China up close

China's President Xi Jinping, left, attends a welcome ceremony at Parliament House in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea on Nov. 16. Xi promised further infrastructure assistance during the state visit ahead of APEC.
China up close

US and China ruin Asian cooperation with their battle for supremacy

25 years on, APEC turns into a finger-pointing exercise

22 November 2018
From left, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (Getty Images), Chinese President Xi Jinping, and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (both Reuters). China has failed to establish new conduits to the White House.
China up close

China's risky bet on Wall Street for help with Trump

Kissinger and Paulson are Beijing's preferred intermediaries: can it work?

15 November 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the opening ceremony for the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai on Nov. 5.
China up close

Xi's dream of beating US backfires

Beijing hides seriousness of trade war from citizens

8 November 2018
Deng Xiaoping, the initiator of China's reform and opening up policy, is seen at the Great Hall of the People during a meeting in Beijing in this 1985 file photo.
China up close

Xi Jinping's awkward relationship with Deng Xiaoping

Two tricky 40th anniversaries test China's leader

1 November 2018
Bridges across the Yalu river connect the city of Dandong, Liaoning province, in northern China and the North Korean city of Sinuiju. North Korea had plans to build an unprecedented autonomous region in Sinuiju. (Getty Images) 
China up close

Chinese billionaire who plotted with North Korea pops up after 16 years

'Son' of Kim Jong Il went to jail after angering Beijing with capitalist plans

25 October 2018
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reviews the honour guard at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo in September 2017.
China up close

Beijing sweats over date of Shinzo Abe visit

Why Oct. 23 was too risky for Xi to green light

18 October 2018
Then-Interpol President Meng Hongwei, right, poses with Britain's Prince Charles, second from right, at the Interpol headquarters in Lyon, France in May. 
China up close

On a knife-edge -- China's power game drags in Interpol chief

Xi Jinping follows a tried and trusted game plan in going after security forces

11 October 2018
President Xi Jinping's references to Chinese "self-reliance" bear a distinct resemblance to the words of Chairman Mao Zedong.
China up close

Xi Jinping makes a Maoist bet on China's economy

Call for 'self reliance' reflects resolve to never bow to Donald Trump

4 October 2018
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, second from left, and South Korea President Moon Jae-in raise hands at Heaven Lake in Mt. Paektu. (Pool photo)
27 September 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping (right) shakes hands with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during their talks in the Russian port city of Vladivostok on Sept. 12. 
China up close

Why Xi Jinping vowed to 'safeguard free trade' at Abe meeting

Chinese leader seeks an anti-Trump alliance but home market has many barriers

20 September 2018
Tanks -- not intercontinental ballistic missiles -- roll through Pyongyang during a parade celebrating the 70th anniversary of North Korea's founding on Sept. 9.
China up close

Xi-Kim honeymoon exposed as a facade

Ties with Trump more important to the old allies than their own relationship

13 September 2018
Flags fly above the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing. (Photo by Kosaku Mimura)
China up close

Xi Jinping drops surprise hint over secret feud

Propaganda work is 'correct' and officials are 'reliable,' the president declares

6 September 2018
China's new high speed train 'Fuxing' is seen in Beijing. In a major shift, China has recently started to say that bringing in Japanese technology was the key to igniting China's economic success. (Getty Images)
China up close

China taps Abe, Volvo and anything that sticks in trade war

Xi searches for better narrative to sell to the world

30 August 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a gathering of the People's Liberation Army in Beijing on Aug. 19. Xi's relationship with the military is one of the leader's sources of power.
China up close

Xi cools his jets as China's political battle extends to autumn

Tea leaves from Beidaihe gathering say key issues to develop over next few months

23 August 2018
Fragments of information from Chinese state media signal that this year's Beidaihe meeting is going on for longer than usual and that President Xi Jinping may be facing criticism for his policies.
China up close

Smoke at China's annual conclave signals political trouble for Xi

Zhou Enlai's advice from 1974: Never fall, never leave, never choose death

16 August 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, greets former president Jiang Zemin at the Communist Party Congress in October 2017. Former Chinese leaders continue to hold influence after retirement. (Getty Images)
China up close

Retired sages audit 'Xi's China' at summer conclave

Political winds indicate that powerful president will be forced to review policies

9 August 2018
Chinese demonstrators hurl stones at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on May 9, 1999, angered by the U.S. bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade during the Kosovo War, which Washington called a mistake.
China up close

19 years from embassy bombing, China's anti-Americanism lives on

A generation of former student protesters determined to be world No. 1

2 August 2018
The shining city on the banks of the Huangpu River has a lot of political aspirations running through it. (Getty Images)
China up close

Shanghai boils with aspirations of replacing Li Keqiang

Chinese politicians not named Xi Jinping or Wang Qishan jockey for 2023

26 July 2018
Tesla CEO Elon Musk and some colleagues pose for a commemorative photo in front of the Hall of Purple Light and two Teslas. (Photo from Musk’s Twitter account)
China up close

Teslas in the palace signal brewing battle in Beijing

Xi Jinping's handling of the US trade war sparks discontent within China

19 July 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping has set 2035 as a target year to catch up with the U.S. economically.
China up close

Xi's overly-ambitious goals triggered US-China trade war

Talk of becoming world No.1 backfired, hurting even dinner tables

12 July 2018
Managing relations with U.S. President Donald Trump, left, is the biggest challlenge for Chinese President Xi Jinping.
China up close

Xi Jinping tweaks his diplomacy and tones down the bravado

President talks of shared destiny but has his eyes on a China-led world

5 July 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping attends a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on June 14.
China up close

Expect Xi to aim charm offensive at Abe next

China seeks to build 'network of global partnerships' to expand influence

25 June 2018
A direct line to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un alters the equation of U.S. President Donald Trump's diplomacy with the reclusive state.
China up close

China startled by Trump's hotline to Kim

Beijing's tug of war with Washington now moves on to Taiwan

18 June 2018
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrives at Singapore’s Changi Airport on June 10. (Provided by the Singapore Government)
China up close

Kim flies in for summit on Chinese plane, in victory for Xi

Choice of transportation and route had stakeholders on the edge of their seats

11 June 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping waits for the arrival of a guest at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 29. Xi hosted North Korean leader Kim Jong Un earlier in May.
China up close

Beijing sees 2018 as watershed year reminiscent of 1989

North Korea's nuclear program sparked by fallout from Tiananmen crackdown

4 June 2018