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Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) converses with Premier Li Qiang on the first day of a weeklong meeting of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, China's top political advisory body, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 4, 2024.

Kyodo via Reuters Connect

China’s Two Sessions: It’s a Xi show

On Monday, Beijing scrapped a closing press conference for its annual “Two Sessions” meeting of its rubber-stamp parliament, pausing a three-decade long annual tradition for China’s premier (the No. 2 guy). That means the foreign press will lose a rare chance to speak to Premier Li Qiang, one of China’s most powerful people.

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Chinese Premier Li Qiang speaks at his first press conference after his appointment to the post at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing last March.

Kyodo via Reuters

China’s charm offensive: Li Qiang works to woo back foreign investment

China suffered an outflow of foreign direct investment last year (in Q3) for the first time since records began in 1979. It was a sure sign that foreign, particularly American, firms have chosen to “friend-shore” their business, pulling money out of China.

Investors are spooked by Xi Jinping’s vague national security laws and America’s policy of encouraging a reduction of investment in China, particularly in sectors deemed strategically important like semiconductors.

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US CEOs too influential on China policy, says Rahm Emanuel
US CEOs too influential on China policy, says Rahm Emanuel | GZERO World

US CEOs too influential on China policy, says Rahm Emanuel

US CEOs are too cozy with Beijing, says US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel.

At the APEC summit last November in San Francisco, heads of state and diplomats from nations in the Asia-Pacific met to address a wide array of strategic interests and challenges. But no other meeting was as closely watched as that between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping. As successful as that meeting may have been on a PR level (at least according to the delegations of each leader), one man present took special note of what happened afterward. US Ambassador to Japan, Rahm Emanuel, told Ian Bremmer about that summit during an exclusive interview in the latest episode of GZERO World, filmed at the Ambassador's residence in Tokyo, Japan.

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Aerial photo shows a residential area of Evergrande in Nanjing, East China's Jiangsu Province.

Costfoto/NurPhoto

Evergrande’s last stand delayed

Embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande Group was meant to be in a Hong Kong court today, facing the once-unthinkable prospect of liquidation. The real estate colossus, which owns 1,300 projects in over 280 cities across China, has seen its shares plummet by 99% after the company defaulted on its $300 billion debt in 2021.

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President Joe Biden gives thumbs-up as he walks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation in California on Nov. 15, 2023.

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

Biden calls Xi a dictator

Joe Biden and Xi Jinping spent four hours together on Wednesday, coming to agreements on curbing fentanyl production and improving military communication. But Biden referred to the Chinese leader as a “dictator” in a press conference afterward, which suggests there are limits to the rapprochement.

The two men met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco, Calif., with both sides having signaled a desire for better cooperation beforehand. It was the first meeting between them in more than a year and came amid historically high tensions. Their long chat and new agreements suggested an easing of tensions, but Biden’s off-the-cuff remark has irked the Chinese.

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Eric Chu, Hou Yu-ih, Ma Ying-jeou and Ko Wen-je hold hands as they pose for a group photo in Taipei, Taiwan.

REUTERS/Ann Wang

Opposition unity in Taiwan lifts hopes in Beijing

On the sidelines at Wednesday’s APEC meeting in San Francisco, Presidents Joe Biden and Xi Jinping received news that might make US-Chinese relations a little less tense, as Taiwan’s upcoming presidential election campaign just got a lot more interesting.

For months, the current vice president, William Lai of the Democratic Progressive Party, has been favored to win on Jan. 13, in part because his two main challengers, Hou Yu-ih of the Kuomintang Party and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party, were expected to split the anti-Lai vote. But on Wednesday, the two opposition parties announced they would form a unity coalition behind a single candidate to defeat Lai and the DPP.

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Biden & Xi set to agree on regulating military use of AI
AI military regulation: Possible Biden-XI collaboration? | World In: 60 | GZERO Media

Biden & Xi set to agree on regulating military use of AI

Ian Bremmer shares his insights on global politics this week on World In :60.

Will Biden and Xi come together to regulate military use of AI?

I think that's one of the areas that we are going to see a level of cooperation. The Chinese are concerned about, first, the Americans being ahead of them in AI, but secondly, about the fact that this could escalate and spiral into mutually assured destruction quickly, if there isn't a level of transparency. That's very different from the unwillingness of the Chinese to engage in high level military talks, for example, on South China Sea or on Taiwan recently. This is an area that I think will be constructive. I'm glad to see it.

Can the Qatari mediation secure a breakthrough for hostage release in Gaza?

Well, we've been hearing about this for weeks now and it's been imminent and then not happening. Imminent, Not happening. I do think that the level of pressure on Israel, on the Israeli government for not having secured the release of women, of children, I mean, we're talking about a couple of hundred plus civilian hostages living in the most unimaginably horrible environment in Gaza. And I do believe that a breakthrough is pretty likely. We're also going to find out that a lot of these hostages, of course, are already dead. But I'm hopeful and let's keep fingers crossed on that.

Has time run out for Ukraine's counteroffensive?

The much-vaunted counteroffensive, yet it looks like they're not going to be able to take much more territory at this point. And it's hard to imagine they're going to have the military capacity or the troop capacity to do anything else in the foreseeable future. And that means that de facto, the 18% of Ukraine's territory that Russia presently occupies, they're going to continue to occupy going forward. No one's going to accept a partition. No one is going to say that Russia legitimately owns that territory because it is Ukrainian territory. But the reality is unacceptable. And that is where we're going to be an uncomfortable position going forward.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (left) and South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin hold a joint press conference after their talks in Seoul on Nov. 9, 2023.

Kyodo via Reuters

Blinken comes home, Biden gears up for Xi

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken wrapped up a tour of Asian nations last week, as the United States worked to shore up support for its positions on issues including Russia’s war in Ukraine, China’s increased belligerence toward Taiwan, and the Israel-Hamas war in the Middle East.

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