House panel says China subsidizes fentanyl production to fuel crisis in the United States
A congressional committee is accusing China of fueling the fentanyl crisis in the U.S. A report released Tuesday by a House select committee says China is directly subsidizing the manufacturing of materials used by drug traffickers to make fentanyl outside the country.
US eyes massive ramp-up in diplomatic personnel and spending at new Pacific island embassies
The State Department says it plans a massive increase in diplomatic personnel and spending for facilities at new U.S. embassies in the Pacific islands as the Biden administration forges ahead with efforts to counter Chinaโs growing influence in the region.
China and ASEAN agree to try to conclude nonaggression pact on sea feud in 3 years
China and Southeast Asian nations have agreed to try to conclude within three years a long-delayed nonaggression pact aimed at preventing frequent territorial spats in the busy South China Sea from turning into a major armed conflict.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott bans TikTok on government-owned devices, citing concern about potential Chinese threat
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Wednesday that he's banned the use of the social media platform TikTok on any government-issued devices as he claims the "threat of the Chinese Communist Party gaining access to critical U.S. information and infrastructure continues to grow."
China defends right to protect consulate after assault claim
Chinaโs Foreign Ministry says its diplomatic missions abroad have the right to โtake necessary measuresโ to maintain security after British police opened an investigation into the assault of a Hong Kong protester who alleged he was dragged into the Chinese consulate in Manchester and beaten up during a demonstration.
China expected to grant Xi 5 more years, no major changes
China is opening a twice-a-decade party conference at which leader Xi Jinping is expected to receive a third five-year term that breaks with recent precedent and establishes himself as possibly the most powerful Chinese politician since Mao Zedong.
UN rights body rejects Western bid to debate Xinjiang abuses
In a close diplomatic victory for China, the U.N.โs top human rights body has voted down a proposal from Britain, Turkey, the United States and other mostly Western countries to hold a debate on alleged rights abuses against Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in Chinaโs western Xinjiang region.
After testy meeting, China says will discuss climate with US
The two countries feuded over journalist visas and consulates during the Trump administration, and climate change is seen as one area where they may be able to cooperate. AdSenior Biden administration officials held their first face-to-face meeting with their Chinese counterparts in Anchorage, Alaska, since taking office earlier this year. AdThe Xinhua report did not provide any details on the climate change working group, other than to say both countries were committed to enhancing communication and cooperation in the field. China and the U.S. both expelled a number of each other's journalists last year. In addition, Chinese journalists in the U.S. and foreign journalists working for U.S. media in China are now being granted only three-month stays, adding uncertainty to their tenure, though those stays have been generally renewed.
US, China spar in first face-to-face meeting under Biden
Blinken said the Biden administration is united with its allies in pushing back against Chinaโs increasing authoritarianism and assertiveness at home and abroad. Yang responded angrily by demanding the U.S. stop pushing its own version of democracy at a time when the United States itself has been roiled by domestic discontent. โIโm hearing deep satisfaction that the United States is back, that we're reengaged,โ Blinken retorted. Just a day before the meeting, Blinken had announced new sanctions over Beijing's crackdown on pro-democracy advocates in Hong Kong. โIs this a decision made by the United States to try to gain some advantage in dealing with China?"
Pompeo says China's policies on Muslims amount to 'genocide'
I believe this genocide is ongoing, and that we are witnessing the systematic attempt to destroy Uyghurs by the Chinese party-state." A main reason cited for the declaration of genocide was widespread forced birth control among the Uighurs, which The Associated Press documented last year. China says its policies in Xinjiang aim only to promote economic and social development in the region and stamp out radicalism. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell designated the situation in Sudanโs western Darfur region a genocide in 2004. โThe Secretaryโs statement underscores the importance of appropriate international investigations and prosecutions of officials for the crime of genocide in Xinjiang,โ said Eric Schwartz, the president of Refugees International.
Pompeo unloads on US universities for China ties
WASHINGTON โ Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Wednesday accused U.S. universities of caving to Chinese pressure to blunt or bar criticism of the Chinese Communist Party. Pompeo took aim at universities across the U.S., claiming they refused to address the Trump administrationโs concerns about Chinaโs attempts to influence students and academics. Pompeo defended the Trump administration's tough stance on China in remarks at the Georgia Institute of Technology. โMIT wasnโt interested in having me give this speech on their campus," Pompeo said. โNow, thank God, Vera was eventually released, and returned to the U.S,โ Pompeo said of the student.
US ends 5 cultural programs with China in further escalation
China on Thursday, Dec. 3, 2020 accused critics in the U.S. government of "an escalation of political suppression" against Beijing following a report of new visa restrictions on members of Chinas ruling Communist Party and their immediate family members. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)The departing Trump administration has ended five cultural-exchange programs with China that it says were being used for Chinese propaganda and had no benefit to the United States. The State Department terminated the Policymakers Educational China Trip Program, the U.S.-China Friendship Program, the U.S.-China Leadership Exchange Program, the U.S.-China Transpacific Exchange Program and the Hong Kong Educational and Cultural Program. Each program allowed U.S. officials to travel in China at Beijing's expense. Pompeo said the U.S. welcomes โthe reciprocal and fair exchange of cultural programsโ with China and mutually beneficial ones will continue.
US imposes visa restrictions on more Chinese citizens
WASHINGTON โ The State Department said Friday that it would deny visas to Chinese citizens linked to overseas influence operations involving violence and other means of intimidation. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the restrictions would apply to Chinese Communist Party officials or anyone else taking part in such propaganda or influence campaigns affiliated with the United Front Work Department. The measure is intended to show that โthose responsible for actions that contravene the rules-based international order are not welcome in the United States,โ he said. China responded to those restrictions by accusing the U.S. government of โan escalation of political suppression." Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said Thursday that the travel restrictions were โtotally inconsistent with the U.S.โs own interestsโ and would damage Americaโs global image.
Hong Kong pro-democracy legislators hand in resignations
Hong Kong's pro-democracy lawmakers have handed in their resignations following a move by the city's government to disqualify four pro-democracy legislators. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)HONG KONG โ Pro-democracy legislators in Hong Kong began resigning Thursday to protest the expulsion of four other lawmakers, heightening a conflict with Beijing over the semi-autonomous Chinese territoryโs future. Its Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office called the mass resignation โan open challengeโ to the authority of the central government and the Basic Law, Hong Kongโs constitution. โWe lost our check-and-balance power, and all the constitutional power in Hong Kong rests in the chief executive's hands,โ Wu said. The mass departure will leave Hong Kongโs legislature with just 43 legislators, 41 of whom belong to the pro-Beijing bloc.
Pompeo, in Indonesia, renews China attacks as US vote looms
Pompeo renewed the Trump administration's rhetorical onslaught against China in Indonesia on Thursday as the American presidential election looms. โI know the Chinese Communist Party has tried to convince Indonesians to look away from the torments your fellow Muslims are suffering." Earlier, in an appearance with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Pompeo took China to task for threatening its neighbors. But in a July 13 statement, Pompeo said the U.S. now regards virtually all Chinese maritime claims outside its internationally recognized waters to be illegitimate. โThe Chinese Communist Party is a predator," he said.
US hits Chinese media with new restrictions, upping tensions
WASHINGTON โ The Trump administration is hitting Chinese media outlets in the U.S. with new restrictions, a move that will further foment tensions in already deteriorating ties between the worldโs two largest economies as President Donald Trump seeks to boost his anti-China credentials ahead of Novemberโs election. as well as imposing sanctions on Chinese officials, companies and government agencies for their actions in Tibet, Taiwan, Hong Kong and the South China Sea. Chinese state media and the Confucius Institutes have also been required to register as officials foreign government missions. So far this year, the U.S. has designated 15 Chinese media outlets as foreign missions. Before Wednesday, those included the Xinhua News Agency, China Global Television Network, China Radio International, China Daily Distribution Corporation, Hai Tian Development USA, China Central Television, China News Service, the Peopleโs Daily, and the Global Times newspaper.
US sees 'malign influence' in China-backed school program
More than 60 U.S. universities host Confucius Institute through partnerships with an affiliate of China's Ministry of Education. The Confucius Institute U.S. Center did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment. The letters do not explicitly urge schools to cut ties with the Confucius Institute but say the measure could avoid problems. Once hosted at more than 100 universities, Confucius Institute has been closed on many campuses amid a drumbeat of criticism. In August, Australiaโs most populous state, New South Wales, cut ties with the Confucius Institute and replaced the program with one funded by the state government.
China attacks new US demand to register Confucius Institutes
Zhao said the accusations against the institutes were without basis and were motivated by ideological prejudice and self-interest." He said China would reserve the right to make further responses to this matter." The designation requires the Confucius Institute U.S. Center, based in Washington, to submit reports to the U.S. government about its funding, personnel, curriculum and other activities in the United States. About 500 kindergarten through 12th grade classrooms are affiliated with the Confucius Institute in the U.S., Stilwell said. The U.S. subsequently cut the number of Chinese reporters allowed in the country, to which China responded by expelling American reporters in China.
At Nixon library, Pompeo declares China engagement a failure
WASHINGTON The Trump administration took a hammer to one of the most significant Republican foreign policy achievements in the past five decades on Thursday, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo declaring U.S. engagement with China a dismal failure. Nearly 50 years after Nixons historic 1972 trip to China, Pompeo used the symbolism of the venue to accuse the Chinese of taking advantage of that opportunity to lie, cheat and steal their way to power and prosperity. Pompeo called for the free world to induce change in China, making an overt appeal for a new coalition of democratic nations to force the Chinese Communist Party change direction or face isolation. Pompeo said western engagement with China could not continue as it has. The old paradigm of blind engagement with China has failed.
China sanctions U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, other officials in retaliation for U.S. sanctions
REUTERS/Joshua RobertsChina announced Monday it is issuing sanctions against U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and four other U.S. officials for "interfering in Chinas internal affairs," a move that drew a dismissive reply from Cruz. The announcement came days after the United States issued sanctions against three Chinese officials for Beijing's human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in the Xinjiang region. These are egregious human rights atrocities that cannot be tolerated." On Thursday, the Trump administration banned three Chinese Communist Party senior officials and their family members from entering the U.S. "We must continue to hold Chinese government officials accountable for their egregious human rights atrocities against the Uighurs & other minorities," Cruz tweeted.
China vows retaliation against US sanctions over Xinjiang
BEIJING China said Friday it will retaliate against U.S. officials and institutions following Washingtons imposition of sanctions on three local officials of the ruling Communist Party over human rights abuses in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. In response to the wrong practice of the U.S., China decided to take reciprocal measures against the relevant U.S. institutions and individuals who performed badly on the Xinjiang-related issues, Zhao said. The U.S. administration's Thursday announcement comes a day after it slapped visa bans on Chinese officials deemed responsible for barring foreigners access to Tibet. China says vast, resource-rich Xinjiang has long been its territory and claims it is bringing stability and prosperity to the region. In October 2019, the United States imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials believed to be responsible for, or complicit in the detention of Muslims in Xinjiang.
US sanctions Chinese officials over repression of minorities
WASHINGTON The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party for alleged human rights abuses targeting ethnic and religious minorities China has detained in the western part of the country. Pompeo said additional visa restrictions are being placed on other Chinese Communist Party officials believed to be responsible for, or complicit in, the unjust detention or abuse of Uighurs, ethnic Kazakhs and members of other minority groups. In recent years, the Chinese government has detained an estimated 1 million or more ethnic Turkic minorities. China has long suspected the Uighurs, who are mostly Muslim, of harboring separatist tendencies because of their distinct culture, language and religion. China says Xinjiang has long been its territory and claims it is bringing prosperity and development to the vast, resource-rich region.
Pompeo: China uses disinformation to split Europe, US
Pompeo who earlier this week met with a senior Chinese official in Hawaii where he held closed-door talks as relations between the two nations have plummeted over numerous disputes, said Europe faces a China challenge as does the rest of the world. Washington and Beijing are at odds over trade, Chinas handling of the coronavirus pandemic, human rights, the status of Hong Kong and increasing Chinese assertiveness in the South China Sea. Donald Trump is right to raise that issue (with Beijing). And he said if you buy more goods that is the end of the trade issue. No, it is not the end of the trade issue.
Hong Kong's last British leader: China's agenda 'Orwellian'
BEIJING BEIJING (AP) The last British governor of Hong Kong criticized the Chinese government on Friday over proposed national security legislation, calling it part of an Orwellian" drive to eliminate opposition in violation of the agreement on handing the territory over to Beijing. Chris Patten defended Londons announcement that it would grant residency and a path to citizenship for nearly 3 million Hong Kong residents if Beijing goes through with passage of the legislation. An earlier push to pass security legislation was shelved after massive Hong Kong street protests against it in 2003. Patten said the security legislation is unnecessary because Hong Kong's legal code already includes provisions to combat terrorism, financial crimes and other threats to security. Beijing has ignored promises that Hong Kong could democratize of its own accord after the handover, Patten said.