The White House said on Wednesday that China had agreed to postpone Donald Trump’s visit to Beijing, as war in the Middle East rages on, complicating the US president’s position at home and abroad. China has not yet commented on the delay to the highly anticipated trip, in which Trump and the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, will meet in person for the first time since October. Trump previously said he hoped to delay the trip, originally scheduled to run from 31 March to 2 April, for “five or six weeks”.…
Tag: US politics
Fears about nuclear war are reaching a fever pitch. Another grim sign of the times | Judith Levine
Intimations of world war three – the big one, nuclear Armageddon – didn’t arise yesterday. But they got more urgent when Donald Trump was elected the second time. In December 2024, Newsweek published a map of the “safest US states to live during nuclear war”. The article was not reassuring. “Nowhere is truly ‘safe’” from such consequences as “contamination of food and water supplies and prolonged radiation exposure”, said the senior policy director of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. Another expert noted that “even a ‘small’ nuclear war…
Donald Trump insists there are no wind farms in China. Here are 20 of them – in pictures
The US president has made the easily debunked claim that there are no wind farms in China Continue reading… The Guardian
Amid Trump crackdown on Chinese students, one US university appears to block them altogether
Several universities have scrapped partnerships with Chinese institutions in recent months as a direct result of pressure from US legislators. But no university appears to have gone as far as Purdue University in Indiana. Students and faculty at the public university say that an unofficial policy is in effect to automatically reject students from China and a number of other countries altogether. The alleged shift in admissions practices at Purdue followed a letter sent last year to six universities by the US House’s select committee on the Chinese Communist party…
Amid Trump crackdown on Chinese students, one US university appears to block them altogether
Several universities have scrapped partnerships with Chinese institutions in recent months as a direct result of pressure from US legislators. But no university appears to have gone as far as Purdue University in Indiana. Students and faculty at the public university say that an unofficial policy is in effect to automatically reject students from China and a number of other countries altogether. The alleged shift in admissions practices at Purdue followed a letter sent last year to six universities by the US House’s select committee on the Chinese Communist party…
Peru’s president ousted in ‘express impeachment’ after just four months
Peru’s interim president has been forced out of office in an “express impeachment” after a political scandal over his secretive meetings with Chinese businessmen. Lawmakers voted by 75 votes to 24 to proceed with the impeachment of José Jerí, who had been at the helm for just four months. He had become embroiled in a scandal dubbed “Chifagate” after security-camera footage emerged showing him in clandestine meetings with Chinese businessmen outside of his official agenda, including one visit in which he appears to try to conceal his identity with a…
These charts show how Trump is isolating the US on the world stage
Donald Trump’s return to the White House has accelerated a profound shift in the global order, according to new analysis. A report from Focal Data, which analyses UN voting records, reveals how Washington’s “America First” agenda has started to redraw the geopolitical map in favour of China. In 2026, the world is now diplomatically closer to Beijing than it has been in recent memory, with significant shifts in alignments taking place during the start of Trump’s second presidential term. Focal Data’s analysis used UN general assembly votes act as a…
Donald Trump is making China great again | Steven Greenhouse
If Donald Trump’s presidency has any theme (beyond self-promotion), it’s that his “America First” agenda will Make America Great Again. Unfortunately for the American people, if Trump’s maneuvers and machinations have made any nation greater, it’s been China, not the United States. During Trump’s first term, he treated China as a strategic rival and often talked of checking its rise. His administration complained that China was seeking to “challenge American power” and “erode American security and prosperity”. But during his first year back in the White House, Trump – in…
Trump-led abuses amid ‘democratic recession’ put human rights in peril, HRW report says
The world is in a “democratic recession” with almost three-quarters of the global population now living under autocratic rulers – levels not seen since the 1980s, according to a new report. The system underpinning human rights was “in peril”, said Philippe Bolopion, executive director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), with a growing authoritarian wave becoming “the challenge of a generation”, he said. Speaking before the launch of the human rights watchdog’s annual country-by-country assessment, published on Wednesday, Bolopion said 2025 had been a “tipping point” for rights and freedoms in…
The Guardian view on Europe’s payments problem: sovereignty starts at the till | Editorial
When the centre-left French politician Aurore Lalucq posted a warning last Wednesday that Donald Trump could cut off Europe from international payment systems, the clip went viral. To many, her message made sense. After all, if Mr Trump was prepared to test allies’ boundaries over Greenland, it is not far-fetched to imagine Visa and Mastercard becoming used against a recalcitrant Europe. The US can turn off payment systems it controls. Russia learned this first-hand after sanctions were rightly applied for its invasion of Ukraine. As up to 60% of Russian…