We have selected seven of the biggest and most important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.
1. Clash or coexist? Defusing US-China tensions is uncertain, even unlikely: analysts
Beijing promises not to take Taiwan by force. Washington vows not to work towards overthrowing the Chinese Communist Party. These are among the difficult, perhaps politically impossible, steps that would be needed to avoid a US-China war and approximate some version of coexistence, according to former CIA, Pentagon and other strategic experts. And many are convinced that conflict is more likely than not.
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2. China faces no-win scenario whoever tops US presidential debates: analysts
Despite a subdued performance by the incumbent, the debate between US President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump did not tilt the race definitively towards the challenger, according to diplomacy experts in China who watched the event. Regardless of which candidate wins in the November election, the result would be the same “harmful competition” with China seen as a strategic rival, despite their different tactics, they said.
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3. US lawmakers meeting Modi after Dalai Lama signals India shift on China: analysts
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi hosted American lawmakers, including former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, in New Delhi on June 21, shortly after they had an audience with the Dalai Lama, a meeting that defied stern warnings from Beijing. “India has once again indicated that it is willing to gradually ramp up pressure on issues like Tibet and Taiwan,” said Harsh Pant, an international relations professor at King’s College London.
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4. China park stabbing: US envoy ‘angered’ by attack on American instructors
Washington’s envoy to Beijing said in early June that he was “angered and deeply troubled” by a knife attack on four instructors from an Iowa college, an incident that China’s foreign ministry has said is under investigation. The ministry had confirmed earlier that the instructors from Cornell College had been attacked in a park in the northeastern province of Jilin on Monday, calling it an isolated incident.
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5. Pentagon not denying secret campaign to discredit Chinese vaccines
The US Defence Department did not deny a report published in June accusing the Pentagon of orchestrating a campaign meant to discredit Chinese Covid-19 vaccines, and suggested that the move was an attempt to counter “malign influence campaigns” run by Beijing. The report said the campaign began in the spring of 2020 and expanded beyond Southeast Asia before it was terminated in mid-2021.
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6. US House raises alarm over China’s multi-trillion-dollar ‘time bomb’
Ratings agencies S&P Global and Moody’s drew fire at a US congressional hearing on Wednesday for failing to reflect the risk of a multi-trillion-dollar “time bomb” that China’s local government financing vehicles pose for global financial markets.
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7. 2 giant pandas set off from China to the US – for first time in over 20 years
For the first time in more than 20 years, giant pandas are travelling from China to the United States. The five-year-old male Yun Chuan and nearly four-year-old female Xin Bao are expected to arrive at the San Diego Zoo in California later this week after setting off from China on Wednesday. The pair will travel more than 11,000km (7000 miles), accompanied by caretakers who will help them adjust to their new environment.
Read the full story here.
Also from the Post’s foreign correspondents
EU officials headed to China for human-rights dialogue as rare Tibet field visit planned (read here)
Joe Biden must publicise Russian nuclear threat to avoid ‘day zero’: US lawmaker (read here)
Inside the EU’s blockbuster Chinese EV probe: ‘the whole supply chain is subsidised’ (read here)
China and Argentina in early talks over Javier Milei’s possible visit to Beijing: sources (read here)
