The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea will meet, possibly next year, in the latest attempt to ease regional tensions heightened by North Korea’s weapons programme and a more visible US military presence. During a meeting in the South Korean port city of Busan on Sunday, the three Asian countries’ foreign ministers agreed to step up cooperation in key areas, including security, and to lay the groundwork for what would be the first leaders’ summit in four years. The weekend’s trilateral meeting – the first between the neighbours’ foreign…
Tag: US foreign policy
Taiwan poll shows dip in US trust amid growing concern over China
More than 80% of Taiwanese people think that the threat from China has worsened in recent years, while trust in the US has also declined in the past two years, in part because of the war in Ukraine damaging Washington’s credibility. The results of a survey published this week reveal a portrait of Taiwanese society that is under increasing pressure as the self-governing island heads towards a presidential election in January that could have far reaching ramifications for its relationship with the world’s two biggest superpowers. The American Portrait survey…
Biden’s China summit was a reminder: the US should talk to its rivals more often | Christopher S Chivvis
Wednesday’s meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping was a lot harder to pull off than the photographs of the two leaders ambling around the gardens of the Filoli mansion outside San Francisco may have made it appear. The White House has spent the last 10 months working to restore dialogue after years of mounting tension that most recently featured an errant Chinese observation balloon and possible Chinese military support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. In the process of working toward the meeting, the White House faced strong domestic political…
China praises ‘warm’ Xi-Biden meeting in change of rhetoric
China has praised the “warm” meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in California, in a marked shift of rhetoric after months of negotiations aimed at restabilising what has been a testy relationship. A readout from China’s foreign ministry said the US-China relationship was “the most important bilateral relationship in the world” and that “a stable and growing China is good for the United States and the whole world”. Official rhetoric from Beijing has moved in recent months from a more aggressive stance on the US to a more conciliatory…
Joe Biden meets Xi Jinping in California: seven key takeaways
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping sat down together on Wednesday just outside San Francisco, on the sidelines of the Apec summit. It was almost exactly one year since their last encounter, in Bali, Indonesia. Biden said the meeting included “some of the most constructive and productive discussions we’ve had” and will lead to stronger dialogue between the two leaders. Here are seven key takeaways: 1. The US and China will resume direct military-to-military communications China severed military contact after then House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan in August…
Joe Biden hails progress after Xi Jinping talks but Taiwan still the sticking point
Joe Biden has claimed that his summit meeting with Xi Jinping has brought substantial progress, including agreements on limiting narcotics trafficking, restoring militaries lines of communication, and to start talking about the global risks posed by artificial intelligence. However, it was clear that after more than four hours of talks in a mansion outside San Francisco, the meeting had not brought the US and China any closer on the fate of Taiwan, which Xi reportedly told Biden was “the biggest, most potentially dangerous issue in US-China relations”. Furthermore, Biden himself…
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to meet on sidelines of Apec summit
The US president, Joe Biden, will meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, face-to-face for the first time in a year on Wednesday, the White House said, in high-stakes diplomacy aimed at curbing tensions between the world’s two superpowers. The closely watched interaction, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in the San Francisco Bay Area, could last hours and involve teams of officials from Beijing and Washington. It is expected to cover global issues from the Israel-Hamas war to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, North Korea’s ties with…
China and US reportedly agree to rare nuclear arms control talks
China and the United States will reportedly discuss nuclear arms control next week, the first such talks since the Obama administration. The talks would be led on Monday by Mallory Stewart, a senior state department official, and Sun Xiaobo, the head of the arms control department at China’s foreign ministry, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. On Monday, China’s foreign ministry said the two countries would hold “consultations on arms control and non-proliferation” in the coming days, as well as separate talks on maritime affairs and other issues. It…
Biden expected to meet with Xi Jinping next month for ‘constructive’ talks
Joe Biden is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit in San Francisco in November for “constructive” talks, the White House said on Tuesday. The comments came days after China’s foreign minister made a rare visit to Washington to pave the way for Xi to meet Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. China has not yet confirmed that Xi will come. “We’re aiming to have a constructive conversation, meeting between the leaders in San Francisco in November,” the White House press secretary,…
Joe Biden and Xi Jinping meeting a step closer, says US
The US and China have agreed to work towards setting up a meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping after the US president met with China’s foreign minister on Friday. Biden has invited Xi to San Francisco in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. The Chinese president has not yet confirmed he will come. Biden held talks with Wang Yi and other senior US officials in Washington, the White House said, with both countries agreeing to keep up “high-level diplomacy” to try to smooth ties. The two sides…