Tag: International Relations

How a U.S. Tech Mogul Used Nonprofits to Sow Chinese Propaganda

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The protest in London’s bustling Chinatown brought together a variety of activist groups to oppose a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes. So it was peculiar when a street brawl broke out among mostly ethnic Chinese demonstrators. Witnesses said the fight, in November 2021, started when men aligned with the event’s organizers, including a group called No Cold War, attacked activists supporting the democracy movement in Hong Kong. On the surface, No Cold War is a loose collective run mostly by American and British activists who say the West’s rhetoric against…

Ukraine Invites Talks in Saudi Arabia as an Effort to Weaken Russia

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Ukraine will make a renewed push this weekend at a gathering in Saudi Arabia to win the support of dozens of countries that have remained on the sidelines of the war — the start of a broader campaign in the months ahead to build the diplomatic muscle to isolate and weaken Russia. Ukraine and Saudi Arabia invited diplomats from some 40 governments to talks in the Red Sea port of Jeddah. Notable among them were China, India, Brazil, South Africa and some of the oil-rich Gulf nations that have tried…

TSMC Chairman Mark Liu Says Company Will Keep Its Roots in Taiwan

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Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, which is manufacturing the world’s most advanced microchips, conducts business on the island of Taiwan, dead center in one of the most geopolitically volatile places on the planet. That makes people in Washington very nervous. TSMC dominates the semiconductor industry; it’s a company that the United States can’t do without, 80 miles off the coast of China. The U.S. government has appropriated tens of billions of dollars to strengthen America’s own semiconductor sector and help fund TSMC’s nascent operations in the United States, far from China,…

The Chip Titan Whose Life’s Work Is at the Center of a Tech Cold War

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In a wood-paneled office overlooking Taipei and the jungle-covered mountains that surround the Taiwanese capital, Morris Chang recently pulled out an old book stamped with technicolor patterns. It was titled “Introduction to VLSI Systems,” a graduate-level textbook describing the intricacies of computer chip design. Mr. Chang, 92, held it up with reverence. “I want to show you the date of this book, 1980,” he said. The timing was important, he added, as it was “the earliest piece” in a puzzle that came together for him — altering not only his…

Xi’s Abrupt Shake-Up of Nuclear Force’s Leaders Fans Speculation

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In the years since China’s leader, Xi Jinping, transformed the People’s Liberation Army, one of his crowning creations has been the Rocket Force, the custodian of China’s expanding nuclear arsenal. The force, with its array of missiles and launch silos, embodied Mr. Xi’s ambitions to elevate his country as a respected, and feared, great power ready to counter American supremacy in the region. But this week, Mr. Xi abruptly replaced the Rocket Force’s two top commanders with outsiders with no experience in the nuclear force. It was the highest-level upheaval…

The Global Economy Is Fracturing. What Comes Next?

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Produced by ‘The Ezra Klein Show’ The world economy has experienced many shocks over the past few years: A pandemic. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Skyrocketing inflation. These are the stories that have dominated headlines — and for good reason. But they’ve also overshadowed a set of deeper, more fundamental shifts — the rise of China as an economic superpower, the fracturing of trade relations, the realities of the climate crisis — that are transforming the global economic order and prompting ambitious policy responses from leaders across the world. [You can…

Japan Defense White Paper Affirms Stronger Military Strategy

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China is the “greatest strategic challenge.” Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a “serious violation of international law.” North Korea is an “imminent threat.” And Japan needs to “fundamentally” strengthen its military and work more closely with countries like South Korea to preserve regional stability. The tough assessment comes from Japan’s annual defense white paper, approved by the cabinet office Friday amid growing security concerns that have pushed Tokyo to rethink its decades-long commitment to pacifism. The document, which borrows much of its language from the national security strategy released in…

After Ousting Qin Gang, China Erases Him and Evades Questions

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China’s abrupt removal of Qin Gang as foreign minister did not stop the questions that had dogged Chinese officials in the month since he vanished from public view: Where is Mr. Qin? Does he have health issues? Is he under investigation? Representatives of the Foreign Ministry have struggled to respond when pressed by reporters, repeatedly saying that they had no information to provide. After China replaced him on Tuesday, nearly all references to Mr. Qin were scrubbed from the ministry’s website, an unusual erasure that has only deepened the intrigue.…

Fiji’s Leader Declines Invitation to China, Saying He Tripped and Fell

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Fiji’s uneasy relationship with China has hit an unusual roadblock, in the form of an office door. In a video posted to social media on Tuesday, the Pacific island nation’s prime minister, Sitiveni Rabuka, said he was declining an invitation to visit China this week because he had tripped while looking at his phone, striking his head on a door at the entrance to a government building. “I do not know whether my head is hurt more than the door, or the door hurt more than my head,” Mr. Rabuka…

Putin Plans China Visit as a Russian Leader Joins a North Korea Celebration

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As part of Russia’s ongoing efforts to strengthen ties with Asian allies, President Vladimir V. Putin will travel to a conference in China in October, while the defense minister, Sergei K. Shoigu, will join a Chinese delegation at a celebration in North Korea this week, according to Russian state news media. Mr. Putin will meet with Xi Jinping, China’s leader, to discuss bilateral trade and economic cooperation at an international forum, according to Tass, a Russian state news agency. The relationship between China and Russia has deepened during the war…