China-US ties have sunk to their lowest point since the normalization of relations in 1979, with problems stemming from the trade and tech wars launched by the Trump administration in 2018, complemented by the Biden White House’s repeated violations of the One China policy on Taiwan.
Taiwan is a security "red line" for China which Washington must never cross, Foreign Minister Wang Yi has indicated.
“In response to recent erroneous words and deeds by the United States on the Taiwan issue and Washington’s attempt to draw a line in Sino-US relations, President Xi Jinping comprehensively and systematically expounded on the origin of the Taiwan issue and China’s principled position, clearly pointing out that Taiwan issue is at the center of China’s core interests, and the core of Sino-US relations,” Wang indicated in a Foreign Ministry statement Sunday, summarizing President Xi’s trips to the G20 and APEC summits this week.
Stressing that “‘Taiwan independence’ is incompatible with peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait,” and that “the Chinese people will never agree to anyone who wants to separate Taiwan from China,” Wang warned that the issue is the “political foundation and the main red line that no one can cross.”
The Chinese top diplomat urged Washington to do its part to stick to the "Four No’s and One Without" pledge given by former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian in 2000, which committed Taipei to maintain the status quo across the Taiwan Strait.
In his talks with President Joe Biden, Xi called on Washington to abandon its “zero-sum game” approach to China, “establish a tone of dialogue instead of confrontation,” and “adhere to mutual respect and peace,” according to Wang.
Xi was also said to have slapped down US criticism on issues including democracy and human rights, and to have informed his American interlocutors that “the United States has American-style democracy, and China has Chinese-style democracy,” and that both countries must recognize and respect one another’s “different systems and paths.”.......More Below
https://sputniknews.com/20221120/beijing-warns-us-of-red-line-in-relations-1104468267.html
China has suspended several 2025 export controls on strategic materials — including rare earths, superhard materials, and lithium batteries – for a year. Is this a concession to the US, or a move in a far more complex game?
"The first aim of China’s export controls was to consolidate its leverage in negotiations. The second was to establish a long-term framework for managing such controls," says Yana Leksyutina, deputy director at the Institute of China and Contemporary Asia, Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
Сhina could activate this mechanism at any moment, and now everyone knows it’s a lever it holds, she explains to Sputnik.
Balancing the Mineral Market
"The moratorium on export bans to the US essentially resets the rare earth market to where it was previously," Jeff J. Brown, author of 'The China Trilogy' and founder of Seek Truth From Facts Foundation, tells Sputnik.
In the meantime, there will be a global rush by the US and its NATO allies to acquire as many rare earth ...
The Israeli regime has reportedly signed contracts worth millions of dollars in recent months to sway American public opinion as part of attempts to launder the occupying entity’s genocidal war crimes against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported on Friday that the multimillion-dollar campaign aimed to reshape US public opinion, both online and offline, through coordinated influence operations combining digital marketing, AI, geotagging, and religious messaging.
The contracts, signed between the Israeli regime and firms linked to US President Donald Trump, reveal a “hasbara [propaganda] campaign” and schemes to target millions of US churchgoers, deploy bots, hire influencers, and try to make ChatGPT more pro-Israel.
The largest contract, worth $6 million, was signed with Clock Tower X, owned by Trump’s former digital campaign chief Brad Parscale, to produce and distribute roughly 100 core pieces of pro-Israel content per month and thousands......
