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…
Tag: US news
One shared dream of China and America | Letter
It is symbolic that the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit took place in San Francisco, a place of significance in the history of US-China relations and both nations’ narratives (‘Planet Earth is big enough for two’: Biden and Xi meet for first time in a year, 15 November). From 1848, San Francisco became the first Chinatown, the de facto capital of the Chinese in America. This was the time of the conquest of the west, when, just annexed from Mexico, California became a symbol of the American dream, helped by…
Taiwan reports increased Chinese military drills nearby
Taiwan has reported renewed Chinese military activity including nine aircraft crossing the sensitive median line of the Taiwan Strait and warships carrying out “combat readiness patrols”. Democratically governed Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has complained for the past four years of regular Chinese military patrols and drills near the island, as Beijing seeks to pressure Taipei over its sovereignty claims. With the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in San Francisco last week for the Apec summit, where he met the US president, Joe Biden, such military activity around…
Apec summit ends with unity on WTO reform but not Gaza or Ukraine
Pacific Rim leaders have shown divisions over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza after a two-day summit of the Apec forum, while pledging support for reform of the World Trade Organization. The 21 economies that make up the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum – among them Russia, China, the US and Australia – did not mention either conflict in their final joint communique. Instead an accompanying chair’s statement noted the bloc had “exchanged views on the ongoing crisis in Gaza”. Days of meetings involving Apec ministers and leaders were dominated by…
From China’s emissions to Australia’s offshore windfarms, things are moving on climate – some even in the right direction | Adam Morton
If you’re searching for some hope on the climate crisis before the Cop28 UN meeting in Dubai this month, try this: China may be changing direction on pollution earlier than expected. Lauri Myllyvirta, a longtime China analyst now with the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, calculated that CO2 emissions from the world’s biggest national polluter are likely to fall next year and could then go into “structural decline”. While the country’s emissions have increased this year – unsurprisingly, given that Beijing lifted zero-Covid controls at the end…
Australia news live: migrant visa bill passes parliament with Coalition clauses; Optus chief to front Senate hearing
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China responds to Biden calling Xi Jinping a ‘dictator’ – video
Joe Biden saying the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, is a dictator was ‘extremely incorrect and irresponsible political manipulation’, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson said on Thursday. The US president was asked whether he still held the view at a news conference after talks with Xi on the outskirts of San Francisco. ‘Look, he is. He’s a dictator in the sense that he’s a guy who runs a country that is a communist country that’s based on a form of government totally different than ours,’ Biden replied The Guardian
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…
Xi Jinping suggests China will send new pandas to US as ‘envoys of friendship’
Chinese president Xi Jinping signalled on Wednesday evening that China will send new pandas to the United States, calling them “envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American peoples”. “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,” Xi said during a dinner speech with business leaders. The gesture came at the end of a day in which Xi and President Joe Biden…
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…