Tag: State Department

Taiwan Criticizes China’s Expulsion of New York Times Reporter

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A spokeswoman for Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, criticized Beijing for expelling a New York Times reporter from China in response to Mr. Lai’s appearance by video at a Times DealBook summit in New York in December. The reporter, Vivian Wang, who was based in Beijing, was expelled in February. She was not involved in the DealBook conference, an annual event that features prominent executives and politicians. Chinese officials had complained for months about Ms. Wang’s reporting, which often addressed topics Beijing considered sensitive. At the same time, China has sought…

Trump’s Pursuit of a Partnership With China Raises Concerns in India

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Between the military honor guard, flag-waving schoolchildren and state banquet in Beijing last week, President Trump found time to lavish praise on Xi Jinping, the head of the Chinese Communist Party, calling him “a great leader” and “a friend.” The two men, Mr. Trump said, would “have a fantastic future together.” Mr. Trump flew home without stopping anywhere else in Asia. In interviews during and after the trip, he made no reassuring remarks on U.S. allies or partners in the region. He did say, however, that he would revisit arms…

Rubio, Once a China Hawk, Strikes Softer Tone to Align With Trump

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Before he shook hands with President Xi Jinping of China in Beijing this past week, Marco Rubio was an official enemy of the Chinese state. As a senator representing Florida, Mr. Rubio was among Mr. Xi’s harshest critics in Washington. He accused the Chinese leader of “crimes against humanity” and of plotting to weaken the United States. Fed up, Mr. Xi’s government placed sanctions on Mr. Rubio in 2020 and banned him from entering the country. So Mr. Rubio, now President Trump’s secretary of state and national security adviser, posed…

Trump Invites Xi to White House During State Dinner in Beijing

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President Trump invited China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to Washington during a state dinner in Beijing on Thursday, as the two leaders emphasized their cooperation against the ornate backdrop of the Great Hall of the People. The two walked into the hall side by side to applause and sat next to each other at a table decorated with greenery, a small lake with swans and miniature Chinese-style buildings. A translator facilitated interactions. The guests, at elaborate place settings amid the hall’s tall red pillars with gold detailing, included Elon Musk of…

Paraguay Says It’s Not Abandoning Taiwan. China Has Other Plans.

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There are odd couples. Then there’s Taiwan and Paraguay. The high-tech island nation and its rural, landlocked South American ally sit on opposite sides of the earth. United in 1957 by two military rulers — Chiang Kai-shek and Alfredo Stroessner — driven by anti-Communist fervor, this improbable duo have been inseparable ever since. Today, however, Paraguay finds itself a member of a shrinking global club. China has flexed its economic muscle to force countries, including Paraguay, to break ties with Taiwan, which China considers part of its territory. Paraguay today…

What a Speech Reveals About Trump’s Plans for Nuclear Weapons

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Within hours of the expiration last week of thefinal arms control treaty between Moscow and Washington, the State Department sent its top arms diplomat, Thomas G. DiNanno, to Geneva to lay out Washington’s vision for the future. His public address envisioned a future filled with waves of nuclear arms buildups and test detonations. The views of President Trump’s administration articulated in Mr. DiNanno’s speech represent a stark break with decades of federal policy. In particular, deep in the speech, he describes a U.S. rationale for going its own way on…

Chinese Officers Questioned U.S. Government Employee About His Army Service

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Chinese intelligence officers began tracking an employee of the U.S. Commerce Department this spring, when he was in southwest China and where he has family members, at one point interrogating him about his prior service in the U.S. military, according to a U.S. government document. The man, who is an American citizen, has been prevented from leaving China since mid-April, according to the document, a State Department cable that was obtained by The New York Times. The cable, from the U.S. Embassy in Beijing, was dated May 2 and sent…

U.S. Fears Russia Might Put a Nuclear Weapon in Space

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When Russia conducted a series of secret military satellite launches around the time of its invasion of Ukraine in early 2022, American intelligence officials began delving into the mystery of what, exactly, the Russians were doing. Later, spy agencies discovered Russia was working on a new kind of space-based weapon that could threaten the thousands of satellites that keep the world connected. In recent weeks, a new warning has circulated from America’s spy agencies: Another launch may be in the works, and the question is whether Russia plans to use…

Blinken Touts U.S. Investments in Angola

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Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken wrapped up a four-nation tour through Africa on Thursday with a visit to Angola, an oil-rich former Cold War battleground that has become the site of a struggle for 21st-century economic influence. During his visit to the coastal capital, Luanda, Mr. Blinken spotlighted major American investments in Angola, including more than $900 million for solar energy projects and $250 million to upgrade a rail corridor that carries critical minerals, including cobalt and copper, from central Africa to Angola’s Atlantic port of Lobito. Those solar…

Asian American Officials Cite Unfair Scrutiny and Lost Jobs in China Spy Tensions

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When Thomas Wong set foot in the United States Embassy in Beijing this summer for a new diplomatic posting, it was vindication after years of battling the State Department over a perceived intelligence threat — himself. Diplomatic Security officers had informed him when he joined the foreign service more than a decade ago that they were banning him from working in China. In a letter, he said, they wrongly cited the vague potential for undue “foreign preference” and suggested he could be vulnerable to “foreign influence.” Mr. Wong had become…