ChinaFile Conversation

Jerome Alan Cohen (July 1, 1930 – September 22, 2025) was a renowned American lawyer who was one of the foremost foreign scholars of Chinese law. After the resumption of diplomatic relations between China and the U.S. he became the first American...

American and Chinese officials announced on September 15 that they had reached a “framework agreement” on the future of TikTok. On September 25, Trump signed an executive order approving the framework agreement for the TikTok deal, although Chinese...

From August 31 to September 1, China hosted twenty foreign leaders in Tianjin for a Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, the biggest meeting since the formation of the security group in 2002. Group photos of all the attendees and video...

U.S. President Donald Trump came into office with tough talk on China, including promises to enact huge tariffs on China and erect a new trade regime, “aggressive new restrictions” on Chinese ownership of American land, an end to fentanyl...

A European Union-China Summit took place in Beijing on July 24, 2025, marking the 50th anniversary of EU-China diplomatic relations. European Council President António Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Chinese...

How might the battle over succession play out over the coming months? If the Dalai Lama announces a successor, how will Beijing respond? How robust is the institutional framework for maintaining legitimacy without the Chinese government’s...

Over the past few years, European countries have started to line up with the United States on China policy. But now, as Donald Trump destroys the trust European countries had in America, China is stepping up, promising stability and consistency, if...

When it comes to China, there are several different factions pushing the Trump Administration in different directions: MAGA nationalists who favor economic, cultural, and possibly military warfare against China; more old-fashioned Republicans who...

In early December, U.S. law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison announced plans to close its office in Beijing. In 1981, Paul Weiss became one of the earliest foreign law firms to open an office in Beijing, but it is one...

After months of downbeat economic news and little action from the Chinese government, Beijing has announced a slew of stimulus measures. Are the stimulus measures enough to make a difference and are they going to work as long as secular trends like...

Will TikTok succeed in defending itself on First Amendment grounds, or will it be forced to shut down in the U.S.? Or will ByteDance find a creative way out of the problem? What will this case mean for Chinese business interests in the U.S. and the...

What does Beijing expect to gain from the intra-Palestinian peace talks? What considerations shape China’s position on the Israel-Gaza conflict, and on the wider geopolitical picture of the Middle East? How does China’s support for Iran factor into...