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WASHINGTON, March 24 (Reuters) - Chinese-American citizen Kai Li, jailed in China on spying charges he denies, received a rare in-person visit last week from the U.S. Burns met Li on March 16 in a Shanghai prison, Li's son Harrison said. Li, a businessman, has been held in China since 2016 and was handed a 10-year jail sentence in 2018 for espionage. Burns wanted to shake Li's hand but Chinese authorities did not allow that, Harrison Li said. Burns has accompanied consular officers on prison visits to U.S. citizens held in China, a State Department spokesperson said.

☆ U.S. House Speaker McCarthy says he told Biden lack of debt talks jeopardizes economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( David Morgan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

McCarthy, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, first met with Biden on Feb. 1. But a standoff has since ensued between Republicans who want to use the debt ceiling to exact spending cuts from the White House, and Biden, who wants the debt ceiling raised without strings attached. "I just saw the president again on St. Patrick's Day, Friday," McCarthy told reporters in Orlando, Florida, where House Republicans are holding a retreat this week. Biden has called on McCarthy and House Republicans to produce a fiscal 2024 budget before negotiating on spending. "I said: look, we're not going to raise taxes and we're not going to pass a clean debt ceiling.

☆ Column: The road to war: An ex-Reuters journalist recalls the chase for WMD in Iraq
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Louis Charbonneau | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

March 20 (Reuters) - Louis Charbonneau covered the UN weapons inspections prior to the Iraq war and later became UN bureau chief. The U.S. was threatening to use military force to rid Iraq of WMD, which the administration of President George W. Bush insisted Iraq was developing in violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions. Reuters colleagues Evelyn Leopold and Irwin Arieff quickly cobbled together a story on doubts about the Niger uranium intel based on what I dictated. The next morning, I reached out to UN sources for more information on the Niger uranium. The IAEA experts had concluded they weren’t useful for a nuclear weapons program.

☆ No White House visit for Israel's Netanyahu as US concern rises
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Simon Lewis | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

WASHINGTON, March 16 (Reuters) - Eleven weeks into his third stint as Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has yet to be received at the White House, signaling apparent U.S. unhappiness over the policies of his right-wing government. The White House declined to confirm Netanyahu has yet to be invited. A State Department spokesperson referred Reuters to the Israeli government for information about the prime minister's travel plans. The United States has long been Israel’s main benefactor, sending more than $3 billion each year in military assistance. Baker later banned Netanyahu, at the time a deputy minister of foreign affairs, from the State Department after he criticized U.S. policy toward Israel.

The agreement will also see U.S. and British submarines deployed in Western Australia to help train Australian crews and bolster deterrence. This first phase of the plan is already underway with the U.S. Virginia-class nuclear-powered attack submarine Asheville visiting Perth in Western Australia, officials said. Briefing a small group of reporters on Friday, Sullivan dismissed China's concerns and pointed to Beijing's own military buildup, including nuclear-powered submarines. 'DOUBLE DIGIT BILLION' INVESTMENTAustralia had agreed to contribute funds to boost U.S. and British submarine production and maintenance capacity, the official said. Australia's nuclear-powered submarine program with the United States and Britain will cost Australia up to A$368 billion ($245 billion) by 2055, a defense official said.

☆ PREVIEW Biden to host Australia and Britain to reveal details of submarine pact to counter China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( David Brunnstrom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Two of the officials said that after the annual port visits, the United States would forward deploy some submarines in Western Australia by around 2027. In the early 2030s, Australia would buy three Virginia class submarines and have the option to buy two more. It will be the first time the United States has shared nuclear-propulsion technology since it did so with Britain in the 1950s. Currently no party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty other than the five countries the NPT recognizes as weapons states - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - has nuclear submarines. General Dynamics Corp (GD.N), which makes Virginia class submarines, has 17 of them in its current backlog delivering through 2032.

☆ Biden to host Australia and Britain to reveal details of submarine pact to counter China
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-10 | by ( David Brunnstrom | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

In the early 2030s, Australia would buy three Virginia class submarines and have the option to buy two more. Under the initial AUKUS deal announced in 2021, the United States and Britain agreed to provide Australia with the technology and capability to deploy nuclear-powered submarines. It will be the first time the United States has shared nuclear-propulsion technology since it did so with Britain in the 1950s. Currently no party to the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty other than the five countries the NPT recognizes as weapons states - the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France - has nuclear submarines. General Dynamics Corp (GD.N), which makes Virginia class submarines, has 17 of them in its current backlog delivering through 2032.

White House spokesperson John Kirby said on Friday that while Washington was not directly involved, Saudi Arabia kept U.S. officials informed of the talks with Iran. NUCLEAR TALKSThe agreement comes as Iran accelerates its nuclear program after two years of failed U.S. attempts to revive a 2015 deal that aimed to stop Tehran producing a nuclear bomb. "Saudi Arabia is deeply concerned about Iran's nuclear program," he said. "If this new opening between Iran and Saudi Arabia is going to be meaningful and impactful, it will have to address the concerns about Iran's nuclear program - otherwise the opening is just optics." Friday's agreement also offers hope for more durable peace in Yemen, where a conflict sparked in 2014 has widely been seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

☆ Exclusive: Ukraine seeks US cluster bombs to adapt for drone use, lawmakers say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( Jonathan Landay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

They said Ukrainian officials urged U.S. lawmakers at last month's Munich Security Conference to press for White House approval. Ukraine hopes cluster munitions will give it an edge in the grinding fight against Russian forces in eastern Ukraine. But cluster munitions could be a step too far for the administration and some in Congress. A 2008 pact prohibiting the production, use and stockpiling of cluster munitions has been adopted by 123 countries, including most of NATO's 28 members. "And cluster munitions really are pretty lethal to mass formations as well as armor.

Scholz set off on the one-day trip, which unusually will not include a press delegation, late on Thursday. His visit comes days after Biden's security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that Biden only sent Abrams tanks to Ukraine because Scholz made it a pre-condition for sending German Leopards. Berlin has insisted that Biden came to see it was necessary and so the decision was consensual. "The Biden administration will use the Scholz visit to try to shift Germany’s balance in the direction of stronger pushback." Scholz and Biden would discuss ongoing support for Ukraine, the upcoming NATO summit, and cooperation on the challenges posed by China and cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, U.S. officials said.

Biden and Scholz met in private in the Oval Office for over an hour, a senior administration official said. Sitting next to Scholz in the Oval Office, Biden thanked the German leader for his "strong and steady leadership" and support for Ukraine. Speaking before the meeting, U.S. officials said discussion points included the state of the war and how to respond if China provided military aid to Russia. "Every step China takes toward Russia makes it harder for China with Europe and other countries around the world." Biden hailed Scholz's decision to sharply increase Germany's military spending and diversify energy sources away from Russia, and said the two leaders had worked in lockstep with other allies to support Ukraine.

It was not clear what specific sanctions Washington will propose. Washington and its allies have said in recent weeks that China was considering providing weapons to Russia, which Beijing denies. Before that in New Delhi on Wednesday and Thursday, the war will be discussed by foreign ministers from dozens of countries, including Russia, China and the United States. The initial outreach by Washington on sanctions has not yet led to broad agreement on any specific measures, the sources said. Washington should make China choose between access to the U.S. financial system or aiding Russia's war, Ruggiero said, citing the sanctions approach to Iran and North Korea.

WASHINGTON/BEIJING, Feb 27 (Reuters) - China must be more honest about the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. ambassador to China said on Monday, after reports that the U.S. Energy Department concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak. The Wall Street Journal first reported on Sunday that the U.S. Energy Department had concluded the pandemic likely arose from a Chinese laboratory leak, an assessment Beijing denies. The department made its judgment with "low confidence" in a classified intelligence report recently provided to the White House and key members of Congress, the Journal said, citing people who had read the intelligence report. President Joe Biden's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said on Sunday there were a "variety of views in the intelligence community" on the pandemic's origins. "Certain parties should stop rehashing the 'lab leak' narrative, stop smearing China and stop politicizing the origins-tracing issue," foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said.

They are demanding steep spending cuts to tame the deficit at a time when the United States is pumping billions of dollars in military and other aid into Ukraine. For now, Republican leaders in Congress, who fiercely oppose Biden on most issues, support aid for Ukraine's defense, even calling for Washington to send more powerful weapons, more quickly. "Americans' support for Ukraine is reflected in strong bipartisan support Ukraine assistance has received in both houses of Congress," Watson said. A global Ipsos poll late last year found that majorities in NATO members including Canada, Great Britain, France, the Netherlands and Poland back continued military support to Ukraine. Only in Hungary and Italy did more oppose than support it, and those countries' leaders have fallen in line with European initiatives to support Ukraine.

That money was to be given in $2 billion annual installments of Foreign Military Financing, or FMF, grants over five years. Republicans accused Biden's administration of failing to advocate strongly enough for the Taiwan grants, given that his fellow Democrats controlled both the Senate and House last year. "Securing FMF funding is always a challenge given the tight budget constraints, even for priority partners like Taiwan," said Eric Lee of the Project 2049 Institute think tank. "I would prefer to see a revival of FMF grants, but with clear strings attached," said Michael Hunzeker, a Taiwan military expert at George Mason University. Grants to buy specific weapons could be made on condition of Taiwan showing further moves toward asymmetric defense, he said.

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - U.S. diplomatic communications with China remain open after the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon this month, but contact between the countries' militaries "unfortunately" remains shut down, the White House said on Friday. Kirby told a White House news briefing that U.S. and Chinese diplomats can still communicate despite tensions over the balloon incident. "I recognize that there are tensions, but Secretary Blinken still has an open line of communication with the foreign minister. "The president will want to have a conversation with President Xi at the appropriate time." "It needed to be shot down because we were confident that it was used by China to spy on American people," she told MSNBC.

WASHINGTON, Feb 17 (Reuters) - U.S. diplomatic communications with China remain open after the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon this month, but contact between the countries' militaries "unfortunately" remains shut down, the White House said on Friday. Kirby told a White House news briefing that U.S. and Chinese diplomats can still communicate despite tensions over the balloon incident. "I recognize that there are tensions, but Secretary Blinken still has an open line of communication with the foreign minister. He said he expected to speak with Chinese leader Xi about it and hoped to get to the bottom of the affair. "The president will want to have a conversation with President Xi at the appropriate time."

☆ What's up there? Possible explanations for mystery objects downed by U.S.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Joey Roulette | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Military officials say that until they are able to recover the debris, they are unlikely to know for sure what the objects were. Scientists use balloons to study wind patterns, air quality, and other aspects of Earth's atmosphere. STILL UNEXPLAINEDThe object downed over Canada on Saturday was described by Canada's defense minister as resembling a balloon. Senator Marco Rubio, leaving a classified briefing on the objects on Tuesday, told reporters that they are no different than the hundreds of benign objects cited in past intelligence reports. "We've never shot down anything in over 65 years of NORAD, and in one week they shot down three things," he said.

The suspected Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States earlier this month led politicians to criticize the .S. The Pentagon said there had been four previous Chinese spy balloon flights over the United States in recent years. On Friday, a U.S. F-22 fighter jet shot down an unidentified object about the size of a small car near Deadhorse, Alaska. VanHerck said the military considered shooting guns at the objects, but this was deemed too difficult given the small targets. Whether this is the start of regular shootdowns of unidentified objects over American skies is still unclear.

"There is no, again, no indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. "We have not yet been able to definitively assess what these most recent objects are," White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said at a news briefing. At Friday's White House briefing, Kirby said: "There is no U.S. surveillance aircraft in Chinese airspace. I'm not aware of any other craft that we're flying over into Chinese airspace." "This is the latest example of China scrambling to do damage control," Adrienne Watson, another White House national security spokesperson, said in a statement.

China widened its dispute with the United States on Monday, claiming that U.S. high-altitude balloons had flown over its airspace without permission more than 10 times since the beginning of 2022. Washington called that a surveillance balloon, while China has insisted it was a weather-monitoring craft blown badly off course. A White House spokeswoman denied it, and accused China of violating the sovereignty of the United States and more than 40 other countries across five continents with surveillance balloons linked to its military. "It has repeatedly and wrongly claimed the surveillance balloon it sent over the United States was a weather balloon and to this day has failed to offer any credible explanations for its intrusion into our airspace and the airspace of others." Reuters GraphicsThe three objects were flying at altitudes that could have posed a risk to air traffic, officials have said.

One U.S. official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that a meeting between Blinken and Wang was possible at the Munich conference, which runs from Feb. 17-19. "I know there's been a report about a potential meeting in Munich, but I have nothing to announce today." U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan noted last week that Blinken had postponed his visit to China, not canceled it or sworn off future high-level communication with China. China's has reacted angrily to Washington's spying allegations, saying the balloon was a civilian research craft and accusing Washington of hypocrisy. "But neither side wants to handle scheduling in the glare of media attention, and both sides are dealing with the uncertainty of balloon-related drama."

China's launch of a spy balloon on a high-altitude journey over the United States was unacceptable and irresponsible, he said, but he was postponing - not canceling - his visit. Biden has said the balloon needed to be shot down, but has played down both the security threat and the impact on U.S.-China relations. GIVE TALKS A CHANCEShort of a high-level visit, there are opportunities for diplomacy. "The Chinese don't want to look weak and they probably don't want to admit that they lied (about the balloon). President Biden is also under pressure from Republicans in Congress who insist the balloon should have been shot down sooner," said Glaser.

"We don't know who owns this object," said White House spokesperson John Kirby, adding that it was unclear where it began its flight. President Joe Biden ordered the shootdown, which was announced from the White House. Some lawmakers criticized the president for not shooting down the Chinese balloon sooner. The object was shot down off the coast of northeastern Alaska over frozen U.S. territorial waters near the Canadian border. UNMANNED VESSEL[1/4] White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby takes questions during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. February 10, 2023.

☆ Frustration at UN ahead of likely row with Russia on Syria aid
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Michelle Nichols | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

With the death toll in Turkey and Syria passing 23,000, some diplomats expressed frustration on Friday that the 15-member council has been slow to act after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pressed for more access to northwest Syria via Turkey. The UN Security Council needs to step up and get it done," said a UN diplomat familiar with discussions, speaking on condition of anonymity. Since 2014 the United Nations has been able to deliver aid to millions of people in need in the northwest of war-torn Syria through Turkey under a Security Council mandate. The United Nations has long said that challenges to increasing aid deliveries across frontlines include receiving timely security guarantees and approvals and a lack of funding. UN aid via Turkey reached 2.7 million people a month in northwest Syria last year, compared with 43,500 people a month who received aid from routes within Syria since August 2021.

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