Tag: USA

Chinese Still Largest Group of Foreign Students in US

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Washington —  Students from China retained their position in 2023 as the largest group of international students in the United States. Despite a slight dip, they are still the leading country of origin for foreign students pursuing an education in the U.S. The State Department granted more than 600,000 international student visas in fiscal 2023, which ended in September, the highest issuance since fiscal 2017. Among these, 289,526 visas were awarded to Chinese students, a decrease of 560 students compared to the previous year, according to State Department data. In…

Top US, Chinese Generals Speak for First Time in Over a Year

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The United States and China’s top military leaders met for the first time in over a year Thursday and discussed a “number of global and regional security issues,” including maintaining direct lines of communication, U.S. military officials said. This was the first meeting between U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Charles Q. Brown and General Liu Zhenli, chief of the Joint Staff Department of the People’s Liberation Army, since Brown assumed his position in October, the statement said. In their videoconference on Thursday, Brown and Liu “discussed the importance of working together…

China, Ukraine, Gaza Challenge Biden’s Foreign Policy Focus in 2024

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As U.S. President Joe Biden tries to keep his 2023 focus on the U.S. strategic rivalry with China and the war in Ukraine, the bloodshed in Gaza threatens to engulf the broader Middle East region and places his foreign policy agenda under the scrutiny of American voters heading into the November 2024 election. White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara reports. Voice of America

Bilateral Tensions Cause the Number of American Students in China to Plummet 

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Taipei, Taiwan —  Students from China and the U.S. have been traveling between the two countries for decades, playing an important role in cultivating people-to-people ties between the world’s top two economies. However, rising tension between Beijing and Washington in recent years is posing serious threats to this tradition. During a talk at the Brookings Institute in Washington last week, U.S. ambassador to China Nicholas Burns said there were 15,000 American students in China “six or seven years ago,” but that number dropped to 350 in 2022. While the number…

Engagement Vital to Relations With China, US Ambassador Says

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WASHINGTON —  The U.S.-China relationship will be defined by strategic competition in the coming decades but must involve engagement when the interests of the two countries align, the U.S. ambassador to China said Friday, one month after President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping to stabilize the fraught relations. Nicholas Burns said the U.S. and China are “vying for global power as well as regional power” as they compete militarily, politically and economically. “I think we are systematic rivals, if you think about our national security and economic…

US Invests in Africa in Effort to Counter Chinese Influence

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WASHINGTON —  The United States has struck hundreds of deals worth $14.2 billion with African nations over the past year as Washington tries to counter growing influence on the continent by China. The 547 new trade and investment agreements represent a 67% increase from 2022 in the number and value of closed deals, according to British Robinson, coordinator for the Prosper Africa trade and business initiative, a program that connects U.S. and African businesses. Robinson said the presidential and national security initiative is aimed at strengthening strategic and economic partnerships…

US, Taiwan Discuss Broadening Taiwan’s International Participation

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State Department —  The United States and Taiwan are exploring ways to expand Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations system and other international forums, as well as addressing a range of global challenges, including public health, aviation safety and climate change. The most recent routine consultation between the U.S. and Taiwan took place Wednesday, days after the Chinese delegation at COP28 opposed calls to include Taiwan in the United Nations climate talks in Dubai. All participants in the latest U.S.-Taiwan talks “recognized the importance of working closely with likeminded partners…

US Commerce Secretary Vows ‘Strongest Action’ on Huawei Chip Issue

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WASHINGTON —  U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo vowed Monday to take the “strongest action possible” in response to a semiconductor chip-making breakthrough in China that a House Foreign Affairs Committee said “almost certainly required the use of U.S. origin technology and should be an export control violation.” In an interview with Bloomberg News, Raimondo called Huawei Technology’s advanced processor in its Mate Pro 60 smartphone released in August “deeply concerning” and said the Commerce Department investigates such things vigorously. The United States has banned chip sales to Huawei, which reportedly…

China’s Xi to Visit Vietnam as Hanoi-US Relations Warm 

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WASHINGTON —  Chinese President Xi Jinping will pay a state visit to Vietnam next week, his third to Hanoi after a six-year break and as Beijing and Washington jostle for influence. The visit, on Tuesday and Wednesday, will coincide with the 15th anniversary of the establishment of a “comprehensive strategic partnership” between the nominally communist one-party, authoritarian states. It also will come just three months after Vietnam upgraded its relationship with the United States to that same partnership level. U.S. President Joe Biden’s September visit to Vietnam put Washington on…

US Funding to Counter China in Pacific in Limbo

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Funding to counter China in the Pacific is now caught in the congressional battle in Washington over foreign aid and border security. The White House calls the package a “critical component” of its national security. And as VOA’s Jessica Stone reports, time is running out to lock in an economic and security relationship between the United States and three strategic Pacific Island nations. Camera: Yu Chen, Jessica Stone, Saqib Ul Islam Voice of America