Tag: Biden, Joseph R Jr

‘Rip and Replace’: The Tech Cold War Is Upending Wireless Carriers

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Deep in a pine forest in Wilcox County, Ala., three workers dangled from the top of a 350-foot cellular tower. They were there to rip out and replace Chinese equipment from the local wireless network. Three hours into the job, the team ran into a hitch. Replacement gear from a European company was obstructing a safety beacon for airplanes. “We’ve got a problem,” a crew member on the ground said. “They say it’s blocking the beacon.” The project had already been delayed for months because of storms, slow equipment shipments…

China’s Foreign Minister Meets U.S. Envoy and Urges Washington to Reflect

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China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, met with the American ambassador to China in Beijing on Monday in a possible hint at a thaw in relations between the two powers after months of growing tension. Mr. Qin told the ambassador, Nicholas Burns, that a “top priority” was to stabilize relations, “avoid a downward spiral, and prevent accidents between China and the United States,” according to China’s official readout of the meeting. The meeting marked one of the highest-level engagements between American and Chinese officials since relations soured in February following the appearance,…

Congress Clashes With Biden Over Tariffs on Illegal Chinese Solar Panels

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The Senate voted on Wednesday to reinstate tariffs on solar panels from Chinese companies in Southeast Asia that had been found to be coming into the United States in violation of trade rules. The measure, which passed by a vote of 56 to 41, had already been approved by the House. It sets up a showdown with the Biden administration, which had temporarily halted the tariffs to try to ensure that the country had an adequate supply of solar panels in the fight against climate change. President Biden has said…

Marcos Makes Mark on Foreign Policy in Push for Closer U.S.-Philippines Ties

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Before becoming president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. warned that “if you let the U.S. come in, you make China your enemy.” But as he sat at the White House on Monday, President Biden feted him as a top ally, saying there was no better partner that Washington could have. Mr. Marcos — in office for not even a year — has emerged as one of the Philippines’ most transformative foreign policy presidents, switching from a diplomatic tightrope to a forceful pivot toward Washington in the intensifying rivalry with…

U.S.-Philippines Alliance Grows With Biden and Marcos Meeting: What to Know

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President Biden is meeting President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. of the Philippines on Monday at the White House, part of a four-day U.S. visit by Mr. Marcos intended to signal a strengthening alliance between the two countries. The pair are set to discuss efforts to “uphold international law and promote a free and open Indo-Pacific,” according to a White House statement, reflecting heightened anxieties over China’s growing assertiveness and fears of conflict over Taiwan, disputed seas, islands and shipping lanes. Former President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines was more conciliatory than…

Biden to Meet Marcos in Washington as Tensions Grow With China

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WASHINGTON — President Biden will meet with President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. of the Philippines at the White House on Monday, a visit that is meant to send a message to China that the Filipino leader plans to deepen his country’s relationship with the United States. Mr. Marcos’s trip comes days after the U.S. and Philippine militaries held joint exercises aimed at curbing China’s influence in the South China Sea and strengthening the United States’ ability to defend Taiwan if China invades. The exercises were part of a rapid and…

China Is on Track to Become Nuclear Superpower, Ushering in New Age

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — On the Chinese coast, just 135 miles from Taiwan, Beijing is preparing to start a new reactor the Pentagon sees as delivering fuel for a vast expansion of China’s nuclear arsenal, potentially making it an atomic peer of the United States and Russia. The reactor, known as a fast breeder, excels at making plutonium, a top fuel of atom bombs. The nuclear material for the reactor is being supplied by Russia, whose Rosatom nuclear giant has in the past few months completed the delivery of 25 tons of…

Macron Says France Backs Status Quo on Taiwan

Chin@Strategy

President Emmanuel Macron said on Wednesday that France’s position toward Taiwan remained unchanged, but he stood by comments he made on the island’s security that dismayed some allies after he returned from a trip to China and insisted that Europe could not be a “vassal” of the United States. “France’s position and the European position on Taiwan is the same,” Mr. Macron said at a news conference in Amsterdam on the second day of a state visit to the Netherlands. “We are for the status quo. This policy is constant…

Pulling the Plug on TikTok Will Be Harder Than It Looks

Chin@Strategy

In the summer of 2020, in full re-election mode and looking for new ways to punish China, President Donald J. Trump threatened to cut off TikTok from the phones of millions of Americans unless its parent company agreed to sell all of its U.S. operations to American owners. The effort collapsed. Now, more than two years later, after lengthy studies of how Chinese authorities could use the app for everything from surveillance to information operations, the Biden administration is attempting a strikingly similar move. It is better organized, vetted by…

Falling Lithium Prices Are Making Electric Cars More Affordable

Chin@Strategy

Lithium, the common ingredient in almost all electric-car batteries, has become so precious that it is often called white gold. But something surprising has happened recently: The metal’s price has fallen, helping to make electric vehicles more affordable. Since January, the price of lithium has dropped by nearly 20 percent, according to Benchmark Minerals, even as sales of electric vehicles have soared. Cobalt, another important battery material, has fallen by more than half. Copper, essential to electric motors and batteries, has slipped by about 18 percent, even though U.S. mines…