Trump in Paris to Improve Ties despite Divergence on Climate, Trade

Xinhua
U.S. President Donald Trump arrived in Paris on Thursday morning in a diplomatic move to soften divergence with France over climate change and trade liberalization by seeking common ground on security and fight against terrorism.

How China Misread Donald Trump

Paul Gewirtz
Politico
Trump’s view of China is quickly turning sour. The reason for his dwindling patience is Beijing’s failure to rein in North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s nuclear program.

Ahead of Fractious G20, Germany and China Pledge New Cooperation

Thomas Escritt and Michelle Martin
Reuters
Ties between China and Germany are about to enter a new phase as the Chinese president met the German chancellor before a G20 summit that is expected to highlight their differences with the United States on a host of issues.

Pakistan Pivots to China Amid Fresh Concerns over US Ties with India

Pamela Constable
Washington Post
The words from Pakistan’s top foreign policy adviser could not have been clearer. At a news conference welcoming China’s foreign minister to the Pakistani capital this week, Sartaj Aziz declared, “Pakistan’s relations with China are the cornerstone...

US-China Honeymoon Over: Washington Sanctions Chinese Bank and Sells Arms to Taiwan

Tom Phillips, Oliver Holmes
Guardian
Relations between the world’s two largest economies look to be entering a new phase of turbulence after the US punctured Chinese celebrations of the anniversary of Hong Kong’s return by unveiling sanctions against a Chinese bank linked to North...

Sinica Podcast

06.28.17

Top U.S. Diplomat David Rank on Why He Resigned to Protest Trump

Kaiser Kuo & David Rank from Sinica Podcast
David Rank became the leading diplomat for one of America’s most important embassies during the transition when Iowa governor Terry Branstad formally succeeded former Montana senator Max Baucus as U.S. Ambassador to China on May 24, 2017. He soon...

Trump Is China’s Chump

Thomas L. Friedman
New York Times
Beijing is now quietly encouraging everyone in the neighborhood to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, China’s free-trade competitor to TPP.

China’s Premier, Li Keqiang, Praises Free Trade, in Contrast to Trump

Keith Bradsher
New York Times
Premier Li Keqiang of China reaffirmed on Tuesday his country’s desire to be seen as the world’s new leader in globalization and free trade, but he offered no specifics on how China might lower its own trade barriers, which are among the steepest of...

Coal on the Rise in China, US, India after Major 2016 Drop

ABC
The world’s biggest coal users — China, the United States and India — have boosted coal mining in 2017, in an abrupt departure from last year’s record global decline for the heavily polluting fuel and a setback to efforts to rein in climate change...

China Invites Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to Visit Beijing

Bloomberg
Details of the possible trip by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, both of whom have official jobs in the White House, were still under discussion, according to a U.S. official and a Chinese official who asked not to be identified. The visit may also...

Trump Says ‘We Have a Great Relationship with China’ after Critical Tweet

CNBC
The United States pressed China to exert more economic and diplomatic pressure on North Korea to help rein in its nuclear and missile programs during a round of high-level talks in Washington on Wednesday.

China’s Trump Honeymoon: Unexpected, and at Risk of Ending

Steven Lee Myers
New York Times
Mr. Trump’s assertion that China had failed to pressure North Korea into curbing its nuclear and ballistic missile program means that Beijing must now confront the prospect of a stormier relationship ahead — not just over North Korea but also...

Ford to Save $1 Billion Building Focus in China Instead of Mexico

Keith Naughton
Bloomberg
Ford Motor Co. is canceling controversial plans to build the Focus small car in Mexico, saving $1 billion by ending North American production entirely and importing the model mostly from China after next year.

China Invites Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to Visit Beijing

Peter Martin, Keith Zhai, and Jennifer...
Bloomberg
China has invited President Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law to visit later this year, according to people familiar with the matter, in the latest sign of the first family’s growing influence over foreign affairs. Details of the possible trip...

What Are the Odds of a U.S.-China War?

Andrew Browne
Wall Street Journal
Two fiery nationalists— Xi Jinping and Donald Trump—now occupy the seats of power in Beijing and Washington. In their mission to make their countries great again, one pursues the “China Dream,” one “America First.” Both see the other as the chief...

Are China and the United States Headed for War?

New Yorker
Professors, pundits, and journalists weigh in on a heated topic.

Trump’s Trade Restrictions Could Miss China And Slam Everybody Else

David Francis
Chicago Tribune
Any restriction on imports of the key metals would likely fall on friendly U.S. trading partners, rather than on China, the ostensible target of the administration's concern about steel and aluminum imports.

Trump Adds More Trademarks in China

Sui-Lee Wen
New York Times
President Trump is poised to add six new trademarks to his expanding portfolio in China, in sectors including veterinary services and construction, potentially renewing concerns about his possible conflicts of interest.

Viewpoint

06.08.17

Can China Really Lead the World on Climate?

Isabel Hilton
On Wednesday, the governor of California, Jerry Brown, found himself, not for the first time, with more in common with Chinese President Xi Jinping than with the president of his own nation, Donald Trump. Just days after President Trump announced...

Trump Lies. China Thrives.

New York Times
We underestimate China — and attribute all of its surge in growth to unfair trade practices — at our peril. China has been fast and smart at adopting new technologies, particularly the mobile internet.

Trump Lies. China Thrives.

Thomas L. Friedman
New York Times
While Trump is a serial liar, his broad complaint that China is not playing fair on trade and has grown in some areas at the expense of U.S. and European workers has merit and needs to be addressed — now.

China Is Now Looking to California–Not Trump–to Help Lead the Fight Against Climate Change

Jessica Meyers
Los Angeles Times
Governor Jerry Brown met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in a rare diplomatic coup that catapults California into quasi-national status as a negotiator.

China Cautions India, Others Against Any Informal Alliance

PTI
Economic Observer
China cautioned India and other Asian countries against forming informal alliances to counter its increasing assertiveness as they cannot rely on the U.S. in Trump era.

China Doesn't Want To Be the Only World Leader, Says State Council Counselor

Akiko Fujita, Huileng Tan
CNBC
Rather than fully stepping into a global leadership vacuum that could be left by an increasingly isolationist U.S., China is looking to be but one of the world's leaders.

Turning against Trump: How the Chinese Covered the Climate Pact Exit

New York Times
Mr. Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris agreement gave fresh material to one of the Chinese state media’s favorite propaganda themes: the idea that Western democracy is flawed, chaotic and prone to social strife.

Ivanka Trump’s Firm Seeks New Trademarks in China, Reviving Ethical Concerns

CNN
A trove of Chinese trademark applications filed by Ivanka Trump’s namesake business is focusing attention once again on the ethical complications presented by the Trump family’s business ties.

Trump Hands the Chinese a Gift: The Chance for Global Leadership

New York Times
The Chinese are eager to fill the void that Washington is leaving around the world on everything from setting the rules of trade and environmental standards to financing infrastructure projects.

Conversation

06.01.17

Can China Supplant the U.S. in Europe?

Rogier Creemers, Zha Daojiong & more
From May 31 to June 2, Premier Li Keqiang will visit Germany and Belgium, to “further deepen and enrich China’s relations with the European Union (EU) at a time of increasing global uncertainty,” according to an article in China’s state newswire...

China and Europe Are Moving Forward without Trump

CNN
Beijing is in prime position to capitalize on major policy fissures that have emerged between Europe and the Trump administration on climate, trade and defense. The new dynamic will be on full display on Thursday in Brussels, when Chinese Premier Li...

Activists Investigating Ivanka Trump’s China Shoe Factory Detained or Missing

Guardian
A labor activist working undercover investigating abuses at a Chinese factory that makes Ivanka Trump shoes has been detained by police and two others are missing, raising concerns the company’s ties to the U.S. president’s family may have led to...

Trump May Turn to Vietnam for Help on South China Sea

CNBC
On Wednesday, Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc will be the first ASEAN leader to visit the White House since President Donald Trump’s election and the U.S. may look to tap into the emerging market’s friction with China.

Senate Democrats Ask Trump for Answers on China Trademarks

Voice of America
A group of Senate Democrats has sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump requesting information about a raft of trademark approvals from China this year that they say may violate the U.S. Constitution’s ban on gifts from foreign governments.

Sinica Podcast

05.26.17

Chinese Power in the Age of Donald Trump

Jeremy Goldkorn, Kaiser Kuo & more from Sinica Podcast
When Joseph Nye, Jr., first used the phrase “soft power” in his 1990 book Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power, China did not factor much into his calculus of world order: It had relatively little military and economic power, and...

South China Sea: U.S. Warship Challenges China’s Claims with First Operation under Trump

CNN
A U.S. Navy destroyer has sailed close to a disputed South China Sea island controlled by China for the first time under U.S. President Donald Trump.

China Throws out More Trade and Business Offers to Trump’s America

South China Morning Post
A report issued by the Ministry of Commerce on Thursday said China may buy further goods from the U.S., including crude and refined oil products, cotton and machine tools.

Trump Adds Another Chinese Trademark to His Portfolio

New York Times
China has granted President Trump preliminary approval for another trademark in apparel, expanding business interests that have already generated criticism over potential conflicts.

Larry Summers: Trump’s ‘China Deal’ Is Only a Good Deal for China

Washington Post
It is true that a ludicrously hyped squib of a deal is much better than a trade war. So perhaps we should be pleased that the president and his commerce secretary are so easily manipulated. Perhaps our officials know how bad a deal they got and are...

What Do Trump’s Views on Europe Mean for China?

Paul Haenle & Tomáš Valášek from Carnegie China
President Trump will travel to Europe in May for his first time since taking office to meet with European Union (E.U.) leaders, attend a NATO meeting, and visit the organization’s headquarters in Brussels. Although he has walked back some of his...

Environment

05.23.17

India and China Will Offset Trump’s Climate Backslide

from chinadialogue
With the U.S. likely to fall short of its Paris Agreement pledge to reduce carbon emissions, a new analysis released last week claims that overachievement by India and China will ensure progress on climate action is not stymied.The U.S., the world’s...

China’s Strength and Its Shopping Lift Alibaba’s Results

paul mozur
New York Times
Jack Ma, Alibaba’s founder, will host a conference in Detroit next month to help small businesses learn about the company.

China’s Silk Road Project Shows Putin Needs Xi Way More Than Trump

Kenneth Rapoza
Forbes
There are more U.S. multinationals in Russia than there are Russian multinationals in the U.S.. Moscow and Beijing are nowhere near as close as Beijing is to Washington, but Russia stands more to gain by the Silk Road than the U.S. if not for...

Conversation

05.16.17

How Big a Deal is the New U.S.-China Trade Deal?

Wendy Cutler, Zha Daojiong & more
Last week, the United States and China announced a new trade deal on the eve of China launching a sweeping conference to promote its One Belt, One Road development and infrastructure investment initiative. How good are the terms of the Washington-...

Evaluating Trump’s First 100 Days

Paul Haenle & Jon Finer from Carnegie China
One hundred days into Donald Trump’s presidency, he has shocked the establishment and foreign governments with many foreign policy reversals, and also some surprising areas of consistency. In this podcast, Paul Haenle sat down with Jon Finer, former...

Why China Will Never Put America First

J. Michael Cole
National Interest
The Trump administration will eventually awaken to the fact that Beijing cannot, and has no desire to, deliver on North Korea.

Commentary: Why North Korea Is Turning into a Headache for China and Xi Jinping

Bo Zhiyue
Channel NewsAsia
Chinese President Xi Jinping has found himself in a peculiar predicament over the North Korean nuclear issue. Although Xi is widely believed to be far more popular as a global leader than his immediate predecessor, President Hu Jintao, he is...

Kushner Company a No-Show at China Visa Event After Ethics Uproar

TRACY CONNOR
NBC News
Richard Painter, who was an ethics attorney for President George W. Bush, told NBC News last week that Saturday’s meeting in Shenzhen came “very, very close to solicitation of a bribe” and amounted to “corruption, pure and simple.”

Sinica Podcast

05.12.17

What It Takes to Be a Good China-Watcher

Kaiser Kuo & Bill Bishop from Sinica Podcast
China-watching isn’t what it used to be. Not too long ago, the field of international China studies was dominated by a few male Westerners with an encyclopedic knowledge of China, but with surprisingly little experience living in the country or...

The Princeling in the West Wing

JILL ABRAMSON
New York Times
Over the weekend, there was the unseemly spectacle of Jared Kushner’s sister, Nicole Meyer, hawking golden visas to connected Chinese investors if they would put $500,000 into one of the Kushners’ real estate projects in Jersey City.

How Trump Gave China’s ‘Belt and Road’ Scheme a Boost

cary huang
South China Morning Post
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ‘Belt and Road’ trade development initiative, always ambitious, has been given a boost by American counterpart Donald Trump’s protectionist trade agenda and isolationist diplomacy.

China Pitch by Kushner Sister Renews Controversy over Visa Program for Wealthy

Michael Kranish
Washington Post
A much-criticized visa program that allows foreigners to win fast-track immigration in return for investing $500,000 in U.S. properties was extended in a bill signed by President Trump just one day before a sister of senior White House adviser Jared...

U.S. Investigates Work at Pacific Island Casino Project with Trump Ties

NEIL GOUGH, CAO LI
New York Times
Officials say contractors illegally hired Chinese workers in Saipan, part of an American commonwealth, to build a casino overseen by a former Trump protégé.

China Tells U.S. and North Korea to ‘Stop Irritating Each Other’

Ben Blanchard
Independent
China has called on all parties in the Korean standoff to stay calm and “stop irritating each other” a day after North Korea said the United States was pushing the region to the brink of nuclear war.

Viewpoint

05.03.17

Thinking about War with China

Chas W. Freeman
Let’s not kid ourselves. The armed forces of the United States and China are now very far along in planning and practicing how to go to war with each other. Neither has any idea when or why it might have to engage the other on the battlefield but...

Trump’s Pick for Ambassador to China Says He Will Work with Beijing on North Korea

Anne Gearan
Washington Post
President Trump’s choice to be ambassador to China pledged Tuesday to leverage a personal relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping to persuade China that it is risking its own security if it fails to prevent a nuclear crisis with North Korea.

Asian Nations Pulled into China’s Orbit as Trump Puts America First

Manuel Mogato, Martin Petty
Reuters
Across Asia, more and more countries are being pulled into Beijing’s orbit, with the timid stance adopted by Southeast Asian nations on the South China Sea at a weekend summit a clear sign this fundamental geostrategic shift is gathering momentum.

Anbang, Chinese Company with Global Reach, Faces New Scrutiny

New York Times
Wu Xiaohui, the Chinese tycoon who was in failed talks with President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, to buy into a skyscraper project in Manhattan, is fighting allegations of financial chicanery and has threatened to sue a Chinese magazine that...

Alibaba Acts on Vow about 1m U.S. Jobs

Paul Welitzkin
China Daily
Jack Ma announced on Tuesday that Alibaba will host a two-day conference in Detroit in June to teach U.S. businesses how to sell to the company’s 443 million customers in China on the world’s biggest e-commerce site.

The North Korea Rhetoric Is Angry -- but Is Conflict Closer?

Joshua Berlinger, Brad Lendon
CNN
U.S. warships and submarines are on the move. North Korea has carried out its largest ever live-fire drill. Washington and Pyongyang are trading inflammatory rhetoric on a weekly basis.

China Finds U.S. Businesswoman Guilty of Stealing State Secrets, Orders Deportation

Newsweek
A Chinese court on Tuesday sentenced a U.S. citizen to three-years and six-months in prison for espionage but then ordered she be deported, her lawyer said, in a case that has added to U.S.-China tension.