The world is a more dangerous place. Global conflicts have doubled over the past five years, according to Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (Acled). In 2024 alone, one person in eight across the world was exposed to conflict: political violence increased by a quarter, by factors worse in countries that held elections. Australian political leaders of all stripes couch it in shared aphorism: the most “challenging strategic circumstances since WWII”. Violence, of course, never went away. It ebbed in some periods, but the myth of the triumph of liberal…
Tag: US foreign policy
US treasury secretary says ‘there is a path’ with China over tariff negotiations
The US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, said “there is a path” to an agreement with China over tariffs after he had interactions with his Chinese counterparts last week in Washington. “I had interaction with my Chinese counterparts, but it was more on the traditional things like financial stability, global economic early warnings,” Bessent told ABC News’s This Week on Sunday, explaining that he spoke to the Chinese during International Monetary Fund meetings in Washington. “I don’t know if President Trump has spoken with President Xi,” he added. On Friday, President…
Trump says China tariffs will drop ‘substantially – but it won’t be zero’
Donald Trump said during a White House news conference that high tariffs on goods from China will “come down substantially, but it won’t be zero”. Trump’s remarks were in response to earlier comments on Tuesday by treasury secretary Scott Bessent, who said that the high tariffs were unsustainable and that he expects a “de-escalation” in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. Trump placed import taxes of 145% on China, which has countered with 125% tariffs on US goods. Trump has placed tariffs on several dozen countries, causing…
US forges ahead with plans for steep port fees on China-built vessels
The Trump administration is forging ahead with plans to charge steep fees on Chinese-built ships for stopping at US ports in an effort to revive its shipbuilding industry, but scaled back the penalties after warnings about the impact on consumers. The Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) significantly watered down original plans from February, under which vessels built in China would be charged $3.5m (£2.6m) each time they docked at a US port. The US and China are locked in a trade war. Those proposals prompted a backlash from…
Antony Blinken heads to China with warning for Beijing over support of Russia
Antony Blinken was due to land in China on Wednesday, amid a worsening rift between the world’s two most powerful countries that threatens to overshadow otherwise improving relations. The US secretary of state is coming with a warning that the US and its European allies are no longer prepared to tolerate China’s sale of weapon components and dual-use products to Russia, which are helping Vladimir Putin rebuild and modernise his arms factories, enabling him to intensify his onslaught on Ukraine. Relations between China and the US had been warmer recently,…
Beijing warns against flexing of ‘gunboat muscles’ as US and Philippines begin military drills
A Chinese military official has warned against countries flexing “gunboat muscles”, as the Philippines and US begin three weeks of unprecedented joint drills in the South China Sea. The annual Balikatan, or “shoulder-to-shoulder” drills, began on Monday and will run until 10 May. For the first time the exercises will be held beyond the Philippines’ territorial waters – 12 nautical miles offshore – and will involve the Philippines coast guard (PCG) in an active role. They will also involve other countries in secondary or observer roles, including Australia and France.…
New Cold Wars review: China, Russia and Biden’s daunting task
Russia bombards Ukraine. Israel and Hamas are locked in a danse macabre. The threat of outright war between Jerusalem and Tehran grows daily. Beijing and Washington snarl. In a moment like this, David Sanger’s latest book, subtitled China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West, is a must-read. Painstakingly researched, New Cold Wars brims with on-record interviews and observations by thinly veiled sources. Officials closest to the president talk with an eye on posterity. The words of the CIA director, Bill Burns, repeatedly appear on the page.…
Chinese students in US tell of ‘chilling’ interrogations and deportations
Stopped at the border, interrogated on national security grounds, laptops and mobile phones checked, held for several hours, plans for future research shattered. Many western scholars are nervous about travelling to China in the current political climate. But lately it is Chinese researchers working at US universities who are increasingly reporting interrogations – and in several cases deportations – at US airports, despite holding valid work or study visas for scientific research. Earlier this month the Chinese embassy in Washington said more than 70 students “with legal and valid materials”…
China sounds warning after Philippines and US announce most expansive military drills yet
Philippine and US forces will carry out their first ever military exercises outside the south-east Asian country’s territorial waters, in a move China has said will only lead to greater insecurity in the South China Sea. The annual Balikatan or “shoulder-to-shoulder” drills – which will run from 22 April to 10 May – will involve 16,700 soldiers simulating retaking enemy-occupied islands in areas facing Taiwan and the South China Sea. It will be the first time the maritime exercises are carried out beyond Philippine territorial waters, according to Michael Logico,…
Dynamic in South China Sea is changing through growing US and Japan ties, says Philippines president
A cooperation agreement by the Philippines, the United States and Japan will change the dynamic in the South China Sea and the region, the Philippine president has said, while seeking to assure China it was not a target. “I think the trilateral agreement is extremely important,” Ferdinand Marcos Jr told a press conference in Washington on Friday, a day after meeting President Joe Biden and the Japanese prime minister, Fumio Kishida, in the nations’ first trilateral summit. “It is going to change the dynamic, the dynamic that we see in…