US President-elect Donald Trump continues to draw attention by choosing an oil and gas company leader with dissenting views on climate change to the position of Secretary of Energy.
Yesterday (Vietnam time), President-elect Trump announced his selection of Chris Wright, founder and CEO of Liberty Energy, an oil and gas company in Denver, Colorado, for the position of Secretary of Energy, Reuters reported.
Controversial
US media reported that Wright had consistently advocated for the development of oil and gas, including the use of hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas extraction, which is considered to have significant environmental consequences. According to CBS News, Wright is expected to support a plan to maximize US oil and gas production in order to establish the country as a "dominant energy player" in the global market.
US President-elect Donald Trump and his choice for Energy Secretary Chris Wright
Photo: AFP/Reuters
The CEO of Liberty Energy is also said to share Trump's views on opposing global cooperation to address climate change. "There is no such thing as a climate crisis, and we are not in the process of an energy transition," Wright stated last year. CBS News noted that Trump's nominee for Secretary of Energy has no prior political experience. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy handles policy diplomacy, manages the national oil reserves, and oversees funding and lending programs for energy technology development. The Secretary of Energy is also responsible for overseeing nuclear weapons stockpiles, radioactive waste, and 17 laboratories across the United States. In another development, Trump announced yesterday that he has chosen his personal lawyer, William Owen Scharf, to serve as presidential assistant and White House press secretary at the start of his new term.
Foreign relations
The office of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol announced yesterday that the South Korean leader and Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru agreed to continue developing trilateral cooperation with the United States when Trump officially takes office as president next January. The two leaders met on the sidelines of the APEC summit in Lima, Peru, on November 16th. On the same day, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that his relationship with the US President-elect had gotten off to a very good start, based on a bilateral phone call after Trump's election. "It was a positive call. We talked for about 10 minutes, and it was one of the first calls he made (after learning of his election)," Reuters quoted Albanese as saying yesterday.
US and Chinese leaders issue key statement on AI.
US President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Peru on November 16.
PHOTO: REUTERS
During a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden on November 16 in Peru, on the sidelines of the APEC 2024 summit, the two leaders had a frank and constructive dialogue on the issue of artificial intelligence (AI). According to Reuters, Xi and Biden emphasized that the decision to use nuclear weapons must rest in the hands of humans, not AI, and called for increased international cooperation and the promotion of AI for good purposes. A White House statement added that the two leaders stressed the need for careful consideration of potential risks and the cautious and responsible development of AI in the military field. Also at the meeting, Xi noted that humanity is facing unprecedented challenges in a volatile world, arguing that great power competition should not be the logic of the times, but only unity and cooperation can help the world overcome difficulties. Xinhua News Agency quoted the Chinese President as saying that over the past four years, US-China relations have experienced ups and downs, but overall have remained stable and the two countries have achieved positive results in many areas. President Biden said that US-China relations are the most important bilateral relationship in the world, emphasizing that the two governments have a responsibility to their peoples and the world to ensure that competition does not turn into conflict. Bao Hoang
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