Top Trump Adviser on 5G Meets in Ottawa Regarding Huawei Decision

Early Indicators Suggest Chinese Economy Cratered in February Following Coronavirus Outbreak

News Analysis After the Federal Reserve cut benchmark interest rates by 50 basis points last week, the focus has shifted to China—and how far will Beijing go to stimulate China’s economy. Beijing has urged businesses to reopen their doors as the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak sidelined business activity during February. But economic activity in China has declined dramatically. Early readings on the state of the economy suggest that China could plunge into contraction, officially, for the first time since the 1970s. Early February Chinese economic indicators are shockingly bad. Chinese exports plunged at the beginning of the year. Total exports in January and February declined by 17.2 percent compared to the same period in 2019, according to latest official data from the General Administration of Customs released March 7. China had…

OTTAWA鈥擜 top Trump administration adviser on telecommunications met on Monday with officials in Ottawa as Canada has yet to decide whether to allow Chinese firm Huawei to participate in its new 5G wireless internet network.

Robert Blair, the White House special representative for international telecommunications, met with unspecified people in the Canadian government.

The U.S. Embassy in Ottawa and a spokeswoman for Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland confirmed in the March 9 meeting but did not provide details, including who from Canada took part in the talks.

President Donald Trump has warned American allies, especially those in the Five Eyes intelligence sharing network that includes Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand, not to allow Huawei into their next鈭抔eneration 5G networks.

The United States deems Huawei national-security threat over risks posed by the Chinese tech giant, including that the regime in Beijing requires its companies to share its information with the Chinese Communist Party鈥檚 intelligence sector.

Washington has repeatedly stated that Huawei鈥攆ounded in 1987 by a former People鈥檚 Liberation Army engineer鈥攊s an extension of the Chinese regime and that it assists Chinese intelligence in stealing secrets. Huawei denies the assertion.

A former Canadian ambassador to China, Guy Saint鈭扟acques, says more oversight of Huawei鈥檚 operations in Canada could apply if the company agreed to become a publicly traded entity in this country.

Bowen Xiao contributed to this report

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Amid Virus Outbreak, China Suddenly Cancels Flights and Train Schedules in Major Cities

Two major cities in Guangdong province recently cancelled most of their flights to Beijing, Shanghai, and Hangzhou, drawing public speculation that the changes were precautions related to the novel coronavirus outbreak. A large number of passenger train routes in major cities across the country were also cancelled. Airlines stated “public security issues,” but didn’t give details. State-run media quoted Air China staff who said: “could be related to coronavirus outbreak.” In recent days, local media reported several cases of novel coronavirus patients who died in Guangdong province shortly after being confirmed with the virus. According to flight-tracking websites, almost all flights from Shenzhen and Guangzhou to Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou were cancelled after 5:15 p.m. local time on March 5. Some of the flights to Tianjin, Nanjing, Shenyang, and other…