Donald Trump has said the United Arab Emirates and Israel have agreed to establish full diplomatic ties as part of a deal to halt the annexation of occupied land sought by the Palestinians for their future state. US officials described the agreement, to be known as the Abraham Accords, as the first of its kind since Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty in 1994. It also gives Trump a foreign policy success as he seeks re-election in November
Continue reading...Category Archives: US foreign policy
Why a Biden presidency might not mean a return to pre-Trump foreign relations
There could be a renewed focus on international cooperation – but Biden would not be great news for Boris Johnson’s Britain
European leaders, desperate for an end to the Trump presidency, are being warned that four years of Joe Biden may present them with new challenges and not a simple restoration of the benign status quo in transatlantic relations prior to 2016.
An evolving Biden doctrine about ending “forever wars” and protecting American workers from Chinese competition would require collective military and economic commitments from the EU that it is still ill-equipped to meet, foreign policy specialists have suggested.
Continue reading...Trump’s top Iran envoy quits as US bids to extend Tehran embargo
- Elliott Abrams, key figure in Iran-Contra affair, to take over
- US intends to bring UN resolution to extend arms embargo
The Trump administration’s lead diplomat on Iran, Brian Hook, has announced his resignation days before the US attempts a high-stakes gambit against Tehran at the United Nations.
Related: Iran's Covid death toll three times higher than admitted, says report
Continue reading...US announces highest-level visit to Taiwan in decades, risking China anger
In thinly veiled comments, coronavirus taskforce chair Alex Azar praises island as ‘model of transparency and cooperation’ during pandemic
A senior US official is to lead a delegation to Taiwan in the highest-level visit since 1979 to discuss the coronavirus pandemic and to “celebrate the shared values” of the two democracies – prompting China to urge the US not to “send the wrong signals to Taiwan secessionists”.
The US health secretary, Alex Azar, said he would be the first cabinet member to visit in six years, in the most significant trip there since the US formally cut diplomatic ties decades ago to pursue relations with the Chinese Communist party. Taiwan said the visit would take place in the coming days.
Continue reading...Democrats and Republicans take aim at Pompeo over US troop withdrawal from Germany
Secretary of state receives bipartisan grilling, and makes false claim to have fought along East German border as soldier in 1980s
The Trump administration’s decision to withdraw nearly 12,000 troops from Germany has come under bipartisan attack in the Senate, amid warnings it would disrupt US alliances.
Related: Barack Obama praises John Lewis as 'a man of pure joy and unbreakable perseverance' – live
Continue reading...‘Beyond the pale’: antics of Trump ambassadors highlight crisis in US diplomacy
The president has given key diplomatic roles to big donors – who have stood out for their lack of qualifications or aptitude
The US ambassador to Iceland, a dermatologist and major Republican donor, reportedly became so paranoid about his security he asked to carry a gun and to be taken everywhere in an armoured car.
Related: Bill Clinton pushed 'appeasement' of Serbs after Srebrenica massacre
Continue reading...China closes US consulate in Chengdu – video report
The US consulate general in Chengdu was closed on Monday as Chinese authorities entered through the front entrance to take over the premises. China ordered the closure in response to Washington's order for the Chinese consulate in Houston to be shut.
Continue reading...Flag lowered at US consulate in Chengdu as China takes control
Troops posted outside building as Chinese authorities take over diplomatic mission
Chinese authorities have taken over the US consulate general in Chengdu, marking the diplomatic mission’s official closure and a new low point in ties between the world’s largest economies.
At dawn on Monday, the American flag outside the consulate was lowered while police held back crowds that had gathered over the weekend to watch. At 10am, the mission was closed, according to China’s foreign ministry.
Continue reading...US push for global alliance against China hampered by years of ‘America first’
Beijing is flexing its muscles on multiple fronts but Trump’s retreat from world leadership leaves it ill-placed to helm a fightback
The confrontation between the US and China is gathering pace with each passing week. In the past few days, the Chinese consulate in Houston has been shuttered amid allegations it was a spy hub, and the US mission in the south-western city of Chengdu was closed in retaliation, on similar grounds.
The FBI has started arresting Chinese researchers at US universities with suspected links to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), one of whom temporarily took refuge in the consulate in San Francisco, before surrendering.
Continue reading...Chinese researcher wanted by FBI flees to San Francisco consulate as US-China row deepens
Juan Tang is accused of lying about links to China military, amid tensions between Washington and Beijing after US orders Houston consulate to close
A Chinese researcher charged with lying to the FBI about her military affiliation has taken refuge in China’s San Francisco consulate, according to court documents, further escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The standoff in San Francisco comes at the same time the US ordered the closure of China’s Houston consulate, on grounds of involvement in theft of “American intellectual property and private information”.
Continue reading...The US-China rivalry is not a new cold war, and it’s dangerous to call it that | Mario Del Pero
Important mistakes could be made if we look to the past to assess current tensions between the two countries
A “new cold war” has become almost a default description of the current rivalry between the United States and China. Some structural similarities do indeed exist with the post-second world war global stage, when the Soviet Union was pitted against the US.
Just as, say, in 1950, we live now in a sort of bipolar system. In terms of economic power, military might, global influence and ability to pollute the planet, two powers – China and the US – clearly stand in a league of their own. And just as during the cold war, this bipolarism is spurious and asymmetrical: simply put, one side – the US – is way more powerful and influential than the other. The similarities end, however, with this systemic parallel. As is often the case when thinking analogically, invoking a cyclical vision of history obfuscates more than it clarifies. More importantly, such thinking produces policy prescriptions – such as promoting an aggressive “containment” of China – which, in addition to being based on a superficial and misleading reading of history, are at best useless and at worst outright dangerous.
Continue reading...Donald Trump is a hypocrite on China – but China deserves to be condemned | Jonathan Freedland
Beijing is crushing human rights in Hong Kong, and is accused of genocide against the Uighurs. The world cannot stand by
Donald Trump taints everything he touches. If he supports a cause, he damages it. If he takes a stance, the instinct of most self-respecting liberals is to rush to the opposing side. So when Trump rails against China, a favourite bete noire, it can make a progressive pause.
That’s especially true when the US president lurches so easily into casual bigotry – referring to the coronavirus as “kung flu” – and when his hypocrisy is so rank. Thanks to his former national security adviser, John Bolton, we know that, for all his talk, Trump begged Beijing to meddle in this year’s election in his favour, breezily granting US blessing to what Amnesty International calls the “gulag” of camps in Xinjiang, in which China holds a million Uighur Muslims against their will.
Continue reading...China blackmailing dissenters in US to return home – FBI chief
Christopher Wray condemns campaign against ex-pats and says Beijing espionage is ‘greatest threat to US economic vitality’
Chinese agents have been pursuing hundreds of Chinese nationals living in the US in an effort to force their return, as part of a global campaign against the country’s diaspora, known as Operation Fox Hunt, the FBI director has said.
Related: Apple under pressure to act after TikTok pulls out of Hong Kong
Continue reading...Iran’s foreign minister heckled and called a liar in parliament
Display of anger likely to encourage US to believe sanctions are creating tensions
Hardline Iranian MPs heckled the country’s foreign minister, Javad Zarif, and denounced him as a liar in parliament on Sunday, in a display of division and anger that is likely to encourage Washington to believe that its tough sanctions policy is creating deep tensions.
Zarif was speaking to the newly elected and conservative-dominated parliament for the first time and had to wait for the speaker to restore order as he was accused of selling the country out by negotiating with the US administration over the nuclear deal in 2015. The row, which lasted several minutes, shows how conservatives will use the failure of the nuclear deal to boost the Iranian economy to isolate any reformist candidate in next year’s presidential election.
Continue reading...Trump’s ties to Putin under fresh scrutiny in wake of Russia bounty reports
- Russia allegedly paid bounties for deaths of US soldiers
- Democrats ask: what did the president know – and when?
- US politics – live coverage
Donald Trump is facing renewed questions over his relationship with Vladimir Putin after reports that he was briefed in writing in February that Russia paid bounties for the deaths of US soldiers in Afghanistan.
Related: 'Russian bounties' intelligence was in Trump written daily briefing – reports
Continue reading...China criticises Canada for ‘irresponsible remarks’ over two men charged with spying
Beijing denounces ‘megaphone diplomacy’ over jailed Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, and arrest of Huawei executive
China has sharply criticised Canada over its comments about two Canadians charged with spying, blaming its leaders for “irresponsible” statements and calling on Ottawa to end its “megaphone iplomacy”.
Chinese prosecutors this month charged Canadians Michael Kovrig, a former diplomat, and Michael Spavor, a businessman, over allegations of espionage and providing state secrets.
Continue reading...Bank of England blocking release of Venezuelan gold, court hears
$1bn gold hoard subject of dispute between Nicolás Maduro and rival Juan Guaidó
Claims that the Bank of England is unlawfully blocking the release of 31 tonnes of gold valued at nearly $1bn(£805m) and intended to combat the coronavirus in Venezuela have been heard in the high court this week.
The bars are among the 400,000 bars of gold held in the Bank’s vaults, but there is a political dispute about their rightful owner.
Continue reading...US woman sparks transatlantic tea war with brutal online brew
Michelle from North Carolina shared her recipe for ‘British tea’. An international incident followed
There have been more severe transatlantic bust-ups over a brew, such as the American Revolution, but few can have been quite so twee. Nearly 250 years after the Boston Tea Party, the British ambassador in Washington and her US counterpart in London are going at it over how to make a decent hot drink. And by Wednesday evening, the conflict was spilling over into mainland Europe.
Like many tense diplomatic standoffs, it began with a deliberate provocation. An American TikTok user going by the name of Michelle from North Carolina posted a video showing how to make what she describes as “hot tea”, which entails mixing milk with powdered lemonade, cinnamon, cloves, sugar and Tang, which turns out to be a soft drink.
Continue reading...US v China: is this the start of a new cold war?
Coronavirus has brought the rivalry to a head sooner than expected – and the scope for non-alignment is narrowing
George Kennan, the US charge d’affaires in Moscow at the end of the second world war and the author of the famous Long Telegram in 1946, captured in his memoir how quickly perceptions in international relations can change.
The man widely seen as the intellectual author of the cold war recalled that if he had sent his telegram on the nature of the Soviet threat six months earlier, his message “would probably have been received in the state department with pursed lips and raised eyebrows. Six months later, it probably would have sounded redundant, a preaching to the converted.”
Continue reading...Peter Navarro: Trump call to slow Covid-19 testing was ‘tongue-in-cheek’
Trade adviser also claims without foundation that the virus ‘was a product of the Chinese Communist party’
White House adviser Peter Navarro claimed Donald Trump was being “tongue-in-cheek” when he claimed to have asked public health officials to slow down coronavirus testing.
Related: Donald Trump sows division and promises 'greatness' at Tulsa rally flop
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