china

In Geneva, where the U.S. delegation has arrived in advance of tomorrow’s multilateral negotiation with Iran’s nuclear program, senior U.S. diplomats set expectations for the talks in a background briefing for reporters. The key points: the disclosure of the hidden nuclear facility at Qom has “strengthened the sense of purpose and unity amongst the 5+1 [...]

Sarah Palin reared her head in Hong Kong to give the the first foreign-policy speech of the Palin 2012 campaign, and Rep. Howard Berman (D-Calif.), the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, has this to say about it:
“In remarks before business leaders in Hong Kong, former Governor Palin urged China to ‘rise responsibly.’ [...]

The former Speaker of the House caught a break between Fox News Sunday interviews to travel to China with his wife Callista. The ensuing photo essay is a must-read. Gingrich’s thoughts on the complexity of the Chinese economy are stirring:
In Beijing, it occurred to me that Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s famous saying, “I do not [...]

I don’t know what he’ll say, but Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg probably wouldn’t address an audience convened by the Obama administration’s shadow Pentagon if he wasn’t prepared to issue some set of policy principles for handling China. The Center for a New American Security announced that Steinberg will give the keynote speech at [...]

Foreign Policy replies to my skepticism at the idea of Russia and China backing an oil-embargo package on the Iranian regime with this recent piece by Brookings’ Erica Downs on China’s looming oil-sector investments in Iran. Downs gives some reason for thinking that the United States has leverage with the Chinese:
Beijing recognizes that a nuclear-armed [...]

It sounds pretty simple: if negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program stall/don’t restart/break down, put together a sanctions package on Iran’s oil imports. (Yes, Iran has the world’s second-or-third proven highest oil reserves, but it still imports gasoline.) But here’s the soft underbelly, reports David Sanger at The New York Times:
But enforcing what would [...]

It’s not just residents of Alexandria, Va., who are uncomfortable with the prospect of hosting Guantanamo Bay detainees in their backyards. Some residents of the Pacific nation of Palau, where 13 Chinese Uighurs detained at Gitmo are set to be relocated, are expressing indignation over what they consider their government’s failure to consider the opinions [...]

Here’s a glimpse of what it’s like inside a North Korean labor camp — of the sort that American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee will have to endure now that a kangaroo court has convicted them for spying. It’s from the most recent edition of the State Department’s annual global human rights report, and [...]

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D-Mass.) has been bouncing around China for the past week, and today he wrapped up his visit with some promising news about Beijing’s commitment to addressing climate change — a problem the United Nations will tackle in a much-anticipated December gathering in Copenhagen. From Kerry’s statement:
In my meetings [...]

You may have read something about President Obama appointing Utah governor. and GOP rising star Jon Huntsman to become ambassador to China. I’d be lying if I said I could add value to any understanding of the significance of that appointment, so here’s China-based James Fallows: