Tag: United States

China Builds an Economic Fortress as Global Tensions Rise

Media Library

China is erecting walls to prevent money, technology and companies from leaving the country. This week, the State Council, China’s cabinet, announced new rules requiring national security screening for Chinese companies seeking to invest overseas. The move follows regulations introduced in April that allowed the authorities to intervene when foreign companies tried to relocate supply chains out of China. Taken together, the measures amount to a new blueprint for the economic fortress China is building around its technology and supply chains amid rising tensions with Europe and the United States.…

Chinese Military Sought Nvidia Chips for Years, Report Says

Media Library

Jensen Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, has said China’s military doesn’t rely on chips from his California-based company. But an analysis of six years of Chinese records shows that China’s military has been openly seeking Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips since 2019. Chinese records reviewed by Wirescreen, a software platform that provides information about Chinese companies, showed that the People’s Liberation Army has stepped up its efforts to acquire artificial intelligence chips, even after the U.S. government restricted semiconductor sales to foreign adversaries including China. The records document instances when suppliers agreed…

The Museum of Wretched Ideas Has Reopened

Media Library

It’s the year 2026, and sometimes it feels as if we’re taking a nice leisurely walk through a Museum of Wretched Ideas. Consider what’s happening at home. Tariffs raise prices and restrain economic growth, while the federal government embraces both Gilded Age corruption and a version of the spoils system. A disturbing number of young people on the right are fascinated with fascism. An extraordinary 34 percent of young people overall express a favorable view of communism, and young Americans are far more likely than their parents or grandparents to…

A Quiet Pacific Village Becomes China’s Security Testing Ground

Media Library

The first sign that something unusual was unfolding in the Solomon Islands was when the Chinese police showed up at Fighter One, a quiet village ringed with banana trees. The Chinese officers gathered villagers on a grassy patch and proposed a system they said would help keep them safe. They suggested that the residents fill out cards providing the names, addresses and dates of birth for each household member. They recommended collecting fingerprints and palm prints — both highly unusual and legally dubious in a country lacking laws governing personal…

How ‘Sentinel Gardens’ Help Spot Dangerous Bugs Abroad

Media Library

The wriggling larva would one day metamorphose into the red coffee-borer moth, an invasive species that damages many plants. It hasn’t yet infested the United States — but here it was, on a cloudy morning in early 2023, burrowing into the trunk of an American oak tree. Fortunately, that particular oak tree was growing in China, in what scientists call a “sentinel garden.” These gardens, scattered around the world, are plots of foreign trees that researchers closely monitor to figure out what local bugs and diseases can damage them. The…

Trump Again Says He Will Talk to Taiwan’s Leader, Risking China’s Anger

Media Library

President Trump said this week that he would speak to Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, a move that would break longstanding diplomatic norms and risk retaliation from China. “I’ll speak to him,” Mr. Trump told reporters when asked whether he would call Mr. Lai before deciding on an arms sale to the self-governing democracy. “I speak to everybody,” he said, adding later, “We’ll work that, the Taiwan problem.” Responding on Thursday morning, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said Mr. Lai would be happy to speak to Mr. Trump. It was the second time…

Trump Approved a Nvidia Chip for Sale in China. Beijing Doesn’t Want It.

Media Library

When President Trump announced late last year that Nvidia could sell one of its most powerful chips to China, the deal looked like a rare win-win in a fraying geopolitical relationship. It would provide a major boost for China’s artificial intelligence ambitions, while handing a win to America’s leading chipmaker. Cutting-edge A.I. systems run on staggering amounts of computing power, and Nvidia’s chips are considered the gold standard worldwide. Chinese competitors have yet to build anything that rivals Nvidia’s best, and Mr. Trump’s decision undercut years of U.S. policy designed…

China Confirms It Will Buy 200 Boeing Planes

Media Library

The Chinese government on Wednesday sought to draw a line on trade tensions with the United States, saying that both sides had agreed not to raise tariffs further while signaling that it could retaliate if Washington did so again. China also confirmed for the first time that it would buy American beef and Boeing airplanes, two deals that President Trump touted after his summit with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, last week. In a statement on Wednesday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said that Beijing had agreed to buy 200 Boeing planes,…

Eager for Arms Deal, Taiwan Stresses Need for U.S. Support

Media Library

President Lai Ching-te of Taiwan said on Sunday that weapons sales from the United States remained a crucial element for maintaining peace and stability in the region, comments made after President Trump suggested a multibillion dollar weapons deal with the island could be used as a “negotiating chip” with China. Mr. Lai made a point to thank Mr. Trump for his support since his first term as president, including “a sustained increased in the scale and value of arms sales to Taiwan, assisting us in strengthening our self-defense capabilities.” Continued…

Here’s the Trade Deal That Trump and Xi Should Have Reached

Media Library

With some family gatherings, the best you can hope for is that no one gets drunk and starts a fistfight. Expectations when President Trump and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, met on Thursday and Friday were similarly low — and they were met. Mr. Trump had some warm words about the duo’s “fantastic future” and how the Chinese would buy American goods, but the meeting ended without clear progress toward resolving the two sides’ trade disagreements. The result was like a host saying brightly, “It’s so nice when you all get…