#france #germany #england #declaration

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Trump’s Visit to Beijing Apparently Turned Into One of His Biggest Political Setbacks


China and Russia condemned U.S. President Donald Trump's Golden Dome missile defence shield plans and Washington's "irresponsible" nuclear policy at a summit on Wednesday, a week after President ​Xi Jinping hosted Trump in Beijing.

A joint statement issued after Xi's summit with Putin served to underline that, while the Chinese leader seeks stable and constructive relations with ‌Trump, he differs fundamentally with him on key issues where China's position is closely aligned with Russia's.

The treaty lapsed in February and Trump did not respond to Moscow's proposal to extend its missile and warhead limits by a year - something that some U.S. politicians argued would have hindered the U.S. from responding to a nuclear build-up by China.

Yet while ​speaking in unison on global security issues, the two leaders failed to reach a breakthrough that Moscow has long been seeking, a contract for a new pipeline that would enable it to more than ​double the amount of natural gas it sells to China.

Xi was wrapping up a remarkable week of diplomacy in which he met the leaders of China's ⁠most powerful strategic rival and one of its closest partners.

With Trump seeking an exit from a war with Iran and Putin's forces largely bogged down in Ukraine, the summits provided China's leader with a chance to showcase Beijing ​as a pillar of global stability and an indispensable diplomatic player.

"Xi does appear to hold the stronger position relative to both Putin and Trump. Both leaders are grappling with conflicts of their own making that have proven far more ​difficult to resolve than initially anticipated,"

said Patricia Kim, a foreign policy fellow at the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

"Xi, meanwhile, has been able to focus more squarely on strengthening China internally while projecting an image of a stable and confident great power on the global stage."

While the summit with Trump was largely about managing tensions, the encounter with Putin posed a different challenge - how to demonstrate progress in a relationship that the two sides have already proclaimed is "without limits".

Xi and Putin, who have met more than 40 times, both ​stressed the closeness of the Russia-China ties that they sealed in 2022 with the signing of a strategic partnership treaty, less than three weeks before Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

During Putin's last visit in September 2025, Russian gas giant Gazprom said both sides had agreed to move forward with Power of Siberia 2, a prospective 2,600 km (1,616-mile) pipeline to carry 50 billion cubic metres (bcm) of gas per year from Russia to China via Mongolia.

Xi said on Wednesday that cooperation in energy and resource connectivity should be the "ballast stone" in China-Russia relations, mentioning the pipeline.

Key issues such as gas pricing remain unresolved, and analysts expect negotiations could take years.

The Kremlin said both sides had reached a "fundamental understanding on the parameters" of the project, although no details or clear timeline were agreed.

Xi welcomed Putin with ​an honour guard and a gun salute at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, as children waved Chinese and Russian flags.

They later dined on ​Peking duck and Jinhua cured ⁠ham at a banquet, and drank tea together with a small number of close aides, before Putin's plane departed.
Xi said the countries should focus on long-term strategy and promote a "more just and reasonable" global governance system, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua.
In their joint declaration, the two sides outlined ⁠plans for further ​cooperation across a vast range of areas, from artificial intelligence to protecting rare tigers, leopards and pandas.

They accused the United States and Israel ​of violating international law by attacking Iran, and expressed their "resolute opposition to hegemonism and unilateralism".
#trump #putin #xijinping #beijing #declaration

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Hegseth’s “Rightful Alarm” Means In Fact the Declaration of War Against China


The White House had signalled Trump was close to a decision on an initial deal on Friday after weeks of mixed signals in tenuous negotiations, though Tehran denied there was a final agreement on ending the Middle East conflict that has jolted the global economy.

Trump emerged from the White House situation room after spending more than two hours with senior aides but did not immediately announce his decision.

Meanwhile the Pentagon chief Hegseth, while attending a major Asia defence summit in Singapore, said on Saturday local time that Washington could restart the war if it wanted.

“Our ability to recommence if necessary is (that) we are more than capable, our stockpiles are more than suited for that, both there and around the globe because of how we balance exquisite and more plentiful munitions,”

he said.

That echoed the US Central Command, which posted on X that American forces “remain present and vigilant across the region”.

The efforts to strike a deal mediated by Pakistan were thrown into question this week by US strikes on the southern Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, countered by retaliatory fire from Iran.

Nevertheless diplomacy continued including in a parallel process to stop fighting in Lebanon – which Iran has insisted be included in any formal end to the war and where Netanyahu announced Israeli forces had advanced further even as military delegations from both nations met at the Pentagon in Washington.

Two weeks after Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping in Beijing, Hegseth also said there was “rightful alarm” about Beijing’s military buildup, but the US sought a “respectful” regional balance.

His headline speech at the Shangri, La Dialogue defence summit, which brings together top defence officials and experts from about 45 countries, contrasted with his strongly confrontational remarks on China at last year’s event.

Unlike Beijing, which has sent a panel of military experts and scholars instead of defence minister Dong Jun for the second year running, Hegseth is leading a bumper US delegation to the event that provides chances for both open debate and behind-closed-doors diplomacy.

“When we look across the region today, there is rightful alarm regarding China’s historic military buildup and the expansion of its military activities in the region and beyond,”

Hegseth said.

Washington does not seek “needless confrontation in the region,” he said, but rather

“a genuinely stable equilibrium [in Asia] that works for Americans as well as our allies”.

He said the US sought “respectful” and “good-faith” engagement with Beijing, adding:

“I wish my counterpart was here at this conference, but I look forward to other options when we can cross paths.”

In Beijing, Trump had talked up “fantastic” trade deals but provided few details and later suggested that Washington could use its arms sales to self-ruled Taiwan as a bargaining chip with Beijing.

Analysts have said Dong’s no-show reflects Beijing’s confidence as an established power with little inclination to answer publicly for its assertive moves in the region.

But some argue that China is also running the risk of having no senior policymaker present if two major security issues arise: reopening the Strait of Hormuz, and Beijing’s claim to Taiwan.

#hegseth #declaration #war #china #trump

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