China up close

U.S. President Donald Trump, right, talks to Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing in November 2017. Trump has expressed frustration toward China's meddling in U.S.-North Korea affairs.
China up close

'Poker player' Xi made Trump think twice about Kim summit

Beijing's new foreign policy czar Wang Qishan is calling the shots

28 May 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping, right, hosts North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Dalian, China in this undated photo released on May 9.
China up close

Is Xi Jinping the scriptwriter of the Trump-Kim summit?

US president saw Chinese leader's hand in North Korean about-face

21 May 2018
Singapore's landmark Marina Bay Sands is operated by Las Vegas Sands, whose chairman Sheldon Adelson is a top donor to U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photo by Katsuji Nakazawa)
China up close

Trump-Kim Singapore summit is mega donor's dream scenario

Casino magnate Adelson's network extends to Xi and Abe

14 May 2018
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un waves to South Korean officials after attending the inter-Korean summit on Apr. 27.
China up close

Kim Jong Un shows the world the 'Art of the Deal'

Is Trump about to overpay for something worth much less?

7 May 2018
South Korean President Moon Jae-in,left, sits down for tea with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on April 27. (Pool photo)
China up close

Kim initiates socialism with North Korean characteristics

Beijing's hopes for a Chinese-style reform will flop if leader teams with US

30 April 2018
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi speaks to reporters after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at the Prime Minister's office in Tokyo on April 16. (Photo by Uichiro Kasai)
China up close

Behind China's sudden olive branch to Japan

Beijing's about-face is preparation for trade war with Trump

23 April 2018
The meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, and North Korea's Kim Jong Un was heavy with symbolism. (Image from Korean Central Television)
China up close

Project 2035: Xi tells Kim why China is a better bet than Trump

Beijing-Washington tariff tussle is a battle for future supremacy

16 April 2018
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, left, and Chinese President Xi Jinping toast with glasses of precious maotai during a banquet in Beijing on March 26.
China up close

Kim Jong Un's 21-car train was packed with gifts and much more

North Korean leader strengthens his hand as he wrestles China away from US

9 April 2018
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un went to Beijing looking for a big-brother type and found one in Chinese President Xi Jinping. (KCNA/Reuters)
China up close

Kim Jong Un brings Xi back to table ahead of Trump meeting

North Korea gains China as a shield against possible US military action

2 April 2018
New Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan makes his diplomatic debut and meets the Philippine foreign affairs secretary on Mar. 23.
China up close

Only Wang Qishan knew what Xi Jinping was going to do

Extended reign leaves even the leader's closest aides with mixed feelings

26 March 2018
The Wumen Gate as seen from the Forbidden City in Beijing. Even members of China's political class feel as though they are being watched these days.
China up close

Xi Jinping and the 60-year curse

Will the Chinese president's gambit end in reform or a coup d'etat?

19 March 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping adjusts his suit at the end of the opening session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 5.
China up close

Next phase of Belt and Road: Xi's own military-industrial complex

Beijing envisions high-tech arms exports as it extends its web of influence

12 March 2018
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China up close

China's political tug of war entangles global boardrooms

Xi Jinping ally buys Daimler stake while unwary tycoon loses the Waldorf

5 March 2018
Xi Jinping, China's president and the Chinese Communist Party's general secretary, is looking to break away from China's collective leadership system.
China up close

Xi Jinping's next goal? Communist Party chairman for life

Lifting of term limit prevents Li Keqiang from taking the helm in 2022

27 February 2018
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China up close

Xi's new quartet on North Korea has roots in Iowa home stay

Wang Qishan and US ambassador Branstad to be point men in collaboration

26 February 2018
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China up close

What Olympics? Xi has eyes on Trump alone

Top diplomat is sent to assess US leader's North Korea policy

19 February 2018
There is speculation that Chinese President Xi Jinping has planned all along to install his boyhood friend Wang Qishan as his vice president.
China up close

The dust has settled and the immortal Wang Qishan is back

Vice president's role would put him in position to succeed Xi in a contingency

12 February 2018
Song Zuying performs in Hong Kong on June 30, 2012, the 15th anniversary of the territory's handover to Chinese sovereignty. She has recently fallen out of favor with Xi Jinping.
China up close

Downfall of a diva mirrors Beijing's backstage politics

Dangerous liaisons: Chinese entertainers and their political patrons

5 February 2018
From left, Chinese President Xi Jinping, his right hand man Wang Qishan and Premier Li Keqiang. Wang is seen as the architect of the proposed constitutional reforms that would weaken Li's powers. (Getty Images)
China up close

Welcome to the club: Xi takes anti-corruption hunt to all Chinese

New commission has power to go after doctors, nurses and teachers

29 January 2018
Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, walks with French President Emmanuel Macron as they review the honor guard during a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Jan.9,
China up close

Does Xi Jinping have a chain-of-command issue?

Suicide of a general sparks rumors of a failed coup as China braces for US-North Korea war

22 January 2018
China's entire military was mobilized for a large scale exercise on Jan. 3. (Xinhua / Kyodo)
China up close

Ready for the Winter Olympics? How about war?

Xi Jinping has entire military drilling in case US strikes North Korea

15 January 2018
Sino-North Korean relations have traversed three eras in China -- under Mao, Deng and Xi -- and a North Korean dynasty of three Kims -- Il Sung, Jong Il and Jong Un.
China up close

Mao Zedong and the roots of the North Korea nuclear crisis

Three generations of Kims have believed that northeast China is rightfully theirs

1 January 2018
People attend a memorial ceremony to mark the 80th anniversary of the 1937 Nanjing Massacre in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, on Dec. 13.
China up close

Xi Jinping had good reasons for skipping Nanjing speech

Top Chinese leader prepares for a flurry of diplomacy with Japan in 2018

25 December 2017
A mushroom cloud rises with ships below during an Operation Crossroads nuclear weapons test on Bikini Atoll, the Marshall Islands, in this 1946 handout provided by the U.S. Library of Congress.
China up close

Why Chinese province is warning citizens of nuclear war

Newspaper's what-to-do list hints that Beijing is running out of options

18 December 2017
A man reads a newspaper in Beijing. Journalists in China are locked in a cutthroat battle for higher pay and promotions.
China up close

Praising Xi Jinping won't pay the bills for China's journalists

Newspaper scribes' livelihoods depend on talent and an editor's red pen

11 December 2017