On May 14, US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping held a bilateral summit at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. It was Trump’s first visit to China since 2017. It was also the first time since 2001 that a US president visited China without stopping at the capital of at least one US ally in the region, whether Japan, South Korea or Australia. Both sides agreed on the importance of keeping the Strait of Hormuz open, and Beijing reaffirmed its hawkish stance toward Taiwan. By comparison, neither Trump nor Xi have made public mention of…
Author: Frank M. Everett
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon and Chinese President Xi Jinping sign the China-Tajikistan Treaty of Permanent Good-neighborliness, Friendship and Cooperation at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 12, the political culmination of Rahmon’s four-day state visit. The two leaders also signed a joint statement on deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership in the new era and witnessed the signing of about 31 intergovernmental cooperation documents covering trade, investment, artificial intelligence, green mining, agriculture, culture, education, housing, inspection and quarantine, as well as market surveillance. The partnership had been elevated to the status of “comprehensive strategic cooperation” during…
India’s initial optimism about relations with Nepal is fading fast. After the Gen Z uprising in Nepal last year, New Delhi strongly supported the caretaker government of Sushila Karki and its unique agenda of holding timely elections. The Karki government has kept this promise. In the March 5 legislative elections, the Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) obtained almost two-thirds of the majority. Its future candidate for prime minister, Balendra Shah, took the reins of government on March 26. India, which was understood to have agreed before the poll with the RSP that its vital interests would be protected if the party…
US President Donald Trump made his long-awaited trip to China this week, arriving in the country on May 13 and holding a bilateral meeting and state banquet with China’s Xi Jinping on May 14. He will have tea and lunch with Xi on May 15 before leaving for Washington. Trump’s visit was the first by a US president to China since 2017 – during Trump’s first term. From Beijing, Trump and Xi have promised a new era for bilateral relations. Xi even presented an entirely new formula: “building a constructive Sino-American relationship of strategic stability”. According to the reading from…
Jho Low, a fugitive Malaysian financier wanted for one of the biggest financial scandals of the 21st century, has reportedly requested clemency from US President Donald Trump. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported Tuesday that the pardon request “was filed in recent weeks,” citing a number of people familiar with the matter. A Justice Department website lists a pending application for “post-sentence pardon” under the name of Taek Jho Low that was filed this year, the WSJ added. If granted, the pardon would eliminate US criminal charges against Low, accused of orchestrating the drain of 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a…
Republicans have a strange daddy fetish with Donald Trump. It’s even stranger when you consider that the man they consider their parental figure is an old man who constantly falls asleep during meetings And looks like he was hit by a truck while arriving for a summit in China.Vice President JD Vance’s entire political future is tied to Trump. Vance must remain in Trump’s good graces because there has been no talk of a Republican primary schedule. Trump himself floated the idea that the Republican Party would not hold a presidential primary in 2028 and that the president would instead…
Mutual interests often bring culturally distinct states together, and the China-Pakistan friendship is a major testament to this, as it is strongly defined by a common strategic goal of managing India’s influence in South Asia. This relationship, often described as that between “iron brothers» has largely revolved around military and economic cooperation, notably through defense agreements and the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). Yet for all its famous depth, this relationship has hardly developed a cultural life of its own. The release of the Pakistani film “The Legend of Maula Jatt” on May 21 in China therefore constitutes a major step…
Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet China’s top leader Xi Jinping in Beijing shortly after the May 14-15 China-US summit. Do these consecutive visits indicate a new phase of triangular diplomacy? Contrary to Sino-American summits of the Nixon eraAs U.S. and Chinese leaders sought to use their rapprochement to further isolate the Soviet Union, the upcoming meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Xi is unlikely to pressure Russia over Iran or Ukraine. Trump is no stranger to triangular diplomacy. In April 2017, while hosting Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago, Trump revealed that the United States had just bombed…
Since 2023, Australia has committed to updating its defense strategy documents every two years to assess changes in the strategic environment and adjust its strategic thinking accordingly. On April 16, 2026, Australia released the National Defense Strategy (NDS) for 2026 and the Integrated Investment Program (IIP) for 2026. In this year’s defense strategy, Australia placed particular emphasis on the threat posed by China. Australia’s NDS explicitly identifies China’s national power and military capabilities as the main factors shaping the Indo-Pacific region. It also highlights the risks posed by the activities of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese Coast…
With the economy teetering on the brink of a presidential-induced collapse, Donald Trump arrived in China in a weakened position, seeking Chinese investment in the United States that he could sell as a victory to his dwindling political support base. PoliticusUSA provides 100% independent news and opinions. Support us by becoming a subscriber.The problem is that the nearly 80-year-old president barely made it down the steps of Air Force One.Video:Look at the disheveled president barely making his way down the steps, as if he has projected all his personal damage onto the United States and turned the country into a…