New York Times: Despite the rivalry between the United States and China, President Trump has repeatedly found ways to give President Xi Jinping of China a pass, portraying him more as a personal friend than a competitor…
Has Donald Trump caged his China hawks?
Evan Medeiros, a Georgetown University professor, said Beijing had started building a “new toolkit of precision economic weapons” in 2018 after Trump launched his first trade war against China. With the rare earths controls, China was now deploying those weapons with “scale and at speed”.
“China didn’t have a pair of twos, it had a royal flush,” Medeiros said. “Those vulnerabilities persist today and make it harder for the Trump administration to take hawkish security measures against Beijing.”…
Iran Has a Secret Weapon in Its War With America: Help From China
China has become the only major buyer of Iranian oil, despite U.S. sanctions meant to stop the flows, providing billions of dollars for Tehran this year. Chinese front companies help launder the funds, while Chinese banks route the transactions through the country’s financial plumbing, using China’s currency, to evade U.S. oversight, U.S. officials and people familiar with the flows say.
On the battlefield, satellite imagery procured from Chinese entities has been linked by U.S. officials to an Iranian strike that killed three American troops, the Journal has reported. Chinese companies have also helped provide chemical precursors used to manufacture the types of ballistic missiles used in the attack, according to a document viewed by the Journal and people familiar with the matter…
As Trump Welcomes Xi, More Americans Have a Positive View of China
Experts attribute the changing mood to fading memories of the coronavirus pandemic, awareness of China’s tech innovations and disaffection with President Trump’s trade wars…
Trump gives Xi Jinping rare airport welcome as summit visit begins