Tag: International Relations

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…

China’s Xi and Ukraine’s Zelensky Hold Talks

Chin@Strategy

Two months after issuing a vague plan for ending the war in Ukraine, China’s leader, a close ally of Vladimir V. Putin, on Wednesday acceded to repeated requests from the Ukrainian president to talk. The one-hour telephone discussion between China’s Xi Jinping and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was the first known contact between the two leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. China’s official account of the discussion was notable for its omission of two words: “Russia” and “war.” It referred instead to the need for a “political settlement…

China Detains Taiwan-Based Publisher in National Security Investigation

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TAIPEI, Taiwan — A Taiwan-based publisher who disappeared while in China has been detained for suspected violations of security laws, Chinese authorities confirmed on Wednesday, fanning concerns in Taiwan that Beijing is sending a warning to the island’s vibrant publishing sector. The publisher, Li Yanhe, widely known by his pen name, Fu Cha, is a Chinese citizen who has been living in Taiwan since 2009. His company, Gusa Publishing, is well known in Taiwan for books that cast a critical eye on China’s ruling Communist Party. Mr. Li had returned…

U.S. Indicts Four Men in Scheme to Launder Cryptocurrency for North Korea

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WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said on Monday that it had indicted four men on charges of laundering virtual currency stolen by an infamous North Korean online criminal syndicate as part of a far-reaching scheme to buy goods with U.S. dollars and evade international sanctions. The charges, filed in three cases in federal court in Washington, outline a complex multiyear effort to launder cryptocurrency obtained by the Lazarus Group, an organization linked to espionage, online theft and cyberattacks, including the 2014 breach of Sony Pictures. The scheme involved a relatively…

A Chinese Ambassador’s Comments on Ex-Soviet States Draw Ire

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France summoned the Chinese ambassador to Paris, Lu Shaye, on Monday to explain his controversial remarks on French television questioning the sovereignty of post-Soviet nations. The Baltic States, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, said that they would also send for China’s envoys to the three countries to discuss the matter. China’s Foreign Ministry tried to repair the damage on Monday, insisting that it recognized the sovereignty of all the former Soviet republics that have declared independence, including Ukraine. “China respects the sovereign status of former Soviet republics after the Soviet Union’s…

Blinken and Top G7 Diplomats Stress Unity on Russia and China

Chin@Strategy

Top diplomats from the United States and the rest of the Group of 7 nations closed a three-day meeting in Japan on Tuesday with a forceful statement of unity against new assertiveness by both Russia and China, drawing a firm line on tight cooperation on security as well as economic issues. The show of unity came after a monthslong diplomatic charm offensive by Xi Jinping, China’s leader, in which he made a point of courting European officials in Beijing and trying to peel them away from the United States. The…

Chinese Worker in Pakistan Is Arrested on Blasphemy Charges

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Chinese worker on a dam project in northern Pakistan has been arrested and imprisoned on accusations of blasphemy, in a rare case of a foreigner being swept up in Pakistan’s harsh and controversial blasphemy laws. The Chinese man was identified in a Pakistani police report as “Mr. Tian” and described as a transportation supervisor at the Dasu hydropower project, led by China’s Gezhouba Group construction and engineering company. The police report, which was obtained by The New York Times, said the man was on a field…

Brazil’s Lula Meets Xi in China as They Seek Path to Peace in Ukraine

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President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil met in Beijing on Friday with China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, and the two leaders declared in a joint statement that negotiation was “the only viable way out of the crisis in Ukraine.” In the statement, they avoided the words “invasion” or “war” and offered few specifics about how to bring Russia or Ukraine to the table after more than a year of war. At the same time, Mr. Lula called on Friday for China’s territorial integrity to be respected with regards…

Pressure Mounts on China to Offer Debt Relief to Poor Countries Facing Default

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WASHINGTON — China, under growing pressure from top international policymakers, appeared to indicate this week that it is ready to make concessions that would unlock a global effort to restructure hundreds of billions of dollars of debt owed by poor countries. China has lent more than $500 billion to developing countries through its lending program, making it one of the world’s largest creditors. Many of those countries, including several in Africa, have struggled economically in the wake of the pandemic and face the possibility of defaulting on their debt payments.…

Pressure Mounts on China to Offer Debt Relief to Poor Countries Facing Default

Chin@Strategy

WASHINGTON — China, under growing pressure from top international policymakers, appeared to indicate this week that it is ready to make concessions that would unlock a global effort to restructure hundreds of billions of dollars of debt owed by poor countries. China has lent more than $500 billion to developing countries through its lending program, making it one of the world’s largest creditors. Many of those countries, including several in Africa, have struggled economically in the wake of the pandemic and face the possibility of defaulting on their debt payments.…