A majority of Australians expect China will be the most powerful country in the world by 2035 as trust in the US tumbles, new research has found. Just over one in three Australians (36%) trusted the US to act responsibly on the world stage, representing a 20-point fall from 2024 and the smallest proportion since the Lowy Institute began polling in 2005. The thinktank’s 2025 report found only one in four respondents had any confidence in president Donald Trump’s approach to world affairs – less than half of the 46%…
Tag: Xi Jinping
New Zealand PM to meet Xi Jinping as former leaders warn against becoming an ‘adversary’ of China
New Zealand’s prime minister will meet Xi Jinping on a formal visit to China next week, his office has confirmed, a week after an open letter signed by some of his predecessors warned against positioning New Zealand as an “adversary” of its biggest trading partner. Christopher Luxon is scheduled to travel to Shanghai and Beijing, before going to Europe. His office said he will meet Xi and China’s premier, Li Qiang, for a visit focused on trade, but which would also discuss “the comprehensive bilateral relationship and key regional and…
Donald Trump to meet Xi Jinping in China after ‘very good’ call on trade
Donald Trump said he had accepted an invitation to meet Xi Jinping in China after a phone conversation on trade was held between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies. In a post on Truth Social, the US president said the “very good” call lasted about 90 minutes and the conversation was “almost entirely focused on trade”. He wrote: “The call lasted approximately one and a half hours, and resulted in a very positive conclusion for both Countries. There should no longer be any questions respecting the complexity of…
Trump doesn’t know how to deal with China. His cowardice only makes a war with Taiwan more likely | Simon Tisdall
The belief that bad things come in threes is an old superstition with scant basis in fact. Still, in these disordered times, it’s natural to wonder whether war in Europe and the Middle East will be followed by war in Asia. Nuclear-armed India and Pakistan, firing off insults and missiles, recently demonstrated how real that prospect is. Emboldened by its alliance with Russia, North Korea’s unpredictable rogue regime threatens almost everyone. Yet it is China’s accelerating confrontation with US-backed Taiwan that forms the most alarming panel in this gloomy Asian…
As Trump focuses on his trade war, Brazil and China forge closer ties
Few world leaders can say they’ve been hugged by Xi Jinping, China’s typically reserved president. Last year, an embrace between Xi and his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, seemed to sum up the cosy – if at times slightly awkward – relationship between China and Russia. Now Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, can count himself among the hallowed few to have broken the handshake barrier with Chinese leader. Stepping off the stage after giving a speech in Beijing earlier this month, Lula shook Xi’s hand, but the moment swiftly…
Brazil’s president seeks ‘indestructible’ links with China amid Trump trade war
The Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has heralded his desire to build “indestructible” relations with China, as the leaders of three of Latin America’s biggest economies flew to Beijing against the backdrop of Donald Trump’s trade war and the profound international uncertainty his presidency has generated. Lula touched down in China’s capital on Sunday for a four-day state visit, accompanied by 11 ministers, top politicians and a delegation of more than 150 business leaders. Hours later Colombia’s president, Gustavo Petro, arrived, making a beeline for the Great Wall…
Chinese troops march with Russian forces as Xi joins Putin for Victory Day parade
Russian troops fighting in Ukraine marched together with Chinese forces on Moscow’s Red Square to mark the 80th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s defeat, in a Victory Day celebration marked by greater spectacle than in recent years. After several scaled-back Victory Days – with reduced military displays and few foreign guests – Vladimir Putin on Friday addressed the largest parade since his 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “The Soviet Union took upon itself the most ferocious, merciless blows of the enemy,” the Russian president said of the victory over Nazi Germany,…
China and Russia pledge to deepen ties as they criticise US on Victory Day
China and Russia pledged to further deepen their already “no limits” partnership in a joint statement published ahead of Russia’s military parade on Friday, as the two sides stressed the importance of maintaining the “correct view” of second world war history. In a lengthy statement published during Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow for the commemoration of the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which Russia celebrates on 9 May as Victory Day, Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin said “certain countries … are attempting to…
Xi hails ‘confident’ China-Russia ties as Putin welcomes ‘dear friend’ to Kremlin
Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin exchanged warm words in the Kremlin on Thursday during a grand ceremony welcoming the Chinese leader for his 11th visit to Russia. Xi said the Sino-Russian relationship was “confident, stable and resilient” in the new era and that China was willing to work with Russia to promote a multipolar world. Putin described his Chinese counterpart as a “dear friend”, while Xi described Putin as his “old friend”. Xi said: “History and reality have fully proven that the continued development and deepening of China-Russia relations is…
Xi Jinping begins four-day Russia visit as Ukrainian drones attack Moscow
Xi Jinping has arrived in Moscow at the start of a four-day visit to attend Russia’s military parade commemorating the anniversary of the end of the second world war, known in Russia as Victory Day. The Chinese leader’s arrival coincided with Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian capital. Moscow’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said Russia’s air defence units destroyed at least 14 Ukrainian drones overnight. The attacks forced most of Moscow’s airports to close and Russia’s national carrier Aeroflot said it was reordering timetables to cope with the disruption. Xi’s visit,…