China and US agree to ease restrictions on journalists

China and the US have agreed to ease restrictions on each other’s journalists amid a slight easing of tensions between the two sides. The official China Daily newspaper said on Wednesday that the agreement was reached ahead of the virtual summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US president Joe Biden held a day earlier. Under the agreement, the US will issue one-year multiple-entry visas to Chinese journalists and will immediately initiate a process to address “duration of status” issues, China Daily said. China will reciprocate by granting equal treatment…

U.S. and China Agree to Ease Restrictions on Journalists

WASHINGTON — The United States and China announced an agreement on Tuesday to ease restrictions on foreign journalists operating in the two countries, tempering a diplomatic confrontation that led to the expulsion of some American reporters from China during the last year of the Trump administration. The deal was first reported by China Daily, a newspaper controlled by the Chinese government, and later confirmed by a statement issued from the State Department. Under the agreement, made public just a day after President Biden met with President Xi Jinping of China,…

Revising China’s History, to Glorify Xi Jinping

Xi Jinping’s drive to extend his formidable power for years ahead reached a new pitch on Tuesday, when the Chinese Communist Party issued a resolution on history that anoints him one of its revered leaders, hours after Mr. Xi held video talks with President Biden. Senior party officials approved the resolution last week, when some of its main points were released in an official summary of their meeting. But the government has only belatedly issued the full document, the third such summation of history in the 100 years of the…

Biden-Xi summit highlights tensions – and desire for cooperation

The much-awaited meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping achieved its admittedly low expectations when the two finally met and showed a willingness to move the bilateral relationship in a positive direction. Progress began to show soon after the meeting, for example on journalist visas. But the two sides also provided a list of existing grievances following the three-and-a-half-hour talks. The US said it raised its concerns over China’s human rights record, its “unfair trade and economic practices”, and its behaviour in the South China Sea. On the issue of…

China’s Content Manipulation Reaches New Frontiers

Advertisement The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has long sought to influence the media and information spaces in other countries, deploying a diverse set of tools to achieve its aims. Yet for many years there was no significant evidence that China-linked actors were engaging in aggressive disinformation campaigns on global social media platforms like the one pursued by Moscow ahead of the 2016 U.S. elections. Since 2019, that picture has changed. Multiple investigations and large-scale takedowns of inauthentic accounts have demonstrated that pro-Beijing forces are indeed carrying out a broad range…

Formula 1: Guanyu Zhou becomes first Chinese driver after signing for Alfa Romeo

Zhou has three F2 wins this season and is second in the championship with one round to go Guanyu Zhou has become Formula 1’s first Chinese driver after signing to race for Alfa Romeo in 2022. Alfa Romeo described the Formula 2 frontrunner as a “trailblazer who will write a pivotal page in his country’s motorsport history”. Zhou, 22, will partner Valtteri Bottas, signed from Mercedes after veteran Kimi Raikkonen decided to retire this year. He replaces Antonio Giovinazzi, who has raced for Alfa since 2019 but now has no…