But as Jack Detsch and Zinya Salfiti of Foreign Policy note, U.S. troops have been present for decades, preparing the Taiwanese military to help fight off, or at least delay, a Chinese invasion through a “porcupine” strategy. China’s demographic and economic woes may catch up with it in the future—and the Chinese Communist Party knows it has only a short time to make the greatest use of its power, argue experts Andrew S. Erickson and Gabriel B. Collins. Though Washington is more determined than ever to step up to Beijing, some long-term U.S. allies aren’t so certain. In Europe, the prospect of losing access to Chinese markets and becoming entangled in diplomatic conflicts doesn’t appeal to many leaders, especially the Germans.
Vietnam War
As Hong Kong’s special autonomy is slowly being worn away by Beijing, nearby Taiwan watches warily as Chinese planes in recent months have carried out hundreds of sorties into its defense identification zone. On Trump’s last day in office, Pompeo declares that China is committing crimes against humanity and genocide against Uyghurs, a Muslim ethnic group primarily from China’s Xinjiang region. The United States is the first country to apply those terms to abuses the Chinese government has committed over the past few years. The Joe Biden administration affirms Pompeo’s declaration; by the end of the year, it bans all imports from Xinjiang. In September 2008, China surpasses Japan to become the largest holder of U.S. debt—or treasuries—at around $600 billion.
Think Global Health
The agreement has led to cautious optimism among investors, with shares of major Chinese tech stocks rising 6 percent after the announcement. However, analysts have expressed skepticism over the viability of the agreement, as the two sides appear to have different understandings of the scope of the agreement. It is therefore likely that more companies will be required to delist before a workable solution is found. The export controls will affect both US companies and companies from a third-party country that sells US-made items to China.
China Is Radically Expanding Its Nuclear Missile Silos
Both sides agreed to maintain open lines of communication in a range of fields, including counter-narcotics, foreign policy, Asia-Pacific affairs, maritime affairs, artificial intelligence, and military-to-military dialogue. The two sides discussed a range of global geopolitical issues, including the Russia-Ukraine war, the Korean peninsula, and the Middle East. Blinken reportedly also “ emphasized the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea”. Meanwhile, Wang called on the US to “abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués” (referring to three joint statements made between the US and China between 1972 and 1982 in which the US acknowledged China’s stance on Taiwan and the “One China” policy). The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) under the US Department of Commerce has issued a new rule adding 37 entities to its so-called “Entity List”, which subjects companies to export controls and additional licensing requirements. Of the 37 entities, 28 were Chinese, and were added “for acquiring and attempting to acquire US-origin items in support of the PRC’s military modernization efforts, and for supplying or attempting to supply a sanctioned entity in Iran”.
A Dangerous Decade of Chinese Power is Here
There is also growing military cooperation, «with Russia and China conducting joint exercises off the coast of Alaska,» Hicks said as the department released its 2024 Arctic strategy. «We’ve seen growing cooperation between the PRC and Russia in the Arctic commercially, with the PRC being a major funder of Russian energy exploitation in the Arctic,» Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks told journalists Monday, using an abbreviation for the People’s Republic of China. Consistent with the Secretariat’s report, many Members also raised concerns about China’s inadequate adherence to its transparency obligations.
George H. W. Bush administration (1989–
Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe calls China “the greatest threat to America today,” while the Commerce Department adds dozens of Chinese companies, including the country’s biggest chipmaker, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), to its trade blacklist. The State Department tightens visa rules for the around ninety million members of the Chinese Communist Party. It also sanctions more Chinese officials, including fourteen members of China’s legislative body, over abuses in Hong Kong, Xinjiang, and elsewhere. Additionally, the White House bans U.S. investments in Chinese companies it says have ties to the People’s Liberation Army.
And under Lai’s presidency, there will likely be a continuation of Tsai’s policies, including further increases to the defense budget and the development of the domestic defense industry, writes CFR’s Sacks. China enforced punitive tariffs on 128 categories of American goods on 1 April 2018 in retaliation for the Trump administration’s national-security levies on steel and aluminum imports the previous month. The Chinese Government’s response is measured, affecting $3 billion in annual trade or about 2% of US goods exports to China. By late September 2018, the Trump administration had placed tariffs (25% tax increase) on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, in an attempt to offset the trade imbalance between the two major economic world powers. The PRC, itself troubled by Muslim separatists in Xinjiang, offered strong public support for the War on Terror in APEC China 2001. The PRC voted in favor of UNSCR 1373, publicly supported the coalition campaign in Afghanistan,[112] and contributed $150 million of bilateral assistance to Afghan reconstruction following the defeat of the Taliban.
Relations between the United States and China are beset by a minefield of disputes across a wide range of issue areas, including not just security, but also trade and technology. While it is not clear whether all these issues were discussed, we do know that among those covered were human rights, Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the South China Sea, as well as Taiwan. Some Western companies like Nike, Adidas, and H&M, under pressure at home, have announced they will not use Xinjiang cotton due to human rights concerns.
- These meetings resulted in the establishment of the Economic and Financial Working Groups in September, which convened “for the first time in recent weeks and had their second meetings yesterday” (November 9), according to Yellen.
- Further exchanges of cabinet-level officials occurred between 1985 and 1989, capped by President Bush’s visit to Beijing in February 1989.
- President Trump and members of his administration believe that China is “ripping off” the United States, taking advantage of free trade rules to the detriment of U.S. firms operating in China.
Since 1949, the countries have experienced periods of both tension and cooperation over issues including trade, climate change, and Taiwan. Also, Taiwan has received bipartisan support in Congress over the years, with lawmakers proposing and passing legislation to boost U.S.-Taiwan relations, bolster the island’s defenses, and encourage its participation in international organizations. In August 2022, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) visited Taipei—the first speaker to do so since Newt Gingrich (R-GA) in 1997—and met with Tsai. Beijing strongly condemned the visit and in response planned military exercises that effectively surrounded the island and banned imports of some fruit and fish from Taiwan, among other actions.
In Taiwan, which has its own democratically elected government and is home to twenty-three million people, political leaders have differing views on the island’s status and relations with the mainland. In late May 2022, the State Department restored a line on its fact sheet on US-Taiwan relations which it removed earlier in the month and stated it did not support what is global depository receipt Taiwanese independence. Tensions over Taiwan have also come to the fore, with China’s language and actions increasingly aggressive and the United States signaling a willingness to defend the island. A week ahead of the NATO summit in Washington, leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) gathered in Astana, Kazakhstan for the group’s annual meeting.
It is also the latest in a series of high-profile visits by US officials to China in efforts to improve bilateral relations following the meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in late 2022. According to the readout of the meeting from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM), Minister Wang expressed “serious concerns about US Section 301 tariffs on China, semiconductor policies, two-way investment restrictions, discriminatory subsidies, and sanctions on Chinese companies”. Meanwhile, in the readout from the US Department of Commerce (DOC), Secretary Raimondo “underscored the importance of leveling the playing field for US workers and businesses and ensuring the fair and transparent treatment of US companies in China. The US Department of the Treasury has announced a visit by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng for two days of bilateral meetings on November 9 and 10 in San Francisco, California. The meetings will take place just a few days ahead of the expected meeting between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden at the APEC Summit, which will also be held in San Francisco. The meetings are “designed to further stabilize the bilateral economic relationship and make progress on key economic issues”.
Both sides called for increasing cooperation and working together on major issues “such as climate change, global macroeconomic stability including debt relief, health security, and global food security”, according to the official meeting readout published on the White House website. The US Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) has added 37 new entities to the “Entity List” for export restrictions, of which 28 are Chinese. According to https://www.1investing.in/ the BIS’ press release, the companies were added to the Entity List because they are “contributing to Russia’s military and/or defense industrial base, supporting PRC military modernization, and facilitating or engaging in human rights abuses in Burma and in the People’s Republic of China”. The readouts from the White House and the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) repeated familiar talking points from recent meetings between US and Chinese officials.