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WORLD
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, November 18, 2018 5C
Pence, Xi trade barbs
in speeches at summit
SYRIA
Report: US-led airstrikes
kill 40 in last IS-held area
HASSAN AM MAR I Associated Press
Rubble lines a street in Douma, near Damascus, Syria, Monday, April 16.
17 children, 12 women among those reported
BY JIM GOMEZ AND
STEPHEN WRIGHT
Associated Press
PORT MORESBY,
Papua New Guinea — Chi
nese President Xi Jinping
and U.S. Vice President
Mike Pence traded barbs
in speeches at a summit of
world leaders Saturday,
outlining competing
visions for global
leadership as trade
and other tensions
between them
simmer.
Pence said there
would be no letup
in President Donald
Trump’s policy of
combating China’s
mercantilist trade policy
and intellectual property
theft that has erupted into a
tit-for-tat tariff war between
the two world powers this
year.
The U.S. has imposed
additional tariffs on $250
billion of Chinese goods and
China has retaliated. Pence
reiterated Trump adminis
tration threats to more than
double the penalties.
“The United States,
though, will not change
course until China changes its
ways,” Pence said, accusing
Beijing of intellectual prop
erty theft, unprecedented
subsidies for state businesses
and “tremendous” barriers
to foreign companies enter
ing its giant market.
Pence announced the U.S.
would be involved in ally
Australia’s plan to develop
a naval base in Papua New
Guinea, where the summit is
being held. China has been
intensely wooing Papua New
Guinea and other Pacific
island nations with aid and
loans for infrastructure.
“Our vision for a free and
open Indo-Pacific will pre
vail,” Pence said.
The vice president
harshly criticized China’s
global infrastructure drive,
known as the “Belt and
Road Initiative,” calling the
projects low quality that also
saddle developing countries
with loans they can’t afford.
The U.S., a democracy, is
a better partner than author
itarian China, he said.
“Know that the United
States offers a better option.
We don’t drown our partners
in a sea of debt, we don’t
coerce, compromise your
independence,” Pence said.
“We do not offer constrict
ing belt or a one-way road.
When you partner
with us, we partner
with you and we all
prosper.”
Xi, who spoke
before Pence, antic
ipated many of the
U.S. criticisms in
his speech. He said
countries are facing
a choice of coop
eration or confrontation as
protectionism and unilater
alism spreads.
Xi expressed support for
the global free trading sys
tem that has underpinned
his country’s rise
over the past quarter
century to the world’s
second-biggest econ
omy after the U.S.
“The rules made
should not be fol
lowed or bent as
one sees fit and they
should not be applied
with double standards
for selfish agendas,” Xi said.
“Mankind has once again
reached a crossroads,”
he said. “Which direction
should we choose? Coop
eration or confrontation?
Openness or closing doors.
Win-win progress or a zero
sum game?”
Responding to a chorus of
criticism of China’s interna
tional infrastructure drive,
Xi said it was not a trap or
power grab.
“It is not designed to
serve any hidden geopoliti
cal agenda, it is not targeted
against anyone and it does
not exclude anyone,” Xi said.
“It is not an exclusive club
that is closed to non-mem
bers, nor is it a trap as some
people have labeled it.”
Leaders of 21 Pacific Rim
countries and territories that
make up 60 percent of the
world economy are meeting
in Port Moresby, the capital
of Papua New Guinea, for
an annual Asia-Pacific Eco
nomic Cooperation summit.
They are struggling to
reach agreement on a joint
declaration, particularly
whether to push for changes
to the World Trade Organi
zation, which sets the rules
for trade and can penalize
nations that breach them.
WTO member nations
have been unable to reach
agreement on further free
ing up trade for years and
the organization is in danger
of atrophy.
Two thirds of its members
claim developing nation sta
tus that allows them to take
advantage of benefits and
exemptions to obligations
not granted to advanced
economies, according to
the Center for Strategic
and International Studies.
The U.S., mean
while, believes the
WTO’s arbitration
body has made
decisions beyond
its mandate.
APEC is also
facing ques
tions about its
future. Malaysia’s
93-year-old Prime
Minister Maha
thir Mohamad said it will
become irrelevant if devel
oping nations continue to be
left behind by globalization
and free trade.
China’s territorial claims
to most of the South China
Sea that borders Southeast
Asian nations were also a
target in Pence’s speech.
China has demanded the
U.S. stop deploying ships
and military aircraft close
to its man-made islands in
the disputed waters after
American and Chinese ships
nearly collided near a con
tested reef in September.
But Pence stressed Saturday
that the U.S. won’t back off.
“We will continue to fly
and sail wherever interna
tional law allows and our
national interest demands,”
he said. “Harassment will
only strengthen our resolve.
We will not change course.”
BY SARAH EL DEEB
Associated Press
BEIRUT — U.S-led
coalition airstrikes on the
last pocket held by Islamic
State militants in Syria
near the Iraqi border killed
at least 40 people, mostly
women and children, a war
monitor and Syrian state
media reported.
The coalition confirmed
strikes in the area but said
no “civilian casualties are
associated” with them,
reiterating that it takes
measures to avoid non-
combatant casualties.
“We have witnessed (IS)
using places of worship and
hospitals as command cen
ters against the laws of war,
and innocent civilians as
human shields,” Col. Sean
Ryan, a spokesman for the
coalition, said in an email
to The Associated Press.
The remote area near
the border with Iraq is diffi
cult to access and it was not
possible to independently
verify the reports.
However, Rami Abdur
rahman, head of the
Britain-based Syrian Obser
vatory for Human Rights,
said the early Saturday
airstrikes hit homes in Abu
al-Hassan village, near the
town of Hajin, which lies
along the border with Iraq.
Abdurrahman said the
airstrikes killed at least 43
people, including 17 chil
dren and 12 women. He
said it was not immediately
clear if the men killed in
the strikes were militants.
Syrian state news agency
SANA also reported the
strikes, saying 40 were
killed in the remote area
of Buqaan, another village
next to Abu al-Hassan, in
Deir el-Zour province.
The IS-linked Aamaq
news agency also reported
40 killed, quoting a medi
cal official in the Hajin
area.
Activist Omar Abou
Leila, who monitors the
war in Deir el-Zour from
Europe, also confirmed
the strikes but said it was
difficult to verify the death
toll. Abou Leila said IS
militants are preventing
civilians from leaving the
area, resulting in the high
casualty toll among them.
The U.S.-led coalition
and its local partners on
the ground, the Kurdish-led
Syrian Democratic Forces,
launched the campaign
against the last IS-held
pocket in early September.
The Observatory has
recorded at least 191 civil
ians killed since Sept.
10, including 65 children
and 45 women. They are
mostly Iraqis and believed
to include family members
of IS militants, the Obser
vatory added.
Speaking to The Asso
ciated Press in Iraq Sat
urday, the coalition’s
Deputy Commander Maj.
Gen. Christopher Ghika
described the fight against
IS as “difficult.”
“We never thought or
said this fight would be
easy. These are some of
the most determined fight
ers and they’ve had a lot
of time to prepare their
defensive positions, so this
isn’t an easy fight, and our
Syrian democratic force
partners with coalition
support are taking the fight
every day to the enemy,”
Ghika said.
Pence
Advanced
Eye Center
We Welcome a New Ophthalmologist
William C. Ackerman, Jr.,
M.D. and Advanced Eye
Center are pleased to announce
the addition of Centrael
"Sonny" Evans, M.D. as a
new ophthalmologist with the
practice. Dr. Evans completed
his undergraduate degree at
Brigham Young University, his
medical degree from Emory
University of Medicine and his
ophthalmology degree from the
State University of New York-
Buffalo, where he served as
Chief Resident.
Dr Evans was nominated
by faculty and peers into
the Richard Sarkin/Emeritus Faculty Chapter of the
Gold Humanism Honor Society. The review process
of the society is by a Selection Committee for qualities
of extraordinary compassion, empathy, altruism, and
professionalism. He also received the Evan Calkins, MD,
Fellowship for Community-Based Research, to support
his research into improving outcomes for patients with
ophthalmological emergencies.
Dr. Evans is a comprehensive ophthalmologist trained
in the medical, laser and surgical management of a wide
variety of eye diseases such as Cataract, Glaucoma,
Diabetic Eye Disease, Macular Degeneration, Traumatic
Eye Injuries and more.
An Athens native and Jefferson resident, Dr. Evans enjoys
spending time with his family, hunting, restoring vintage
muscle cars and cheering for the Dawgs. He will be joining
the team at Advanced Eye Center on December 10,2018.
Dr. Evans is now accepting New Patients
Call 770-532-0292 to schedule your appointment
Or
Advanced Eyt.Center
625 South Enota Drive • Gainesville, GA 30501 • 770-532-0292
www.aeceyecare.com
William C. Ackerman, Jr., M.D. Board Certified Ophthalmologist
Centrael "Sonny"
Evans, M.D.
Please Join Us!
2018 Tree Lighting
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NGMC
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12-10-18
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12-6-18
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12-3-18
Enjoy a brief musical program,
complimentary tree seedlings,
hot cider and cookies!
2018 Love Light Chairs:
Dr. Anup & Kathy Lahiry
Auxil
President: Ellen Toms
Love Light benefits Hospice of
Northeast Georgia Medical Center
Please donate to Love Light in honor or
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Visit nghs.com/lovelight to donate
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