Category Archives: Xi Jinping

Xi-Biden meeting overshadowed by conflicts in Ukraine and Israel – and US stance on Taiwan

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Chinese and US presidents meeting amid a deteriorating geopolitical climate, with the countries on opposing sides of two major conflicts

One year after their last in-person talks, Xi Jinping and Joe Biden will come face to face once again on Wednesday in San Francisco, in an encounter that will dominate events at the Apec summit as the Chinese and US presidents seek to stabilise relations in an increasingly fraught geopolitical climate.

The meeting, which could last several hours, is the culmination of months of lower level dialogues which took place over the summer, with Washington sending more delegates to China than Beijing did to the US.

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Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to meet on sidelines of Apec summit

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‘Everything is on the table,’ US official says of first face-to-face interaction between leaders in a year, on Wednesday

The US president, Joe Biden, will meet the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, face to face for the first time in a year on Wednesday, the White House said, in high-stakes diplomacy aimed at curbing tensions between the world’s two superpowers.

The closely watched interaction, on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in the San Francisco Bay Area, could last hours and involve teams of officials from Beijing and Washington.

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Albanese to echo Whitlam as he prays for a good harvest in Xi talks

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The prime minister will visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on Monday morning before a significant meeting with China’s president, Xi Jinping

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Fifty years ago, Gough Whitlam visited the Temple of Heaven in Beijing as part of an historic visit to China to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic.

Whitlam’s visit to the Beijing landmark produced an iconic image. In the photograph, the newly elected Australian prime minister is captured with his ear to the circular Echo Wall in the world heritage site. In the background, the Australian prime minister is watched by Stephen Fitzgerald, Australia’s first ambassador to China.

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Albanese offers gentle rebuke over China’s ‘unnecessary barriers to trade’ at Shanghai expo

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Australian prime minister pushes the benefits of ‘rules-based trade’ after a period of unilateral sanctions imposed by China

Anthony Albanese has delivered an implicit rebuke to China for its strong-arm tactics during Beijing’s protracted trade war with Canberra, telling attenders at a trade expo in Shanghai “Australia and China have prospered thanks to the certainty and stability that is made possible by rules-based trade”.

But while politely criticising Beijing’s trade tactics, Australia’s prime minister did not rule out supporting China’s long-held ambition to join a critical regional pact – the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

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A new chapter: how China sees Albanese’s ‘ice-breaking’ state visit

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Chinese state media have previously viewed Australia’s actions as blindly following the US. Does a resumption of dialogue signal a change?

It’s a busy time in Beijing – this autumn has already hosted a major Belt and Road forum, international dignitaries, and a security summit. But an upcoming visit by the Australian prime minister has also prompted a flurry of preparations and discussion.

Anthony Albanese’s three-day tour of Shanghai and Beijing, the first prime ministerial visit to the country in seven years, is being warmly welcomed. He is expected to meet with the premier, Li Qiang – the host of the official visit – and the president, Xi Jinping, with whom Canberra has said Albanese will raise tough issues.

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Albanese to raise human rights and trade with Xi in first China visit by Australian PM since 2016

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Ahead of trip signalling emergence from diplomatic deep freeze, Albanese also calls on Beijing to again allow Australian journalists to report from mainland

Anthony Albanese will raise human rights, trade and Australia’s concerns about the militarisation of the South China Sea when he meets Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday during the first visit to China by an Australian prime minister since 2016.

Albanese has signalled he intends to raise the plight of the Australian writer Yang Hengjun, who has been detained for more than four years in China. Ahead of his departure, the prime minister also called on the Chinese government to issue visas to Australian journalists, allowing them to report once again from the mainland.

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Halloween costumes in Shanghai poke fun at Chinese authorities

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People dress as Covid workers, surveillance cameras and Winnie-the-Pooh, a reference to Xi Jinping

Halloween revellers in Shanghai have poked fun at the Chinese authorities with their costumes, dressing up as Covid prevention workers, surveillance cameras and China’s falling stock market.

Videos posted on social media showed police shepherding away people with particularly subversive costumes on Tuesday night, including one dressed as Lu Xun, a Chinese writer from the early 20th century whose fable about a useless scholar has become a meme for China’s unemployed youth.

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Biden expected to meet with Xi Jinping next month for ‘constructive’ talks

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White House comments come after China’s foreign minister made rare visit to Washington to pave way for Xi to meet Biden

Joe Biden is expected to meet Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of a summit in San Francisco in November for “constructive” talks, the White House said on Tuesday.

The comments came days after China’s foreign minister made a rare visit to Washington to pave the way for Xi to meet Biden at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.

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Joe Biden and Xi Jinping meeting a step closer, says US

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US president and senior aides meet with Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, after which White House says it is ‘working towards’ top-level talks

The US and China have agreed to work towards setting up a meeting between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping after the US president met with China’s foreign minister on Friday.

Biden has invited Xi to San Francisco in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit. The Chinese president has not yet confirmed he will come.

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Xi says China willing to cooperate with US as hopes rise for talks with Biden

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Xi Jinping says whether or not two countries can find right way of getting along is crucial to the world

The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has said China is willing to cooperate with the US as both sides manage their differences and work together to respond to global challenges, raising hopes of a meeting between Xi and the US president, Joe Biden, this year.

In a letter delivered at an annual dinner of the National Committee on US-China Relations in New York, Xi said whether or not the US and China could establish the “right” way of getting along would be crucial to the world, according to state media.

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Mutual praise, buzzwords plus a few walkouts: Xi and Putin meet in Beijing

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Vladimir Putin lauded the success of ‘our Chinese friends’ at global forum, while Xi Jinping spoke out against international sanctions and ‘decoupling’

Xi Jinping met his internationally isolated Russian counterpart in Beijing on Wednesday against the backdrop of China’s biggest diplomatic event of the year, underlining the close relationship between two leaders amid the war in Ukraine.

The Chinese president, addressing delegates at the belt and road initiative (BRI) forum, spoke out against international sanctions during his opening speech.

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Xi Jinping welcomes ‘dear friend’ Vladimir Putin to Beijing

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Russian president due to hold in-depth talks with Chinese leader on sidelines of trade forum

The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has welcomed his “dear friend” Vladimir Putin to Beijing, kicking off a multilateral summit overshadowed by the Israel-Hamas war.

Beijing this week hosts representatives of 130 countries for a forum on Xi’s vast trade and infrastructure project, the belt and road initiative (BRI).

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China woos global south and embraces Putin at belt and road Beijing summit

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Development drive’s forum will focus on poorer countries as Xi’s relations with the west become increasingly frosty

World leaders are gathering in Beijing for China’s belt and road initiative (BRI) forum, the third such event since the trademark global development drive was launched by President Xi Jinping 10 years ago.

The BRI was originally envisioned as a vast physical and digital infrastructure project to connect China with central Asia, south-east Asia, Europe and the rest of the world. It later broadened into a mammoth infrastructure financing vehicle for Chinese lenders to support projects in nearly every corner of the world, particularly in the global south. With that support came China’s mounting influence on the world stage, even as western countries became increasingly sceptical of the BRI.

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Dysfunction in Washington leaves Middle East without key US diplomats

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Having no US ambassador to Israel in place and Republicans holding up military promotions is a threat to democracy, experts say

Political turmoil in Washington has left the US without key diplomats across the Middle East and raised concerns that years of congressional dysfunction are taking their toll on US leadership.

A devastating weekend attack on Israel by Hamas gunmen shook the region and came at a moment when there is no US ambassador in place in Israel, Egypt, Kuwait, Lebanon or Oman.

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Where is Li Shangfu? China’s missing defence minister highlights Xi’s total grip on power

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China’s latest missing minister underscores the move to centralised rule, and how questioning Xi’s judgement has become increasingly dangerous

Three weeks after he was last seen in public, there is still no official confirmation about what has happened to Gen Li Shangfu, China’s defence minister and the latest senior official to be seemingly swept up in China’s political purges.

Last week, Reuters reported that Li, along with eight other senior officials, was under investigation for the corrupt procurement of military equipment relating to his time at the helm of the equipment division of the Central Military Commission, the military’s ruling body, between September 2017 and October 2022. US intelligence has also made similar conclusions.

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Joe Biden calls for stable US-China relationship during south-east Asia tour

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The US president’s remarks came after after meeting in Vietnam with Communist party official to secure global supply chain

Joe Biden’s national security tour of south-east Asia reached Hanoi, Vietnam, on Sunday, where the president called for stability in the US-China relationship against an increasingly complex diplomatic picture in the region for his country.

“I don’t want to contain China,” Biden said. “I just want to make sure that we have a relationship with China that is on the up and up, squared away, everybody knows what it’s all about.”

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Chinese law to ban comments that harm China’s ‘feelings’ prompts concern

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Legal experts and bloggers say proposed crimes could be used arbitrarily and lead to more censorship

Proposed changes to a Chinese public security law to criminalise comments, clothing or symbols that “undermine the spirit” or “harm the feelings” of China have triggered the concern of legal experts, who say the amendments could be used arbitrarily.

The changes were first made public last week as part of a mandatory “soliciting opinion” process, as concerns mount about the increasingly authoritarian and nationalistic rule of China’s president, Xi Jinping.

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Albanese’s China trip suggests a smoother relationship rather than a cosy one

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A key calculation of the Australian PM’s team is that dialogue is of value, even if both sides agree to disagree

In a far cry from Henry Kissinger’s secret trips to China in the 1970s, Anthony Albanese’s planned travel to the country has been an open secret for months.

Still, the Australian prime minister’s confirmation this week that he had accepted an invitation to fly to Beijing is another key step in his government’s efforts to “stabilise” a relationship that hit rock bottom in 2020.

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G20: battle for influence as US seeks to rival China in the global south

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There will be pressure on rich countries to fulfil a commitment to provide climate finance to poorer nations

The run-up to this weekend’s G20 summit in Delhi has largely been dominated by two issues: the host’s efforts to project India as a superpower; and the intriguing decision of Xi Jinping not to attend. The substance of what world leaders will discuss during their two days together has struggled to surface.

Yet this year’s G20 – the 24th since the format was inaugurated in 1999 – is potentially a make or break moment for the organisation that includes the world’s 19 wealthiest nations plus the European Union as a bloc. With one part of the world increasingly gathering in the now expanded Brics format where China has a leading role, and the west comfortable with its annual G7 summitry, the G20 is the best remaining hope of keeping the principle of multilateralism alive. The United Nations secretary general, António Guterres, spoke on Thursday of a real risk of fragmentation of the world order, while his own organisation is paralysed by the war in Ukraine.

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Brics to more than double with admission of six new countries

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Major expansion as economic bloc that includes Russia and China attempts to provide counterweight to the US and western allies

The Brics group of big emerging economies has announced the admission of six new members, in an attempt to reshape the global world order and provide a counterweight to the US and its allies.

From the beginning of next year, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Argentina, the UAE and Ethiopia will join the current five members – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – it was announced at a summit in Johannesburg on Thursday.

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