特朗普东山再起 美国未来对华政策会走向何方?|亚洲很想聊
特朗普当选美国第47任总统,对华政策会有何改变?特朗普对中国宣称的60%关税会造成什么影响?有人形容特朗普是“交易型”总统,但美国的国家安全可以谈判交换吗?北京之春荣誉主编胡平,新加坡国立大学政治系副教授庄嘉颖,台湾智库谘询委员 #赖怡忠,美国圣汤玛斯大学国际研究讲座教授叶耀元解析,美国对华政策可能的走向。
特朗普当选美国第47任总统,对华政策会有何改变?特朗普对中国宣称的60%关税会造成什么影响?有人形容特朗普是“交易型”总统,但美国的国家安全可以谈判交换吗?北京之春荣誉主编胡平,新加坡国立大学政治系副教授庄嘉颖,台湾智库谘询委员 #赖怡忠,美国圣汤玛斯大学国际研究讲座教授叶耀元解析,美国对华政策可能的走向。
民主党籍副总统哈里斯、共和党籍前总统特朗普抓紧最后时间,在关键摇摆州宾夕法尼亚以及其它州动员选民。贺锦丽将在华盛顿的霍华德大学等待选举结果揭晓,这是她的母校。川普将在海湖庄园等待选举结果。
(德国之声中文网)根据中国央视、新华社等官方媒体的报道,财政部长蓝佛安在当天举行的全国人大常委会第十二次会议新闻发布会上介绍:从2024年开始,中国将连续五年每年从新增地方政府专项债券中安排8000亿元,专门用于化债,累计可置换隐性债务4万亿元;再加上这次全国人大常委会批准的6万亿元债务限额,直接增加地方化债资源10万亿元。
北京用“隐性债务”来描述地方政府融资平台的贷款、债券以及影子信贷。根据蓝佛安的说法,2023年底中国国债30万亿元、地方政府法定债务40.7万亿元,隐性债务14.3万亿元,政府负债率为67.5%。他希望“政策协同发力后”能够在2028年前将地方隐性债务大幅降低到2.3万亿元人民币。 不过,根据国际货币基金组织的估算,2023年底中国地方政府隐性债务总额已经高达60万亿元人民币,远远高于蓝佛安所说的14.3万亿,占当年GDP的47.6%。
降低债务风险
路透社在报道中分析指出,中国财长此次宣布的措施标志着北京不再像过去那样全面注资刺激经济来试图拉动复苏,而是尝试通过稳定地方政府资产负债表来促进经济的长期稳定。
目前,中国地方政府面临负债率过高、财政收入不足的问题,许多公务员一直在遭遇减薪。同时,私营企业的债务也在累积,抑制了向实体经济的资金流动,加剧了通货紧缩的压力。
这场危机始于2021年的中国房地产崩盘,导致土地拍卖转让费大幅下滑,这也是各地方政府最为重要的财政收入来源,此后地方政府的负债快速上升。中国财政部长蓝佛安在11月8日的新闻发布会上说,此次地方化债置换隐性债务,有望为地方政府大幅节约利息支出,因为法定债务利率大大低于隐性债务利率。“我们估算,五年累计可节约6000亿元左右。”
刺激力度不足
不过,瑞联银行(UBP)亚洲高级经济师卡萨诺瓦(Carlos Casanova)在接受路透社采访时估计,中国总共需要23万亿元人民币的债券计划来降低未出售房产的库存,并偿还到期的地方隐性债务。卡萨诺瓦还指出,蓝佛安宣布的措施力度不足,“会让市场失望。”
上海安放私募基金的信用研究负责人黄雪峰也对路透社表示,这笔钱被用于置换隐性债务“意味着不会创造新的工作,因此对经济增长的支撑作用不会很直接。”
除了斥资10万亿元用于地方化债,中国财政部长蓝佛安还表示要“结合明年经济社会发展目标,实施更加给力的财政政策”,其中包括扩大专项债券发行规模、继续发行超长期特别国债、加大中央对地方转移支付规模,目的是支持国家重大战略和重点领域安全能力建设、加大力度支持大规模设备更新、扩大消费、加强对科技创新、民生等重点领域投入保障力度。
另据中国央视报道,中国国务院还在同一天批准扩大出口信用保险覆盖范围,并将加大对贸易企业的扶持。这显然是对特朗普胜选后中美贸易冲突可能加剧的反应。由于特朗普在选战期间扬言要对所有中国商品征收60%以上的关税,许多中国生产商感到不安,加速了产能向东南亚等地转移的进程,给中国经济的长期增长蒙上了阴影。
(路透社等) ©2024年德国之声版权声明:本文所有内容受到著作权法保护,如无德国之声特别授权,不得擅自使用。任何不当行为都将导致追偿,并受到刑事追究。
THE WORLD stands on the brink of multiple trade wars. Some will be unleashed with enthusiasm by Donald Trump, a man who hails tariffs as “the greatest thing ever invented”. Yet other, more reluctant clashes will surely follow, begun by blocs and countries whose prosperity depends on access to foreign markets. Expect those unhappy warriors, notably those based in Beijing and Brussels, to insist that—if forced into battle—their aim is to keep markets open and competition fair, not to tear the system down. Alas, the distinction matters less than defenders of globalisation hope. History records many examples of protectionists wreaking economic havoc. But trade-friendly governments often feel obliged to retaliate, too, rather than stand accused of abandoning domestic industries.
This article appeared in the International section of the print edition under the headline “Trade wars are coming”
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionFrom Ukraine to Israel there is a frantic scramble to flatter and sway Donald Trump
A new poll of 30,000 people worldwide has some surprising results
The BIS ditches a new payments platform the Kremlin wants to mimic
If you thought its freezing icescapes would escape a world on fire, think again
The old order is dying. Our geopolitics columnist will tell you what’s coming next
He hopes this week’s BRICS summit will spark a sanctions-busting big bang
US President-elect Donald Trump has announced his campaign manager, Susan Summerall Wiles, will serve as his White House chief of staff when he takes over the presidency next year.
In a statement, Trump said that Wiles "just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history" and "is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected".
"It is a well deserved honour to have Susie as the first-ever female chief of staff in United States history," he continued. "I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”
Wiles, 67, is the first woman to be appointed White House chief of staff.
The Trump transition team is currently working to choose top members of the incoming Republican administration, including the heads of all 15 executive departments, such as the secretaries of state and defence, from 20 January.
In his victory speech this week, Trump referred to Wiles as "the ice maiden" as she stood behind him on stage.
She operates mostly “in the back”, the president-elect said, but she is known as one of the most feared political operatives in the US.
"Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again," he added in his statement on Thursday, referring to his oft-repeated campaign slogan.
A profile by Politico earlier this year described Susie Wiles as feared but little known.
Less than a year after Wiles started working in politics, she joined Ronald Reagan’s campaign ahead of his 1980 election.
She went on to play a key role in transforming politics in Florida, where she lives.
In 2010, she turned Rick Scott, a then-businessman with little political experience, into Florida’s governor in just seven months. Scott is now a US senator.
Wiles met Trump during the 2015 Republican presidential primary and became the co-chair of his Florida campaign. He went on to win the state over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who put her in charge of his successful gubernatorial race two years later, described Wiles as “the best in the business”.
Wiles worked on the Trump campaign alongside Chris LaCivita, a veteran of Republican politics with decades of experience.
The two worked with Trump to formulate a winning presidential primary strategy.
In her Politico profile, the 67-year-old grandmother - who is the daughter of late American football player and broadcaster Pat Summerall - said that she comes from a "traditional" political background.
“In my early career things like manners mattered and there was an expected level of decorum," she said, describing the Republican party as significantly different than the one of several decades ago.
"And so I get it that the GOP of today is different," she said, referring to the Republican party, who are also called the Grand Old Party (GOP).
"There are changes we must live with in order to get done the things we’re trying to do."
The chief of staff is considered to be the president's top aide, and plays a crucial role in every president's administration.
They essentially serve as the manager of the White House and are responsible for putting together a president's staff. A chief leads the staff through the Executive Office of the President and oversees all daily operations and staff activities.
They also advise presidents on policy issues and are responsible for directing and overseeing policy development.
At least one thing was taken for granted before voting day - women across the US were going to turn out for Kamala Harris.
Just as months of relentless polling showed Harris in a virtual tie with Donald Trump, many of those same surveys told the story of a yawning gender gap.
It was a strategy Harris’s team was betting on, hoping that an over-performance among women could make up for losses elsewhere.
It didn’t happen.
Across the country, the majority of women did cast their ballots for Harris, but not by the historic margins she needed. Instead, if early exit polls bear out, Harris’s advantage among women overall - around 10 points - actually fell four points short of Joe Biden’s in 2020.
Democrats suffered a 10 point drop among Latino women, while failing to move the needle among non-college educated women at all, who again went for Trump 63-35, preliminary data suggests.
The shortfall was not for lack of trying.
Throughout her 15-week campaign, much of Harris’s messaging was aimed directly at women, most obviously with her emphasis on abortion.
On the trail, Harris made reproductive rights a cornerstone of her pitch. She repeatedly reminded voters that Trump had once bragged about his role in overturning Roe v Wade - a ruling that ended the nationwide right to an abortion.
“I will fight to restore what Donald Trump and his hand-selected Supreme Court justice took away from the women of America,” Harris said at her closing address in DC last week.
Her most powerful advertisements featured women who had suffered under state abortion bans - deemed “Trump abortion bans” by Harris - including those who said they were denied care for miscarriages.
The strategy, it seemed, was to harness the same enthusiasm for abortion access that drove Democrats’ unexpected success in the 2022 midterms.
Abortion rights remain broadly popular - this Gallup poll in May suggested only one in 10 Americans thought it should be banned.
And even these election results seemed to underline that. Eight out of the 10 states where abortion was on the ballot voted in favour of abortion rights.
But that support did not translate into support for Harris.
Abortion did matter to women, it just didn’t matter enough, said Evan Ross Smith, a pollster and campaign consultant.
“Voters - particularly the women - who feel strongest about abortion are already voting for Democrats,” he said. But Democrats were unable to raise the salience of abortion for women who didn’t yet see it as a pressing issue.
“The abortion argument did not penetrate at all with non-college educated women, did not move them an inch. And they lost ground with Latinos,” Mr Smith said.
For many, the decisive issue proved to be the economy.
In pre-election surveys and preliminary exit data, inflation and affordability continued to top lists of voters' concerns. And for these voters, Trump was the overwhelming favourite.
Jennifer Varvar, 51, an independent from Grand Junction, Colorado said she had not even considered a vote for Harris because of the financial stress she faced over the past four years.
“For me and my family, we’re in a worse position now than we ever have been financially. It’s a struggle. I have three boys to put food on the table for,” she said. Things had been better under Trump, she said, and that’s why she voted for him.
But if gender didn't divide the electorate in the way some expected, it still played a part in the Harris defeat, say some analysts.
There have been many explanations offered for Trump’s resounding victory but for some there is one thing that stands out.
“I do think that the country is still sexist and is not ready for a woman president,” said Patti Solis Doyle, who managed Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, to Politico.
Unlike Clinton, who explicitly leaned into her gender and the history-making potential of her campaign, Harris was noticeably reluctant to do the same.
There is a widespread belief that the country is more ready for a woman president now than when Clinton ran a second time in 2016. But it's still an open question.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll in October suggested 15% of those surveyed would not be able to vote for a female president.
And Donald Trump, who doubled down on masculinity in this election, may have played a part in exploiting that.
“He framed being president as being a tough guy in a dangerous world… he framed that as the job description," said Mr Smith.
“And that’s one of the hardest possible job descriptions for a woman to successfully meet, in the minds of many Americans.”
An Israeli football fan has described being attacked by several men in overnight violence that Amsterdam police say involved youths on scooters carrying out "hit-and-run" attacks that were hard to prevent.
Adi Reuben, a 24yr-old Maccabi Tel Aviv fan who was visiting Amsterdam for the club's Europa League match with Ajax, told the BBC he was kicked on the floor by a group of young men who confronted him when he was walking to his hotel.
He said more than 10 men came up to him and his friends and asked them where they were from.
"They shouted 'Jewish, Jewish, IDF, IDF',” Mr Reuben said, referring to the Israeli military.
"They started to mess with me and I realised I had to run, but it was dark and I didn't know where to go. I fell to the floor and ten people were kicking me. They were shouting ‘Palestine’.
"They were kicking me on the floor for about a minute, then they walked off, they weren’t afraid of anything.
“I realised I had full blood on my nose and my nose was broken and it is very painful."
Mr Reuben said he could not see properly for about 30 minutes after the attack. But he said he decided against going to hospital in Amsterdam because he had heard that taxi drivers were involved in the violence.
Instead he said he was flying to Israel on Friday afternoon on a flight organised by the Israeli government and would get medical treatment there.
"This was a specific attack that was organised beforehand,” he added.
Pnina, another Maccabi Tel Aviv supporter, also told Dutch media organisation NOS that the violence against Israelis appeared pre-planned.
"It seems like it was organised. There was a lot of people. They jumped on us... We hid in the hotels until it was safe to go outside," she said.
Esther Voet, editor-in-chief of a Dutch Jewish weekly newspaper, lives in the city centre and says she offered her home to shelter several Israeli fans, after she saw footage of the violence.
"I told them this is a Jewish home and you are safe here," she told Israeli public broadcaster Kann. "People were really scared. I never thought I would go through this in Amsterdam."
Dutch police said Israeli fans had suffered "serious abuses" during "hit-and-run" attacks many of which were carried out by young men on scooters.
Amsterdam police chief Peter Holla said it had proved difficult to prevent such attacks even though police had been present in the city centre in numbers. The force eventually decided to bring Maccabi supporters together and protect them before transporting them out of the area in buses, he said.
Five people were injured but had left hospital and between 20 and 30 more had been lightly hurt, he said.
The attacks overnight into Friday followed some tensions between Maccabi fans and people in Amsterdam over previous days, officials said.
On Wednesday Maccabi fans attacked a taxi and burned a Palestinian flag, police chief Holla said. Taxi drivers then headed towards a location where about 400 Maccabi fans had gathered but police were able to take them out of the area. There were further clashes in Dam Square overnight into Thursday but police were mostly able to keep the groups separate.
On Thursday evening before the match police accompanied pro-Palestinian demonstrators and mostly managed to keep them separate from football fans - but were then unable to prevent attacks later in the evening.
"We are looking back on 36 hours that really shocked me. Supporters from Israel have been attacked and some abused in a terrible way," Holla said.
"I'm particularly shocked by fact that we’ve had one of largest police actions and we were not able to control or prevent this violence."
Amsterdam's mayor Femke Halsema said the "war in the Middle East has threatened the peace in our city" and there had been a "terrible outburst of antisemitism".
She said Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were not considered to pose a threat of violence and there was no animosity between them and fans of Dutch club Ajax.
"I do understand that this reminds us of pogroms and that this happened in Amsterdam is reprehensible. Not only people got injured last night but the history of our city has been deeply damaged, the Jewish culture has been threatened," she said.
Some Maccabi Tel Aviv fans have previously been involved in racist incidents in Israel, including cursing at the team’s Palestinian and Arab players and reportedly applying pressure on the team to oust them.
Fans of the team have also previously attacked protesters demonstrating against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Asked about video footage appearing to show Maccabi fans in Amsterdam chanting offensive slogans, Mayor Halsema said: "What happened last night has nothing to do with protest. There is no excuse for what happened."
Additional reporting Shaina Oppenheimer in Jerusalem
(德国之声中文网)以色列球迷在阿姆斯特丹遭到袭击后,以色列总理办公室表示,已派出两架飞机营救本国公民。以色列总理内塔尼亚胡在与荷兰首相肖夫(Dick Schoof)的通话中谈到了“蓄意的反犹太主义袭击”,并呼吁加强对荷兰犹太人社区的安全措施。
阿姆斯特丹市长哈尔瑟玛 (Femke Halsema) 表示,以色列球迷“遭到围攻、虐待,还有人向他们投掷烟花”。哈尔瑟玛谴责“反犹太主义”事件。警方称,5人受伤被送往医院。共有62人被捕。
以色列驻美国大使馆:“暴徒袭击了无辜的以色列人”
以色列驻美国大使馆对外通报表示,以色列特拉维夫马卡比足球队昨天(7日)在阿姆斯特丹同荷兰阿贾克斯球队进行完一场比赛之后,数百名马卡比球队的球迷在离开球场时遭到袭击。以色列驻美国大使馆在X上将施暴者称作“袭击无辜以色列人的暴徒”。
以色列外交部建议所有身处阿姆斯特丹的同胞不要佩戴犹太或以色列标志。荷兰方面最初要求以色列球迷不要离开酒店。后来这些球迷可以乘坐公共交通工具去机场。荷兰方面表示,部署了当地的安全部队来保护这些以色列球迷。
以色列总统赫尔佐格在X上写道:“我们今天早上看到了自(2023年)10月7日以来我们希望再也不要看到的恐怖、令人震惊的图像和画面:目前在荷兰阿姆斯特丹市中心发生的针对特拉维夫马卡比球迷和以色列公民的反犹太大屠杀。”
赫尔佐格还表示,他相信荷兰当局正在采取一切必要措施保护以色列人。
被许多国家列为恐怖组织的哈马斯于去年10月7日对以色列公民进行了大屠杀。据以色列军方统计,这次大屠杀夺去了 1100多以色列人的生命。约250人在加沙地带被劫持为人质。根据哈马斯当局提供的数字,在以色列随后展开的军事行动中,巴勒斯坦领土上有43000多人丧生。
以色列外长:袭击事件“为欧洲和世界敲响了警钟”
以色列新任外长萨尔(Gideon Saar)称,在阿姆斯特丹发生的袭击事件“为欧洲和世界敲响了警钟”。他说,热爱自由的国家不能允许“肆无忌惮的仇恨”在街头蔓延。萨尔强调说,历史得出的教训是:“从对犹太人的迫害和暴力开始,也永远不会以犹太人为结尾”。他宣布,他将在短时间内前往荷兰,会见荷兰政府高级代表和犹太社区的成员。
据《以色列时报》报道,社交网络上传播的视频片段还显示,以色列人在阿姆斯特丹高呼反对阿拉伯人和巴勒斯坦人的口号,这表明在夜间袭击发生之前就存在紧张局势。
在一些视频中,一些蒙面袭击者追赶以色列球迷并殴打他们。在一些画面中,行凶者踢打已经躺在地上的人。目前尚不清楚这些视频是否真实以及在什么时间拍摄。
(德新社、法新社、路透社、美联社)
© 2024年德国之声版权声明:本文所有内容受到著作权法保护,如无德国之声特别授权,不得擅自使用。任何不当行为都将导致追偿,并受到刑事追究。
反美是中国社会的“良好风尚”
中国网上流传一份北京市市场监督管理局给大用国际文化发展(北京)有限公司下达的“行政处罚告知书”,每个读到这份告知书的人,都会寒毛直竖,因为文革的阴风已然吹拂着这片大地。
这份名为“京市监罚告[2024]01316号”的告知书写道:由本局立案调查的你(单位)涉嫌发布违背社会良好风尚广告一案,已调查终结。……经查,你公司于2024年4月21日通过公司微信公众号“大用国际文化”以微信推文形式发布了标题为“雄鹰之路——美国高校&艺博馆夏季研学营”的广告宣传文案,包含“作为美国的政治心脏,白宫和国会大厦是不容错过的景点……国会大厦则是美国立法机构的所在地,其宏伟的建筑和内部的精美装饰,都体现了美国民主制度的庄严与权威”等内容。……你公司发布“体现了美国民主制度的庄严与权威”等文案以推介赴美研学项目的广告宣传行为,存在导向错误,违反了《中华人民共和国广告法》第九条第七项的规定,构成发布违背社会良好风尚广告的违法行为。
“美国国会大厦体现了美国民主制度的庄严与权威”这句话,居然“违背社会良好风尚”,那么,按照中国政府的逻辑,这句话若改写为“美国国会大厦体现了美国民主制度的虚伪与丑陋”,就“符合社会良好风尚”了?原来,中国社会的良好风尚,难道是说谎、攻击、诽谤,是反美、仇美和妖魔化美国?
中国的反美宣传由来有自、源远流长。1950年10月19日,中国派兵跨过鸭绿江,参加韩战,对抗以美军为主体的联合国军。当年11月3日,《人民日报》发表《怎样认识美国》一文,第一部分标题是“仇视美国,因为它是中国人民的死敌”,第二部分的标题是“鄙视美国,因为它是腐朽的帝国主义国家,是全世界反动堕落的大本营”,第三部分的标题是“蔑视美国,因为它是纸老虎,是完全可以打败的”。于是,仇视、鄙视、蔑视美国的“三视”教育运动应运而生。
“三视”教育的目的是清除社会上存在的亲美、崇美和恐美心理。这种心理,尤其是在与美国关系较密的一些人士——如民族资本家、留美的知识分子、基督教和天主教信徒等——中间普遍存在。
天主教大学辅仁大学校长、历史学家陈垣,一向以左派自诩,这次当然要跳出来配合“三视”运动。1950年12月8日,陈垣在《人民日报》上发表了一篇题为《美国从来就是我们的敌人》的文章。文中写道:“社会上还有些人有‘崇美’、‘恐美’心理……凡是‘崇美’的,是因为没有民族的自尊心。凡是‘恐美’的,是没有民族的自信心。”尽管如此,这位曾被毛泽东称为“国宝”的学者,最终还是在文革中被迫害致死,也算是死得其所。
“三视”教育运动进行得轰轰烈烈。全国各种媒体大量刊载相关文章。一份调查统计,1950年中国出版的147种期刊中,第10期、第11期抗美援朝的宣传文字约占16%的篇幅,其中综合时事类期刊更是占了35.5%。文联动员大批作家、艺术家,运用包括电影、戏剧、曲艺、歌曲、诗歌、小说、绘画等各种艺术形势,工厂、农村、机关、街道、学校、军队则利用黑板报、墙报、宣传画、报告会、座谈会、控诉会、声讨会等方式,进行广泛、深入的“三视”宣传。
“三视”教育运动塑造了整整一代中国人对于美国的认知。至此以后,美国在大部分中国人心中的形象,由抗日战争时期的民主、文明、对中国友好的国家,变成“世界上最反动、最野蛮、最富于侵略性的帝国主义国家”和“中国人民的死敌”。
口头上反美,身体上亲美:美国夏校被华人“攻陷”的秘密
大用国际文化是一家从事游学和留学中介的公司,该公司文案只是中规中矩地介绍其商业项目,并非刻意宣扬与官方立场背道而驰的意识形态,却遭到严厉处罚。这并非孤立的个案。近期,河南、沈阳、甘肃等多地发布紧急通知,要求排查中小学生海外研学团参与情况,将对相关项目“潜藏的意识形态风险”展开全面排查,重点整顿“推崇西式政体、美化西方文明”等内容。
美国是一面镜子,一旦肯定美国的民主自由,就等于同步承认中国的专制独裁,危及中共统治的合法性。所以,妖魔化美国是中共庞大的洗脑工程中的关键环节。中共数十年如一日的洗脑宣传颇有成效,近日发生多起在中国的美国人遭受暴力攻击事件,就是这种洗脑宣传的必然结果。
然而,中国人向来是心口不一,嘴上谎话连篇,身体却很诚实。所谓“反美是工作,留美是生活”,正是“反美斗士”司马南的名言。司马南的老婆、孩子全都移民美国,财产也转移到美国,在美国买了豪宅,他的“反美”表演斩获的“狗粮”足以让他在美国过上衣食无忧的好日子。
1998年,北大中文系女生马楠,在美国总统克林顿访问北大发表演讲时,当面反驳说,“美国人权状况恶劣”。但她一毕业就选择去“人权状况恶劣”的美国留学,真有点“我不入地狱谁入地狱”的勇气,此后她还义无反顾地嫁给了美国白人男士,生下混血孩子。
2009年夏,作家张小波和宋晓军推出畅销书《中国不高兴》,掀起狂热的反美浪潮。但两人用赚到的巨款迅速办理全家移民,在美国和加拿大过起了有豪宅和豪车的奢侈生活。那些购买他们的书的底层劳动者,却只能在水深火热的中国挣扎求存。
曾以一曲《党啊亲爱的妈妈》唱红全中国的歌手殷秀梅,发了大财后,毅然移居美国并入美国藉。她会不会改唱美国国歌《星条旗飘扬》,人们不得而知。
习近平是毛泽东之后反美立场最坚定的中共党魁。但习近平早早就将女儿习明泽送到哈佛大学读书。如果他真的爱女儿,难道一点不怕宝贝女儿被美国的“资产阶级堕落文化”污染?
上行下效,既然习近平都送女儿到美国留学生,中国菁英群体和中产阶级也都将送孩子到美国留学作为荣耀。中国官媒上全是“东升西降”的文宣,却丝毫没有改变中国家长和孩子对美国名校的羡慕和爱戴。
兵马未动,粮草先行。申请美国名校“如蜀道之难难于上青天”(唯有习近平的女儿这样的尊贵身份,才可以免试入读哈佛),送孩子到美国名校的“夏校”沾沾仙气,成了中国家长必须“出血”的项目。
据中国媒体报道,来自上海某双语学校高中部的海伦,在高一升高二的暑假参加了加州大学伯克利分校的夏校。她惊讶地发现,班上二十多个人里有将近一半是国内来的孩子,课上大家心照不宣,下了课聚在一起聊天,完全可以说中文。她表示:“对我们几个中国学生来说,我明显感觉大多数夏校的课程都没有非常难,大家抱着‘文化交流’的心态,来提前体验美国文化,再争取拿封推荐信用作申请大学,我也不例外。”海伦说的“这份体验”,当然不便宜,该夏校项目的费用包含食宿是14500美元,再加上机票等,一个半月下来花费十几万元人民币。对于权贵之家,这只是小钱;但对于普通中产阶级家庭,在中国经济下行的今天,这笔钱需要省吃俭用才能积攒下来。
来自中国的孩子攻陷美国夏校“半壁江山”的情况,同时在美国多所名校发生。康奈尔大学夏校,中国孩子接近一半;耶鲁大学夏校,中国孩子接近一半;宾夕法尼亚大学夏校,中国孩子超三成;相对小众的塔夫茨大学,中国孩子超三成;巴纳德学院夏校,除了老师是美国人以外,学生清一色都是中国孩子,老师实现“反向留学”。
邓小平当年曾感慨说,凡是跟着美国走的国家都富起来了。这是邓小平说的极少数的真话。包括习近平在内的送孩子到美国留学的家长,也都认可这句真话。
(文章只代表特约评论员个人的立场和观点)
(德国之声中文网)德国选项党希望加快提前大选的速度。执政联盟破裂之后,选项党主席魏德尔(Alice Weidel) 就发出呼吁称:“联邦总理肖尔茨早已失去了德国民众的信任,他必须为提前大选铺平道路。”
作为极右翼政党,选项党呼吁肖尔茨下周就应接受不信任投票:“冤有头债有主,他必须尽快下台。”
2021年12月底,社民党、绿党和自民党组建执政联盟以来,选项党一直对红黄绿联合政府持强烈的批评态度。选项党指责执政联盟在各个领域的政策都是失败的,其中以移民和外交政策为甚。同美国候任总统特朗普一样,选项党也要求德国在遣返非法移民和保护边境问题上采取极其激进的措施。
选项党:停止向乌克兰提供武器
选项党还坚决反对向乌克兰提供武器。2024年6月,乌克兰总统泽连斯基访问德国,并在联邦议院发表演说时,选项党议会党团发起抵制行动,集体缺席。
执政联盟破裂之后,选项党要求立即叫停拟议中的对乌军火及财政援助。该党两位主席之一的克鲁帕拉(Tino Chrupalla) 表示:“我必须提出严正警告,绝不能在联邦大选的最后几个月里继续(相关的援助计划),因为这会进一步毁坏我们的财政预算。”
提前举行选举,有可能会提升选项党在联邦德国的影响力。2021年9月举行的选举中,选项党的得票率为10%。而最新的民调显示,选项党的支持率已经提升至大约17%。
选项党:大规模遣返以及关闭边境
选项党高层的最新表述显示,即将提前举行的联邦大选中,选项党仍会将庇护政策以及移民问题作为其竞选活动的主题,过去多年里,选项党一直对这一议题乐此不疲。周四举行的新闻发布会上,克鲁帕拉表示:“我们必须阻止非法移民继续进入我们的福利体制,遣返那些必须离境的犯罪分子,必须关闭边境。”
为了实现上述目标,选项党一直在游说基民盟、基社盟以及自民党等政党开展合作。选项党主席威德尔在回应执政联盟破裂时表示:“我们敦促基民盟、基社盟以及自民党,是时候承担起公民责任、并同我们进行沟通了。因为我们的背后是数以百万计的选民。”
“推翻防火墙”
选项党尤其在不断向基民盟基社盟施压,要求他们放弃绝不同选项党合作的固执立场。克鲁帕拉表示,排挤选项党的做法应该告一段落了:“是时候推翻防火墙了,因为德国民众的期许是,解决问题、走出危机。”
不过,选项党同联盟党组建执政联盟的可能性仍微乎其微。因为从上一届联邦大选至今,选项党已经变得越来越激进。基于该党的极右倾向,联邦宪法保护局一直在对其进行密切观察。
此外,绿党因提倡开放式社会模式,一直被选项党视为头号敌人。不过,过去一段时间以来,基民盟基社盟的保守立场也遭致选项党的强力抨击。去年的欧洲议会大选中,选项党候选人克拉( Maximilian Krah)就曾宣布,基民盟是选项党的主要敌人,并发出了“摧毁”基民盟的呼吁。除此之外,选项党高层党魁中拒绝同基民盟开展任何形式合作的,也大有人在。他们抨击基民盟已经演变成了“高高在上的精英政党”。
也正是基于选项党日趋激进化等诸多原因,基民盟主席梅茨今年八月接受“编辑部网络”采访时表示:“我们绝不能同这个政党开展合作,因为这会扼杀基民盟。”
同极右势力之间存在千丝万缕的联系
即将举行的联邦大选中,同选项党相关的一系列丑闻究竟会产生怎样的影响,目前尚无法定论。上周,选项党的三名党员被捕,因为他们涉嫌向一个极右恐怖主义团伙提供支持。选项党表示,以上三人将被开除出党。
种种迹象显示,选项党党员同新纳粹以及极右势力相互勾结的情况已经变得相当普遍。巴伐利亚州议会一名选项党议员也因煽动煽动民族仇恨的极右言行正在接受司法调查。而一名选项党联邦议员则因涉嫌策划政变被拘留审查。
由于选项党变得日益激进,由各政党议员组成的一个跨党派小组目前准备提交禁止选项党的提案。这项提案获得议院必要多数的支持情况下,最终仍需联邦宪法法院做出最终裁决。
© 2024年德国之声版权声明:本文所有内容受到著作权法保护,如无德国之声特别授权,不得擅自使用。任何不当行为都将导致追偿,并受到刑事追究。
The most prominent Islamic scholar in Gaza has issued a rare, powerful fatwa condemning Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.
Professor Dr Salman al-Dayah, a former dean of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza, is one of the region’s most respected religious authorities, so his legal opinion carries significant weight among Gaza’s two million population, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim.
A fatwa is a non-binding Islamic legal ruling from a respected religious scholar usually based on the Quran or the Sunnah - the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad.
Dr Dayah’s fatwa, which was published in a detailed six-page document, criticises Hamas for what he calls “violating Islamic principles governing jihad”.
Jihad means “struggle” in Arabic and in Islam it can be a personal struggle for spiritual improvement or a military struggle against unbelievers.
Dr Dayah adds: “If the pillars, causes, or conditions of jihad are not met, it must be avoided in order to avoid destroying people’s lives. This is something that is easy to guess for our country’s politicians, so the attack must have been avoided.”
For Hamas, the fatwa represents an embarrassing and potentially damaging critique, particularly as the group often justifies its attacks on Israel through religious arguments to garner support from Arab and Muslim communities.
The 7 October attack saw hundreds of Hamas gunmen from Gaza invade southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign to destroy Hamas, during which more than 43,400 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Dr Dayah argues that the significant civilian casualties in Gaza, together with the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and humanitarian disaster that have followed the 7 October attack, means that it was in direct contradiction to the teachings of Islam.
Hamas, he says, has failed in its obligations of “keeping fighters away from the homes of defenceless [Palestinian] civilians and their shelters, and providing security and safety as much as possible in the various aspects of life... security, economic, health, and education, and saving enough supplies for them.”
Dr Dayah points to Quranic verses and the Sunnah that set strict conditions for the conduct of jihad, including the necessity of avoiding actions that provoke an excessive and disproportionate response by an opponent.
His fatwa highlights that, according to Islamic law, a military raid should not trigger a response that exceeds the intended benefits of the action.
He also stresses that Muslim leaders are obligated to ensure the safety and well-being of non-combatants, including by providing food, medicine, and refuge to those not involved in the fighting.
“Human life is more precious to God than Mecca,” Dr Dayah states.
His opposition to the 7 October attack is especially significant given his deep influence in Gaza, where he is seen as a key religious figure and a vocal critic of Islamist movements, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
His moderate Salafist beliefs place him in direct opposition to Hamas’s approach to armed resistance and its ties to Shia-ruled Iran.
Salafists are fundamentalists who seek to adhere the example of the Prophet Muhammad and the first generations who followed him.
Dr Dayah has consistently argued for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate that adheres strictly to Islamic law, rather than the political party-based systems that Hamas and other groups advocate.
“Our role model is the Prophet Muhammad, who founded a nation and did not establish political parties that divide the nation. Therefore, parties in Islam are forbidden,” he said in a sermon he gave at a mosque several years ago.
He has also condemned extremism, opposing jihadist groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and has used all of his platforms to issue fatwas on various social and political issues, ranging from commercial transactions, social disputes over marriage and divorce, to the conduct of political violence.
The fatwa adds to the growing internal debate within Gaza and the broader Arab world over the moral and legal implications of Hamas’s actions, and it is likely to fuel further divisions within Palestinian society regarding the use of armed resistance in the ongoing conflict with Israel.
Sheikh Ashraf Ahmed, one of Dr Dayah’s students who was forced to leave his house in Gaza City last year and flee to the south of Gaza with his wife and nine children, told the BBC: “Our scholar [Dr Dayah] refused to leave his home in northern Gaza despite the fears of Israeli air strikes. He chose to fulfil his religious duty by issuing his legal opinion on the attack”.
Ahmed described the fatwa as the most powerful legal judgment of a historical moment. “It’s a deeply well researched document, reflecting Dayah’s commitment to Islamic jurisprudence,” he said.
New floods have hit the region of Girona in north-eastern Spain, sweeping away around 30 cars in the town of Cadaqués, according to Spanish media reports.
Videos posted by a local journalist showed a torrent of water gushing down the street and a pile of cars blocking a bridge early on Friday.
No casualties were reported in the latest round of flooding to hit the country.
More than 200 people were killed last week, most in the Valencia area, in one of the worst floods in Europe this century.
The disaster ignited intense anger at the authorities for not issuing emergency alerts sooner.
Flooding in Cadaqués in the early hours of Friday morning caused around 30 vehicles to pile up under a bridge, Catalonia's fire service said on X. No one was injured or trapped, the emergency responders added.
More potentially dangerous weather is expected in the region overnight.
Catalonia's meteorological service issued a rain warning from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon for the area of Alt Emporda, where Cadaqués is located. The weather agency warned rain intensity could exceed 20 mm (0.7 inches) in 30 minutes.
The agency recorded 76.8 mm (3 inches) of rain in Cadaqués on 7 and 8 November, with more than 100 mm (4 inches) logged in two other towns nearby.
Spain received 72% more rainfall from 1 October to 5 November than the normal value for that time period, according to Aemet, Spain's weather agency.
The rainfall, which experts said was intensified by climate change, led to flash floods that trapped people in their cars.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House effectively slammed the door on the two cases involving federal criminal charges against him.
A state case against him for allegedly conspiring to interfere with Georgia’s election in 2020 will go on hold until after his term in office ends - if it's still alive by then.
But next week, the fate of the remaining case – his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York – will be determined. It could stand, or it could be swept away in the same political and legal tide that has allowed him to escape the others.
Justice Juan Merchan will decide by Tuesday whether to grant Trump’s pre-election request to throw out his conviction. Should Justice Merchan side with Trump, it would almost wipe clean his slate of criminal woes.
But should the judge uphold the conviction, he would proceed to sentencing later this month. It would likely spark even more delay attempts from Trump and open up an unprecedented new front for America’s criminal justice system.
“This is truly uncharted territory,” said Anna Cominsky, a professor at the New York Law School.
In May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records. The convictions stemmed from Trump’s attempt to cover up reimbursements to his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who in 2016 paid off an adult film star to remain silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump’s lawyers argue that a recent US Supreme Court ruling granting presidents a degree of immunity from criminal prosecution applies to certain aspects of his New York case, and therefore the indictment and conviction should be tossed.
During the trial, Justice Merchan dismissed attempts by Trump’s lawyers to throw out the case on immunity grounds. But that was before the US Supreme Court ruled in Trump’s favour this summer – and before Trump decisively won re-election.
Justice Merchan has set a deadline of 12 November to decide whether to grant Trump’s request.
If he throws out the conviction, that will be the end of the case.
But if he denies the defense's request, Trump’s much-delayed sentencing will remain scheduled for 26 November.
Even if Justice Merchan upholds the conviction and keeps the scheduled sentencing, Trump’s team is almost certain to seek more delays and appeals.
Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney, did not respond to inquiries about whether he planned to seek a delay.
Because Trump will be tied up with a presidential transition and the legal questions about sentencing a president are so complex, some scholars see very little chance it will stay on the calendar.
“I think the most likely outcome in the state case is the judge putting off sentencing until after Trump's term in office,” said Daniel Charles Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School.
“To actually impose a sentence would raise any number of messy issues in the short term,” including political ones, he said.
If Trump does find himself in a Manhattan courtroom later this month, deciding his fate still would be an unprecedented challenge.
Under the law, Trump faces a range of sentences, including fines, probation and up to four years in prison. But many options are rendered impractical by his imminent return to the White House.
“Sentencing a sitting president may be one of the most complicated, fraught sentencing decisions you can imagine,” Ms Cominsky said.
“It’s hard to imagine what sentence could be imposed that would not impede a president’s ability to do their job or compromise the president’s security."
Few expect Justice Merchan to sentence Trump to a stint behind bars at this point.
“He’s a 78-year old man with no criminal history, who has been convicted of a non-violent felony,” said retired New York Supreme Court Justice Diane Kiesel. “I don’t think a judge would give a person under those sentences an incarceration sentence.”
Even if Justice Merchan did reach for such a sentence, Trump’s team would almost certainly appeal it, delaying actual punishment.
Trump could leave a sentencing hearing with the legal equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Justice Merchan could ask the former president to pay a relatively small fine in the three- or four-figure range.
He could also give Trump an unconditional discharge; “basically, goodbye,” as Justice Kiesel puts it.
The only thing that is certain is that Trump cannot make this conviction go away on his own.
Trump has explored the possibility of pardoning himself from potential criminal charges in the past, and could do so for his federal indictments when he becomes president in January.
But he cannot pardon himself in New York, as the conviction occurred in state court.
His fate, at the moment, is in the hands of the court. But regardless of the outcome, Trump will likely avoid the most serious punishments facing him.
“He is a very lucky man,” Justice Kiesel said.
US President-elect Donald Trump has announced his campaign manager, Susan Summerall Wiles, will serve as his White House chief of staff when he takes over the presidency next year.
In a statement, Trump said that Wiles "just helped me achieve one of the greatest political victories in American history" and "is tough, smart, innovative, and is universally admired and respected".
"It is a well deserved honour to have Susie as the first-ever female chief of staff in United States history," he continued. "I have no doubt that she will make our country proud.”
Wiles, 67, is the first woman to be appointed White House chief of staff.
The Trump transition team is currently working to choose top members of the incoming Republican administration, including the heads of all 15 executive departments, such as the secretaries of state and defence, from 20 January.
In his victory speech this week, Trump referred to Wiles as "the ice maiden" as she stood behind him on stage.
She operates mostly “in the back”, the president-elect said, but she is known as one of the most feared political operatives in the US.
"Susie will continue to work tirelessly to Make America Great Again," he added in his statement on Thursday, referring to his oft-repeated campaign slogan.
A profile by Politico earlier this year described Susie Wiles as feared but little known.
Less than a year after Wiles started working in politics, she joined Ronald Reagan’s campaign ahead of his 1980 election.
She went on to play a key role in transforming politics in Florida, where she lives.
In 2010, she turned Rick Scott, a then-businessman with little political experience, into Florida’s governor in just seven months. Scott is now a US senator.
Wiles met Trump during the 2015 Republican presidential primary and became the co-chair of his Florida campaign. He went on to win the state over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, who put her in charge of his successful gubernatorial race two years later, described Wiles as “the best in the business”.
Wiles worked on the Trump campaign alongside Chris LaCivita, a veteran of Republican politics with decades of experience.
The two worked with Trump to formulate a winning presidential primary strategy.
In her Politico profile, the 67-year-old grandmother - who is the daughter of late American football player and broadcaster Pat Summerall - said that she comes from a "traditional" political background.
“In my early career things like manners mattered and there was an expected level of decorum," she said, describing the Republican party as significantly different than the one of several decades ago.
"And so I get it that the GOP of today is different," she said, referring to the Republican party, who are also called the Grand Old Party (GOP).
"There are changes we must live with in order to get done the things we’re trying to do."
The chief of staff is considered to be the president's top aide, and plays a crucial role in every president's administration.
They essentially serve as the manager of the White House and are responsible for putting together a president's staff. A chief leads the staff through the Executive Office of the President and oversees all daily operations and staff activities.
They also advise presidents on policy issues and are responsible for directing and overseeing policy development.
Parents have been "paying over the odds" for baby milk because of a lack of competition in the formula market, a government watchdog has said.
It stopped short of recommending price controls, but said they remain a possibility, adding parents have been "shouldering the costs" of price increases in the market for years.
The Competition and Markets Authority's (CMA) interim report said the baby milk industry needed a shake-up to help parents struggling to afford it.
"We're concerned many parents opt for more expensive products, equating higher costs with better quality for their baby," CMA chief executive Sarah Cardell said.
Just two companies - Danone and Nestle - control the majority of the UK market.
Both firms have previously welcomed the investigation.
New floods have hit the region of Girona in north-eastern Spain, sweeping away around 30 cars in the town of Cadaqués, according to Spanish media reports.
Videos posted by a local journalist showed a torrent of water gushing down the street and a pile of cars blocking a bridge early on Friday.
No casualties were reported in the latest round of flooding to hit the country.
More than 200 people were killed last week, most in the Valencia area, in one of the worst floods in Europe this century.
The disaster ignited intense anger at the authorities for not issuing emergency alerts sooner.
Flooding in Cadaqués in the early hours of Friday morning caused around 30 vehicles to pile up under a bridge, Catalonia's fire service said on X. No one was injured or trapped, the emergency responders added.
More potentially dangerous weather is expected in the region overnight.
Catalonia's meteorological service issued a rain warning from Friday evening until Saturday afternoon for the area of Alt Emporda, where Cadaqués is located. The weather agency warned rain intensity could exceed 20 mm (0.7 inches) in 30 minutes.
The agency recorded 76.8 mm (3 inches) of rain in Cadaqués on 7 and 8 November, with more than 100 mm (4 inches) logged in two other towns nearby.
Spain received 72% more rainfall from 1 October to 5 November than the normal value for that time period, according to Aemet, Spain's weather agency.
The rainfall, which experts said was intensified by climate change, led to flash floods that trapped people in their cars.
The most prominent Islamic scholar in Gaza has issued a rare, powerful fatwa condemning Hamas’s 7 October 2023 attack on Israel, which triggered the devastating war in the Palestinian territory.
Professor Dr Salman al-Dayah, a former dean of the Faculty of Sharia and Law at the Hamas-affiliated Islamic University of Gaza, is one of the region’s most respected religious authorities, so his legal opinion carries significant weight among Gaza’s two million population, which is predominantly Sunni Muslim.
A fatwa is a non-binding Islamic legal ruling from a respected religious scholar usually based on the Quran or the Sunnah - the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad.
Dr Dayah’s fatwa, which was published in a detailed six-page document, criticises Hamas for what he calls “violating Islamic principles governing jihad”.
Jihad means “struggle” in Arabic and in Islam it can be a personal struggle for spiritual improvement or a military struggle against unbelievers.
Dr Dayah adds: “If the pillars, causes, or conditions of jihad are not met, it must be avoided in order to avoid destroying people’s lives. This is something that is easy to guess for our country’s politicians, so the attack must have been avoided.”
For Hamas, the fatwa represents an embarrassing and potentially damaging critique, particularly as the group often justifies its attacks on Israel through religious arguments to garner support from Arab and Muslim communities.
The 7 October attack saw hundreds of Hamas gunmen from Gaza invade southern Israel. About 1,200 people were killed and 251 others taken hostage.
Israel responded by launching a military campaign to destroy Hamas, during which more than 43,400 people have been killed in Gaza, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
Dr Dayah argues that the significant civilian casualties in Gaza, together with the widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure and humanitarian disaster that have followed the 7 October attack, means that it was in direct contradiction to the teachings of Islam.
Hamas, he says, has failed in its obligations of “keeping fighters away from the homes of defenceless [Palestinian] civilians and their shelters, and providing security and safety as much as possible in the various aspects of life... security, economic, health, and education, and saving enough supplies for them.”
Dr Dayah points to Quranic verses and the Sunnah that set strict conditions for the conduct of jihad, including the necessity of avoiding actions that provoke an excessive and disproportionate response by an opponent.
His fatwa highlights that, according to Islamic law, a military raid should not trigger a response that exceeds the intended benefits of the action.
He also stresses that Muslim leaders are obligated to ensure the safety and well-being of non-combatants, including by providing food, medicine, and refuge to those not involved in the fighting.
“Human life is more precious to God than Mecca,” Dr Dayah states.
His opposition to the 7 October attack is especially significant given his deep influence in Gaza, where he is seen as a key religious figure and a vocal critic of Islamist movements, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
His moderate Salafist beliefs place him in direct opposition to Hamas’s approach to armed resistance and its ties to Shia-ruled Iran.
Salafists are fundamentalists who seek to adhere the example of the Prophet Muhammad and the first generations who followed him.
Dr Dayah has consistently argued for the establishment of an Islamic caliphate that adheres strictly to Islamic law, rather than the political party-based systems that Hamas and other groups advocate.
“Our role model is the Prophet Muhammad, who founded a nation and did not establish political parties that divide the nation. Therefore, parties in Islam are forbidden,” he said in a sermon he gave at a mosque several years ago.
He has also condemned extremism, opposing jihadist groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda, and has used all of his platforms to issue fatwas on various social and political issues, ranging from commercial transactions, social disputes over marriage and divorce, to the conduct of political violence.
The fatwa adds to the growing internal debate within Gaza and the broader Arab world over the moral and legal implications of Hamas’s actions, and it is likely to fuel further divisions within Palestinian society regarding the use of armed resistance in the ongoing conflict with Israel.
Sheikh Ashraf Ahmed, one of Dr Dayah’s students who was forced to leave his house in Gaza City last year and flee to the south of Gaza with his wife and nine children, told the BBC: “Our scholar [Dr Dayah] refused to leave his home in northern Gaza despite the fears of Israeli air strikes. He chose to fulfil his religious duty by issuing his legal opinion on the attack”.
Ahmed described the fatwa as the most powerful legal judgment of a historical moment. “It’s a deeply well researched document, reflecting Dayah’s commitment to Islamic jurisprudence,” he said.
A 17-year-old girl in China hailed as a genius in a mathematics contest cheated, competition organisers have said - ending months of scepticism over her stellar results.
Jiang Ping, a fashion design student from a rural town in Jiangsu province, made headlines in June when she came 12th in the qualifiers of an international maths contest run by Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.
She was the first finalist since the competition began in 2018 to have come from a lowly vocational school, Chinese media reported. The vast majority of the 800 finalists came from elite universities.
Jiang's results turned her into an overnight sensation, and she was labelled a "prodigy" in the press and on social media.
Under China's notoriously cut-throat education system, academic excellence is lauded. Many people online were encouraged by Jiang's results, seeing them as proof that students from vocational institutes could still excel academically.
However, as doubt surrounding her abilities snowballed, competition organisers said last Sunday that Jiang had violated competition rules in the preliminary round, by receiving help from her teacher, who was also a contestant himself.
“This has exposed problems like inadequacies in the competition format and the lack of rigour in supervision. We sincerely apologise,” organisers said in a statement.
According to the final results announced on Sunday, neither Jiang nor her teacher was among 86 winners in the competition.
The annual mathematics contest is open to contestants from institutions worldwide and hosted by Damo Academy, Alibaba’s research institute.
This year, Jiang, a student at Jiangsu Lianshui Secondary Vocational School, outperformed other finalists from some of the world’s most prestigious institutions — including Peking University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the University of Oxford.
She had chosen to study at the vocational school both because she was interested in fashion design, and because her sister and friends were there, said local media outlets.
Jiang's results and unconventional educational background soon grabbed nationwide attention. Her story was featured in a video produced by Damo Academy and she was interviewed by news outlets across the country.
“Learning maths is bumpy, but every time I solve the problems I feel quite happy,” she told the state-run People’s Daily. “No matter what the future holds, I will keep learning.”
Jiang’s teacher, Wang Runqiu, was also thrust into the spotlight, hailed as an educator who noticed and encouraged her passion for maths. Speaking to the media, he described her as an attentive student who had learnt advanced mathematics herself.
"I have encountered many setbacks in the process of learning maths,” he said. “So, I want to do everything I can to help my students and let them know that there are other possibilities in the future.”
But along with an outpouring of praise for Jiang and her teacher, the student’s story also sparked a discussion about whether China’s education system did enough to support gifted students in less academic pathways - especially those who may not have received similar recognition by their teachers.
China's education system focuses much of its resources on those taking the "Gaokao" - the notoriously difficult exam that students need to take in order to get into university. Those in vocational schools had long faced restrictions in taking the gaokao and enrolling in regular universities, until an education reform in 2022 offered vocational school students an alternative university entrance exam.
An earlier op-ed in state-news media outlet Xinhua said that Jiang's results “hint[ed] at an awkward truth: even youths as talented as her may be easily buried without good education credentials”.
But as Jiang’s fame burgeoned, criticism and scepticism surrounding her skills also started to bubble.
In June, dozens of other finalists published a joint letter they wrote to the competition organising committee demanding an investigation into Jiang. They also called for her answers to the preliminary test questions to be made public.
The finalists alleged that Jiang had made “several apparent writing mistakes” in an online video and that she “seemed unfamiliar with these mathematical expressions and symbols”.
While the preliminary round of the competition allowed participants to use programming software, the final round was a closed-book exam. The results of the finals, which were initially set to be released in August, were postponed for several months.
When the results were finally made public on Sunday, Jiang was not among the 86 winners of the final round.
Her school also confirmed in a statement on Sunday that Jiang had been helped by her teacher Wang, and that Wang had been given a warning and disqualified from teachers’ awards for the year. The statement also called for leniency and protection for the teenager.
Attempts by the BBC to contact Jiang's family were unsuccessful. A social media account once used by her mother is now defunct, and a phone number linked to her father has been deactivated. Multiple phone calls by the BBC to Jiang's school went unanswered, and a village official declined to discuss Jiang when contacted by the BBC.
While Sunday’s revelation unleashed a wave of criticism of Jiang and her teacher, many social media users also spoke up for the teenager, arguing the bigger responsibility lay with her school and teacher.
“Jiang Ping is not innocent, that’s without question. But who are the worst parties in this?” reads a post on Weibo. “The adults brought this child along to do a bad deed, and let her suffer all the consequences.”
“Even if the whole thing was faked, Jiang Ping was not the mastermind behind it,” another wrote on Weibo. “She should not be burned at the stake.”
Donald Trump's transition team is already vetting potential candidates who could serve in his administration when he returns to the White House in January.
On Thursday, he made the first announcement naming his campaign co-manager Susan Summerall Wiles as his White House chief of staff.
Many of the figures who served under Trump in his first term do not plan to return, though a handful of loyalists are rumoured to be making a comeback.
But the US president-elect is now surrounded by a new cast of characters who may fill his cabinet, staff his White House and serve in key roles across government.
Here is a look at the some of the names being floated for the top jobs.
The past two years have been quite a journey for the nephew of former President John F Kennedy.
An environmental lawyer by trade, he ran for president as a Democrat, with most of his family speaking out against his anti-vaccine views and conspiracy theories as they endorsed Joe Biden's re-election.
He then switched to an independent candidacy but, failing to gain traction amid a series of controversies, dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.
In the last two months of the 2024 election cycle, he spearheaded a Trump campaign initiative called "Make America Healthy Again".
Trump recently promised he would play a major role related to public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Safety Administration (FDA).
RFK Jr, as he is known, recently asserted he would push to remove fluoride from drinking water because "it's a very bad way to deliver it into our systems" - though this has been challenged by some experts.
And in an interview with NBC News, Kennedy rejected the idea that he was "anti-vaccine", saying he wouldn't "take away anybody's vaccines" but rather provide them with "the best information" to make their own choices.
Rather than a formal cabinet position, Kennedy used the interview to suggest he could take on a broader role within the White House.
Trump's landslide victory over Kamala Harris was masterminded by campaign co-chairs Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, who he referred to in his victory speech on Wednesday as "the ice baby".
She has since been confirmed to be the incoming chief of staff under the second Trump administration - Trump's first confirmed appointment for his second term - making her the first woman to take on the role.
Wiles, who Trump claimed "likes to stay in the background”, is considered one of the most feared and respected political operatives in the country.
Less than a year after she started working in politics, she worked on Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign and later became a scheduler in his White House.
In 2010, she turned Rick Scott, a then-businessman with little political experience, into Florida’s governor in just seven months. Scott is now a US senator.
Wiles met Trump during the 2015 Republican presidential primary and she became the co-chair of his Florida campaign, at the time considered a swing state. Trump went on to narrowly defeat Hillary Clinton there in 2016.
Wiles has been commended by Republicans for her ability to command respect and check the big egos of those in the president-elect's orbit, which could enable her to impose a sense of order that none of his four previous chiefs of staff could.
The world's richest man announced his support for the former president earlier this year, despite saying in 2022 that "it's time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset".
The tech billionaire has since emerged as one of the most visible and well-known backers of Trump and donated more than $119m (£91.6m) this election cycle to America PAC - a political action committee he created to support the former president.
Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of the social media platform X, also launched a voter registration drive that included a $1m (£771,000) give-away to a random swing-state voter each day during the closing stretch of the campaign.
Since registering as a Republican ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Musk has been increasingly vocal on issues including illegal immigration and transgender rights.
Both Musk and Trump have concentrated on the idea of him leading a new "Department of Government Efficiency", where he would cut costs, reform regulations and streamline what he calls a "massive, suffocating federal bureaucracy".
The would-be agency's acronym - DOGE - is a playful reference to a "meme-coin" cryptocurrency Musk has previously promoted.
The former Kansas congressman served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then secretary of state during Trump's first administration.
A foreign policy hawk and a fierce supporter of Israel, he played a highly visible role in moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He was among the key players in the implementation of the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
He remained a loyal defender of his boss, joking that there would be "a smooth transition to a second Trump administration" amid Trump's false claims of election fraud in late 2020.
He has been tipped as a top contender for the role of defence secretary, alongside Michael Waltz, a Florida lawmaker and military veteran who sits on the armed services committee in the US House of Representatives.
Richard Grenell served as Trump's ambassador to Germany, special envoy to the Balkans and his acting director of national intelligence.
The Republican was also heavily involved in Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, in the swing state of Nevada.
Trump prizes Grenell's loyalty and has described him as "my envoy".
In September, he sat in on Trump's private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The former president has often claimed he will end the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours" of taking office and Grenell has advocated for setting up an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine as a means to that end - an idea seen as unacceptable by Kyiv.
He's considered a contender for secretary of state or national security advisor, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
The Trump 2024 campaign's national press secretary previously served in his White House press office, as an assistant press secretary.
The 27-year-old Gen-Zer made a bid to become the youngest woman ever elected to the US Congress in 2022, to represent a seat in her home state of New Hampshire, but fell short.
She is tipped to become the White House press secretary - the most public-facing position in the cabinet.
Tom Homan served as the acting director of the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) during the first Trump administration, where he was a proponent of separating migrant children from their parents as a way to deter illegal crossings.
At the time, he made headlines for saying politicians who support sanctuary city policies should be charged with crimes. He later resigned from his Ice position in 2018, mid-way through the Trump presidency.
He has since emerged as a key figure in developing Trump's mass migrant deportation plan, and has been floated as a potential pick to head the Department of Homeland Security.
Homan spoke on the deportation plan last month in an interview with BBC's US partner CBS News, saying that "it's not going to be - a mass sweep of neighbourhoods."
"They'll be targeted arrests. We’ll know who we’re going to arrest, where we’re most likely to find ‘em based on numerous, you know, investigative processes," he said.
Donald Trump’s return to the White House effectively slammed the door on the two cases involving federal criminal charges against him.
A state case against him for allegedly conspiring to interfere with Georgia’s election in 2020 will go on hold until after his term in office ends - if it's still alive by then.
But next week, the fate of the remaining case – his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York – will be determined. It could stand, or it could be swept away in the same political and legal tide that has allowed him to escape the others.
Justice Juan Merchan will decide by Tuesday whether to grant Trump’s pre-election request to throw out his conviction. Should Justice Merchan side with Trump, it would almost wipe clean his slate of criminal woes.
But should the judge uphold the conviction, he would proceed to sentencing later this month. It would likely spark even more delay attempts from Trump and open up an unprecedented new front for America’s criminal justice system.
“This is truly uncharted territory,” said Anna Cominsky, a professor at the New York Law School.
In May, a New York jury found Trump guilty of falsifying business records. The convictions stemmed from Trump’s attempt to cover up reimbursements to his ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, who in 2016 paid off an adult film star to remain silent about an alleged sexual encounter with Trump.
Trump’s lawyers argue that a recent US Supreme Court ruling granting presidents a degree of immunity from criminal prosecution applies to certain aspects of his New York case, and therefore the indictment and conviction should be tossed.
During the trial, Justice Merchan dismissed attempts by Trump’s lawyers to throw out the case on immunity grounds. But that was before the US Supreme Court ruled in Trump’s favour this summer – and before Trump decisively won re-election.
Justice Merchan has set a deadline of 12 November to decide whether to grant Trump’s request.
If he throws out the conviction, that will be the end of the case.
But if he denies the defense's request, Trump’s much-delayed sentencing will remain scheduled for 26 November.
Even if Justice Merchan upholds the conviction and keeps the scheduled sentencing, Trump’s team is almost certain to seek more delays and appeals.
Todd Blanche, Trump’s lead attorney, did not respond to inquiries about whether he planned to seek a delay.
Because Trump will be tied up with a presidential transition and the legal questions about sentencing a president are so complex, some scholars see very little chance it will stay on the calendar.
“I think the most likely outcome in the state case is the judge putting off sentencing until after Trump's term in office,” said Daniel Charles Richman, a professor at Columbia Law School.
“To actually impose a sentence would raise any number of messy issues in the short term,” including political ones, he said.
If Trump does find himself in a Manhattan courtroom later this month, deciding his fate still would be an unprecedented challenge.
Under the law, Trump faces a range of sentences, including fines, probation and up to four years in prison. But many options are rendered impractical by his imminent return to the White House.
“Sentencing a sitting president may be one of the most complicated, fraught sentencing decisions you can imagine,” Ms Cominsky said.
“It’s hard to imagine what sentence could be imposed that would not impede a president’s ability to do their job or compromise the president’s security."
Few expect Justice Merchan to sentence Trump to a stint behind bars at this point.
“He’s a 78-year old man with no criminal history, who has been convicted of a non-violent felony,” said retired New York Supreme Court Justice Diane Kiesel. “I don’t think a judge would give a person under those sentences an incarceration sentence.”
Even if Justice Merchan did reach for such a sentence, Trump’s team would almost certainly appeal it, delaying actual punishment.
Trump could leave a sentencing hearing with the legal equivalent of a slap on the wrist. Justice Merchan could ask the former president to pay a relatively small fine in the three- or four-figure range.
He could also give Trump an unconditional discharge; “basically, goodbye,” as Justice Kiesel puts it.
The only thing that is certain is that Trump cannot make this conviction go away on his own.
Trump has explored the possibility of pardoning himself from potential criminal charges in the past, and could do so for his federal indictments when he becomes president in January.
But he cannot pardon himself in New York, as the conviction occurred in state court.
His fate, at the moment, is in the hands of the court. But regardless of the outcome, Trump will likely avoid the most serious punishments facing him.
“He is a very lucky man,” Justice Kiesel said.
DW记者深入纽约市华人区,那里的华裔美国公民中六成以上从未参与过投票。那么,投票的那些人会选谁呢?
(德国之声中文网)台湾经济部长郭智辉周四(11月8日)指出,他认为特朗普上任之后的贸易政策对台湾影响不会太剧烈,但对在中国的台商会产生较大的影响。
过去四十年,台湾企业受益于较低的成本,在中国投资了数十亿美元。而即将在明年一月回归担任美国总统的特朗普在竞选期间曾多次谈及,未来将会对进口产品征收10%到20%的关税。对于中国制的产品,特朗普更威胁要征收高达60%的关税。
特朗普当选或加速台商返台
郭智辉说,台湾政府已经做好准备,包括将尽快提出协助台企将生产基地从中国转出的措施,以降低美国可能实施的高关税政策冲击。他在立法院进行政策报告时表示:「经济部不是等着接招,我们对所有情况的变异随时掌握」。郭智辉也提到,特朗普当选有可能让在中国的台商加速回流台湾。
事实上在近几年来,由于中国经济低迷、国际政经情势等因素,不少台湾企业早已逐渐减少赴中投资,甚至将业务移出中国。根据台湾经济部今年初公布的数据显示,截止至2023年11月为止,台商对中国大陆(不含港澳)的年度投资额仅有29亿美元,较前一年减少了近34%,且仅占该年度台商海外投资总额的12%。
新政策助力台企业出海
郭智辉也指出,在他今年五月上任后没多久就推动「境外关内」,准备把供应链带到海外,这也是因应方式之一。所谓「境外关内」即由政府主导,在外国设立园区供企业进驻、在当地生产商品,同時帮助台湾企业解决原料、人才、物流、关税等问题。
当被问到对于特朗普称「台湾抢走美国的芯片生意」的看法,郭智辉强调,「我们不是抢,而是在替美国人生产」。他认为,台湾和美国在半导体方面是互补的,台湾拥有完整的半导体供应链,而设计则是美国的强项。他也补充,台湾出口至美国的多为高科技产品,台积电也会持续在美国扩大投资,这些都是在帮助美国建立产业基础。
(路透社、联合报、中央社等)
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(德国之声中文网)在德国红绿灯“政治联姻”宣告破裂之后,在野党基民盟主席默尔茨(Friedrich Merz)已经一再要求迅速举行新一届联邦议院选举。本周五(11月8日),他再次呼吁联邦总理肖尔茨,下周三(13日)就提请联邦议院对现任柏林政府做出信任投票。肖尔茨在过去两天一直坚持要等到明年1月15日再举行信任投票。
联邦议院对政府进行信任投票是举行新一届大选的前提。在无法赢得联邦议院信任的情况下,联邦总理可以提请联邦总统解散联邦议院。按照德国基本法中的相关规定,联邦议院解散后60天之内必须举行新的大选。根据总理肖尔茨提出的时间表,新一届大选有可能在明年3月底举行。
在何时举行信任投票的问题上,默尔茨与肖尔茨之间存在巨大分歧。默尔茨抱怨肖尔茨没有对为什么要等两个月后,而不是下周就要求举行信任投票做出合理的解释。
除了基民盟之外,选项党、“莎拉·瓦根克内希特联盟”(BSW)和被赶出联合政府的自民党也都要求下周就举行信任投票。
BSW党首瓦根克内希特在接受法新社采访时说:“红绿灯政府出现的人事混乱局面表明新的选举不能再推迟。总理早就失去了对一切的控制,民众对此已经无法再理解。”
被肖尔茨解职的前财政部长、自民党主席林德纳周三晚间也表示支持“立即进行信任投票和新的选举”。他说,这不仅“对民主很重要…… 我们的国家不能再浪费任何时间”。
选项党领导人韦德尔周三晚间也向肖尔茨提出迅速举行信任投票,“以便让这个国家能够尽快重新开始”。她还呼吁联盟党和自民党与选项党达成协议,以便“建立一个没有社民党和绿党的政府”。
周四,德国联邦总统施泰因迈尔向自民党籍的前财政部长林德纳、前教育部长施塔克-瓦青格(Bettina Stark-Watzinger)和前司法部长布施曼(Marco Buschmann)发放了“离职证书”。
同样为自民党成员的数字和交通部长维辛(Volker Wissing)宣布退党,得以留任,同时还兼任司法部长。
社民党籍的库基斯(Jörg Kukies)接任财政部长。
绿党籍的农业部长厄兹代米尔(Cem Özdemir)同时兼任教育部长。
如果周日就举行联邦大选……
根据德国电视二台周五(11月8日)发布的“政治晴雨表”民调,30%的受访者支持在明年3月举行新的联邦议院大选,但54%的受访者更倾向于大选更早举行。民调显示,84%的受访者认为提前举行联邦选举是正确做法,13%的受访者表示反对。此外,12%的受访者认为联邦议院的选举应该按照原定的时间表举行,也就是应等到明年9月再举行。
按照这项民调,如果周日就举行大选,各党派的得票率将是:社民党16%,基民盟和基社盟组成的联盟党33%,绿党12%,自由民主党3%,选项党18%,左翼党4%,“莎拉·瓦根克内希特联盟”(BSW)6%,其他政党合计8%。
(德新社、法新社等)
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Donald Trump's transition team is already vetting potential candidates who could serve in his administration when he returns to the White House in January.
On Thursday, he made the first announcement naming his campaign co-manager Susan Summerall Wiles as his White House chief of staff.
Many of the figures who served under Trump in his first term do not plan to return, though a handful of loyalists are rumoured to be making a comeback.
But the US president-elect is now surrounded by a new cast of characters who may fill his cabinet, staff his White House and serve in key roles across government.
Here is a look at the some of the names being floated for the top jobs.
The past two years have been quite a journey for the nephew of former President John F Kennedy.
An environmental lawyer by trade, he ran for president as a Democrat, with most of his family speaking out against his anti-vaccine views and conspiracy theories as they endorsed Joe Biden's re-election.
He then switched to an independent candidacy but, failing to gain traction amid a series of controversies, dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.
In the last two months of the 2024 election cycle, he spearheaded a Trump campaign initiative called "Make America Healthy Again".
Trump recently promised he would play a major role related to public health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Food and Drug Safety Administration (FDA).
RFK Jr, as he is known, recently asserted he would push to remove fluoride from drinking water because "it's a very bad way to deliver it into our systems" - though this has been challenged by some experts.
And in an interview with NBC News, Kennedy rejected the idea that he was "anti-vaccine", saying he wouldn't "take away anybody's vaccines" but rather provide them with "the best information" to make their own choices.
Rather than a formal cabinet position, Kennedy used the interview to suggest he could take on a broader role within the White House.
Trump's landslide victory over Kamala Harris was masterminded by campaign co-chairs Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles, who he referred to in his victory speech on Wednesday as "the ice baby".
She has since been confirmed to be the incoming chief of staff under the second Trump administration - Trump's first confirmed appointment for his second term - making her the first woman to take on the role.
Wiles, who Trump claimed "likes to stay in the background”, is considered one of the most feared and respected political operatives in the country.
Less than a year after she started working in politics, she worked on Ronald Reagan’s successful 1980 presidential campaign and later became a scheduler in his White House.
In 2010, she turned Rick Scott, a then-businessman with little political experience, into Florida’s governor in just seven months. Scott is now a US senator.
Wiles met Trump during the 2015 Republican presidential primary and she became the co-chair of his Florida campaign, at the time considered a swing state. Trump went on to narrowly defeat Hillary Clinton there in 2016.
Wiles has been commended by Republicans for her ability to command respect and check the big egos of those in the president-elect's orbit, which could enable her to impose a sense of order that none of his four previous chiefs of staff could.
The world's richest man announced his support for the former president earlier this year, despite saying in 2022 that "it's time for Trump to hang up his hat and sail into the sunset".
The tech billionaire has since emerged as one of the most visible and well-known backers of Trump and donated more than $119m (£91.6m) this election cycle to America PAC - a political action committee he created to support the former president.
Musk, the head of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of the social media platform X, also launched a voter registration drive that included a $1m (£771,000) give-away to a random swing-state voter each day during the closing stretch of the campaign.
Since registering as a Republican ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, Musk has been increasingly vocal on issues including illegal immigration and transgender rights.
Both Musk and Trump have concentrated on the idea of him leading a new "Department of Government Efficiency", where he would cut costs, reform regulations and streamline what he calls a "massive, suffocating federal bureaucracy".
The would-be agency's acronym - DOGE - is a playful reference to a "meme-coin" cryptocurrency Musk has previously promoted.
The former Kansas congressman served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and then secretary of state during Trump's first administration.
A foreign policy hawk and a fierce supporter of Israel, he played a highly visible role in moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. He was among the key players in the implementation of the Abraham Accords, which normalised relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
He remained a loyal defender of his boss, joking that there would be "a smooth transition to a second Trump administration" amid Trump's false claims of election fraud in late 2020.
He has been tipped as a top contender for the role of defence secretary, alongside Michael Waltz, a Florida lawmaker and military veteran who sits on the armed services committee in the US House of Representatives.
Richard Grenell served as Trump's ambassador to Germany, special envoy to the Balkans and his acting director of national intelligence.
The Republican was also heavily involved in Trump's efforts to overturn his 2020 election defeat, in the swing state of Nevada.
Trump prizes Grenell's loyalty and has described him as "my envoy".
In September, he sat in on Trump's private meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The former president has often claimed he will end the war in Ukraine "within 24 hours" of taking office and Grenell has advocated for setting up an autonomous zone in eastern Ukraine as a means to that end - an idea seen as unacceptable by Kyiv.
He's considered a contender for secretary of state or national security advisor, a position that does not require Senate confirmation.
The Trump 2024 campaign's national press secretary previously served in his White House press office, as an assistant press secretary.
The 27-year-old Gen-Zer made a bid to become the youngest woman ever elected to the US Congress in 2022, to represent a seat in her home state of New Hampshire, but fell short.
She is tipped to become the White House press secretary - the most public-facing position in the cabinet.
Tom Homan served as the acting director of the US Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (Ice) during the first Trump administration, where he was a proponent of separating migrant children from their parents as a way to deter illegal crossings.
At the time, he made headlines for saying politicians who support sanctuary city policies should be charged with crimes. He later resigned from his Ice position in 2018, mid-way through the Trump presidency.
He has since emerged as a key figure in developing Trump's mass migrant deportation plan, and has been floated as a potential pick to head the Department of Homeland Security.
Homan spoke on the deportation plan last month in an interview with BBC's US partner CBS News, saying that "it's not going to be - a mass sweep of neighbourhoods."
"They'll be targeted arrests. We’ll know who we’re going to arrest, where we’re most likely to find ‘em based on numerous, you know, investigative processes," he said.