports left it exposed when Moscow turned off the taps.

Scholz’s approach is still underpinned by the idea that “we want to keep doing business with China, no matter what that means for the dependence of our economy, and for our ability to act”, opposition lawmaker Norbert Roettgen told the Rheinische Post newspaper.

Concern about China has also come from within Germany’s ruling coalition, with Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock saying past mistakes with Russia must not be repeated.

– ‘All the more important’ –

There are also concerns that the trip — coming on the heels of Xi securing a historic third term at a Communist Party Congress last month — may have unsettled the United States and the European Union.

“For Beijing, this is less about concrete outcomes and more about the symbolism of the German chancellor paying Xi a visit so soon after the party congress,” said Noah Barkin, visiting senior fellow in the Asia Program at the US German Marshall Fund.

“It gives international legitimacy to his leader-for-life status, and it shows that China is not isolated,” he added.

Berlin, however, says there have been consultations with key partners, and Scholz has insisted he is visiting China as a “European” as well as the leader of Germany.

In an article published before his departure, he said direct talks with Chinese leaders were “all the more important” after the long hiatus caused by the pandemic.

He promised to raise thorny topics such as respect for civil liberties and the rights of minorities in Xinjiang.

“We strongly agree with what he (Scholz) shared in that op-ed”, including “encouraging President Xi to press President Putin on never using a nuclear weapon of any kind”, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday after a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Germany.

The United States imposed sanctions on two top Haitian politicians, former Senate President Joseph Lambert and former senator Youri Latortue, accusing them of being longtime drug traffickers.

The US Treasury said Lambert, who made a bid for the presidency last year, and Latortue, formerly a top security official, “have abused their official positions to traffic drugs and collaborated with criminal and gang networks to undermine the rule of law in Haiti.”

In a parallel statement placing Lambert on the State Department’s blacklist, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the powerful politician was involved in “significant corruption and a gross violation of human rights.”

Blinken said there was also credible evidence that Lambert was behind an extrajudicial killing. 

The announcements, which said Canada was also sanctioning the two, came as the international community seeks to help the Haitian government restore order and regain control of crucial port facilities after a surge in gang violence.

Since mid-September armed gangs have virtually paralyzed Haiti, including blockading the most important oil terminal of the country, causing shortages of fuel and drinking water.

On Monday UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council that it was urgent to act on a proposal to send an international peacekeeping force to Haiti to deal with the “nightmare” there.

John Kirby, spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, said Friday that discussions were ongoing on a multinational force for Haiti. 

“We’re actively involved in talking with a variety of partners about what a force could look like,” he said.

“No decisions have been made about any one particular state participating,” he said, adding that the force would be restricted to “provision of humanitarian assistance.”

– Gangs and drugs –

Both Lambert and Latortue have been accused of close associations with gangs.

A classified 2006 US diplomatic memo leaked in 2010 by Wikileaks said Latortue “may well be the most brazenly corrupt of leading Haitian politicians.”

It identified him as the “first cousin once removed” of former prime minister Gerard Latortue.

The Treasury said Lambert and Latortue have long histories of drug trafficking.

Both were deeply involved in trafficking cocaine from Colombia and Haiti, gave protection to other traffickers, and ordered followers to carry out violent acts on their behalf.

“The United States and our international partners will continue to take action against those who facilitate drug trafficking, enable corruption, and seek to profit from instability in Haiti,” said Treasury Under Secretary Brian Nelson in a statement.

Kirby said US authorities “stand ready to take additional action as appropriate against other bad actors.”

Treasury sanctions seek to seize any assets that those named have under US jurisdiction and block any US individuals or entities, including international banks with US offices, from doing business with them.

The State Department designation generally bans them from entry into the United States. The State Department also blacklisted Lambert’s wife Jesula Lambert Domond.

Stock markets and oil prices rallied Friday on hopes China would roll back some of its economically-painful policies surrounding Covid.

Equities also got a boost from the latest US jobs data, which raised hopes of a soft landing of the economy despite rising interest rates.

“Asia markets bounced back strongly today on more unsubstantiated reports that the Chinese government is looking at a reopening strategy as it looks to navigate a path out of the straitjacket of its current zero-Covid policy,” said CMC Makets analyst Michael Hewson. 

“These reports, which still haven’t been confirmed in any official capacity, have prompted a huge relief rally in equity markets, despite concerns that any reopening is unlikely to happen in the immediate future, and the very real risk that it is merely a sucker’s rally,” he added.

The rally continued into Europe, where London, Paris and Frankfurt all rose at least two percent.

Wall Street stocks also shot higher at the opening bell, but much of the gains had evaporated by midday.

The optimism also lifted oil prices by more than four percent at one point as traders eyed rising demand for crude on the news out of China.

In foreign exchange, the dollar slid more than one percent against the euro despite the prospect of higher US interest rates.

The pound also won back some ground against the dollar, rising 1.2 percent a day after tumbling as the Bank of England said the UK economy could face a two-year-long recession that it believes has already begun.

The BoE on Thursday also lifted its main interest rate by 0.75 percentage points, the most in 33 years in efforts to contain runaway inflation.

The week also saw the Federal Reserve hike its key rate by the same amount, as central banks try to cool decades-high inflation.

The Fed has pointed to a still-strong labour market as a key reason for not shifting from aggressive rate-tightening.

The addition of 261,000 jobs last month, far more than economists had forecast, will likely reinforce the determination of policymakers to continue the hawkish policy.

That would normally see equities tumble as higher interest rates are bad for most businesses.

But the figures are “consistent with achieving a soft landing for the economy”, said market analyst Patrick O’Hare at Briefing.com.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell has indicated the central bank is willing to push the US economy into recession if necessary to tame inflation.

But Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at online trading platform IG, pointed to one indicator in the report that suggests a drop of 300,000 jobs was the reason why the unemployment rate inched higher.

“This might be a case of cherry-picking par excellence, but markets have taken it as the first sign that the hitherto-unstoppable US market is weakening, thus perhaps bringing forward the chances of that fabled Fed pivot we keep hearing so much about,” said Beauchamp.

Markets have been looking for any data that would help the Fed “pivot” away from its aggressive rate hikes.

– Key figures around 1530 GMT –

New York – Dow: UP 0.3 percent at 32,085.46 points

EURO STOXX 50: UP 2.7 percent at 3,688.33

London – FTSE 100: UP 2.0 percent at 7,334.84 (close)

Frankfurt – DAX: UP 2.5 percent at 13,459.85 (close)

Paris – CAC 40: UP 2.8 percent at 6,416.44 (close)

Tokyo – Nikkei 225: DOWN 1.7 percent at 27,199.74 (close)

Hong Kong – Hang Seng Index: UP 5.4 percent at 16,161.14 (close)

Shanghai – Composite: UP 2.4 percent at 3,070.80 (close)

Pound/dollar: UP at $1.1303 from $1.1160 Thursday

Euro/dollar: UP at $0.9911 from $0.9751

Dollar/yen: DOWN at 147.15 yen from 148.25 yen

Euro/pound: UNCHANGED at 87.73 pence

Brent North Sea crude: UP 3.0 percent at $97.50 per barrel

West Texas Intermediate: UP 3.7 percent at $91.41 per barrel

burs-rl/bp