U.S. President Donald Trump with China’s President Xi Jinping. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

China came out in support of U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to strike a deal with Russia to end the war in Ukraine, at a G20 meeting in South Africa on Thursday (February 20, 2025), while U.S. allies rallied around Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Less than a month into his Presidency, Mr. Trump has upended U.S. policy on the war, scrapping a campaign to isolate Moscow with a phone call to Russian President Vladimir Putin and talks between senior U.S. and Russian officials that have sidelined Ukraine.

Mr. Trump on Wednesday then denounced Zelenskyy as a “dictator,” prompting statements of support for the Ukrainian President from G20 members such as Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom.

“China supports all efforts conducive to peace (in Ukraine), including the recent consensus reached between the United States and Russia,” Wang Yi told other G20 Foreign Ministers gathered in Johannesburg, according to a statement from his Ministry.

“China is willing to continue playing a constructive role in the political resolution of the crisis,” he added.

Mr. Wang did not reiterate the point he made at the Munich Security Conference last Friday that all stakeholders in the Russia-Ukraine conflict should participate in any peace talks.

Beijing wants to ensure its involvement in whatever deal Trump seeks to strike with the Kremlin to prevent a currently diplomatically-isolated Russia from slipping out from under its influence, and because its ties to Russia offer China an “in” with European officials worried about being frozen out of any talks, analysts say.

“By going straight to Putin, President Trump has erased what Beijing had hoped could be a key piece of initial leverage,” said Ruby Osman, a China expert at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change.

“Instead, China might turn its attention to discussing a Chinese role in eventual reconstruction and peacekeeping – something that would give Beijing a significantly more vested interest in European security architecture,” she added.

The Trump administration said on Tuesday it had agreed to hold more talks with Russia on ending the nearly three-year-long conflict after a 4-1/2-hour long meeting in Saudi Arabia.

Russia said the talks had been useful, but hardened its demands, notably insisting it would not tolerate the NATO alliance granting membership to Ukraine.

Beijing:

China said Sunday it “firmly opposed” US President Joe Biden’s approval of $571.3 million in defence assistance for Taiwan.

The White House said Friday that Biden had authorised the drawdown “of up to $571.3 million in defence articles and services of the Department of Defense, and military education and training, to provide assistance to Taiwan”.

The White House statement did not provide details of the military assistance package, which comes less than three months after one worth $567 million was authorised.

“This move gravely infringes on China’s sovereignty and security interests,” Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement, adding it “firmly opposes this action”.

China “has lodged stern representations with the US at the earliest opportunity”, it said.

The country’s Taiwan Affairs Office said such actions by the US “contradict its leaders’ serious commitments” to not supporting “Taiwan independence”.

“We demand that the US immediately cease arming Taiwan and handle the Taiwan issue with the utmost caution,” said spokeswoman Zhu Fenglian, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The United States does not officially recognise Taiwan diplomatically, but it is the self-ruled island’s strategic ally and largest supplier of weapons.

China, which has ramped up political and military pressure on Taiwan in recent years, has repeatedly called for Washington to cease sending arms and assistance to the island, which it claims as part of its territory.

Taiwan received 38 advanced Abrams battle tanks from the United States this week — reportedly its first new tanks in 30 years.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping made a landmark agreement on Saturday, emphasising the importance of human decision-making over artificial intelligence when it comes to nuclear weapons. 

“The two leaders affirmed the need to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons,” said a statement from the White House. “The two leaders also stressed the need to consider carefully the potential risks and develop AI technology in the military field in a prudent and responsible manner.”

This breakthrough marks a significant step forward in discussions between the two nations on nuclear arms and artificial intelligence, areas where progress has been challenging.

The US has been pushing China to engage in nuclear arms talks for months, but negotiations stalled after briefly resuming in November, with the US expressing frustration regarding China’s responsiveness.

The US Defense Department estimates that China currently possesses around 500 operational nuclear warheads, with projections suggesting this number will exceed 1,000 by 2030. 

This rapid buildup has raised concerns, particularly given China’s modernised nuclear program, which includes advanced ballistic missile submarines, hypersonic glide vehicles, and regular nuclear-armed sea patrols.

China’s nuclear arsenal is dwarfed by those of Russia (1,710 operational warheads) and the US (1,770 operational warheads), but its advancements have sparked worries about a potential arms race. Despite this, China maintains a policy of no first use and advocates for minimal nuclear deterrence.

The Biden administration updated its classified nuclear guidance earlier this year, citing concerns about nuclear arsenals in China, North Korea, and Russia. While this agreement is a positive step, it remains unclear whether it will lead to further talks or concrete actions.
 

China’s leader Xi Jinping met for the last time with US President Joe Biden on Saturday but was already looking ahead to President-elect Donald Trump and his “America first” policies, saying Beijing “is ready to work with a new US administration”.

During their talks on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, Xi cautioned that a stable China-US relationship was critical not only to the two nations but also the “future and destiny of humanity”.

“Make the wise choice,” he cautioned. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.”

Without mentioning Trump’s name, Xi appeared to signal his concern that the incoming president’s protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail could send the US-China relationship into another valley.

“China is ready to work with a new US administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-US relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said through an interpreter.

Xi, who is firmly entrenched atop China’s political hierarchy, spoke forcefully in his brief remarks before reporters. Biden, who is winding down more than 50 years of public service, talked in broader brushstrokes about where the relationship between the two countries has gone. He reflected not just on the past four years but the decades the two have known each other.

“We haven’t always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank. We’ve never kidded one another,” Biden said. “These conversations prevent miscalculations, and they ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict.”

Biden urged Xi to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. The leaders, with top aides surrounding them, gathered around a long rectangle of tables in an expansive conference room at Lima’s Defines Hotel and Conference Center.

China “hosted” the meeting this year, after Xi and Biden met a year ago on the APEC sidelines in northern California, a gathering hosted by the US. They had much to discuss, including China’s indirect support for Russia, human rights issues, technology and Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that Beijing claims as its own. On artificial intelligence, the two agreed on the need to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons.

There’s much uncertainty about what lies ahead in the US-China relationship under Trump, who campaigned promising to levy 60 per cent tariffs on Chinese imports.

Already, many American companies, including Nike and eyewear retailer Warby Parker, have been diversifying their sourcing away from China. Shoe brand Steve Madden says it plans to cut imports from China by as much as 45 per cent next year.

In a congratulatory message to Trump after his victory over Vice-President Kamala Harris, Xi called for the US and China to manage their differences and get along in a new era. In front of the cameras Saturday, Xi spoke to Biden — but it was unmistakable that his message was directed at Trump.

“In a major flourishing sci-tech revolution, neither decoupling nor supply chain disruption is a solution,” Xi said. “Only mutual, beneficial cooperation can lead to common development. Small yard, high fence is not what a major country should pursue.”

Biden administration officials would advise the Trump team that managing the intense competition with Beijing will likely be the most significant foreign policy challenge they will face, White House national security advisor Jake Sullivan said.

On Saturday, Sullivan said Biden had reinforced to Xi “that these next two months are a time of transition”, and the president would like to pass it off “in stable terms” to the new administration.

Biden has viewed his relationship with Xi as among the most consequential on the international stage and put much effort into cultivating it. The two first got to know each other on travels across the US and China when both were vice-presidents, interactions that both have said left a lasting impression.

But the last four years have presented a steady stream of difficult moments.

The FBI this week offered new details of a federal investigation into Chinese government efforts to hack into US telecommunications networks. The initial findings have revealed a “broad and significant” cyberespionage campaign aimed at stealing information from Americans who work in government and politics.

US intelligence officials also have assessed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine.

Biden is looking for Xi to step up Chinese engagement to prevent an already dangerous moment with North Korea from further escalating.

Biden, South Korean President Yoon Seok Yul and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s decision to send thousands of troops to help Moscow repel Ukrainian forces who have seized territory in Russia’s Kursk border region.

Biden called it “dangerous and destabilising cooperation”.

White House officials have expressed frustration with Beijing, which accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade, for not doing more to rein in Pyongyang.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

OpenAI is calling for the US and its allies to work together to support the infrastructure needed to develop artificial intelligence systems and compete with China.

The AI startup said Wednesday that the US and neighbouring countries should form a “North American Compact for AI” that can streamline access to talent, financing and supply chains for building out the technology. The company said this collaboration could later expand to include a “global network of US allies and partners,” including countries in the Middle East.

The proposal was included in a new policy blueprint from OpenAI unveiled at an event in Washington hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The document offers OpenAI’s most detailed public suggestions yet for how the US can maintain its lead in artificial intelligence and meet the technology’s significant energy demands.

OpenAI said the US should backstop costly energy infrastructure projects by committing to purchase power from them. The company recommended the US establish “AI Economic Zones” that speed up the permitting process and help bring nuclear reactors back online. It also proposed expanding nuclear energy capacity by tapping the US Navy, which has built compact reactors to power submarines.

“AI presents an unmissable opportunity to reindustrialize the US, and through that, generate the kind of broad-based economic growth that will revitalize the American Dream,” OpenAI said. “It also presents a national security imperative to protect our nation and our allies against a surging China by offering an AI shaped by democratic values, promoting individual choice and benefiting the most people possible.”

OpenAI’s leadership previously sought to raise billions in funding from investors in the Middle East and other markets to expand the supply of chips, energy and data centres needed to develop AI. Chief Executive Officer Sam Altman has also met with US officials to get them on board with the plan.

The latest proposal comes as the US government prepares for a change in administration. President-elect Donald Trump has acknowledged the need to expand US energy capacity to stay competitive in AI and suggested loosening permitting requirements as well as using fossil fuels and nuclear energy.

At the policy event on Wednesday, Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s vice president of global affairs, said the startup has spent “a lot of time” with both the Biden administration and Trump’s team discussing AI infrastructure needs.

“I’m an optimist,” Lehane said. “I think that this is going to be one of the subject areas in the next Congress and with the next administration that folks are going to want to work on because the stakes are just so big.”

Beijing:

After Donald Trump first entered the White House eight years ago, rattled Chinese leaders responded to his tariffs and fiery rhetoric with force, resulting in a trade war that plunged ties between the globe’s largest economies to multiyear lows.

This time around, Beijing has been preparing for Trump’s return by deepening ties with allies, boosting self-reliance in tech, and setting aside money to prop up the economy that is now more vulnerable to fresh tariffs already threatened by Trump.

While some retaliation to those moves might be unavoidable, China will focus on exploiting rifts between the US and its allies, experts say, and aim to lower the temperature to help strike an early deal to cushion the blow from trade friction.

Zhao Minghao, international relations expert at Shanghai’s Fudan University said China probably wouldn’t replay the playbook from the first Trump presidency when Beijing had a very strong reaction to Trump’s moves on tariffs.

He pointed out Chinese President Xi Jinping’s message to Trump from Thursday, in which Xi called for “cooperation” and not “confrontation,” emphasising “stable, sound and sustainable” relations between the two superpowers.

“Trump is not a stranger to Beijing at this time,” Zhao told Reuters. “Beijing would respond in a measured way and make efforts to communicate with the Trump team.”

While Chinese tech giants are now far less reliant on US imports, the economy – hit by a massive property crisis and saddled with unsustainable debt – is in a weaker position than in 2016, struggling to eke out 5% growth compared to 6.7% then.

To make things worse, Trump has pledged to end China’s most-favored-nation trading status and slap tariffs on Chinese imports in excess of 60% – much higher than those imposed during his first term.

Fudan’s Zhao said Beijing has this scenario gamed out but expects tariffs to come in below the level pledged on the campaign trail because “that would significantly push up the inflation in the US”.

Still, that threat alone has unnerved producers in the world’s largest exporter because China sells goods worth more than $400 billion a year to the US and hundreds of billions more in parts for products Americans buy elsewhere.

Li Mingjiang, a scholar at the Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said that as a result, the Chinese economy might require even more stimulus than the $1.4 trillion expected on Friday.

“It’ll be a very serious blow to China’s international trade that will affect jobs and government revenues,” said Li. “China will probably have to come up with a much bigger stimulus package domestically.”

CHARM OFFENSIVE

To boost global trade, China has been on a diplomatic blitz, shoring up alliances, mending fences with foes, and continuing difficult talks with the European Union, even after the bloc imposed stiff tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.

Last month China ended a four-year military stand-off with India on their disputed border; in August, it resolved a two-year spat with Japan over the discharge of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear plant; and Premier Li Qiang in June visited Australia – the first such trip in seven years.

Also last month, both Xi and Li attended separate summits of BRICS – which now accounts for 35% of the global economy – and the 10-state Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, as China deepens ties with the Global South.

“The first Trump administration did not show a lot of interest in robust engagement in Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia, which provided the Chinese a lot of latitude to operate in these markets largely uncontested,” said Eric Olander, editor-in-chief of the China-Global South Project.

In Europe, trade tensions with China could be counterbalanced by worries over Trump’s potentially reduced role in the Ukraine war and his economic policies, creating an opening for Beijing, say some experts.

“China will carry on reaching out to Europeans, the British, the Australians and even the Japanese, not only to try to drive a wedge between the US and the countries of the north,” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, an expert at Hong Kong’s Baptist University.

“But also as part of its mission to rebalance its foreign trade in favour of the Global South,” he said.

TECH PUNCHLINE

During the first trade war, Trump banned high-tech exports to China and sanctioned companies including China’s largest chipmaker SMIC, prompting its tech sector to become domestic-focused and self-sufficient.

Winston Ma, a former managing director for the China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund, said a major trigger for this shift was Trump’s ban on the sale of components to Chinese telecommunications firm ZTE in 2018.

That was “really scary from a China perspective, so they began to prepare. It was the start of that sort of defensive thinking,” added Ma.

Soon after, Xi urged the nation to boost self-reliance in science and tech, pushing China to build-up crucial industries including AI and space.

The result: Eight years ago, China had only four government procurement projects worth over $1.4 million, replacing foreign hardware and software with domestic alternatives. That number has exploded to 169 such projects this year, data show.

Despite these strides, chipmakers “definitely feel the tightening – these Chinese companies couldn’t supply to global clients and can’t have access to the latest chips,” said Ma.

Nazak Nikakhtar, a Commerce Department official under Trump who knows his advisers, said she expected Trump to be “much more aggressive about export control policies towards China.”

She anticipated “a significant expansion of the entity list,” that restricts exports to those on it to capture affiliates and business partners of listed companies.

Ma, the ex-CIC executive, said the restrictions will have an impact for some time as the US expands the sanctions regime to overseas suppliers.

“I think the punchline is that the coming years are the most critical for this US-China tech rivalry.”

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan is welcomed by Yang Tao, Director General of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of the Foreign Ministry, and U.S. Ambassador to China Nicholas Burns, upon arriving in Beijing on, August 27, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A top White House official has arrived in China for talks on a relationship that has been severely tested during President Joe Biden’s term in office.

Jake Sullivan, the national security adviser, has been Mr. Biden’s point person for often unannounced talks with the Communist Party’s top foreign policy official to try to manage the growing differences between Washington and Beijing.

On landing, Mr. Sullivan was greeted by Yang Tao, the Chinese foreign ministry’s chief for the North America and Oceanian department, and the U.S. ambassador to China, Nicholas Burns.

The goal of Mr. Sullivan’s visit, which lasts through Thursday, is limited — to try to maintain communication in a relationship that broke down for the better part of a year in 2022-23 and was only nursed back over several months.

No major announcements are expected, though Mr. Sullivan’s meetings could lay the groundwork for a possible final summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping before Biden steps down in January.

Mr. Sullivan will hold talks with Wang Yi, the foreign minister who also holds the more senior title of the director of the Communist Party’s Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office.

It’s unusual to hold both positions. Mr. Wang had initially stepped down as foreign minister, but he returned about seven months later, in July 2023, after his successor was removed for reasons that have not been made public.

The Biden administration has taken a tough line on China, viewing it as a strategic competitor, restricting the access of its companies to advanced technology and confronting the rising power as it seeks to exert influence over Taiwan and the South China Sea.

Already frosty relations went into a deep freeze after then-Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, a senior U.S. lawmaker, visited Taiwan in August 2022. Hopes of restoring ties were dashed the following February when a suspected Chinese spy balloon drifted across the United States before being shot down by the U.S. military.

At a meeting between Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Wang in Vienna in May 2023, the two countries launched a delicate process of putting relations back on track. Since than, they have met two more times in a third country, Malta and Thailand. This week will mark their first talks in Beijing.

China’s Foreign Ministry said this week that relations with the U.S. remain at “a critical juncture.” It noted that the two sides are talking on climate and other issues, but it accused the U.S. of continuing to constrain and suppress China.

New York:

A Chinese academic was convicted on Tuesday of illegally acting as a foreign agent in the United States by collecting information about New York-based activists supporting democracy in China and sharing his findings with Beijing.

A jury found Wang Shujun guilty on four counts including acting as a foreign agent without notifying the US attorney general and lying to US authorities, following a week-long trial in Brooklyn federal court.

Federal prosecutors said Wang, a naturalised US citizen, portrayed himself as a fierce opponent of the ruling Chinese Communist Party to gain the trust of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, advocates for Taiwanese independence and campaigners for Uyghur and Tibetan rights.

Prosecutors said Wang was actually spying on the activists and sharing his findings with four officials in China’s Ministry of State Security (MSS), an intelligence service.

“He was living a double life,” prosecutor Nina Gupta said in her closing argument on Monday. “That double life has now been revealed.”

Wang, who emigrated to the United States in 1994, was arrested in March 2022.

Defense lawyer Zachary Margulis-Ohnuma said Wang spoke to the intelligence officials about the pro-democracy movement to win their support and promote social change, and was not acting as their agent.

“Why would a guy who devoted his life to toppling the Chinese regime try to help the Chinese regime?” Margulis-Ohnuma said in his summation on Monday.

The US Department of Justice has in recent years cracked down on what it calls “transnational repression” by US adversaries such as China and Iran.

That term refers to the surveillance, intimidation and in some cases attempted repatriation or murder of activists against those governments.

Last year, a former New York City police sergeant was convicted of acting as a Chinese agent by intimidating a US-based fugitive to return to his homeland and face charges.

US prosecutors have also charged four Chinese intelligence officers who allegedly acted as Wang’s handlers. Those officers are at large and believed to be in China.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

Washington:

The United States unveiled sanctions Wednesday against a network of half a dozen people and five firms in China it accuses of supporting North Korea’s ballistic missile and space programs.

The network is alleged to have helped North Korea with procuring items for its ballistic missile programs, which the US Treasury Department said were being operated in “flagrant violation” of UN Security Council resolutions.

North Korea’s continued development of its ballistic missile technologies “is both irresponsible and destabilizing for both the region and the international community,” Treasury under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence Brian Nelson said in a statement.

“The United States remains committed to using our tools to enforce these international sanctions, including disrupting the illicit procurement networks that provide key inputs for these technologies,” he added.

The US Treasury said North Korea’s space and ballistic missile programs made use of an “extensive network” of overseas agents to procure the foreign-sourced materials needed, which included personnel at its diplomatic missions and trade offices, “as well as third-country nationals.”

It also makes use of foreign firms to purchase the items it needs, the Treasury added.

Among those sanctioned by the Treasury on Wednesday was Shi Qianpei, a Chinese national, whom the Treasury Department accused of working with a previously-designated individual based in Beijing to procure metal sheets used in the production of North Korean missiles.

Other individuals sanctioned include Chen Tianxin, Shi Qianpei’s business partner and wife, and two of his employees, all of whom helped with the procurement efforts, the Treasury said.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)