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Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken is meeting officials in China this week as disputes over wars, trade, technology and security are testing the two countries’ efforts to stabilize the relationship. China is courting foreign investment to help its sluggish economy. At the same time, its leader, Xi Jinping, has been bolstering national security and expanding China’s military footprint around Taiwan and the South China Sea in ways that have alarmed its neighbors. Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi have held talks to prevent their countries’ disputes from spiraling into conflict, after relations sank to their lowest point in decades last year. But an array of challenges could make steadying the relationship difficult.

Persons: Antony J, Blinken, Biden, Xi Jinping, Xi Locations: China, United States, Taiwan, South

☆ China Feels Boxed In by the U.S. but Has Few Ways to Push Back
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( David Pierson | Olivia Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

President Biden’s effort to build American security alliances in China’s backyard is likely to reinforce the Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s view that Washington is leading an all-out campaign of “containment, encirclement and suppression” of his country. And there is not much Mr. Xi can do about it. To China, Mr. Biden’s campaign looks nothing short of a reprise of the Cold War, when the world was split into opposing blocs. That pressure on China expanded Thursday when Mr. Biden hosted the leaders of Japan and the Philippines at the White House, marking the first-ever trilateral summit between the countries. American officials said the meeting was aimed at projecting a united front against China’s increasingly aggressive behavior against the Philippines in the South China Sea and against Japan in the East China Sea.

Persons: Biden’s, Xi, Biden, China’s, Camp David Organizations: U.S, White, Japan, Camp, Mr Locations: Washington, China, Beijing, Japan, Philippines, India, South, East, South Korea, Australia, Britain

Shuen Chun-wa, 81, and her husband hurried toward a green bus with two dozen other Hong Kong residents, dragging empty suitcases. They had purple tour stickers on their jackets and were headed to shop in Shenzhen, a bustling Chinese city that sits on the northern side of the border with Hong Kong. She paid $9,000 in Shenzhen for a procedure that would have cost $25,000 in Hong Kong. So I went to Shenzhen.”Since China opened its borders in January 2023 after several years of pandemic isolation, Hong Kong residents have made Shenzhen a weekend destination to shop, dine and, yes, even visit the dentist. Hong Kong remains one of the most unaffordable cities in the world, and its battered economy and plunging stock market have made everyone more money conscious.

Persons: Shuen Chun, Shuen’s, ”, Hong Kongers Locations: Hong Kong, Shenzhen, ”, China

☆ China and the U.S. Are Talking, but Their Détente Has Limits
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-02 | by ( David Pierson | Olivia Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

China and the United States are back at the negotiating table. Days later, in Beijing, officials restarted long-stalled talks on curbing the flow of fentanyl to the United States. And the White House says Mr. Biden plans to speak by phone with China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in the spring. The developments point to a tentative détente struck by Mr. Biden and Mr. Xi at a summit near San Francisco in November — and both the potential and the limitations of that thaw in relations. In the meetings, they have pushed a new catchphrase, the “San Francisco Vision,” claiming that Mr. Xi and Mr. Biden agreed at the summit to stabilize relations and put competition aside.

Persons: Mr, Biden, Xi Jinping, Xi Organizations: San Francisco Vision Locations: China, United States, Bangkok, China’s, Korea, Iran, Beijing, San Francisco, —

President Biden had bet that high-level dialogue could help manage an escalating rivalry over trade, technology and the status of Taiwan. After logging all those miles, the question now is whether China will reciprocate by sending senior Chinese ministers to Washington. The United States has publicly invited China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, but he has yet to accept. The last senior Chinese official to travel to Washington was China’s commerce minister, Wang Wentao, who visited in late May. China has much to gain from dispatching officials to the United States.

Persons: Gina Raimondo, Biden, Antony J, Blinken, Janet L, John Kerry, Wang Yi, Wang Wentao, China’s, Xi Jinping Organizations: Taiwan, United Locations: China, Beijing, Washington, United States, San Francisco

Seafood is having a bad week in East Asia, which is bad news for a region where it’s a major part of the diet. Experts say Japan’s discharge into the ocean of treated radioactive wastewater from the ruined Fukushima nuclear power plant, which began on Thursday, does not and will not pose health risks to people who eat seafood. On Thursday, the Chinese government widened a ban on seafood imports to include all of Japan instead of only some regions. The wastewater release has been heavily politicized and fueled deep anxiety over seafood in both China and South Korea, leaving some wondering whether sushi, sashimi and other products were still safe. At Noryangjin Fish Market in Seoul on Friday, fish vending associations had put up banners urging consumers to not give in to paranoia.

Locations: East Asia, Japan, China, South Korea, Seoul

Ever since members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization sprang into action to help Ukraine try to thwart Russia’s invasion last year, China has warned about a similar U.S.-led security alliance forming in Asia that would seek to hobble Beijing’s ambitions and provoke a confrontation. President Biden’s Camp David summit on Friday with the leaders of Japan and South Korea most likely reinforces Beijing’s perception. The talks saw Japan and South Korea put aside their historical animosities to forge a defense pact with the United States aimed at deterring Chinese and North Korean aggression. Mr. Biden, who met with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan and President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea, sought to emphasize at a news conference that the summit was not “anti-China.” But Beijing will almost certainly find Mr. Biden’s assertion unpersuasive. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has accused the United States of leading Western countries in the “all-around containment, encirclement and suppression of China.”

Persons: hobble, Biden’s, David, Mr, Biden, Fumio Kishida, Yoon Suk, Xi Jinping, ” Organizations: Atlantic Treaty Locations: Ukraine, China, U.S, Asia, Japan, South Korea, United States, ”, Beijing

When asked to recount the events of June 4, 1989, the chatbot rebooted itself. On Taiwan, Ernie did not pull any punches:The People’s Liberation Army is ready for battle, will take all necessary measures and is determined to thwart external interference and “Taiwan independence” separatist attempts. According to historical records, Louis XV often uttered this phrase when he ruled France at the end of the 18th century. OpenAI released a plug-in this year that enabled its chatbot to surf the web through Microsoft’s Bing. researchers have used to gauge a chatbot’s human-level intuitions:“Here we have a book, nine eggs, a laptop, a bottle and a nail.

Persons: Ernie, chatbot, Vladimir V, Putin, “, ChatGPT, crackdowns, ”, Louis XV, Jean, Jacques Rousseau, Marie Antoinette, Linda Yaccarino, Jack Dorsey, OpenAI, Microsoft’s Bing Organizations: People’s, Army, Baidu, Twitter Locations: United States, Taiwan, Ukraine, Russian, Russia, France, French

Just four years ago, a joint American and Chinese effort to stem the flow of fentanyl produced in China from reaching the United States appeared set to take off. Beijing had unveiled a sweeping new law banning the synthetic opioid, leading the Trump administration to praise China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, for “a wonderful humanitarian gesture.”Soon, Chinese and American law enforcement agents joined forces to investigate and prosecute fentanyl traffickers in China. But today, cooperation between the two countries on fentanyl is at an impasse. Mutual efforts to crack down on a narcotic responsible for tens of thousands of drug overdoses in the United States each year have been thwarted by wider geopolitical tensions over trade, human rights, Russia and Taiwan. The failure to cooperate on fentanyl interdiction is emblematic of the myriad ways the bilateral relationship has run aground.

Persons: Trump, China’s, Xi Jinping, Antony J, Blinken Locations: China, United States, Beijing, Russia, Taiwan

☆ Wagner Uprising Highlights China’s Risks With Russia
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-01 | by ( David Pierson | Olivia Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Just three months ago, China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, was in Moscow clinking glasses with Vladimir V. Putin and expressing his confidence in the “firm support” the Russian president enjoyed among his people. That confidence is now in question, after the Wagner private military group waged an insurrection in Russia that has shaken Mr. Putin’s image of invulnerability. Mr. Xi’s long-term bet will work only if Mr. Putin remains in control to help uphold the shared interests of both countries. But the revolt has raised questions about Mr. Putin’s authority: Wagner soldiers faced little to no resistance from regular Russian forces as they advanced on Moscow. And Mr. Putin’s decision to grant sanctuary in Belarus to Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the leader of the uprising, smacked of a compromise rather than the act of a strongman with consolidated power.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Vladimir V, Putin, Wagner, —, Xi’s, Yevgeny V Locations: Moscow, Russia, China, Beijing, United States, Ukraine, Belarus

☆ No Joke: China Fines a Comedy Firm $2 Million for ‘Insulting’ the Military
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( Chang Che | Olivia Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Beijing fined a Chinese comedy studio around $2 million on Wednesday for a joke that compared China’s military to stray dogs, a reminder of the ever-narrowing confines of expression under the country’s leader, Xi Jinping. The Beijing Municipal Culture and Tourism Bureau accused a popular comedian, Li Haoshi, who is employed by the studio, of “severely insulting” the People’s Liberation Army, China’s military, during two live performances in Beijing on Saturday. The authority said his joke had a “vile societal impact.”“We will not allow any company or individual to wantonly slander the glorious image of the People’s Liberation Army,” the statement read. The authority also said it indefinitely suspended all Beijing performances hosted by the studio, the Shanghai-based Xiaoguo Culture Media. Officials in Shanghai followed suit, suspending all Xiaoguo performances there and ordering the company to “deeply reflect” on the lessons from the incident, according to a government social media account.

☆ China Sentences a U.S. Citizen to Life in Prison for Espionage
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( Chang Che | Olivia Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A Chinese court said it sentenced a 78-year-old American citizen to life in prison on Monday on unspecified charges of spying, the latest in a wave of espionage cases the authorities have pursued amid growing wariness of foreign influence in the country. The Intermediate People’s Court in the southeastern city of Suzhou said in a short statement that it pronounced John Shing-Wan Leung guilty of espionage and sentenced him. Mr. Leung holds a United States passport and is a permanent resident of Hong Kong, according to the statement posted on the court’s social media account. A spokesman for the United States Embassy in Beijing said the embassy was aware of the reports about the case but declined to comment because of privacy concerns. American citizens arrested in China must sign a privacy waiver to allow embassies and consulates to release information about their cases to the public.

☆ Hong Kong Wants More Tourists, but Mostly ‘Good Quality’ Ones, Please
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( David Pierson | Olivia Wang | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

One by one the tour buses descended on the blue collar neighborhood in Hong Kong known as To Kwa Wan — literally translated as Potato Bay — unloading throngs of travelers from mainland China outside large restaurants where a quick lunch awaited them inside. Outfitted in white, red and orange ball caps to denote which tour they belonged to, the visitors crowded the sidewalks, smoked cigarettes under a “No Smoking” sign and bumped into the glass storefront of a real estate office where Nicky Lam, a property agent, was rolling her eyes. “They’re very loud,” Ms. Lam said, complaining that some of the tourists used her office bathroom and water cooler without asking. “One tourist came in and asked for restaurant recommendations,” she added. “I stared at him and said, ‘This is a real estate office.’”

The economic pain has intensified the pressure to ease pandemic restrictions to salvage the flagging economy and restore some semblance of normal life. The current Covid outbreak, the most widespread since the start of the pandemic in 2020, has painted Xi Jinping, China’s president, into a corner. He has refused to budge on the government’s strict Covid approach. If he loosens restrictions and infections skyrocket, there is the risk of mass casualties and an overwhelmed health care system. But keeping the current policies in place and limiting infections with widespread lockdowns would inflict further damage to an already slowing economy.

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