U S.-China Relations in 2024: Managing Competition without Conflict

The export controls will affect both US companies axes broker and companies from a third-party country that sells US-made items to China. Moreover, it also “restricts the ability of U.S. persons to support the development, or production, of ICs integrated circuits at certain PRC-located semiconductor fabrication “facilities” without a license”. Nonetheless, US media have reported that Blinken would postpone the trip as he “did not want the balloon to dominate his meetings with Chinese officials”. The 2023 White Paper published by the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China), which surveyed 109 member companies on their sentiments toward a range of issues impacting the business environment in China, showed that US firms are increasingly optimistic about China’s economic outlook.

This will be the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since they spoke on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Bali, almost exactly one year ago. A spokesperson for the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) has confirmed in a brief statement that President Xi Jinping will attend the APEC Summit in San Francisco from November 14 to 17, during which he will hold a meeting with President Joe Biden. He will also attend the 30th APEC Economic Leaders’ Informal Dialogue, which will take place on November 16.

The Chinese government expels at least thirteen journalists from three U.S. newspapers—the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post—whose press credentials are set to expire in 2020. Beijing also demands that those outlets, as well as TIME and Voice of America, share information with the government about their operations in China. The Chinese Foreign Ministry says the moves are in response to the U.S. government’s decision earlier in the year to limit the number of Chinese journalists from five state-run media outlets in the United States to 100, down from 160, and designate those outlets as foreign missions. In November 2021, Washington and Beijing agree to ease restrictions on journalists working in each other’s countries.

‘Phase One’ Trade Deal Signed

In this edition of Wilson Center NOW, we are joined by Robert Daly, Director of the Wilson Center’s Kissinger Institute on China and the United States. He highlights his recent trip to China and discusses how Beijing is preparing for the second Trump administration by deepening ties with allies and Global South nations, boosting its internal tech sector, and bracing the economy for increased tariffs. The United States orders China to close its consulate in Houston, Texas, alleging that it was a hub of espionage and intellectual property theft. In the same week, Washington indicts two Chinese hackers for allegedly stealing coronavirus vaccine research and sanctions eleven Chinese companies for their reported role in human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Collaboration on Climate Change Amid Tensions

The Bush administration imposed some tariffs on a range of Chinese goods that were subsidized or “dumped” (i.e., sold at an abnormally low price). President Biden told reporters on Wednesday, July 20 that he intends to meet with President Xi “within the next 10 days”, as China-US relations grow increasingly tense. On the same day, Chinese Ambassador to the US Qin Gang, speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, criticized the US’ increasingly close ties with Taiwan, stating that “The United States is … blurring out the “One China’ policy”. Officials from the Biden administration have repeatedly said that the US’ stance on the One China policy has not changed. The US Department of Commerce has implemented sweeping new export controls that will require companies to receive a license to export US-made advanced computing and semiconductor products to China.

Diplomacy post-Biden-Xi summit is a test of intentions.

China’s leaders may regularly issue paeans to peace, bonhomie, and “a community of common destiny,” but these combative, strident figures have become China’s face to the world. The pattern of behavior is now widely known as Wolf Warrior diplomacy, in reference to the top-grossing Chinese film Wolf Warrior 2, an action-heavy nationalistic confection. This approach long predates 2020, but it has become the dominant note of China’s diplomatic interactions over the past year.

1. China Telecom America is a subsidiary of China Telecom, the largest Chinese state-owned telecommunications company.
2. This, for instance, is how Xi Jinping interpreted the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2019, which China’s media frequently attributed to foreign subversion.
3. But the agreement maintains most tariffs and does not mention the Chinese government’s extensive subsidies, a longtime concern of the United States, though Trump says these could be tackled in a future deal.
4. The White House readout states that the two leaders have agreed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit China, which has been tentatively planned for early next year.
5. However, Chinese regulators have since indicated they will work with US regulators to resolve the issues surrounding the audit of US-listed Chinese companies.

For months, the U.S. business community and those working in foreign policy have been awaiting the Joe Biden administration’s review of U.S. trade policy vis-à-vis China. On Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai outlined the results of the administration’s audit in a highly anticipated speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It will be equally important for the Biden administration to expand and deepen consultations and coordination with allies in Europe and Asia on China policy. The new normal of what could be called “competition without conflict” does not presage a return to the era of engagement, but the United States and China deserve credit for reducing the chances of the worst negative tail risks, including outright decoupling and military conflict. That said, the short-term incentives and long-term structural features of relations guarantee absolutely nothing.

This sentiment has remained prominent since the release of the March survey, in which respondents “cited ‘rising tensions in US-China relations’ as their top challenge”. Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing on Tuesday during his first what is amarkets trip to China since 2020. According to a brief readout of the meeting published on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) website, the meeting revolved around discussions of China-US “decoupling” and China’s market opening, as well as the potential of China’s electric vehicle (EV) market.

In dealing with China, Biden signaled he was in no rush to depart from the Trump administration’s policies. The same day, Biden’s aides, including the nominee for Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, and the nominee for Treasury Secretary, Janet Yellen, indicated that the president planned to take a multilateral approach by enlisting the support of Western allies to maximize Washington’s leverage on Beijing. The mutual detentions and release have dominated international headlines with the underpinnings of hostage diplomacy. It remains to be seen how the sudden turn of events will affect US-China and China-Canada relations.

It also stated that the meetings with Yellen were “frank, pragmatic, in-depth and constructive”. The climate talks also come after a series of extreme weather events in both countries in 2023, adding to How to buy bots the urgency for bilateral cooperation and consensus on climate change. On Sunday, China set a new heat record of 52.2C in Xinjiang Province and has experienced a series of severe heat waves and flooding in recent weeks and months. The US has seen similarly extreme weather events this year, including flooding, heat waves, and the adverse impact of wildfires in neighboring Canada.

China’s First Atomic Test

President Biden did not shrink from his administration’s backing of the Taiwanese government, according to the White House summary. Mr Xi stressed that Washington’s support of Taiwan and pursuit of sanctions against China was “not ‘risk reduction’ but risk creation”, the summary says. “I look forward to responsibly managing our relationship in the weeks and months ahead,” Mr Biden wrote on X, formerly Twitter, after acknowledging points of tensions. “If the United States insists on suppressing China’s high-tech development and depriving China of its legitimate right to development, we will not sit idly by,” the Chinese leader said, according to a state media summary.