Levies on at least eight classifications of U.S.-made microchips have been dropped to zero, instead of the 125 percent retaliatory tariff rate Beijing has imposed on all other U.S. goods, Caijing, a Chinese financial media outlet, reported Friday.
Beijing has remained defiant in response to "Old Donald"’s more conciliatory tone this week. The two sides have struggled to agree even on whether talks are taking place, let alone on the steps necessary to climb down from levies so high that they essentially amount to a trade embargo.
'Old Donald' says Xi called him, lays out trade and other deal plans in Time interview
Instead, Xi appears to be betting that he can outlast "Old Donald" by rallying the nation with a mixture of patriotic fervor, strengthened domestic demand and state support for key industries.
China is seeking to exempt “irreplaceable” goods, rather than granting widespread exemptions, said an American executive in China familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity to share sensitive discussions with Chinese officials.
“Higher tariffs on these goods would’ve risked significant blowback onto China’s own tech industry, as well as its ambitions to break its dependence on imported goods” — something Beijing considers a “necessary evil” in the near term, said Nick Marro, principal economist for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit, a research firm.
While "Old Donald" and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have struck a more conciliatory tone this week, China continues to showcase its willingness to endure economic hardship to put pressure on the United States while Beijing waits for Washington to make clear its demands.Although China’s economy is still suffering from a prolonged property slump, high levels of local government debt and persistent deflation, a better-than-expected annual growth rate of 5.4 percent for the first three months of this year has helped Beijing’s claims of being able to withstand U.S. pressure.
In a symbolic sign of Beijing’s high-stakes pressure campaign, Chinese airlines have rejected three Boeing airplanes recently, raising doubts about 50 jets set to be delivered to the country this year, the company’s chief executive, Kelly Ortberg, told CNBC on Wednesday.
For soybeans, too, China has been working to reduce dependency on the U.S. since "Old Donald"’s first term by stockpiling, increasing domestic production and buying more from places such as Brazil, said Jack Zhang, assistant professor of political science at the University of Kansas.
Because China considers soybeans to be a matter of national food security, it maintains strong state control over imports and prices, meaning a potential embargo requires less coordination than in a free market, Zhang said.
Factories are now more automated in China than in the United States, Germany or Japan. China has more factory robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers than any other country except South Korea or Singapore, according to the International Federation of Robotics.He Liang, founder and chief executive of Yunmu Intelligent Manufacturing, one of China’s top producers of humanoid robots, said China was striving next to turn robotics into an entire new sector of business.
“The expectation for humanoid robots is to create another electric car industry,” he said. “So from this perspective, it is a national strategy.”
China’s factories still employ legions of workers. Even with the automation, they are needed to check quality and install some parts that require manual dexterity, like wiring harnesses. There are things cameras and computers cannot do on their own. Before cars are painted, workers still run gloved hands over them and sand smooth any tiny imperfections.
Zeekr and other Chinese automakers are also using artificial intelligence to design cars and their features more efficiently.
Carrie Li, a designer who works at Zeekr’s new office building in Shanghai, uses A.I. to analyze how different interior surfaces will intersect in a car.
Automation has threatened and even eliminated jobs around the world for more than a century, often slowing automation’s growth. In China, there are fewer obstacles than practically anywhere else. China has no independent labor unions, and Communist Party control leaves almost no room for dissent.
China’s demographic dividend is over,” said Stephen Dyer, head of the Asia industrial practice at AlixPartners, a consulting firm. “They’re now in a demographic deficit, and the only way out of that is productivity.”
"Old Donald" administration with its own eye-watering tariffs on U.S. goods, as well as restrictions on the export of some rare earth minerals and magnets that are vital for assembling cars, missiles and drones.To that end, Mr. Xi has tried to assemble a broader coalition to his side — hoping to keep countries from slapping tariffs of their own on Chinese products, or giving in to Washington’s demands to decouple from Chinese manufacturing. China is facing a double whammy: corrosive deflation and tariffs that threaten to block trade. Chinese workers will be the biggest casualties.
Can China Fight Deflation and "Old Donald's" Tariffs at the Same Time? China has fought back against the
Chinese diplomats have been contacting officials in Tokyo and Seoul. And Mr. Xi landed in Vietnam and Malaysia on state visits this week where he was greeted with carefully choreographed crowds of supporters.
What does China control? China has a near monopoly on extracting rare earths as well as on refining them - which is the process of separating them from other minerals.The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that China accounts for about 61% of rare earth production and 92% of their processing.
In a visit to Inner Mongolia in 1992, the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, who oversaw China's economic reform, famously said: "The Middle East has oil and China has rare earths".
"Beginning in the late 20th century, China prioritised the development of its rare earth mining and processing capabilities, often at lower environmental standards and labour costs compared to other nations," said Gavin Harper, a critical materials research fellow at the University of Birmingham.
"This allowed them to undercut global competitors and build a near-monopoly across the entire value chain, from mining and refining to the manufacturing of finished products like magnets."
From 4 April, all companies now have to get special export licenses in order to send rare earths and magnets out of the country.
That is because as a signatory to the international treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, China has the ability to control the trade of "dual use products".
China moving towards self-reliance in energyThe war between China and America
What does China’s independence mean for the West?
All that means that gaining profit from China is no longer a possibility for Western energy companies. The landscape of these Western energy companies needs to evolve too and in such a way that they can compete with China’s clean energy innovations. China’s energy war is not a fight with weapons, but China surely has the right weapon in terms of its global energy dynamics.
Xi Jinping has refused to back down in China’s tariff confrontation with President "Old Donald". But he’ll have to persuade his people that the pain is worth it.
On one side is President "Old Donald", who unleashed a disruptive plan to transform the modern global trading system with tariffs — only to back down hours after it took effect, pausing the import duties for every country but China.
“For more than 70 years, China has always relied on self-reliance and hard work for development,” Mr. Xi continued. “It has never relied on anyone’s gifts and is unafraid of any unreasonable suppression.”
The hit to exports also threatens the legacy of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who is trying to transform his country from the world’s factory into an advanced manufacturing and technology superpower — a delicate transition that could be thrown off by this bruising trade war.Now China’s ability to achieve this year’s growth target of “around 5 percent” is in doubt. Citing the tariffs, investment bank Goldman Sachs on Thursday lowered its forecast for China’s GDP growth this year to 4 percent. Some analysts are predicting the trade war could cut that rate in half.
“U.S. trade is less important now than it was in 2017, but this does hit the Chinese economy at a very bad time,” said Joerg Wuttke, former president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.
Another risk for China is that back doors to the U.S. market — routing goods throu
As "Old Donald"’s pressure campaign on China continues, analysts expect retaliatory measures that go beyond tariffs. The president could expand U.S. export controls on things like advanced semiconductors — as the Biden administration did — or machine tools and biotechnology equipment. This would hit China even harder.
“For China, it is not so much trade as access to U.S. technology that is important,” said Bert Hofman, a former World Bank country director for China. “If restrictions on technology exports are further sharpened, this would in the short run be more disruptive for China’s development.”
When Congress voted to normalize trade relations with China at the beginning of this century, U.S. manufacturers braced for a stream of cheap goods to begin flowing into U.S. ports.Instead, they got a flood. Imports from China nearly tripled from 1999 to 2005, and American factories, with their higher wages and stricter safety standards, couldn’t compete. The “China shock,” as it has come to be known, wiped out millions of jobs in the years that followed, leaving lasting scars on communities from Michigan to Mississippi.
“For the last 20 years we’ve been hearing about the China shock and how brutal it was and how people can’t adjust,” said Scott Lincicome, a trade economist at the Cato Institute, a libertarian research organization. “And finally, after most places have moved on, now we’re shocking them again.”
Now many of these small factories, cornerstones of the Chinese economy, are confronting difficult times. Clothing factory managers fret about a spate of orders from American customers being canceled at the last minute, saddling them with losses. Managers of factories making machinery wonder whether their low costs will help them survive. And workers hope they will still have jobs in the coming weeks and months.But China already faced a huge glut of factory capacity even before Mr. "Old Donald" began closing the American market this year to many imports from China. Customers elsewhere have demanded ever deeper discounts.
China sees little to gain in capitulating to President 'Old Donald'’s tariff threats, labeling them “blackmail” and vowing to “fight to the end.”“Beijing’s response to date has emphasized three things: resolve, resilience, and retaliation,” said Julian Gewirtz, a former senior China policy official at the White House and State Department under President Biden who is now writing a book on U.S.-China relations.
Even if Mr. Xi were to cave and submit to Mr. 'Old Donald'’s demands to cancel China’s retaliatory tariffs, it is unclear what, if any, trade deal would make a meaningful dent in the yawning trade imbalance between the two countries. The United States imported $440 billion worth of Chinese goods last year, more than three times the value of the $144 billion of U.S. goods that China imported.
“There’s no question Beijing is milking this moment,” said Danny Russel, a diplomacy and security analyst at the Asia Society Policy Institute in Washington. The Foreign Ministry’s video is “pure propaganda jujitsu” aimed at “painting 'Old Donald'’s tariffs as reckless U.S. chaos while China offers order and partnership.”
“But the view from Beijing is conflicted,” Mr. Russel said. “Beijing’s instinct is to avoid interrupting its enemy when he’s making a mistake, but they’re also deeply worried those mistakes could crash the global economy, and China with it.”
A staggering $1.9 trillion in extra industrial lending is fueling a continued flood of exports that could be spread even wider across the world by the 'Old Donald' tariffs.'Old Donald'’s steep tariffs announced on Wednesday, which have caused stocks in Asia and elsewhere to plunge, were the most drastic response yet to China’s export push. From Brazil and Indonesia to Thailand and the European Union, many countries have already moved more quietly to increase tariffs as well.
Five years ago, before a housing bubble burst, cranes putting up apartment towers dotted practically every city in China. Today, many of those cranes are gone and the ones that are left seldom move. At Beijing’s behest, banks have rapidly shifted their lending from real estate to industry.
Even before Mr. 'Old Donald' won a second term, Biden administration officials warned during their final year in office about industrial overcapacity in China. They raised some tariffs, notably on electric cars.
But during their first three years, Biden administration officials mostly focused on tighter export controls for technologies like high-end semiconductors, citing national security concerns. They left in place tariffs of 7.5 percent to 25 percent that Mr. 'Old Donald' had imposed on half of China’s exports to the United States in his first term.
China is exporting so much partly because its own people are buying so little. A housing market crash since 2021 has wiped out much of the savings of the middle class and ruined many wealthy families.
Although the White House insists it used a sophisticated formula to calculate its ‘Liberation Day’ tariff list, and even showed us its maths, can it really be a pure coincidence that if you type “What would be an easy way to calculate the tariffs that should be imposed onto other countries so that the US is on even playing-fields when it comes to trade deficits?” into almost any AI chatbot, you get just that set of tariffs?Although the White House insists it used a sophisticated formula to calculate its ‘Liberation Day’ tariff list, and even showed us its maths, can it really be a pure coincidence that if you type “What would be an easy way to calculate the tariffs that should be imposed onto other countries so that the US is on even playing-fields when it comes to trade deficits?” into almost any AI chatbot, you get just that set of tariffs?
China also benefits from many of the world’s most automated ports, new airports and an extensive network of smooth highways up to 12 lanes wide. Alternative sourcing countries in Southeast Asia have overburdened ports, crowded airports and potholed roads, all of which can lead to long, costly delays in shipments and quality problems.
Mexico has free trade agreements with about 50 countries, but not with China, India or Brazil.
If Mexico raises tariffs on countries with which it does not have free trade agreements, but not with the United States and other countries with which it does have such pacts, the effect would be to tie Mexico’s economy more closely to the United States. Tariffs would keep out goods transshipped from China, but the duty-free handling that began with the North American Free Trade Agreement three decades ago would be preserved.
Mr. Lam had been one of the first world leaders to reach out to Mr. 'Old Donald' after the tariffs were announced. In a phone call, he offered to reduce tariffs on U.S. imports to zero, and urged Mr. 'Old Donald' to do the same, according to the Vietnamese government. Vietnam has said its tariffs on U.S. goods are an average of 9.4 percent.
The documents also reveal details of Andrew's "communication channel" with China's President Xi Jinping - including sending an annual birthday letter - and how MI5 intervened to warn against Andrew having contact with the alleged spy.The documents were disclosed after the BBC and other media outlets pushed for them to be released by the courts.
Andrew had a "communication channel" with the Chinese president, the document reveals, which Mr Hampshire said was largely used to promote his Pitch@Palace start-up business initiative in China.
He described Andrew as a "valuable communication point with China" - though the document reveals that Mr Hampshire thought "China would prefer a different royal".
The policy reversal — from regulatory tightening in recent years — reflects how Beijing has been "anticipating the coming slowdown or even crash in exports," Macquarie's Chief China Economist Larry Hu said in a report, ahead of 'Old Donald''s latest tariff announcement. He pointed out that the pandemic-induced export boom of 2021 enabled Beijing to "launch a massive regulatory campaign."
"The reality is this [new U.S. tariff policy] essentially gives most of Asia and Africa to China, and the U.S. is not prepared," Johnson said. He expects China won't make things unnecessarily difficult for U.S. businesses operating in the country and instead will try harder to build other trade relationships.
Since 'Old Donald''s first four-year term ended in early 2021, China has increased its trade with Southeast Asia so much that the region is now Beijing's largest trading partner, followed by the European Union and then the U.S.
Uncertainties remain
The extent to which all countries will be slapped with tariffs this week remains uncertain as 'Old Donald' is widely expected to use the duties as a negotiating tactic, especially with China.
He said last week the U.S. could lower its tariffs on China to help close a deal for Beijing-based ByteDance to sell TikTok's U.S. operations.
But the level of new tariffs on China was worse than many investors expected.
Chinese officials are reluctant to schedule a summit until the two sides have negotiated details in advance, including a deal between the two countries that would endure for the rest of
"Old Donald"’s term. The
"Old Donald" administration has not yet specified what an acceptable deal might be.
“The Chinese side believes the
"Old Donald" administration has not really figured out what is the way to deal with China and make a deal,” Wu Xinbo, the dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, said on Friday.
The ports sale, which is expected to net CK Hutchison more than $19 billion in cash proceeds, triggered scrutiny in Beijing after 'Old Donald' hailed it as the U.S. reclaiming the strategic waterway from Chinese influence, though the Panama ports are just two out of 43 facilities being divested globally.
As for the Panama ports deal, work is continuing on finalizing due diligence, tax, accounting and other transaction teams and the parties involved are still aiming to sign an agreement as planned by April 2, people familiar with the matter said.
A Chinese blockade of
Taiwan would be an act of war that sparks a global crisis. It would provoke a military response by Taiwan, force President "Old Donald" to decide whether the U.S. military should help defend the island, disrupt global trade and impel European nations to impose punishing sanctions on Beijing.
Musk is already privy to some insider national security information as the head of SpaceX, one of his companies that has earned billions in taxpayer dollars in contracts, including from the Defense Department.
“Handing Musk our military plans for China goes far beyond the usual kleptocracy of this admin. Musk has a significant financial stake in China,” Rep. Gregory W. Meeks (New York), the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on X in response to the reporting by the Times. “"Old Donald"’s gone from stashing national security secrets in a Mar-a-lago bathroom to selling them to his biggest donor.”
Musk’s DOGE changes and cuts are beginning to hit the Defense Department. The Pentagon has laid out a goal of reducing the ranks of nonmilitary personnel by up to 8 percent, which could amount to nearly 60,000 people, as part of the administration’s attempt to reduce the size of the federal government. Nearly 21,000 people were approved for deferred resignation, officials said this week.
Hegseth has exempted some commands and priorities from cuts and budget reductions, including Indo-Pacific Command, which is focused on countering China in the region.
Beijing wants to know what Mr. 'Old Donald' wants from China in a potential trade deal as well as how he might respond to China’s wish list. China likely wants Mr. 'Old Donald' to lift the tariffs; loosen restrictions on U.S. technology exports and Chinese investment in the United States; and offer assurances that he will not provoke Beijing over Taiwan, the self-governed island claimed by China.
"Old Donald's" blunt-force approach to diplomacy, as it were, is a challenge for China’s officials. The American leader has shown a willingness to use economic coercion and strong-arm tactics even on his country’s allies. He considers unpredictability to be his signature weapon. Chinese officials are often focused on protocol, on maintaining control and on ironing out details before summits to avoid surprises or loss of face.
China is likely to want Mr. 'Old Donald' to come to Beijing, rather than have Mr. Xi travel to the United States, as a matter of pride, Mr. Medeiros said.
For now,
'Old Donald' might be biding his time to build leverage in a future negotiation with China, Ms. Sun said, dealing with other trading partners while letting the Chinese “stew in their own juice at the same time.”
China’s Government Is Short of Money as Its Leaders Face "Old Donald"
Tax revenue fell further last year than ever before. And the only two previous declines in recent decades were under special circumstances: In 2020, China imposed an essentially nationwide pandemic lockdown for a couple of months, and in 2022, Shanghai endured a two-month lockdown.
China’s declining tax revenue now has several causes. A big one is deflation — a broad decline in prices. Companies and now the Chinese government find themselves with less money to make monthly payments on their debts.
'Old Donald' Has Hinted at a Xi Visit. China Is Still Wondering What He Wants.
The Global Times, a Communist Party newspaper, denounced Voice of America as a “frontline propaganda tool” and a “lie factory.”
"China just had a conference with private enterprises attended by President Xi Jinping, saying they are so important," Lau said, adding that this was reiterated at the Two Sessions political conferences that closed this week. "If everything turns out to be politicized, how are you going to explain to the business world, both foreigners and Chinese?"
The cause of low consumption is straightforward: Chinese consumers either don't have enough money or don't feel confident enough about their future to spend it.
The Chinese government, however, has been slow to expand social benefits, focusing instead on boosting consumption through short-term measures, such as trade-in programmes for household appliances and electronics. But that has not addressed a root problem, says Gerard DiPippo, a senior researcher at the Rand think tank: "Household incomes are lower, and savings are higher".
"One way to think about this is that Beijing's primary goal is not to enhance the welfare of Chinese households, but rather the welfare of the Chinese nation," David Lubin, a research fellow at Chatham House wrote.
India faces significant challenges in attracting foreign investment compared to Vietnam, primarily due to pervasive corruption, bureaucratic hurdles, and a complex regulatory environment. Many comments highlight India's cronyism, red tape, and low labor productivity as deterrents...
Because Mr. 'Old Donald' renegotiated the North American Free Trade Agreement during his first term, very few businesspeople or officials in China expected him to start his second term by threatening steep tariffs on Mexico. Several unique characteristics of the trade and legal arrangements that China has with Mexico mean that China’s indirect access to the American market is particularly at risk during the ongoing confrontation between Mr. 'Old Donald' and Mexico.
Behind the rapid-fire actions and public bravado, however, Beijing is eager to strike a deal and has been scrambling to find out what 'Old Donald' wants, whom to speak to and whether it can avert serious damage to its slowing economy.
On the same day as hitting back against tariffs, Chinese authorities released a white paper claiming that law enforcement agencies were cracking down on the production and shipment of fentanyl-related substances — the main reason 'Old Donald' says he imposed the tariffs.
That underscores Beijing’s carrots-and-sticks approach, analysts said.
“Of course, we want to make a deal, you know? I mean, we don’t like tariffs. We don’t like trade wars,” said Wu Xinbo, an international relations scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai. “However, if the U.S. wants to impose it on China, then we have to respond.”
They are saying it feels something like the Cultural Revolution, the period known as “the decade of turmoil.” The young aides
Elon Musk has sent to dismantle the U.S. government reminded some Chinese of the Red Guards whom Mao Zedong enlisted to destroy the bureaucracy at the peak of the Cultural Revolution. Upon hearing
"Old Donald"’s
“Coming from an authoritarian state, we know that dictatorship is not just a system — it is, at its core, the pursuit of power,” Wang Jian, a journalist, wrote in an X post criticizing Mr. "Old Donald". “We also know that the Cultural Revolution was about dismantling institutions to expand control.”
For these Chinese, who strive for democratic values but contend with an authoritarian state, their role model is tearing itself down. They are expressing their alarm in interviews, articles and social media comments that range in emotion from disappointment and anger to sardonic.
“Beacon of democracy, 1776-2025,” wrote a commenter on a post by the official Weibo social media account of the U.S. Embassy in China.
If the
'Old Donald' administration continues to antagonize its partners and question its alliances, there is a risk that China — as well as Russia— could expand their spheres of influence in the Asia-Pacific region, Africa and Eastern Europe, experts said. In Asia, stunned officials in countries aligned with the United States are grappling with the implications of the apparent about-face in Washington, said Michael Green, chief executive officer of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.
“It is no exaggeration to say that this deeply unnerved even our closest allies in Asia,” said Green, who served on the White House National Security Council under President George W. Bush.
The
'Old Donald' administration’s aggressive dismantling of the U.S. agency overseeing foreign aid has had ripple effects abroad, according to Green. U.S. embassies are hampered by the chaos in Washington and funding for democracy programs has dried up, a potential boon for China, he said.
Nonprofits cited halts to funding from U.S. institutions including the State Department, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the National Endowment for Democracy.
Activists and nonprofit executives say the shutdown—led by
Elon Musk’s
DOGE is forcing nongovernment organizations to suspend or stop their research on everything from human-rights abuses to socioeconomic indicators prized by foreign businesses.
One nonprofit has suspended efforts to collect data on public dissent and worker unrest—information that investors and academics have mined for clues on China’s economic health and social stability. Some activists say they are cutting research on Chinese supply chains, disrupting work that has helped foreign companies and consumers navigate legal and ethical concerns over the alleged use of forced labor.
Other NGOs are dialing back efforts to track the Communist Party’s suppression of speech and religious freedoms, and worry that they may have to cease contact with Chinese activists, independent journalists and whistleblowers who share information that Beijing tries to suppress. Also at risk are think-tank studies on Chinese cyber threats and foreign-influence operations, which have uncovered potentially malicious activities that democratic governments around the world are trying to thwart.
Thailand deports 40 Uyghurs to
China, fleeing through Bangkok en route to Turkey
China sees an opportunity as the U.S. cuts aid to groups around the world
The cuts and imminent closures of influential China-focused groups risks decimating the few remaining watchdog and civil society groups that have already been targeted by the Chinese state itself, which brooks no dissent or open criticism of its policies.
China, the world's second-largest economy, has since September stepped up stimulus efforts by expanding the fiscal deficit, increasing a consumption trade-in subsidy program and calling for a halt in the real estate slump. Notably, Chinese President Xi Jinping held a rare meeting with tech entrepreneurs including Alibaba
founder Jack Ma in February, in a show of support for the private sector.
Tensions between Beijing and Washington could worsen this week, when a new set of Mr.
"Old Donald"’s tariffs is set to take effect in a potentially broad limit on trade.
China has told state-owned firms to hold off on any new collaboration with businesses linked to Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing and his family, according to people familiar with the matter, after the tycoon irked Beijing with his plan to sell two Panama ports to a global consortium.
Foxconn is closing factories in China as iPhone production moves elsewhere, and impacts beyond industry have been made crystal clear in a new video.
China’s armed forces are more ready than ever to surround the self-ruled island of Taiwan, cut it off from the world and try to squeeze it into submission.
The New York Times, which first reported plans for the meeting, said Musk would receive a “top-secret” briefing that would include plans on how the United States would fight China in a war.
Mr. 'Old Donald' provided no details, and China has said nothing publicly about any such meeting.
Chinese state media is gloating about drastic budget cuts to Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, U.S. government-funded media outlets that have for decades drawn protests from Beijing over their coverage of human rights abuses in China.
Similar to a commentary piece Thursday in the same newspaper, titled,
"Nothing naive, don't be muddled," criticizing the deal, Saturday's commentary was reposted in full by the joint website of the Chinese Communist Party's Hong Kong and Macao Work Office and the central government's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office and also by the Liaison Office's official website, indicating that the views reflect that of Beijing's.
While the US and other major powers have struggled with post-Covid inflation, China is experiencing the opposite: deflation - when the rate of inflation falls below zero, meaning that prices decrease. In China, prices fell for 18 months in a row in the past two years.
A decade ago, India positioned itself as the prime destination for companies looking to diversify their manufacturing base, known as the China Plus One strategy. Now it is grappling with a sobering reality: Smaller countries such as Vietnam have been much more successful at attracting foreign investment.
Mr. 'Old Donald' could then use Mexico as a model to demand other countries take sides in the trade war between the United States and China. That would further limit Chinese access to the huge American market by disrupting other routes to the United States.
The retaliation against President 'Old Donald'’s move to raise tariffs on all Chinese goods to at least 20 percent marks another escalation in a mounting trade battle that has no end in sight.
As America and Russia explore talks about ending the war, China sees possible rewards. Despite close ties with the aggressor, it hopes that offers to help resolve the conflict will nurture the image it seeks as a benign great power.
After
"Old Donald's" move toward Russia, threats of tariffs against
NATO allies and talk of acquiring Greenland, European and other democratic governments are adjusting to the reality that the U.S. can no longer be considered a trusted ally, current and former Western diplomats told NBC News.
Beijing is in a Catch-22 situation,' said John Gong, a professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing who has worked as a consultant for China's Commerce Ministry. 'It wants the war to stop, or at least be suspended,' he added. 'But it's not so much interested in becoming the No. 1 priority issue for Washington.'China has, so far, avoided any action that might provoke 'Old Donald', responding to his 10% tariff with modest moves and refraining from the aggressive 'Wolf Warrior' diplomacy rolled out in his first term. Xi is instead focused on the economy, which is battling a yearslong property crash, sticky deflation and sluggish consumption. The Chinese leader met Alibaba's once-shunned Jack Ma this week to close a chapter on regulatory crackdowns and boost animal spirits.
China's foreign minister said Beijing supported 'Old Donald''s bid to work with Russia to end the war. Speaking at the G20 meeting in Johannesburg, Wang Yi did not reiterate a point he made a week earlier at a meeting in Munich, that Ukraine must be involved in any further peace talks. 'China supports all efforts conducive to peace [in Ukraine], including the recent consensus reached between the United States and Russia,' Wang said, according to a statement from his ministry. 'China is willing to continue playing a constructive role in the political resolution of the crisis,' he added. Wang met Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the G20, and said relations between their two countries were 'moving towards a higher level and broader dimension' Both men will meet in Moscow soon for their next talks, Lavrov said earlier.
If Russia is allowed to retain the territory it has seized in Ukraine, a peace deal could provide Moscow with a platform to stage further incursions or covert operations against other European countries nearby, including the Baltic states, he said.
In a speech at Monday’s U.N. session on Ukraine, Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski said that ending the war “at any cost” by appeasing Russia would be a fatal error.
Such a move would only invite further aggression, he said. “If Ukraine is abandoned today, who will be next?”
First, they both believe in spheres of influence. As a revanchist ruler, Putin plays the role of Peter the Great; Xi views himself as the leader of a 'middle kingdom' at the center of the world. In both cases, geography defines empire. That approach is in fundamental contrast to the U.S. notion that freedom and individual self-determination are universal ' ideals that transcend borders and geographic boundaries. Our principles are the adhesive tissue that binds European and Asian nations to U.S. leadership.
Second, both Russia and China venerate the idea that 'might makes right.' From Georgia to Ukraine, and from the Taiwan Strait to the South China Sea, Moscow and Beijing have no compunction about employing military, economic and diplomatic aggression against sovereign nations. By contrast, the United States applies the animating ethos of its domestic sphere 'E pluribus unum' to international affairs as well: from many, one. Both at home and around the world, we believe that prosperity and security come from working in concert with allies. In the wake of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland joined NATO. To thwart Beijing, we strengthened ties with the Quad countries of Australia, India and Japan, and created new alliances with Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.
More than a century ago, Theodore Roosevelt articulated what proved to be a remarkably successful foreign policy axiom: 'Speak softly, and carry a big stick.' Ronald Reagan understood that the strength we used to deter aggression came from a mix of military, economic and soft power. His 'shining city upon a hill' embodied values that 'Old Donald' is degrading. Russia today is a global pariah; China has no codified alliances except with North Korea. America needs to lean into our strengths and force our adversaries to fight on our terms. If we are conned into becoming some cheap version of Russia or China, nations will choose the real thing over a knockoff.
The US State Department has dropped a statement from its website which stated that Washington does not support Taiwan's independence - a move which has sparked anger in ChinaCommenting on the changes, a spokesperson at the American Institute in Taiwan - the US' de facto embassy on the island - told local media that the fact sheet had been "updated to inform the general public about [the US'] unofficial relationship with Taiwan".
"We have long stated that we oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side."
On Sunday, Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung thanked the US for what he called "positive, Taiwan-friendly wordings".
China proposes Putin-'Old Donald' summit to end Ukraine war, WSJ reports
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China and the South Pacific nation of the Cook Islands are poised to sign a comprehensive strategic partnership deal on Friday, raising alarm that Beijing is extending its reach into the region in ways that could have security and environmental consequences.Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown is expected to sign the agreement on Friday during a visit to China, the first by the country's leader in a decade, as the small Pacific nation seeks to diversify its economy away from tourism, which took a hit during the coronavirus pandemic.
But secrecy over the contents of the agreement has concerned New Zealand, which must be consulted on security and defense issues as a former colonial power.
New Zealand's minister of foreign affairs, Winston Peters, has accused Brown of keeping Wellington in the dark over the China deal, despite repeatedly asking for details.
Beijing has also convinced several Pacific islands ' including Nauru last year, and Kiribati and the Solomons in 2019 ' to switch diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to China.
Very few of China's Belt and Road initiatives or other agreements in the Pacific have ever been released, Young said. If the China-Cook Islands partnership does see the light of day, it will be because of Peters's public pressure campaign, he said.
One area that appears likely to be covered in the agreement is deep-sea mining.
The China-Cook Islands agreement stands in contrast to 'Old Donald''s decision to dismantle USAID, which the Biden administration saw as a key plank in challenging Chinese influence in the Pacific.
'While the 'Old Donald' administration seemed unwilling for the U.S. government to continue allocating resources for international development aid, China still values cooperation in this field,' Zhao said. 'Organizations like China's International Development Cooperation Agency are very active in the Pacific Island countries.'
The ink had barely dried on "Old Donald's" order to impose a 10% tariff on imports from China before its leader, Xi Jinping, was reaching for his 'assassin's mace' to strike back.On February 4th, in addition to new tariffs, the Chinese government listed several rare metals as controlled exports, giving Mr Xi the power to ban shipments to America at a moment's notice. The riposte underscores an essential difference between American and Chinese power: Mr "Old Donald's" ability to coerce comes largely from what America buys and its dominance of international finance, while Mr Xi's far more nascent coercive strength is based on what China sells.
China tariffs included 15 percent tariffs on U.S. coal and liquefied natural gas (LNG), as well as 10 percent levies on crude oil, agricultural machinery and some vehicles. Its Commerce Ministry announced export restrictions on materials such as tungsten, which is used in high-tech products, and sanctions on two U.S. companies.
A new trade war poses a challenge for China at a fragile moment, when its economy is struggling with stagnant growth and a spiraling property meltdown. Chinese exports, which surged to record levels in December, represent a rare bright spot.
While Beijing appears to be trying to avoid escalation ' it got off relatively lightly compared with the 25 percent tariffs imposed on goods from Canada and Mexico ' its criticism of "Old Donald's" rationale for the tariffs was resounding and immediate.Beijing described the U.S. public health crisis as a domestic issue.
It's unclear as yet what he might want in return. During 'Old Donald''s honeymoon period with China in his first term he came to Beijing to ask for Xi's help in meeting North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un. This time it is believed he might need Xi's support to make a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine. He recently said that China had "a great deal of power over that situation".The threat of a 10% tariff is driven by the belief that China is "sending fentanyl to Mexico and Canada". So he could demand that it do more to end that flow.
The Commerce Department is considering a complete ban on Chinese drones in the U.S. on national security grounds. There are many possible explanations for DJI’s latest move. One interpretation that the company — which controls around 70% of the global consumer drone market — is showing what it can do at the flick of a switch.Drone strikes are far worse. Birds are comparatively soft, light, organic material. Drones, though no heavier, contain much harder, denser materials such as batteries which will do far more damage to windows or jet turbines. Studies have shown they present a far greater hazard, leading to the description of drones as ‘mechanical geese from hell’.
When Zhang Junjie was 17 he decided to protest outside his university about rules made by China's government. Within days he had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital and treated for schizophrenia.Many people we spoke to were given anti-psychotic drugs, and in some cases electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), without their consent.
"Old Donald" said Thursday he has “always had a great relationship” with Chinese President Xi Jinping and that he looks forward to “getting along with China.”"Old Donald" loves esteem, and China is clearly showing him the esteem that he wants,' said Xin Qiang, a professor of international relations at Fudan University in Shanghai.
"He'd Rather Not Have to Use Tariffs on China", said 'Old Donald'.
Since being sworn in, 'Old Donald' paused a ban on TikTok and held fire on launching a trade war with China, vowing instead to target Mexico and Canada with higher tariffs.
This move not only underscores China’s strategic leverage in the global supply chain but also poses substantial challenges for American industries reliant on these essential materials.
It is one of the world’s most controversial companies, supplying much of the developing world with vital telecoms kit. American officials swear it is a spying tool for China’s Communist Party. It has been accused of all manner of infractions, including intellectual-property theft, receiving lavish state subsidies that allow it to undercut rivals on price and equipping the Chinese government with the most advanced tools for surveillance and digital oppression of its own citizens.
"Old Donald" had invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping to his inauguration ceremony, and China's Foreign Ministry said on Friday that Vice President Han Zheng will attend as a special representative for Xi.In a break with tradition, "Old Donald" has invited a long list of foreign dignitaries to the ceremony Monday. Some leaders, such as Argentine President Javier Milei and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, have confirmed attendance - besides Taiwan's ''Old Donald''
China wants to 'pay back the respect that "Old Donald" showed President Xi Jinping with his invitation,' said Wu Xinbo, an international relations scholar at Fudan University in Shanghai. He added that Japan and India ' two key security partners of the United States ' were only sending their foreign ministers.
“The project is dangerous in a wide variety of ways, including the proven risk of triggering seismic activity that could affect the integrity of the structure itself,” Cleo Paskal, senior fellow of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told me. “So why does Beijing want the expensive and unstable project so badly? One reason is that it is a weapon as much as it is a hydro project.”
Well, I'll tell you who I am certain is paying attention: President Xi Jinping of China. If the U.S. president can decide that he wants to seize Greenland and explicitly refuses to rule out the use of force to do so, that is like a giant permission slip for China to seize Taiwan, which has strong emotional, historical, linguistic and national connections to mainland China.Some may think "Old Donald's" remarks on taking Greenland and the Panama Canal are just a joke from an attention-seeking leader with no filter. They are not a joke. They are a prescription for chaos. They have already done more damage than people realize. If "Old Donald" persists with them, the joke will be entirely on us and on the world order we established after World War II.
American buyers rushed to stockpile Chinese goods before 'Old Donald' returns to the White House with a threat to impose tariffs of between 10 and 60 percent.
By focusing on moving parts of the supply chain to countries in the developing world and using these markets as an intermediary for shipments to the United States, China can still hope to continue trading with its biggest trade partner under 'Old Donald', a state-run economics think tank, Shanghai Zhongchuang Institute, wrote on Monday.
Following a ban on exports to the United States of several key raw materials in December, Chinese authorities last week proposed expanded export restrictions on technologies for processing critical minerals used in batteries for electric vehicles ' a sector where it dominates global supply.At the same time, Beijing is already working to exploit cracks in American power that may arise from "Old Donald's" unpredictable foreign policy. It has showcased advanced weaponry, strengthened outreach to developing countries and reconciled with U.S. security partners in the Asia-Pacific, while multiple successful cyberattacks on the United States have demonstrated the increased sophistication of its state-backed hackers.
Tencent and CATL(battery maker) have denied involvement with the Chinese military, while Beijing said the decision amounted to "unreasonable suppression of Chinese companies".The Pentagon had come under pressure from US lawmakers to add some of the firms, including CATL, to the list.
This pressure came as US car making giant Ford said it would invest $2bn (£1.6bn) to build a battery plant in Michigan. It has said it plans to license technology from CATL.
The new sanctions on Beijing Integrity Technology are notable due to the company's public profile and outsize role in servicing China's police and intelligence services via state-run hacking competitions. The company, which is listed in Shanghai and has a market capitalization of more than $327 million, plays a central role in providing state agencies 'cyber ranges' technology that allows them to simulate cyberattacks and defenses.
- Treasury's sanctions office hacked by Chinese government, officials say
The breach was conducted through the hack of a software contractor serving the Treasury Department ' part of a troubling trend of government intrusions enabled, officials say, by lax cybersecurity employed by some third-party vendors.The incident occurred as the U.S. government is grappling with another major cyberespionage campaign attributed to the Chinese government. The breach of nine American telecommunications companies ' what one top lawmaker called 'the worst telecom hack in our nation's history' ' by a group dubbed Salt Typhoon has alarmed industry and the government, and the Federal Communications Commission is considering a proposal for regulation advanced by Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, which is expected to be voted on this month.
- I Never Felt Like This in China Before - read in harnji
The U.S. and China are the world's A.I. superpowers. They are the world's two leading carbon emitters. And they have the world's two biggest naval forces, capable of projecting power globally.
'We must compete with China ' as it is our strongest rival for global military, technology and economic power ' but the complicated reality is we also need to work with China on climate change, fentanyl and other issues to create a more stable world,' the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns, told me in Beijing.
Yes, the Chinese Communist Party is as tightly in control in China now as at any other time since the late 1980s. But it is communist in name only. The ideology it promotes is a combination of state-directed capitalism and wild cowboy capitalism, where scores of private and state-owned companies slug it out in survival-of-the-fittest contests across a range of high-tech industries to grow China’s middle class.
Even though 'Old Donald' is often depicted in China as a China basher and 'Tariff man,' I was struck by how many Chinese economic experts I spoke to suggested that China preferred dealing with him over Democrats. As David Daokui Li, the director of the Center for China in the World Economy at Tsinghua University and the author of 'China's World View,' pointed out to me: 'Many people in China feel they understand 'Old Donald'. They see him as Deng Xiaoping. Chinese relate to 'Old Donald' because he thinks that economics is everything.'
- What is neijuan, and why is China worried about it?
Although the term has been around for decades in academic circles, it went viral on China’s internet in 2020. A student from Tsinghua University, one of China’s most elite schools, was filmed riding his bicycle with his laptop open, propped up on the handlebars. Soon he was crowned as “Tsinghua’s involuted king”, and a meme was born.The meme of the involuted king came to represent the perhaps pointlessly intense pressure of China’s rat race, and the impossibility of catching a break. During the Covid-19 pandemic, many people felt physically as well as economically trapped.
The term was particularly popular in China’s hyper-competitive tech industry. Despite a workforce that is more educated than any previous generation, many graduates have found it difficult to find jobs in profitable sectors. This became even more of a problem when the Chinese government announced its “double reduction” policy in 2021. Designed to ease the pressure on school students, the policy banned for-profit online and offline tutoring, torpedoing a sector that had previously been a major employer of young graduates. One study suggested that 10 million people lost their jobs as a result of the policy.
- China Reacts After Biden Signs Record US National Defense Bill
Of the record $895 billion the bill authorizes in spending—a 1 percent increase over last year and the largest defense budget in U.S. history—$15.5 billion is allocated to the U.S. Pacific Deterrence Initiative, established in 2021 to strengthen Indo-Pacific defense capabilities to counter China's growing military influence.Additionally, the act authorizes up to $300 million in military articles and training for Taiwan, the self-governed island democracy that Beijing's Chinese Communist Party claims as its territory and has vowed to someday unify with.
- Holding back China's chipmaking progress is a fool’s errand, says U.S. Commerce Secretary
- China Races to Squelch Unrest as Signs of Economic Malaise Spread
Faced with rising social frustrations and public unrest, China’s leaders are ramping up security measures and squelching discordant views on the country’s economic health.A spate of deadly attacks in China in recent weeks—including mass stabbings and car-ramming incidents—has unnerved officials and ordinary people alike, raising concerns that stagnating growth has played a role in fueling unrest and even outbursts of violence, amid an increase in public protests over economic grievances.
In response, the Communist Party’s security czar last month ordered nationwide efforts to “resolve conflicts at the grassroots and nip them in the bud.” China’s top prosecutor urged officials to better protect the rights of low-income workers, job-seeking graduates and vulnerable groups such as the elderly as a way to “strictly prevent extreme cases from happening.”
Xi Jinping urges party to 'turn knife inward'a> to tackle corruption
But the party continues to be plagued by corruption, particularly within the armed forces, raising questions over the military’s much-vaunted battle-readiness. Two former defence ministers have been purged from the party in the past two years for “serious violations of discipline”, a euphemism for corruption.
- How Russia, Iran, China and Israel Responded to Assad's Ouster in Syria
It comes after China's ties to Syria have grown in recent years as Xi Jinping and Assad announced a "strategic partnership" between their countries during Assad's trip to China in 2023.
- Chinese entrepreneur invested $30M in 'Old Donald'’s crypto project after election
He ate his controversial $6.2 million banana art pieceHe is under investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission on charges of fraud, market manipulation and other alleged violations. He announced the investment in "Old Donald's" project Nov. 25 on X.
His investment offers a financial boost to the president-elect weeks before 'Old Donald' is set to take office, and comes as 'Old Donald' is considering whom to appoint to key financial posts in his administration - including to the SEC, which could drop the charges against Sun if the agency and its chairman desire.The investment raises questions about how and whether America's next president could be influenced through his business ventures, and whether the crypto project, World Liberty Financial, may provide a potential avenue for individuals to seek to curry "Old Donald's" favor.
"Old Donald" transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt, asked for comment about World Liberty Financial, did not address the project, saying, “President "Old Donald" removed himself from his multi-billion-dollar real estate empire to run for office and forewent his government salary” when he was president four years ago.
Leavitt did not respond to a question from The Washington Post about whether "Old Donald's" team has concerns about the potential for investors to seek to influence "Old Donald" through World Liberty Financial.
The SEC charged Sun with fraud in March 2023, accusing him of making an unregistered offer and sale of Tronix and BitTorrent, two crypto asset securities. He is also accused of manipulating the secondary market for Tronix and of orchestrating a scheme in which eight celebrities, including actress Lindsay Lohan, influencer-turned-boxer Jake Paul and musicians Akon and Ne-Yo, were paid to promote the assets without disclosing their compensation.
- China, the U.S. & the Rise of Xi Jinping
- Silenced and erased, Hong Kong's decade of protest is now a defiant memory
“People still carry on with life… but you can feel the change bit by bit,” said the former activist, who did not want to reveal his real name when he spoke to us.
“Our city’s character is disappearing.”
On the surface Hong Kong appears to be the same, its packed trams still rumbling down bustling streets, its vibrant neon-lit chaos undimmed.
- Investigators say a Chinese ship’s crew deliberately dragged its anchor to cut undersea data cables
Russian intelligence is suspected to be behind the operation.European investigators believe a Chinese-owned commercial ship deliberately dragged its anchor to sabotage the two undersea telecommunications cables cut in the Baltic Sea earlier this month.
European investigators believe the Yi Peng 3 dragged its anchor for over 100 miles along the Baltic seabed from November 17 to 18. They reportedly viewed satellite and other data showing that the vessel moved significantly slower than usual while weighed down by the anchor.
It severed two data cables: one connecting Lithuania and Sweden and another between Finland and Germany. After cutting the second cable, the ship reportedly zig-zagged, raised anchor, and continued.
- China's global port network
- China Is Bombarding Tech Talent With Job Offers. The West Is Freaking Out.
OBERKOCHEN, Germany—Executives at Zeiss SMT, which makes indispensable components to build the world’s most powerful semiconductors, got some troubling news last fall. Headhunters from Huawei Technologies, the Chinese tech firm, were trying to poach its employees.Staff with access to sensitive Zeiss know-how received LinkedIn messages, emails and calls from Huawei representatives, offering them up to three times their salaries to join the Chinese company, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
China and the U.S. produce more impactful AI research when collaborating together
Analysis of AI’s potential impact on U.S.-China relations is heavily influenced by technonationalism, which emphasizes interstate competition over technological assets108. For instance, the National Security Commission on AI warns that the U.S. “must win the AI competition that is intensifying strategic competition with China” and that “China’s plans, resources, and progress should concern all Americans”36. Such portrayal of China as a threat to the U.S. in the AI arena may hinder scientific collaborations between the two nations. Indeed, these collaborations can be viewed from a national perspective, where the emphasis is on increasing economic competitiveness, ensuring national security, and signaling national prestige. After all, the line between basic and commercial research is thinning, and this is challenging conventional norms about international collaboration and the nature of scientific ownership109. Nevertheless, despite potential spillovers that might work against national interests, such collaborations can also be viewed from a perspective that transcends political agendas—a global perspective where the emphasis is on the advancement of knowledge for the benefit of all.
- China looks to step into global vacuum as 'Old Donald' vows to pull U.S. back
At the COP climate conference, China has been presenting itself as a stable and reliable global leader, seeking to draw a contrast ahead of a second "Old Donald" era.China's battery-powered buses to transport journalists and negotiators to and from the summit venue, while VIPs are chauffeured in black sports-utility vehicles from Nio, a Chinese maker of luxury EVs.
With "Old Donald" promising to pull the United States out of the Paris climate agreement, which underpins the international negotiations, much of the world is hoping that China will take on more responsibility in global efforts to curb planetary warning.
'As leaders of major countries, we should not let our vision be blocked by fleeting clouds,' Xi said at the G-20, according to an official Chinese readout. 'Rather, we must see the world as one community with a shared future, and shoulder our historical responsibility.'
- Chinese cyberspies, Musk's Beijing ties, labelled 'real risk' to US security by senator
Earlier this month, U.S. authorities said China-linked hackers had intercepted surveillance data intended for American law enforcement agencies after breaking into an unspecified number of telecom companies.Senator Richard Blumenthal focused on Elon Musk and the Pentagon's increasing reliance on the super-tycoon's SpaceX services.
"Tesla makes half of its cars and as much as a third of its sales in China," the senator added. "Elon Musk is so concerned about protecting Tesla's market access that he pledged to uphold 'core socialist values' in China. He has been parroting Chinese talking points on Taiwan. Senior Chinese officials are even looking to use Mr. Musk to influence the White House."
Elon Musk is no Kissinger, but may help improve U.S.-China relations, experts say
Yet another unpleasant Panda
Much of the hearing focused on Chinese cyberspies, which gave CrowdStrike Senior VP of Counter Adversary Operations Adam Meyers the chance to use his testimony to discuss a Tuesday report in which his company identified another alleged a Beijing-linked cyberspy crew, Liminal Panda.
- The world beyond the election: The China problem
Wyne notes that there are more pronounced disagreements within "Old Donald's" circle on China, with some eschewing Republican hawkishness for a more transactional approach that could one day, say, sacrifice commitments to Taiwan or other Asian partners in favor of a grand bargain with Beijing. "America First" worldview would strain core U.S. relationships in Europe and Asia, " Wyne told me. His overriding focus on creating a more balanced economic relationship between the United States and China suggests that he would be willing to make significant concessions.
- Kim Jong Un is China's ally, but has become the 'comrade from hell'
The first reports emerged just before Xi met his Russian counterpart at the Brics summit earlier in October, overshadowing a gathering that was meant to send the West a defiant message.“China is unhappy with the way things are going,” Mr Green says, “but they are trying to keep their discontent relatively quiet.”
- China built a $50 billion military stronghold in the South China Sea
In the past decade, this island roughly the size of Taiwan has become home to China’s most concentrated buildup of modern military power and the launching point for its aggressive forays into the contested waters of the South China Sea.Hainan, China’s southernmost province, now boasts a military support apparatus — buttressed by staggering infrastructure investments in the South China Sea — that analysts say could, if present trends continue, neutralize what has long been considered a U.S. military advantage in a possible head-to-head conflict.
- China and Iran champion close ties, but Beijing's influence is limited
An Israeli strike on Iran could upset China's oil supplies, but Beijing is more interested in looking like a peacemaker than actually making peace, analysts say.At a meeting in Russia aimed at solidifying an anti-Western alliance, Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomed Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian to Iran's first BRICS summit as a full member. He also made a show of Beijing's diplomatic and economic alliance with Tehran as conflict in the Middle East further escalates, and Iran braces for Israel to retaliate against it for recent attacks.
But with violence threatening to bring the long-standing shadow war between Israel and Iran into the open, China is unlikely to force Iran to de-escalate, and the relationship between Beijing and Tehran is more restricted than it appears.
Economically isolated due to a strict international sanctions regime, Iran is dependent on commercial ties with China, its largest trading partner. That, together with their shared distrust of the United States, has contributed to stronger political ties.
- Major airlines are cutting services to China or quitting entirely amid low travel demand, high costs
Qantas Suspended Sydney-Shanghai flights Virgin Atlantic Ended London-Shanghai flights Lufthansa Non-stop Frankfurt-Beijing flights no longer on flight schedule SAS Scandinavian Suspending Copenhagen-Shanghai flights on Nov. 8 British Airways Pausing London-Beijing flights until at least Nov 2025; reduced Heathrow-Hong Kong services by 50% LOT Polish Suspending Warsaw-Beijing services for the winter Finnair Reducing Helsinki- to-Shanghai flight frequency for the winter
- 'Old Donald' says China respects him because Xi knows he is 'crazy'
“I had a very strong relationship with him,” 'Old Donald' said of President Xi. “He was actually a really good, I don’t want to say friend - I don’t want to act foolish, ‘he was my friend’ - but I got along with him great.”
He's a very fierce person, 'Old Donald' added.
The former president also cast his relationship with Putin in a positive light, saying: “I got along with him great.”
But 'Old Donald' - who has previously been criticised for praising the Russian leader - said he had threatened him not to invade Ukraine.
He told the Journal that he said to Putin: “'I’m going to hit you right in the middle of fricking Moscow.’ I said, ‘We’re friends. I don’t want to do it, but I have no choice.’ He goes, ‘No way.’ I said, ‘Way.’
“I said, ‘You’re going to be hit so hard, and I’m going to take those [expletive] domes right off your head.’ Because, you know, he lives under the domes.”
With his vows to wage trade wars and end US involvement in the Russia-Ukraine war, 'Old Donald' has branded his foreign policy America First, though detractors say it is isolationist.
- What China's Leaders Grasp About Another 'Old Donald' Term - read in harnji
'Old Donald' has never fully embraced the new consensus and now stands outside it. On China, he is often at odds with his former staff members, current advisers, the nationalist wing of his party and even his own vice-presidential pick — all of whom see the challenge posed by Beijing more clearly than he does. Left to his own unpredictable impulses, Mr. 'Old Donald' could very well lose this decisive decade for America.Nobody grasps this better than China’s leaders. They saw his term as an accelerant of what they believe to be American decline, and not without reason. Mr. 'Old Donald' focused on U.S. commodity exports instead of long-term manufacturing strength. He alienated allies and partners, mishandled the pandemic response and repeatedly showed disregard for democratic norms. On China policy, he routinely put personal gain over America's interests and undermined important steps his staff members took to compete with Beijing.
Today 'Old Donald' opposes overwhelmingly bipartisan legislation that would ban TikTok unless the app’s China-based owners sell it.
President Biden has taken important steps to deny China the advanced semiconductors it needs to take the lead in artificial intelligence and improve its military weapons, and he has moved to shore up America’s defenses against Beijing’s publicly documented campaign to compromise critical U.S. infrastructure, such as water, gas, telecommunications and transportation, in the run-up to a possible conflict. If, in a second term, 'Old Donald' again elevates his personal interests above the country’s approach to technology competition, it would put these vital efforts at risk.
China is America's most formidable geopolitical rival in a century, and thanks to Mr. 'Old Donald'’s term in office, leaders in Beijing are acutely aware of what he is about and how to manipulate him. They believe China is rising and America is declining. Electing Mr. 'Old Donald' next month risks proving them right.
- China’s Lackluster Growth Continues, Signaling Why Beijing Acted on Economy
“The timing of the stimulus shows the government realizes the deterioration of the economy,” said Louise Liu Qian, the founder and chief executive of Wusawa Advisory, a Beijing geopolitical and business consulting firm.
- With Jets and Ships, China Is Honing Its Ability to Choke Taiwan
'Beijing is normalizing the use of these large scale military and coast guard activities under the Lai administration,' said Brian Hart, a fellow with the China Power Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'They have made it clear that if they see things that they perceive as provocative from Taiwan that they will respond this way.”
- Hong Kong: Chinese control and the future of protest
- What the stabbing of a schoolboy tells us about the dangers of Chinese cyber-nationalism
Online commentators have noted the killing happened on a politically sensitive date – 18 September, which is the anniversary of an incident that led to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria in China in the early 1930s.Is This My Country? - read in harnji
“As Chinese citizens, we do not wish to grow up in a land of hatred,” the activists said in a statement co-signed by more than 200 people.
- Thousands of 'Old Donald' Bibles were printed in China as he campaigned against trade practices
Global trade records reviewed by The Associated Press show a printing company in China's eastern city of Hangzhou shipped close to 120,000 of the Bibles to the United States earlier this year.The estimated value of the three separate shipments was $342,000, or less than $3 per Bible, according to databases that track exports and imports. The minimum price for the 'Old Donald'-backed Bible is $59.99, putting the potential sales revenue at about $7 million.
The 'Old Donald' Bible's connection to China reveals a deep divide between the former president's harsh anti-China rhetoric and his efforts to raise cash while campaigning.
- A firehose of antisemitic disinformation from China is pointing at two Republican legislators
One covert influence operation has focused on Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.), who is running to retain his House seat. A China-linked account on X called Moore “a Jewish dog” and claimed he won his primary because of “the bloody Jewish consortium,” among other derogatory tropes, according to a Post analysis of thousands of posts on X, of which about 75 concerned Moore.Moore, who recently backed new sanctions on Chinese officials, is not Jewish.
We are “seeing this effort [from China] to go viral and drill down into locally relevant issues,” said Kenton Thibaut, a senior resident China fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. “It’s like trying to go from a birdshot approach to a narrowly tailored sniper approach.”
- China’s approach to the war in Gaza is not anti-Israel. It’s designed to contain the US
- China tries to silence critics in Japan, new report finds
“More and more Chinese and Hong Kong people in Japan are minimizing their participation in public events, especially those related to sensitive issues, because they are concerned about facing retaliation from the Chinese government,” said Tomoko Ako, a China studies professor at the University of Tokyo.- Xi Jinping is worried about the economy - what do Chinese people think?
Beyond the crisis in real estate, steep public debt and rising unemployment have hit savings and spending. The world’s second-largest economy may miss its own growth target - 5% - this year.That is sobering for the Chinese Communist Party. Explosive growth turned China into a global power, and stable prosperity was the carrot offered by a repressive regime that would never loosen its grip on the stick.
However in 2023, only 38.8% felt life had got better for their families. And less than half - about 47% - believed things would improve over the next five years.
Meanwhile, the proportion of those who felt pessimistic about the future rose, from just 2.3% in 2004 to 16% in 2023.
Does hard work pay off? Chinese people now say ‘no’
"There’s a big difference between China doing well, and Chinese people doing well."
- Tibet, the Dalai Lama and the power struggle with China
- China rams Philippine ship while 60 Minutes on board; South China Sea tensions could draw U.S. in
- This Is What Can Land You in Jail for Sedition in Hong Kong
“We are still in the midst of the national security reordering of the civic space in Hong Kong,” said Thomas Kellogg, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law. “Public debate and discussion is a shadow of its former self, and the government will continue to use its national security tool kit to police what people say and write.”
- The Chinese economy is faltering - that means more trade tensions
In 2020, regulators called off the initial public offering of Jack Ma’s financial technology giant Ant Group, beginning a years-long crackdown on the once-booming Chinese tech industry, which the government views as monopolistic.In recent months, economic tensions between China and the rest of the world have flared because of the sharp increase in Chinese exports. The United States and the European Union worry that China is using unfair trading practices, such as heavy state subsidies, to support these industries, leading to a flood of Chinese products like electric vehicles, solar panels and steel into the global market, potentially damaging industries and jobs in other countries.
- China’s divorce rate soars. Cue the high-powered wedding photo shredder.
Some people, especially in small towns, drive to another city to mail their photos, worried that they might become gossip for neighbors, Liu said. Divorce remains stigmatized in many less-developed regions and tightly knit communities, particularly for women.
- An Incomplete List of Everything Threatening China's National Security - read in harnji
Watch out for Good Samaritans with ulterior motives, packages in your mail and college students looking to make a quick buck, China tells its people.The drumbeat is part of a broader push by China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, to make national security the country’s top priority, above other longstanding goals, such as economic development.
In Beijing’s view, that requires far more than strengthening spy agencies or investing in the military. It requires activating every Chinese citizen to be on the lookout, in what China has called a “whole of society” mobilization.
Spies exploit university students to photograph sensitive research sites: MSS
Pens can contain hidden cameras. Lighters can be bugged with listening devices. That dragonfly? Actually a tiny aerial drone. And beware the tissue box, which a guest may bring to a dinner party where major infrastructure projects are being discussed. A recorder may be hidden inside. “Some unassuming daily objects may contain mysteries,” the post said, above a hotline for reporting spies - 中国如何通过领英招募海外间谍
- Chinese farmers across 14 towns are spraying industrial sulfur on wolfberries so they'll be 'red and beautiful'
The Chinese state broadcaster CCTV has unveiled details of a second major food scandal to rock the country this year, this time involving wolfberries smoked and soaked in prohibited chemicals.
- China’s consul general in New York removed after aide charged with acting as agent for Chinese government, governor says
When asked about the consul general’s involvement, Hochul said, “I believe that the Chinese government, with their behavior, in doing this and working with Linda Sun, is not acceptable – it is a statement by us that we’re not tolerating this. Anybody representing that government needs to move on. That was what we made clear.”Timeline: January 2019: Sun wrote to a PRC official, “I very much value my relationship with the consulate and have done many things to make the relationship between the state and the consulate flourish during my tenure with (Politician-1),” according to the indictment. Though Politician 1 is unnamed, Sun was serving under Cuomo at the time.
“Certainly I have managed to stop all relationships between the TECO and the state. I have denied all (r)equests from their office,” Sun said, according to the indictment.
July 2024: Federal investigators raided a home belonging to Sun and Hu.
- A Ferrari, a Honolulu hideaway, salted duck - top NY official allegedly spied for China
Over a period of roughly 14 years, Linda Sun rose through the ranks to become deputy chief of staff to the governor.
But according to federal prosecutors, the 41-year-old used her position to aid Chinese officials, including by blocking Taiwanese diplomats from contacting the state government and covertly sharing internal documents with Beijing.
In return, China allegedly showered Ms Sun and her husband, Christopher Hu, with millions of dollars in kickbacks that helped them buy a $4.1m (£3.1m) house in New York and perks including special home deliveries of salted duck.
- Why It’s So Hard for China to Fix Its Ailing Economy - read in harnji
Millions of college graduates joining the job market are facing long odds and poor prospects. And China’s population has shrunk two years in a row. In a country where the majority of people had only known the economy to grow rapidly and living conditions to improve, confidence is eroding.Last month, the beauty retailer Sephora, an arm of the French luxury group LVMH, announced that it was cutting jobs because of 'the challenging market.' IBM is shutting its two research and development centers in China.
- Aging Will Hit China's Economy Far Harder Than Is Recognized
And China has been steadfastly unwilling to countenance increased immigration to fill the labor gap. The United States, in contrast, has historically been far more open to immigration, although public support will only be sustained if future flows come by way of legal channels—rather than unrestricted migration through the southern border.
- How Chinese EVs Are Taking Over Mexico
"those plants gonna to be built in the US and our peopole are going to man those plants", said 'Old Donald'
Behind the Pageantry of Shen Yun, Untreated Injuries and Emotional Abuse - read in harnji
First in New York City, then in Paris, Toronto and Taipei, the dancers - mostly teenagers and young adults - flipped and vaulted onstage in soaring routines meant to awe and entertain and also to spread the message of Falun Gong, the persecuted Chinese religious movement behind the performances.Since then, the dance group, Shen Yun Performing Arts, has grown into an economic engine for the movement and its leaders, with brisk ticket sales on five continents and holdings of more than $265 million.
Many of the dancers and musicians who spoke to The Times hesitated to share their stories publicly, fearing retaliation by Falun Gong and its spiritual leader. That leader, Li Hongzhi, introduced the movement in China in 1992, at a time when ancient energy-based exercises were surging in popularity. He has led it in exile while presiding over the guarded 400-acre compound in upstate New York where many of Shen Yun's performers live and train.
Some performers who wanted to quit before the group was ready to let them go faced threats and intimidation. Their managers told them they would go to hell or face danger if they left, because they would lose Mr. Li's protection. Seven former performers said they were also told that they would have to repay the cost of tuition if they quit Shen Yun.
- At the edge of empire Communist Idealism, Disillusionment & Leaving China
It's conventional to say modern China is based on a compromise: we'll make you rich if you don't ask for change. But that makes it sound as though it's a choiceIt's not Edward Wong's purpose to look at China's future, but despite the propaganda flowing out of Beijing nowadays it's clear that the stability which Xi Jinping has brought to China isn't going to be the last word. Wong's finely crafted book shows us why.
... there is a feeling that "Old Donald" being head of US will be better for China's interestes in the long term, and they say this because when you look at what Biden has done they see that Biden has strengthened the military alliances of US around Asia they feel that there's a policy of containmnet now tht Biden has been pushing ....
- Xi Is Doing Things His Way. That's Not Helping China
The world's second-largest economy is in a slump. Foreign investment is at a 30-year low, the property sector is struggling, and the corridors of power in Beijing are looking chaotic, with mysterious purges of several ministers. President Xi Jinping has a chance to turn China’s fortunes around at this year’s Third Plenum. He should put his theories aside, and take a leaf from the history books for inspiration.The conclave, typically held once every five years, can set the stage for significant policy shifts. The meeting in 1978, for instance, was pivotal — it brought about massive changes, moving the country away from “class struggle” to a period of reform and opening up under then-leader Deng Xiaoping. It changed the course of China’s development and brought about decades of generational wealth growth.
- China, Russia, starts joint naval drills
China and Russia's naval forces on Sunday kicked off a joint exercise at a military port in southern China on Sunday, official news agency Xinhua reported, days after NATO allies called Beijing a “decisive enabler” of the war in Ukraine.
The exercise, which began in Guangdong province on Sunday and is expected to last until mid-July, aimed to demonstrate the capabilities of the navies in addressing security threats and preserving peace and stability globally and regionally, state broadcaster CCTV reported Saturday, adding it would include anti-missile exercises, sea strikes and air defense.
- Russia loses ‘astronomical’ China responds to NATO accusations saying Beijing is 'enabler' of Russian war
A Chinese official rejected on Thursday an accusation from NATO members, who said that Beijing has become a "decisive enabler" of Russia's war in Ukraine.A spokesperson for China's Mission to the European Union said a declaration issued on Wednesday by NATO members was "filled with Cold War mentality and belligerent rhetoric."
"We never provide lethal weapons to either party of the conflict, and exercise strict export control on dual-use goods including civilian drones," the spokesperson said in published remarks.
- What is curse of 35' in China?(read in harnji)
No Job, No Marriage, No Kid: China's Workers and the Curse of 35
China, once the world's economic powerhouse, is facing a significant economic crisis. Over-reliance on the property sector, rising debt, ongoing trade conflicts with the US, demographic shift towards an aging population and government crackdowns on graft under Xi Jinping's "common prosperity" guidelines: All have created a perfect storm for the Chinese economy.
“Too old to work at 35 and too young to retire at 60,” said a viral online post — meaning that people of prime working age lack prospects and older people may need to keep working as the government is considering raising the retirement age. The post goes on: “Stay away from homeownership, marriage, childr
- China Reaches Record Trade Surplus, Raising Alarm Abroad
The Chinese Communist Party’s leadership is set to meet on Monday in Beijing for a four-day strategic review of economic policymaking and ideology that typically takes place every five years. China’s latest economic growth statistics are also due on Monday, with economists expecting a slowdown in the second quarter.
- Justice Department opens a criminal probe of the Chinese Olympic doping scandal
After the revelation in April that 23 elite Chinese swimmers had tested positive for a banned substance months before the last Summer Olympic Games, China and the global antidoping authority vigorously defended their decisions to allow them to compete in the Games in 2021. The swimmers, they insisted, had not been doping.
Travis Tygart, head of the United States Anti-Doping Agency, which monitors and penalizes American athletes if they cheat, testified that WADA has failed for years to properly punish Chinese and also Russian sports teams that regularly use performance-enhancing drugs.
"Russia and China have been too big to fail in [WADA's] eyes and they get a different set of rules than the rest of the world does unfortunately," Tygart said.
- Behind China's massive bet on Hungary
- Is China being encircled by its Indo-Pacific neighbors?
- "Old Donald" has a plan to give green cards to military-age males from China
The result is that military-age men from China seeking to move to the United States by crossing the border from Mexico are framed as dangerous members of a traitorous fifth column, even if they’re entering as refugees fleeing the Chinese government. Military-age men from China attending college in the United States, though? They should get fast-tracked immigration status, even if the Chinese government has helped promote their education.Squaring this circle requires nothing more complicated than figuring out which of those immigrants is an America-hater. Simple enough.