Administration
Dec 16 | Politico
The State Department-based unit is designed to eliminate silos among sometimes redundant government bodies, giving U.S. officials from within State and beyond a central clearinghouse to share information and shape policy on China. The new entity will employ roughly 60 to 70 personnel. More
Dec 13 | The New Yorker
Cornell professor Jessica Chen Weiss (who also serves as a National Committee director and Public Intellectuals Program fellow) is at the "front ranks of the growing number of China experts concerned that U.S. foreign policy suffers from an unhealthy focus on China as a threat." More
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U.S. Multilateralism
Dec 19 | Nikkei Asia
The U.S. will draw from the National Security Council and National Economic Council to make a team focused on aligning with allies such as Japan and the European Union in seeking ways to counter China's economic heft. The team will create a draft report within a year and update the strategy annually based on China's actions, with a final draft to be completed in three years. More
Dec 19 | Nikkei Asia
The U.S. pledge last week of $55 billion in development aid to Africa over the next three years surpasses similar pledges in recent years of $40 billion from China and $12.5 billion from Russia. It may take time for the U.S. -- known for attaching human rights conditions to its deals -- to catch up with China which has been paying close attention to the continent for years. More
Dec 19 | AP
With Ecuadorian President Guillermo Lasso by his side, President Biden said Monday the U.S. is looking to expand and strengthen the U.S. relationship with one of its staunchest allies in South America and a country that's getting plenty of attention from China. More
118th U.S. Congress
Dec 18 | NBC
Both Democrats and Republicans have grown more vigilant about China in recent years, but Republicans more often frame China's rise as a threat to U.S. economic and national security. Congressional Republicans have vowed to get tougher on China as they prepare to take control of the House. More
Dec 20 | Nikkei Asia
The Select Committee on China – an unusual instance of a select committee focusing on a single country – would likely deal with issues including Taiwan and China's handling of intellectual property, a longtime sore spot for Washington. It could herald a bipartisan tilt toward a harder line on China as both Republicans and Democrats court voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election. More
Taiwan
Dec 19 | Federal Times
The NDAA includes investments in Taiwan's armed forces, such as the provision of up to $2 billion a year in Foreign Military Financing for Taiwan over five years if Taiwan has increased its defense spending compared to the previous year. If maximized, this is effectively a 10 percent to 12 percent increase in Taiwan's defense spending and rewards Taiwan for getting its defense spending up to about 2.3 percent of its GDP. Rear Admiral Mark Montgomery (ret.) and Bradley Bowman. More
Military & Maritime
Dec 13 | WSJ
The allegations were contained in an indictment, dated from 2017, that was unsealed on Friday by a federal court in Washington, D.C. Prosecutors allege that Daniel Edmund Duggan, a former commissioned officer in the U.S. Marines who was taken into custody in Australia in October, breached U.S. arms-control laws and was involved in a conspiracy. More
Dec 15 | PBS
Adm. John Aquilino, Commander of the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, discusses the rising challenges across the Pacific region including nuclear arms and increased cooperation between Russia and China. More
Tech & National Security
Dec 15 | WashPost
The 36 companies placed on the Entity List are effectively barred from receiving U.S. technology. All but one, which is a Chinese subsidiary located in Japan, are in China. And significantly, 21 of those newly listed firms are also being hit with a further control – known as the foreign direct product rule (FDPR) – that bars foreign companies from selling to the Chinese entities goods that are produced with American technology or equipment. More
Dec 14 | Politico
The Mountain Pass mine, which resumed operations in 2012 after years of dormancy, today supplies around 15 percent of the world's production of rare earths used to make the magnets in America's most advanced commercial and military technology. More
Geopolitics
Dec 16 | WSJ
Releasing its long-awaited military strategy for the next decade, Tokyo said Friday that by fiscal 2027, it would spend about 2% of its gross domestic product on defense, up from about 1% now. Based on current GDP, that would bring annual spending to the equivalent of around $80 billion, putting Japan third in the world behind the U.S. and China. More
Dec 16 | ChinaFile
For 13 years, China has been Southeast Asia's largest trading partner. How well is Beijing advancing its interests and what and where do its interests diverge most acutely from those of China's neighbors? Experts weigh in. More
Covid-19
Dec 20 | NYT
As Covid rips through parts of China, millions of Chinese are struggling to find treatment – from the most basic cold remedies to take at home to more powerful antivirals for patients in hospitals. The dearth of supplies highlights how swiftly – and haphazardly – China reversed course by abandoning its strict “zero Covid” policies about two weeks ago. More
Dec 15 | Science
Two House committee reports assess pandemic work of U.S. intelligence agencies
A House committee issued two reports assessing the performance of U.S. intelligence agencies early in the pandemic. The Democrat-led report says Trump administration didn't heed clear warnings of COVID-19's dangers, whereas Republican analysis suggests, without new evidence, that coronavirus was a Chinese bioweapon. More
Inside China
Dec 18 | Reuters
The index fell to 48.1 in December from 51.8 in November. China's GDP is expected to grow just 3% this year, its worst performance in nearly half a century. More
Dec 14 | WSJ
The Chinese Communist Party's zero-Covid policy isn't about controlling the virus. It's about controlling the Chinese people. Changes in the government's Covid policy won't eliminate the people's rage, writes Chinese human rights lawyer Chen Guangcheng. More
Business & Investment
Dec 16 | Real Money
The SEC's accounting arm, the Public Companies Accounting Oversight Board, has issued a statement that it's happy with the access it secured for its inspectors to examine the audits of U.S.-listed Chinese companies. More than 30 inspectors arrived in Hong Kong in September and spent nine weeks reviewing the books of those companies on-site. More
Dec 14 | SCMP
After completing a 45-day review, the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) concluded that Fufeng USA's purchase of 150 hectares (370 acres) of land in the city of Grand Forks from a private citizen is “not covered” under its jurisdiction. More
Trade & Commerce
Dec 16 | WSJ
The Generalized System of Preferences, or GSP, lapsed on Dec. 31, 2020, Congress should pass a bill to refund duties on qualifying U.S. imports from GSP countries with a promise to pass a longer GSP renewal bill early next year. Companies are looking to Congress for a signal. So far Congress is telling them to go to China. Dan Anthony and Steve Lamar. More
Dec 16 | Reuters
USTR said the extension "will help align further consideration of these exclusions with the ongoing comprehensive four-year review" of the Section 301 tariffs imposed by former U.S. President Donald Trump on some $370 billion worth of Chinese imports. More
Climate & Environment
Dec 20 | AP
The global framework comes on the day the United Nations Biodiversity Conference is set to end in Montreal. China, which holds the presidency at this conference, released a new draft on Sunday that gave the sometimes contentious talks much-needed momentum. More
Science
Dec 17 | Forbes
U.S. and China health experts speaking at an online conference this month suggested that the two countries might be making progress toward an agreement to collaborate in the fight against cancer through multi-regional participation in clinical trials. More
Digital Currency
Dec 19 | Bloomberg
To fully grasp the upcoming challenge, Washington may have to look at how the digital yuan performs backstage, where financial claims arising from trade have to be settled. That's where real competition to the dollar may crop up. Andy Mukherjee. More
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