Globalsecurity.org

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Monday the United States and China have an obligation to manage their relationship responsibly, and that he told Chinese leaders during meetings in Beijing that direct engagement is the best way to ensure disagreements do not turn into conflict.

Chinese Premier Li Qiang stressed that the biggest risk facing China and Germany is a failure to cooperate, and the biggest security threat is failure to develop. Li made the remarks in a meeting with German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday.

While China has zero combat troops in the Western Hemisphere, the United States has more than 350,000 deployed across the Pacific region, including more than 100 on Taiwan, an island it formally recognizes as being Chinese territory. Washington says it is safeguarding the "rules-based international order" by doing so.

China welcomes more countries joining BRICS, because the bloc is committed to strengthening the representation and voice of emerging and developing countries, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Mao Ning said on Tuesday, a day after Bangladesh confirmed that it had applied for membership.

China and the US are on the "right trail," US President Joe Biden said on Monday, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his two-day visit to Beijing. China and the US agreed to stabilize their relations and keep communication lines open at a time when ties have plummeted to a low level.

Chinese commercial banks lowered interest rates on Tuesday as Beijing seeks ways to boost economic growth, which has been disappointingly slow as the country recovers from pandemic-era lockdowns and supply chain bottlenecks.

China on Tuesday cut the benchmark lending rate loan prime rate (LPR) in line with market expectations, ending nine months without change. It marks the third effort to bring down the nation's policy rates within a week, sending a clear signal that China is resolved to spur the still unfolding economic recovery and unleash the growth potentials amid multiple downward pressures ranging from a

Qatari state-owned petroleum company QatarEnergy and the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) on Tuesday signed the second long-term deal on the supply of liquefied natural gas (LNG) between the two countries in less than a year.

Chinese Communist Party officials appear to be distancing themselves from detained gambling tycoon She Zhijiang, whose casinos have been linked with massive human trafficking and online scam operations in the region, and who faces imminent repatriation to China after being arrested by Thai police in August 2022.

The mood was cautiously buoyant in both the U.S. and China - as well as Taiwan - that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's trip to China was the right move in "stabilizing" relations between the two superpowers that have grown increasingly precarious in recent months.

The number of serious COVID-19 infections in Taiwan remained high but stable for a second consecutive week, and is expected to remain at that level until the end of June, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said Tuesday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has held a productive conversation with the African delegation, the sides noted the importance of supplies of Russian grain to the poorest countries in Africa, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

Top Russian Diplomat Sergey Lavrov spoke to journalists after a CSTO foreign ministers' meeting in Minsk in Belarus, which is holding the rotating presidency of the bloc. The regional security organization comprises six former Soviet republics — Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia and Tajikistan.

Venezuela, with the introduction of Russia's Mir bank cards in the country, is participating in the creation of a financial system of the new world, President Nicolas Maduro said.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned of US-led efforts to wage a destabilization movement in the country ahead of its 2024 presidential poll as part of its persisting "vicious practices" of meddling in the domestic affairs of other nations.

An investigation by a group of journalists led by IStories and the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) has revealed details on how Russian President Vladimir Putin's inner circle has scrambled to hide assets amid waves of international sanctions imposed on Russia since it illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and its subsequent full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Pacific Fleet units finished tasks during tactical drills in the off-shore maritime zone.

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