Category Archives: Xi Jinping

Starmer twice declines to directly condemn jailing of Hong Kong pro-democracy figures

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UK prime minister was condemned by Iain Duncan Smith, who is on Beijing’s sanctions list

Keir Starmer has twice declined to directly condemn the jailing of dozens of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy figures, less than 24 hours after meeting China’s president at the G20 summit.

The UK prime minister was asked both during a BBC interview and at his press conference in Rio de Janeiro to respond to the jailing of the activists, including being asked if he would condemn the sentences directly, but he reiterated the importance of building bridges with China for the sake of economic growth.

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Take two: Biden makes it into G20 leaders’ photo after missing first one

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Summit leaders have reshoot in Rio after Biden, Justin Trudeau and Giorgia Meloni were no-shows the day before

The first time G20 leaders took their photo together at a summit in Rio, they forgot Joe Biden. On Tuesday, they had a reshoot – with the outgoing US president firmly back in the frame.

Biden; the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau; and the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni all missed the photo on Monday due to what US officials called “logistical issues”.

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Xi Jinping praises Labour’s economic policy as Keir Starmer discusses human rights concerns

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PM questions sanctions against MPs and plight of Jimmy Lai as China’s president says Starmer ‘fixing foundations’

China’s president, Xi Jinping, has heaped praise on Keir Starmer’s economic policy, as the UK prime minister used their first meeting to raise concerns about sanctions on MPs and the treatment of the pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai.

During their conversation at the G20 summit in Rio, the first meeting between the UK and China’s leaders in six years, Starmer said he would be keen to host a full bilateral meeting with Xi and the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, in Beijing or London as soon as possible, aimed at turning the page on frosty UK-China relations.

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Keir Starmer says he wants ‘serious and pragmatic’ relationship with China – as it happened

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Prime minister says he wants to ‘be clear about issues we do not agree on’ after meeting Chinese president Xi Jinping at G20

Keir Starmer has held his bilateral with Xi Jinping in Rio at the G20, offering to meet his counterpart, the Chinese premier Li Qiang, in Beijing or London at the earliest opportunity.

But the PM also raised human rights issues with Xi, including the sanctions on parliamentarians and the persecution of Hong Kong and British citizen Jimmy Lai.

A strong UK China relationship is important for both of our countries and for the broader international community.

The UK will be a predictable, consistent, sovereign actor committed to the rule of law.

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Starmer aims to build ‘pragmatic and serious relationship’ in meeting with Xi

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Prime minister wants bilateral at G20 to lead to closer ties with China, which he sees as key to faster growth

Keir Starmer will become the first UK prime minister in six years to meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, promising to turn the page on UK-China relations by building “a pragmatic and serious relationship”.

Starmer and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have been pursuing a thawing of relations with the world’s second-largest economy on pragmatic grounds, suggesting that the UK cannot achieve its growth ambitions without better terms with China.

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Biden heads for last meeting with Xi Jinping before Trump takes office

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Leaders at Apec summit in Peru, with Biden intending to urge ‘stability, clarity and predictability’ through transition

Joe Biden will meet with Xi Jinping Saturday afternoon in what is expected to be the last time the two leaders meet before Donald Trump assumes the US presidency in January.

The two leaders are attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Peru and are expected to have a meeting on the sidelines of the summit.

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Apec nations pivot trade priorities in light of Donald Trump’s proposed trade tariffs

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Anthony Albanese meets with leaders of Peru and Indonesia as middle nations seek to diversify trade away from the US

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has hailed “inclusive trade and investment” at a major Asia-Pacific economic forum in Peru where leaders are attempting to push against the protectionist policies favoured by US president-elect Donald Trump.

Speaking at the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) leaders summit, which assembles 21 of the world’s largest economies, Albanese told a press conference that Apec leaders consistently “spoke about the importance of free and fair trade between our economies to lift up the living standards of people throughout this region”.

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Chinese state television lionises Xi Jinping’s father in 39-part serialised drama

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The historical series, Time in the Northwest, chronicles the life of Xi Zhongxun from peasant roots to Communist revolutionary in China

Xi Jinping’s father is the subject of a rousing new historical drama that premiered on Chinese state television on Tuesday.

Funded by the Central Propaganda Department of the Chinese Communist party (CCP), Time in the Northwest chronicles the life of Xi Zhongxun, the father of the Chinese president, who was himself a CCP elder and key figure in the party under Chairman Mao Zedong.

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China announces new measures to arrest housing slump and boost growth

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Benefits to rise for poorest and local authorities to be given powers to intervene in real estate markets

Chinese leaders have vowed to arrest a slump in the housing market and boost growth after conceding that measures by the central bank to stimulate investment this week were likely to prove inadequate.

Promising to deploy “necessary spending” by the state to meet this year’s economic growth target of 5%, China’s politburo said it would increase benefits for the poorest and give local authorities the cash and power to intervene to prevent further falls in house price values.

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Xi Jinping holds surprise meeting with senior Biden aide in Beijing

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Chinese leader speaks with Jake Sullivan, who was making his first visit to Beijing as US national security adviser

Xi Jinping has spoken with the US national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, in a surprise meeting during the senior Biden aide’s three-day visit to Beijing.

The meeting on Thursday afternoon came after days of talks between Sullivan and senior Communist party officials including the foreign minister, Wang Yi, and a vice-chair of the central military commission believed to have the ear of Xi.

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‘Decadent and passive’: China cracks down on ‘throwing eggs’ card game

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Craze for the four-player game known as guandan may lead to the formation of cliques, Communist party warns

As recently as last year, Chinese state media was hailing guandan as the card game that “can get you a promotion in China”.

The country was holding open tournaments, and workers were encouraged to use it as a social and professional networking tool.

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‘Monument to history’ battle between US and China over future of Mao’s secretary’s diary

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Beijing is believed to be behind court bid to secure account of life inside Communist HQ

In the early hours of 4 June 1989, Li Rui, a veteran of the Chinese Communist party (CCP), was standing on the balcony of his apartment on Chang’an Boulevard in central Beijing. He could see tanks rolling towards Tiananmen Square.

For weeks, up to a million protesters had been gathering peacefully in Beijing’s plaza, demanding political reform. But they failed. Instead, as Li observed from his unique vantage point, troops opened fire, killing an estimated several thousands of civilians. It was the worst massacre in recent Chinese history. “Soldiers firing randomly with their machine guns, sometimes shooting the ground and sometimes shooting toward the sky,” Li wrote in his diary. A “black weekend”.

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‘Axis of upheaval’ adds urgency to review of UK defence spending

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Deepening military and trade links between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea are making western powers uneasy

Gen Roly Walker, the head of the British army, has described it as the “axis of upheaval”. George Robertson, the new head of the UK’s defence review, has called the countries the “deadly quartet”. Either way, less than a month into a Labour government, an emerging geopolitical alignment is being highlighted as a threat.

The concerns centre on the growing military and trade links between Russia, China, Iran and North Korea. Though the four are some way from a cold war-style bloc acting in concert, they have enhanced bilateral ties since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in a manner that has fuelled anxiety among defence officials and policymakers.

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Donald Trump says Xi Jinping wrote him a ‘beautiful note’ after rally shooting

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US presidential contender’s reference echoes the ‘love letters’ he received from North Korea’s Kim Jong-un as he calls authoritarian leaders ‘smart, tough’ people

Donald Trump has said China’s president wrote him a “beautiful note” after the assassination attempt a week ago, as he continued to court leaders whom Joe Biden has criticised as dictators.

In his first campaign rally since narrowly escaping the attempt on his life in Pennsylvania, Trump told a crowd in Michigan on Saturday: “[President Xi Jinping] wrote me a beautiful note the other day when he heard about what happened.”

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Trump has ‘detailed and well-founded’ plans to end Ukraine war, says Orbán

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‘Likely outcome’ of Trump victory means EU should reopen diplomatic talks with Moscow, says Hungarian PM

Viktor Orbán has claimed that Donald Trump has “detailed and well-founded” plans for peace between Russia and Ukraine in a letter to a top EU body that is likely to inflame tensions about the Hungarian prime minister’s diplomatic freelancing.

Orbán, who met Trump at his Palm Beach compound last week, said in his letter to the president of the European Council, who organises meetings of the bloc’s 27 national leaders, that the Republican presidential nominee was ready to act as peace broker “immediately” after his election.

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Xi’s central Asia trip aims to cement ties as China vies for influence with Russia

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SCO summit brings together leaders of global south but also likely to test Beijing and Moscow’s ‘strategic partnership’

Leaders from China, Russia and countries in the global south are gathering in Kazakhstan for the annual meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a group that has been described as the “anti-Nato”.

The summit is part of China’s efforts to establish what it calls a “multilateral” world order that is not dominated by the US. But it is also a forum in which China and Russia’s “strategic partnership” will be tested by their competing desires to wield influence in central Asia.

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Chinese Communist party expels two ex-defence ministers for corruption

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Li Shangfu, who vanished from public life last year, and Wei Fenghe accused of accepting gifts and facilitating benefits

The Chinese Communist party has expelled two former defence ministers for corruption, including Li Shangfu, who disappeared from public view along with other senior figures last year.

Li was sacked as defence minister in October, two months after he disappeared from public life. He served just seven months as defence minister. No explanation was given for his sudden removal, which temporarily destabilised efforts to rebuild US-China defence dialogues.

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Zelenskiy calls on world leaders to attend Ukraine ‘peace summit’ after deadly Kharkiv strike

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Ukraine president urges Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to ‘show your leadership’ and send message to Moscow

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has released a desperate video plea calling on world leaders to attend a “peace summit” next month in Switzerland after a deadly Russian attack on a DIY hypermarket in Kharkiv on Saturday killed at least 16people and injured dozens more.

Zelenskiy appealed in particular to the US president, Joe Biden, and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, to attend the summit, which is due to start on 15 June. “Please, show your leadership in advancing the peace – the real peace and not just a pause between the strikes,” said Zelenskiy in English.

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Putin and Xi announce plans to strengthen military ties in Beijing

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Russian leader praises ‘comradely’ talks with Chinese president ahead of concert to mark 75 years of ‘friendship’

Russia and China have announced they will deepen their already close military ties, as Vladimir Putin met Xi Jinping in Beijing on his first foreign trip since being inaugurated for a new term as Russia’s president.

It is the latest in a string of statements and signals that the warm relationship between the two countries is as strong as it has ever been.

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Zelenskiy says situation is ‘difficult’ on visit to Kharkiv; Putin calls China relationship an international ‘stabilising factor’ – as it happened

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Ukrainian military says its has forced Russia to reduce tempo of offensive; Russian president thanks Xi Jinping for ‘trying to solve Ukraine crisis’. This live blog is closed

Vladimir Putin has said that Russia-China cooperation is not directed against any other power and is a stabilising factor for the world, during his meeting with Xi Jinping.

It is of crucial significance that relations between Russia and China are not opportunistic and are not directed against anyone. Our cooperation in world affairs today acts as one of the main stabilising factors in the international arena.”

In our new journey we intend to remain good neighbours, trusted friends and reliable partners, consistently strengthening the relationship between our two nations … defending international equality.”

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