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\n1. China-US talks in London reveal little, but point to China\u2019s upper hand<\/p>\nThe talks between trade representatives were held in London on Monday and Tuesday. Trump wrote on Truth Social, \u201cOUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME. FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!). WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT!\u201d<\/p>\n
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC that Beijing was \u201cslow-rolling\u201d its export of rare earth minerals, which are crucial for various manufacturing industries. Rare earth magnets, especially, are must-haves for automobiles. This led to the crackdown on visas for Chinese students at US universities.<\/p>\n
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\u201cWe were at mutual assured annoyance,\u201d he said, adding that the Trump-Xi call last week \u201cchanged everything.\u201d \u201cThey are going to approve all applications for magnets from United States companies right away,\u201d Lutnick added.<\/p>\n
Li Chenggang, China\u2019s Vice Commerce Minister, said the countries agreed in principle on the framework for implementing the consensus.<\/p>\n
UPSHOT:<\/strong> Rare earths have proven to be great leverage for China. Given its near-monopoly on their processing, the US had to step back from its visa threat. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the new concessions have translated into six-month licenses for US companies, meaning they could again be withheld in the future.<\/p>\nNotably, it is the US that has asked China to come to the negotiating table time and again, be it Geneva, Trump reaching out to Xi for a phone call, and now London. That, however, doesn\u2019t mean China has nothing to lose from continued trade tensions. The US is its largest market and controls advanced technology, even as China attempts to catch up.<\/p>\n
2. Conviction in cutting undersea cables<\/strong><\/p>\nStory continues below this ad<\/p>\n
A court in the Taiwanese city of Tainan sentenced a Chinese captain of a ship to three years in jail on Thursday, after finding him guilty of intentionally damaging undersea cables off the island in February, Reuters reported.<\/p>\n
Taiwanese authorities detained the ship after suspecting it had dropped its anchor near an undersea cable. The man claimed that his actions were negligent and not intended to damage the cables. Taiwanese authorities have reported five cases of sea cable malfunctions this year so far, compared to three each in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n
In response, China\u2019s Taiwan Affairs Office said that common issues were being raked up with \u201cThe aim is to attack and smear the mainland, to stir up confrontation and antagonism across the Taiwan Strait.\u201d<\/p>\n
UPSHOT:<\/strong> Undersea cables aid telecommunications and help supply power across the world. Each cable can span tens of thousands of kilometres, and collectively, they are instrumental in transmitting over 95% of the world\u2019s digital data.<\/p>\nStory continues below this ad<\/p>\n
In March, China unveiled a tool capable of cutting cables at a depth of upto 13,123 feet, according to the South China Morning Post. It was touted as a major technological feat, given the high air pressure at such depths. Beijing also operates the world\u2019s largest fleet of crewed and uncrewed submersibles, the report said.<\/p>\n
Further, China\u2019s response to the case relates to its history with Taiwan, which it claims as its province. This, despite Taiwan\u2019s separate political structures and its ruling Democratic Progressive Party\u2019s assertions of an independent Taiwanese identity over the last decade. The Taiwan Strait that separates the two regions has witnessed the movement of Chinese warships, jets, and military exercises that have been deemed as \u201cwarnings\u201d to Taiwan.<\/p>\n
3. Rare public meeting between Xi and China\u2019s Panchen Lama<\/p>\n
State media outlet China Daily reported that Xi \u201ccalled on Panchen Rinpoche to make greater contributions to promoting ethnic unity, religious harmony, and stability, development and progress in the Xizang autonomous region.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cXizang\u201d is how the Chinese government refers to Tibet. In Tibetan Buddhism, the Panchen Lama is the senior-most spiritual leader after the Dalai Lama.<\/p>\n
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Xi also spoke about him playing \u201ca greater role in forging a strong sense of community for the Chinese nation, systematically promoting the principle that religions in China must be Chinese in orientation.\u201d<\/p>\n
UPSHOT:<\/strong> The Chinese government announced Gyaltsen Norbu, 35, as the Panchen Lama in 1995. The announcement came after the Dalai Lama, who has lived in Dharamshala in exile since fleeing Tibet in 1959, chose Gedhun Choekyi Nyima as the Panchen Lama. The six-year-old boy soon went missing, with allegations of the Chinese government playing a role in abducting him. Chinese authorities have denied these allegations and occasionally provided sparse updates on Nyima.<\/p>\nAfter meeting Xi earlier this month, Norbu said he would \u201cfirmly support the leadership of the Communist Party of China, and resolutely safeguard the unity of the motherland and national unity.\u201d This is in line with China\u2019s territorial claims over Tibet, which often draw upon narratives of their historical links.<\/p>\n
Additionally, it aligns with the push for the \u201cSinicisation\u201d of religions<\/strong><\/a> in the communist state under the authoritarian rule of Xi Jinping. Critics see it as an effort to homogenise disparate cultures to match the practices of the majority ethnic Han population.<\/p>\nStory continues below this ad<\/p>\n
The meeting also matters with the Dalai Lama\u2019s 90th birthday next month, on July 6. The milestone is expected to accompany an announcement from the Tibetan leader about his successor, who must be approved by the Penchan Lama. Beijing\u2019s appointment of its own Panchen Lama has long been seen as a way for China to control that process.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was another week of important tariff-related developments for China and the United States, and much like in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181709,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[15882,74685,56267,42805,74684,38166,2943,3206,63398,49,978,74683,659,263],"class_list":{"0":"post-181708","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-china-news","9":"tag-china-this-week","10":"tag-dalai-lama","11":"tag-express-explained","12":"tag-panchen-lama","13":"tag-rare-earths","14":"tag-taiwan","15":"tag-tibet","16":"tag-undersea-cables","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-us-china-trade-deal","20":"tag-usa","21":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114677384776752772","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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