Two US navy sailors have been arrested on charges of handing over sensitive national security material to China, US officials said on Thursday. Jinchao Wei, a 22-year-old sailor assigned to the San Diego-based USS Essex, was arrested on Wednesday on a charge related to espionage involving conspiracy to sending national defense information to Chinese officials. In a separate case, the justice department charged Wenheng Zhao, 26, for allegedly collecting bribes in exchange for giving sensitive US military photos and videos to a Chinese intelligence officer. “These individuals stand accused of…
Tag: US foreign policy
Antony Blinken calls China’s behaviour in the Pacific ‘problematic’ on visit to Tonga
US secretary of state Antony Blinken warned of China’s “problematic behaviour” during a visit to the Pacific island nation of Tonga, citing Beijing’s militarisation of the South China Sea and what he called economic coercion. China’s growing presence in the region, which saw it sign a security pact with the Solomon Islands last year, has fuelled concern in the US and Australia about Beijing’s ambitions, and prompted increased Western aid and engagement. Blinken said at a press conference that the US had no objection to China’s engagement with the region…
Still no sign of Qin Gang as China says foreign minister has been replaced
China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, who has not been seen in public for almost a month, has been removed from office and replaced by his predecessor, Wang Yi, China’s top legislative body said. A special meeting of China’s senior political body, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress (NPCSC), on Tuesday announced Qin had been removed from his pos. It did not specify why. Wang, who is a more senior party member to Qin and China’s most senior diplomat, was reinstated as a minister in his place, the NPCSC…
US ambassador to Beijing targeted in Chinese cyber-attack – report
The US ambassador to Beijing, Nicholas Burns, was reportedly one of the American officials whose emails were accessed in a recent Chinese hacking attack which took Washington by surprise with its sophistication. Another target was Daniel Kritenbrink, the assistant secretary of state for east Asia, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. When the attack was first disclosed last week, the administration admitted the email account of the commerce secretary, Gina Raimondo, had also been compromised. US officials were quoted as saying those were the three most senior targets but…
Henry Kissinger meets China’s defence minister in surprise visit to Beijing
The veteran US diplomat Henry Kissinger has met China’s defence minister in Beijing. According to a readout on Tuesday from the Chinese defence ministry, Li Shangfu said “friendly communication” between China and the US had been “destroyed” because “some people in the United States did not meet China halfway”. Kissinger said he was a “friend of China”, according to the readout. “Neither the United States nor China can afford to treat the other as an adversary. If the two countries go to war, it will not lead to any meaningful…
Where is Qin Gang? China’s foreign minister has not been seen in public for three weeks
China’s foreign minister, Qin Gang, has not been seen in public for over three weeks, despite a flurry of high-profile diplomatic efforts to repair ties with the United States. As a former ambassador to Washington DC, who is considered a protege of Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Qin had been expected to play a key role in a string of high-level visits by US officials. But his last public appearance was a meeting with his Sri Lankan counterpart in Beijing on 25 June. He did not join Chinese officials at talks…
US-China talks set out the most modest aim: better communication
When Janet Yellen left Beijing on Sunday after four days of talks, the US treasury secretary in effect admitted that the delegation achieved its main objective simply by sitting down with top Chinese officials. After years of dangerous and deepening separation between the people running the world’s two biggest economies, they were finally back in a room together. At a brief press conference that was the only tangible outcome of the talks, Yellen listed her hopes for the future. They included something that a decade ago would have been taken…
‘Ukrainian strategy has become a model’: Taiwanese beef up military to face China threat
For many people in Taiwan, the threat of conflict with China is a distant prospect that has been lingering in the air for some seven decades. Concern in the west that the Chinese Communist party, led by Xi Jinping in Beijing, is moving ever closer towards attempting to realise its goal of “reunifying” China and Taiwan, by force if necessary, can seem hysterical. The only beneficiary of the increasing tension between China and Taiwan is the US, which is making money from selling arms to Taipei, jokes one resident of…
Janet Yellen tells China the world is ‘big enough for both our countries to thrive’
The US treasury secretary, Janet Yellen, has said a four-day trip to Beijing has put ties with China on a “surer footing” and paved the way for better communication between top officials who run the world’s two largest economies. This relatively modest outcome had been flagged by US officials and expected by analysts before Yellen arrived, and is a reflection of how fraught one of the world’s most critical relationships had become. “I expect that this trip will help build a resilient and productive channel of communication,” Yellen said at…
Janet Yellen urges China to boost funding to tackle climate crisis
US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen has pressed China to do more to support international climate institutions that are helping finance green initiatives around the world, urging deeper cooperation in addressing the “existential threat” of global heating. “Climate finance should be targeted efficiently and effectively,” Yellen said on Saturday in Beijing during a meeting with Chinese and international sustainable finance experts. “I believe that if China were to support existing multilateral climate institutions like the Green Climate Fund and the Climate Investment Funds alongside us and other donor governments, we could…