Tag: United States International Relations

Taiwan’s Opposition Splits After Collapse of Unity Bid

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For weeks, Taiwan’s two main opposition parties were edging toward a coalition, in a bid to unseat the island democracy’s governing party in the coming presidential election, an outcome that Beijing would welcome. The election, one elder statesman from Taiwan’s opposition said, was a choice between war and peace. This week, though, the two parties — which both argue that they are better able to ensure peace with China — chose in spectacular fashion to go to war against each other. An incipient deal for a joint presidential ticket between…

Why China and Boeing Still Need Each Other

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Boeing’s commercial aircraft sales to China have slowed to a trickle as U.S.-Chinese relations have soured. But there are new prospects for the company to regain traction. A meeting this month between President Biden and President Xi Jinping of China did not yield public progress toward resuming plane sales, but it may ease tensions between the two countries, boding well for Boeing, a giant of American manufacturing. Perhaps more important, Boeing and China still need each other. “There’s lots of incentives for everyone to do a deal here,” said Eddy…

A.I. Killer Drones Are Becoming Reality. Nations Disagree on Limits.

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It seems like something out of science fiction: swarms of killer robots that hunt down targets on their own and are capable of flying in for the kill without any human signing off. But it is approaching reality as the United States, China and a handful of other nations make rapid progress in developing and deploying new technology that has the potential to reshape the nature of warfare by turning life and death decisions over to autonomous drones equipped with artificial intelligence programs. That prospect is so worrying to many…

A Rare Opportunity to See China’s Leader Up Close and (Sort of) Personal

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As the most powerful Chinese leader in generations, Xi Jinping rarely bothers to glad-hand or to try charming a crowd. His public appearances in China are carefully crafted, with fawning cadres and adoring fans carefully positioned around him. So when Mr. Xi landed in San Francisco this week to meet with President Biden, to try to stabilize a relationship with the United States that has been spiraling downward, it provided a rare opportunity to see the Chinese leader up close and, at times, less filtered than usual. There were a…

Two Superpowers Walk Into a Garden

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Edward Wong contributed reporting. The Daily is made by Rachel Quester, Lynsea Garrison, Clare Toeniskoetter, Paige Cowett, Michael Simon Johnson, Brad Fisher, Chris Wood, Jessica Cheung, Stella Tan, Alexandra Leigh Young, Lisa Chow, Eric Krupke, Marc Georges, Luke Vander Ploeg, M.J. Davis Lin, Dan Powell, Sydney Harper, Mike Benoist, Liz O. Baylen, Asthaa Chaturvedi, Rachelle Bonja, Diana Nguyen, Marion Lozano, Corey Schreppel, Rob Szypko, Elisheba Ittoop, Mooj Zadie, Patricia Willens, Rowan Niemisto, Jody Becker, Rikki Novetsky, John Ketchum, Nina Feldman, Will Reid, Carlos Prieto, Ben Calhoun, Susan Lee, Lexie Diao,…

Biden and Xi Make Nice Despite U.S.-China Tensions

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In Washington, President Xi Jinping of China is largely considered a mysterious autocrat who has long harbored a fatalistic view of his country’s relationship with the United States. But for a brief moment on Wednesday, at a century-old gilded mansion in the hills of Northern California, President Biden treated Mr. Xi like just another car guy. “It’s a beautiful vehicle!” Mr. Biden said as he walked the Chinese leader to his car, an armored, 18-foot Hongqi sedan, after a long day of diplomatic wrangling, according to a video published by…

Day After Xi Meeting, Biden Says U.S. Has ‘Real Differences’ With China

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President Biden said Thursday that the United States has “real differences with Beijing,” one day after he after he held an hourslong meeting with President Xi Jinping of China at a moment of deep tension between the two countries. Speaking to executives at the APEC summit in San Francisco, Mr. Biden noted that he and Mr. Xi had agreed to resume military to military communication to “reduce the risk of miscalculation” — a line that got a round of applause from the room. “We have real differences with Beijing,” Mr.…

For Biden, a Subtle Shift in the Power Balance With China’s Xi Jinping

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When President Biden met President Xi Jinping on Wednesday on the edges of Silicon Valley, there was a subtle but noticeable shift in the power dynamic between two countries that have spent most of the past few years denouncing, undercutting and imposing sanctions on each other. For the first time in years, a Chinese leader desperately needed a few things from the United States. Mr. Xi’s list at the summit started with a revival of American financial investments in China and a break in the technology export controls that have,…

Biden Met With Xi, in an Effort to Lower the Heat

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President Biden met today with Xi Jinping, the president of China, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in California. It was their first conversation in a year, and both leaders framed the meeting as a step toward easing tensions that had dramatically worsened in recent years. “Planet Earth is big enough” for both superpowers, Xi said, adding that their countries should be “fully capable of rising above differences.” Aides to Biden said that his primary goal was finding a way to avoid the bitter competition with China…

Panda Diplomacy Might Not Be Dead Just Yet

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The fur balls might be coming back to Washington and San Diego. Xi Jinping, China’s leader, said in a speech on Wednesday night that his nation’s best diplomats, giant pandas, might soon return to zoos in the United States that have recently sent bears back to their homeland. “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,” he told a gathering of mostly…