With Canada’s Middle East Engagement Strategy expiring this year, it is time to examine and evaluate this massive investment in the Middle East region in the past five years. More importantly, the panel will discuss a principled and strategic roadmap for the future of Canada’s short-term and long-term engagement in the Middle East. While these challenges pose serious risks to Canadian security, Ottawa will also have the opportunity to limit such risks and prevent a spillover effect vis-à-vis effective humanitarian initiatives in the region. In this panel, we will primarily investigate Canada’s Middle East Strategy’s degree of success in providing humanitarian aid to the region.
In a press briefing held at the close of the meetings, the secretary emphasized that the US aims to achieve “a healthy economic relationship that benefits both our countries over time” and that it does “not seek to decouple its economy from China’s”. According to a MOFCOM spokesperson, the primary aim of the export controls is to enhance national security by ensuring that advanced technology does not fall into the hands of adversaries or entities that could use it against China’s interests. The measures also align with China’s international obligations to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and to combat terrorism. By controlling the export of sophisticated drone technology, China aims to comply with international non-proliferation agreements and restrict the use of such technology for harmful purposes.
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- The 34 entities include China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences and 11 of its research institutes, as well as 22 corporate entities including several semiconductor companies.
- And Beijing has now found ways to pressure Washington, most notably by controlling the supply of rare-earth magnets on which many U.S. industries rely.
- The Chinese also stated that the US “needs to take seriously China’s concerns and do more things that contribute to the growth of the military-to-military relationship.” The Chinese side also emphasized its position on Taiwan and its interests in the South China Sea.
- The initiative is designed to ensure that both nations’ financial management departments can maintain timely and smooth communication channels, particularly during events of financial stress or when operational risks at financial institutions arise, thereby reducing uncertainty.
- “As the economic power between the two countries changes, China is now closer to the United States than ever in terms of economic strength. Therefore, the bilateral relationship will be more about competition rather than cooperation.”
The agreement marks the first step in allowing the PBAOC to audit Chinese companies listed on US stock exchanges, as required under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA). A long-standing impasse between the two countries’ regulatory bodies has already led to several delistings as audit requirements under the HFCAA directly clashed with China’s data security regulations prohibiting inspections of Chinese companies by foreign countries. Without this latest breakthrough, many of the companies identified were facing blanket delisting in 2024. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has placed two US defense companies – Lockheed Martin Corporation and Raytheon Missiles & Defense, a subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies – on its List of Unreliable Entities in retaliation for their supply of arms to Taiwan.
- The statement also agreed on the intended contents of the decision on the first Global Stocktake, which will take place at COP28 at the end of November in Dubai.
- According to the MOFCOM announcement, the two units were added to the list in order to “safeguard national sovereignty, security and development interests”.
- However, she also highlighted that this type of competition is only sustainable if it is “fair to both sides”, and alleged that China is engaging in unfair competition, including setting up “barriers to market access for American firms” in China.
The new rule advances a process that could lead more than 200 companies to be kicked off US exchanges and could make some Chinese firms less attractive to investors. It also requires enhanced disclosure from Chinese firms listing in the US via a variable interest entity (VIE). Chinese and other foreign firms are required to declare whether they’re owned or controlled by any foreign government. The Biden administration will not send any diplomatic or official representatives to Beijing 22 Winter Olympics and Paralympic Games, citing human rights concerns, the White House press secretary Jen Psaki announced at a news briefing.
Among them is the US Heartland China Association, a private bipartisan organization that aims to build stronger ties between China and the US’ agriculture and industry-driven heartland region, which is sending a delegation of 20 state governors “to explore trade opportunities”. In addition, delegates from the American Meat Export Federation, the USA Poultry and Egg Export Council, the USA Rice Federation, and the US Cranberry Marketing Committee will also be present, per CIIE organizers. The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) is leading a delegation of officials and 17 exhibitors to this year’s China International Import Expo (CIIE) as part of the largest-ever delegation of US representatives since the event’s inauguration in 2018. The two sides struck a conciliatory tone and reached a consensus to improve cooperation on a number of issues, while acknowledging areas of disagreement.
Among the companies that have been removed from the list are Beijing SWT Science, Beijing Zhonghehangxun Technology, and Guangdong Guanghua Sci-Tech Co. Li is the highest-level Chinese official with whom Biden has met, and therefore the highest-level meeting between China and the US, since Biden’s meeting with President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the 2022 G20 Summit in Indonesia last November. Vice ministerial-level officials of the two groups will reportedly meet “on a regular cadence” and report to Secretary Yellen and Vice Premier He. According to the announcement from the US Treasury Department, the two working groups, which will be under the direction of Yellen and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, will provide “ongoing structured channels for frank and substantive discussions on economic and financial policy matters”. The US Treasury Department and Chinese Ministry of Finance (MOF) announced the establishment of a joint Economic Working Group and Financial Working Group, fulfilling a commitment made during US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s visit to Beijing in July.
The U.S.-China Trade Relationship
Sherman will be the second senior American official visiting China since President Joe Biden took office, following a visit to Shanghai in April by John Kerry, Biden’s special envoy on climate. US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman will travel to the eastern Chinese city of Tianjin from July 25 to July 26 and meet with Chinese officials, including Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. This is the first time since Biden took office that the two leaders have spoken face-to-face, albeit virtually.
Taiwan conflict unlikely in 2022
According to the readout from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Xi Jinping highlighted the need for global cooperation amid a turbulent international landscape, urging unity over division. He called for the US to work with China and for the two countries to “regard each other’s development as an opportunity rather than a challenge”, “to coexist peacefully and … promote the stability of China-US relations”. In response, China’s Ministry of Commerce expressed strong opposition, arguing that the restrictions will disrupt normal economic and trade cooperation and harm businesses in both countries. The Ministry urged the US to respect market economy principles and stop politicizing economic and trade issues to foster a favorable environment for bilateral cooperation.
Is there a trade war between the United States and China?
As part of BIS’s commitment to continually evaluating the effectiveness of export controls, it released updated rules in October 2023 and April 2024. Washington has also opposed the global deployment of Chinese next-generation communications technology, especially 5G. In Hong Kong, Beijing’s continued pressure on the territory’s civil liberties will also continue into 2022, as more and more pro-democracy activists are incarcerated under a national security advisor fees guide law that was put in place in 2020. Neither the United States nor China can fully hobble each other’s economy, but each side has economic tools that can inflict real damage if adversarial competition continues unchecked.
Besides this agreement, discussions during the two-day meeting were described by the PCOC as “professional, pragmatic, frank, and constructive,” covering a wide range of topics including macroeconomic and financial stability, international financial institutions, cross-border payments and data, and capital markets. Both sides reviewed the outcomes of technical exchanges held earlier in the year, which focused on central bank climate scenario testing, operational resilience in the financial sector, and the resolution of Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs). The Joint Treasury-PBOC Cooperation and Exchange on Anti-Money Laundering (AML), which had met in-person for the second time, discussed beneficial ownership and potential revisions to China’s AML laws. In recent years, the United States has imposed significant restrictions on China’s development through export controls on industries such as semiconductors. And Beijing has now found ways to pressure Washington, most notably by controlling the supply of rare-earth magnets on which many U.S. industries rely.
What was the outcome of the Trump-Xi meeting in South Korea?
The export restrictions, therefore, have the potential to significantly limit some producers’ access to these important materials and increase prices, as there are few alternative options. However, some analysts have suggested that the impact may be limited depending on the current stock of the materials available, and for how long the restrictions will be imposed. In 1971, almost exactly 52 years to the date, Kissinger embarked on a secret diplomatic mission to Beijing as the National Security Advisor to President Richard Nixon, where he met with Premier Zhou Enlai. This trip paved the way for President Nixon’s historic meeting with Chairman Mao Zedong in China in 1972, and eventually to the establishment of diplomatic ties in 1979. The meeting came two days after Kissinger met with the Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu, in which they discussed the current state of US-China relations.
The other entities blacklisted are Cloudwalk Technology Co., Ltd.; Dawning Information Industry Co., Ltd.; Leon Technology Company Limited; Megvii Technology Limited; Netposa Technologies Limited; Xiamen Meiya Pico Information Co., Ltd.; and Yitu Limited. The US Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) added 33 Chinese entities to the Unverified List (UVL). Under the HFCAA, companies will be delisted if they fail to submit an audit for three years in a row, meaning that the above-listed companies will not be delisted until 2024. On March, 10, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the securities regulator, published a provisional list of issuers identified under the Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act (HFCAA). With this action, the Commerce Department will have approximately 600 Chinese entities on the Entity List – more than 110 of which have been added since the start of the Biden Administration.
This sentiment was echoed in the readout from the Chinese side, which stated that China and the US “do not seek economic ‘decoupling’ and welcome the development of healthy economic relations to provide a level playing field for enterprises and workers of the two countries and enhance the well-being of the two peoples”. A readout from the Chinese Ministry of Defense (MOD) stated China’s willingness to develop bilateral military relations and cooperate on important defense issues. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan have met in Bangkok, Thailand for bilateral talks. The meeting sets the stage for a planned phone call between President Xi Jinping and President Joe Biden “at some point in the coming months”, per a background press briefing from the White House. Meanwhile, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), China’s trade promotion body, announced it will organize legal defenses for companies in the industry and participate in the US hearings “to effectively safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies”.
A Financial Times investigation also found that foreign investors sold a net $12 billion of Chinese stocks in August alone. While the two nations are still economically intertwined, businesses and investors may be recognizing the geopolitical trends and reducing ties with China on their own. CFR Senior Fellow for Trade and International Political Economy Jennifer Hillman says Beijing has perfected the model of obtaining Western technology; it uses the technology to develop domestic companies into giants, and then unleashes them into the world market—at which point foreign companies can no longer compete. “You start to see how big a problem it is to try to live in this world in which China owns more and more markets and you can’t get in,” she says. In January 2025, Beijing achieved a major milestone in its domestic technological innovation, with Chinese startup DeepSeek launching one of the world’s most advanced AI models. It supposedly operates at cheaper costs and higher energy efficiency that rivals the capacity of the U.S.
The former is a member of the treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), while the latter has refused to sign the international agreement. No issue is thornier in U.S.-China relations than Taiwan, which Beijing believes it has a right to rule and the United States has long provided defensive aid to. This year, the presence of U.S. troops in small numbers on the island involved in training Taiwanese forces was highlighted by both Western and Chinese media. But as Jack Detsch and Zinya Salfiti of Foreign Policy note, U.S. troops have been present for decades, preparing the Taiwanese military to help fight off, or at least delay, a Chinese invasion through a “porcupine” strategy. China’s demographic and economic woes may catch up with it in the future—and the Chinese Communist Party knows it has only a short time to make the greatest use of its power, argue experts Andrew S. Erickson and Gabriel B. Collins.
The US Treasury Department said that SenseTime was sanctioned due to its technology plays in enabling human rights abuses. The sanction against SenseTime is part of a package of US sanctions against a number of countries to mark Human Rights Day. The US Treasury Department has placed eight Chinese technology firms, including top drone maker SZ DJI Technology Co., Ltd., on the investment blacklist for their alleged support of the “biometric surveillance and tracking of ethnic and religious minorities in China, particularly the predominantly Muslim Uyghur minority in Xinjiang”. The export controls will affect both US companies 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”. The US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) announced on Thursday, December 15, that it has successfully gained uncensored access to investigate audit firms in mainland China and Hong Kong for the first time in history, potentially saving hundreds of Chinese companies from forced delisting from US stock exchanges.
The lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in late 2022 has also had a positive impact on business travel, with 43 percent of respondents stating that their “global or regional executives had already visited China in 2023”, while 31 percent stated that they intend to visit this year. Tesla CEO Elon Musk met with China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang in Beijing on Tuesday during his first 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. Senior US State Department official Daniel Kritenbrink and White House National Security Council’s senior director for China affairs Sarah Beran visited Beijing, where they met with Director-General of the Department of North American and Oceanian Affairs of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yang Tao and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Ma Zhaoxu. Several media outlets have reported that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will visit China in the coming weeks, citing unnamed sources, in what would be a significant step toward improving ties between the US and China.