From the US to Africa: how China sees the world as Xi’s third term begins

Geopo­lit­i­cal rela­tions China’s pres­i­dent will have to nav­i­gate as coun­try reopens after three years of iso­la­tion As Xi Jin­ping starts his third term as China’s pres­i­dent, high on his agen­da will be strength­en­ing the country’s posi­tion on the world stage. After three years of iso­la­tion as Bei­jing tried to impose a harsh zero-Covid pol­i­cy, China…

Competing US views on origins of Covid reveal deeper splits over China policy

FBI chief’s endorse­ment of Covid lab leak the­o­ry high­lights the tus­sle between hawks and doves with­in the admin­is­tra­tion The FBI chief, Chris Wray, has endorsed the the­o­ry that the Covid pan­dem­ic was the result of a lab­o­ra­to­ry leak in Chi­na, fur­ther sharp­en­ing an increas­ing­ly com­bat­ive bilat­er­al rela­tion­ship. In mak­ing his inter­ven­tion, Wray, who was appointed…

Rishi Sunak plans US trip with Northern Ireland high on agenda

UK offi­cials in flur­ry of diplo­ma­cy seek­ing agree­ment with EU over pro­to­col, but play down talk that deal is close Rishi Sunak is con­sid­er­ing a trip to vis­it Joe Biden in the US as talks between the UK and EU over the North­ern Ire­land pro­to­col inten­si­fy. The prime minister’s offi­cials are draw­ing up plans for him…

How Gorbachev’s political legacy was destroyed by Putin

How Gorbachev’s polit­i­cal lega­cy was destroyed by Putin Era of detente and arms con­trol between Wash­ing­ton and Moscow has been replaced by a bloody war in Ukraine Live reac­tion: trib­utes from world lead­ers after Mikhail Gorbachev’s death Mikhail Gor­bachev lived long enough to see every­thing he had tried to achieve crum­ble or get blown up. The era…

The Guardian view on the US in Africa: a better tone, but what next? | Editorial

The Guardian view on the US in Africa: a bet­ter tone, but what next? Edi­to­r­i­al Though the sec­re­tary of state struck the right note on his three-nation tour, it will take more than rhetoric to strength­en part­ner­ships on the con­ti­nent The only way was up. When Don­ald Trump wasn’t den­i­grat­ing “shit­hole coun­tries”, his admin­is­tra­tion showed little…

Blinken makes case for democracy at start of sub-Saharan Africa tour

Blinken makes case for democ­ra­cy at start of sub-Saha­ran Africa tour Sec­re­tary of state tells reporters in South Africa that US ‘not try­ing to out­do any­one’ amid grow­ing influ­ence of Rus­sia and Chi­na  Antony Blinken, the US sec­re­tary of state, has appealed to “gov­ern­ments, com­mu­ni­ties and peo­ples” across Africa to embrace Washington’s vision of democ­ra­cy, openness…

China cannot stop other world leaders visiting Taiwan, says Nancy Pelosi

Chi­na can­not stop oth­er world lead­ers vis­it­ing Tai­wan, says Nan­cy Pelosi US House speak­er leaves island as Chi­na orders live-fire drills off coast 02:13 The US House speak­er, Nan­cy Pelosi, has said Bei­jing can­not pre­vent world lead­ers from trav­el­ling to Tai­wan, as she depart­ed from the island on Wednes­day to con­tin­ue her tour of Asia. In a…