https://www.scmp.com/rss/324244/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com US President Donald Trump removed his chief strategist Steve Bannon from the National Security Council on Wednesday, reversing his controversial decision early this year to give a political adviser an unprecedented role in security discussions. Trump’s overhaul of the NSC, confirmed by a White House official, also elevated General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Dan Coats, the director of National Intelligence who heads all 17 US intelligence agencies. The official said... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2085193/trumps-chief-strategist-dumped-us-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/2085193/trumps-chief-strategist-dumped-us-national-security?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2017 16:50:09 +0000 When Chinese President Xi Jinping lands in Florida’s Palm Beach County Park Airport, known as Lantana Airport, for his first meeting with his US counterpart Donald Trump, everything will be well scripted, from the motorcade to the drinks on the table. With these kinds of trips, no detail is too small. Accommodation in Palm Beach Xi will stay at the Eau Palm Beach Resort and Spa, a few kilometres south of Mar-a-Lago, where the two leaders will have talks, according to NBC. The resort will be... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084469/bed-breakfast-and-beverages-fine-details-go-planning?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084469/bed-breakfast-and-beverages-fine-details-go-planning?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2017 13:00:48 +0000 The long-awaited summit between China’s President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump will kick off on Thursday in the United States. The state leaders will meet for the first time at Trump’s lavish US$200 million Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, for two days. Ahead of their meeting, we take you on a virtual tour around the estate and give you the backstory to the mansion that Trump has termed his “Southern White House”. And will Xi be staying the night on the palatial... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084705/take-virtual-tour-around-mar-lago-where-landmark-xi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084705/take-virtual-tour-around-mar-lago-where-landmark-xi?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 05 Apr 2017 06:45:30 +0000 Americans’ overall impressions of China have improved, although economic conflicts between the two countries remain a major source of unease, according to a poll released by a US research centre ahead of President Xi Jinping’s first meeting with his US counterpart, Donald Trump. But Xi, who will arrive in the US on Thursday to meet Trump, gets largely negative ratings from Americans. Sixty per cent of the poll respondents said they had little or no confidence in him to do the right thing in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084767/americans-ok-china-not-xi-according-poll?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084767/americans-ok-china-not-xi-according-poll?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Apr 2017 14:10:48 +0000 The first summit between President Xi Jinping and Donald Trump takes place at the US president’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida this week and officials responsible for formulating their nations’ foreign policies will be put under the spotlight. The two leaders are expected to tackle a range of issues from North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme to trade disputes. Here are some of the key members of both leaders’ teams of advisers. XI JINPING: Yang Jiechi, State Councillor An experienced diplomat,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084348/men-and-woman-shaping-china-us-ties-ahead-xi-trump?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2084348/men-and-woman-shaping-china-us-ties-ahead-xi-trump?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 03 Apr 2017 06:15:00 +0000 US presidents have long hosted their chief allies and rivals at relatively informal, getting to know you sessions stripped of the pomp and circumstance of a state visit. Dwight Eisenhower invited the Soviet Union’s Nikita Khrushchev to his Pennsylvania farm in 1959 and Richard Nixon hosted Khrushchev’s successor, Leonid Brezhnev, at his home in California in 1973. Nowadays another communist power, China, aspires to take the Soviet Union’s place, with Chinese President Xi Jinping preparing for... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2083747/why-protocol-still-matters-xi-trump-summit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2083747/why-protocol-still-matters-xi-trump-summit?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 02 Apr 2017 05:00:15 +0000 US President Donald Trump has embarked on an unprecedented form of foreign policy, using his Twitter account to remake the world order. One pole of any emergent world order is China. Here, his provocations, including the phone call with Taiwan’s president, Tsai Ing-wen, off-the-cuff remarks on rethinking the US stance on the one-China policy, and campaign charges labelling China a currency manipulator, are nothing less than confrontational. Yet, Trump has had what he describes as a very friendly... https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2078764/trump-and-xi-prepare-meet-opportunity-sino-us-grand-deal?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/article/2078764/trump-and-xi-prepare-meet-opportunity-sino-us-grand-deal?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Mar 2017 03:45:45 +0000 The first summit between President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Donald Trump is expected be held next month at Trump’s lavish Mar-a-Lago estate, a palatial US$200 million estate in Florida that he has called the “Southern White House”. US media portal Axios reported on Monday that Trump plans to host Xi at the Palm Beach estate on April 6 and 7. Mar-a-Lago, a 128-room waterfront mansion, has become Trump’s go-to venue for hosting world leaders and appointing his own top officials. Trump... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2078700/xi-trump-summit-venue-us-presidents-gold-plated-home?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy-defence/article/2078700/xi-trump-summit-venue-us-presidents-gold-plated-home?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Mar 2017 07:15:00 +0000