For western liberals and progressive champions of open, democratic government, a clutch of recalcitrant regimes around the world seems firmly stuck on what Barack Obama once called “the wrong side of history”. Iran’s misogynistic theocrats and Myanmar’s genocidal generals are among the worst offenders. Then there’s Vladimir Putin’s Russia, harking back to largely illusory former glories. Belarus, Syria, Nicaragua, Cambodia and Eritrea meet the regressive criteria, too. What all these regimes have in common is denial of the basic human right to self-determination – the individual’s right to have a…
Tag: Joe Biden
Biden’s China summit was a reminder: the US should talk to its rivals more often | Christopher S Chivvis
Wednesday’s meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping was a lot harder to pull off than the photographs of the two leaders ambling around the gardens of the Filoli mansion outside San Francisco may have made it appear. The White House has spent the last 10 months working to restore dialogue after years of mounting tension that most recently featured an errant Chinese observation balloon and possible Chinese military support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. In the process of working toward the meeting, the White House faced strong domestic political…
One shared dream of China and America | Letter
It is symbolic that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit took place in San Francisco, a place of significance in the history of US-China relations and both nations’ narratives (‘Planet Earth is big enough for two’: Biden and Xi meet for first time in a year, 15 November). From 1848, San Francisco became the first Chinatown, the de facto capital of the Chinese in America. This was the time of the conquest of the west, when, just annexed from Mexico, California became a symbol of the American dream, helped by…
Taiwan reports increased Chinese military drills nearby
Taiwan has reported renewed Chinese military activity including nine aircraft crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait and warships carrying out “combat readiness patrols”. Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past four years of regular Chinese military patrols and drills near the island, as Beijing seeks to pressure Taipei over its sovereignty claims. With the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in San Francisco last week for the Apec summit, where he met the US president, Joe Biden, such military activity around…
Australia news live: migrant visa bill passes parliament with Coalition clauses; Optus chief to front Senate hearing
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"6556755c8f08d1d922ef85c8","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Good morning, I’m Jordyn Beazley and I’ll be taking you through our rolling live news coverage today. ","elementId":"89be12ee-dde1-4533-8939-b462addf3acb"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" As always, if you see anything that needs our attention please email me at jordyn.beazley@theguardian.com. ","elementId":"0102a44f-6ac6-44e9-8023-96bf80626b1e"}],"attributes":{"pinned":false,"keyEvent":true,"summary":false},"blockCreatedOn":1700164956000,"blockCreatedOnDisplay":"15.02 EST","blockLastUpdated":1700165337000,"blockLastUpdatedDisplay":"15.08 EST","blockFirstPublished":1700165065000,"blockFirstPublishedDisplay":"15.04 EST","blockFirstPublishedDisplayNoTimezone":"15.04","title":"Hello","contributors":[],"primaryDateLine":"Thu 16 Nov 2023 15.58 EST","secondaryDateLine":"First published on Thu 16 Nov 2023 14.30 EST"},{"id":"6556702c8f088603929f3693","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" A volunteer firefighter has been killed after being struck by a falling tree in northern NSW, Australian Associated Press reports. ","elementId":"f7eb674a-b14c-4f8f-b1f2-a1f44c3862cc"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" The man was killed while battling the Hudson fire near Walgett yesterday afternoon. Rural Fire Service members…
China responds to Biden calling Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ – video
Joe Biden saying the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, is a dictator was ‘extremely incorrect and irresponsible political manipulation’, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. The US president was asked whether he still held the view at a news conference after talks with Xi on the outskirts of San Francisco. ‘Look, he is. He’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours,’ Biden replied The Guardian
China praises ‘warm’ Xi-Biden meeting in change of rhetoric
China has praised the “warm” meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in California, in a marked shift of rhetoric after months of negotiations aimed at restabilising what has been a testy relationship. A readout from China’s foreign ministry said the US-China relationship was “the most important bilateral relationship in the world” and that “a stable and growing China is good for the United States and the whole world”. Official rhetoric from Beijing has moved in recent months from a more aggressive stance on the US to a more conciliatory…
Xi Jinping suggests China will send new pandas to US as ‘envoys of friendship’
Chinese president Xi Jinping signalled on Wednesday evening that China will send new pandas to the United States, calling them “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples”. “We are ready to continue our cooperation with the United States on panda conservation, and do our best to meet the wishes of the Californians so as to deepen the friendly ties between our two peoples,” Xi said during a dinner speech with business leaders. The gesture came at the end of a day in which Xi and President Joe Biden…
Joe Biden meets Xi Jinping in California: seven key takeaways
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping sat down together on Wednesday just outside San Francisco, on the sidelines of the Apec summit. It was almost exactly one year since their last encounter, in Bali, Indonesia. Biden said the meeting included “some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had” and will lead to stronger dialogue between the two leaders. Here are seven key takeaways: 1. The US and China will resume direct military-to-military communications China severed military contact after then House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August…
Joe Biden hails progress after Xi Jinping talks but Taiwan still the sticking point
Joe Biden has claimed that his summit meeting with Xi Jinping has brought substantial progress, including agreements on limiting narcotics trafficking, restoring militaries lines of communication, and to start talking about the global risks posed by artificial intelligence. However, it was clear that after more than four hours of talks in a mansion outside San Francisco, the meeting had not brought the US and China any closer on the fate of Taiwan, which Xi reportedly told Biden was “the biggest, most potentially dangerous issue in US-China relations”. Furthermore, Biden himself…