Anklage gegen Raúl Castro: China und Russland warnen USA vor Eskalation

BERLINER ZEITUNG: Die Spannungen zwischen den USA und Kuba verschärfen sich weiter. China und Russland stellen sich demonstrativ hinter Havanna, während Donald Trump offen über ein mögliches Eingreifen spricht.

Dieser Screenshot kommt aus diesem Artikel. | Der frühere kubanische Präsident Raúl Castro (94) bei einer Parade zum 1. Mai auf dem Platz der Revolution in Havanna. | © Ramon Espinosa
China und Russland haben die Anklage der USA gegen den früheren kubanischen Präsidenten Raúl Castro als gefährliche Eskalation verurteilt. Peking forderte die die Trump-Regierung auf, Kuba nicht länger mit Sanktionen und juristischen Maßnahmen unter Druck zu setzen. Der Kreml sprach von Methoden, die „an Gewalt grenzen“. Hintergrund ist die Anklage gegen den 94-jährigen Castro wegen des Abschusses zweier ziviler Flugzeuge im Jahr 1996, bei dem vier Menschen starben.

US-Präsident Donald Trump verschärfte den Ton gegenüber Havanna am Donnerstag weiter. „Es sieht so aus, als wäre ich derjenige, der eingreifen wird“, sagte Trump laut AP mit Blick auf Kuba. Einen Tag zuvor hatte er noch erklärt, eine weitere Eskalation sei nicht notwendig. » | Alexander Schmalz | Donnerstag, 21. Mai 2026

LESEN SIE AUCH:

„Es gäbe ein Blutbad“: Kuba warnt USA vor militärischem Angriff: Nach Berichten über ein angebliches kubanisches Drohnenarsenal verschärft sich der Streit zwischen Havanna und Washington. Kubas Präsident Miguel Díaz-Canel warnte die USA vor einem „Blutbad“. »

Xi Says World Is At Risk of ‘Law of the Jungle’ as He Hails China-Russia Links

THE GUARDIAN: Chinese president hosts Putin in Beijing and welcomes relationship as stabilising global force

Xi Jinping said the world was at risk of regressing into the “law of the jungle” and hailed the China-Russia relationship as a stabilising global force as he hosted Vladimir Putin in Beijing on Wednesday, just days after hosting Donald Trump.

The Chinese leader welcomed the Russian president with pomp and pageantry as the pair began talks in the Great Hall of the People.

Chinese soldiers stood in position as a military band played the Russian and Chinese national anthems for the leaders in central Beijing. Children waved Russian and Chinese flags and cheered: “Welcome, welcome!” in Chinese before the pair entered the Great Hall.

The scene was reminiscent of Trump’s high-profile meeting with Xi in Beijing last week, when the leaders of the world’s two largest economies discussed issues from trade and investment, to the Iran conflict and Taiwan. » | Alastair McCready in Taipei | Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Why Did Trump Fly to China to Kiss the Ass of the Most Powerful Man in the World?

May 17, 2026 | Trump flew to China to meet with Xi Jinping, and the whole thing looked less like strength and more like desperation.

He’s in way over his head with Iran. The war has exposed what many of us already knew:

Trump loves acting like a strongman, but when the pressure gets real, he runs to actual powerful leaders hoping they can bail him out. This trip wasn’t about “America First.” It was about Trump needing Xi Jinping’s help, needing China’s leverage, needing the red carpets, the dinners, the gifts, the praise, and the pageantry to cover up the fact that he has no real plan.

Reports say Trump left China without major breakthroughs on Iran, Taiwan, or AI, while Xi got the optics he wanted: China standing on equal footing with the United States.

Trump talked about lifting sanctions on Chinese companies buying Iranian oil, but there were no clear, concrete wins announced. This is the problem with fake strength. Trump can talk tough at rallies, insult journalists, threaten political opponents, and pretend he’s some fearless negotiator. But on the world stage, he looks small. Xi Jinping knows it. Iran knows it. The world knows it. Trump didn’t go to China looking powerful. He went looking for a way out.

China dämpft Erwartungen: Peking nennt Ergebnisse von Trump-Besuch „vorläufig“

BERLINER ZEITUNG: Nach dem Staatsbesuch von US-Präsident Trump relativiert Peking die Ergebnisse: Die Vereinbarungen zu Zöllen, Agrarprodukten und Flugzeugkäufen seien bislang nur „vorläufig“.

Nach dem Staatsbesuch von US-Präsident Donald Trump in Peking hat Chinas Handelsministerium die getroffenen Vereinbarungen zu Zöllen, Agrarprodukten und Flugzeugkäufen als „vorläufig“ eingestuft. Details zu Mengen, Werten oder Zeitplänen nannte die Behörde nicht.

In einer am Samstag auf der Internetseite des Ministeriums veröffentlichten Mitteilung hieß es, beide Seiten hätten vereinbart, ein Investitions- und ein Handelsgremium einzurichten. Diese sollten über wechselseitige, produktspezifische Zollsenkungen sowie weitergehende Kürzungen für nicht näher bezeichnete Waren einschließlich Agrarprodukten verhandeln. Die Gespräche über Einzelheiten dauerten an, die Abkommen sollten „so bald wie möglich“ finalisiert werden, teilte das Ministerium mit. » | Sophie Barkey | Samstag, 16. Mai 2026

Trump Looked ‘Nothing Like the Man We Know’ in Beijing

May 15, 2026 | Mark Logan, former Member of Parliament, and Vice-Chair All Party Parliamentary China Group, joins Maddie Hale to analyse Donald Trump’s two day trip to Beijing to meet with Xi Jinping.

Trump Worships Xi Jinping in Embarrassing China State Visit.

May 15, 2026 | Donald Trump spent years portraying China as America’s greatest enemy, yet during his Beijing summit with Xi Jinping he appeared far more comfortable admiring authoritarian pageantry than defending democratic values. The visit exposed a deeper contradiction at the heart of Trump’s politics: his hostility toward China has never really been about authoritarianism, but about competition with a system of centralized power he openly envies.

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Trump Hits Back after Xi Claims US Is ‘Declining Nation’

THE TELEGRAPH: Donald Trump has pushed back on claims made by Xi Jinping that America is a “declining nation”.

The US president accepted that “tremendous damage” had been done to the US in recent years but blamed his predecessor Joe Biden.

“When President Xi very elegantly referred to the United States as perhaps being a declining nation, he was referring to the tremendous damage we suffered during the four years of Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, and on that score, he was 100% correct,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social ahead of the second day of talks. » | Emily Blumenthal. Connor Stringer Chief Washington Correspondent, Beijing. Allegra Mendelson Asia Correspondent, Taipei. Robert White | Friday, May 15, 2026

Xi Jinping is right, of course. A blind man could see that the US is in steep decline. The country shows all the signs of an empire in decline. It is rotting from within.

Trump is wrong, and very unfair to blame “Sleepy Joe” for the rot. The rot started for America long before Biden’s presidency. Fact is, America has never been the same since 9/11. That attack did more to damage America and its trajectory than is easy to describe in a few words. And when it comes to apportioning blame, Trump himself must share the lion’s share of the blame in recent years. His corrupt and ludicrous presidency has brought America’s decline forward. It has also brought it into sharp focus. — © Mark Alexander

Trump Was Flattering, Xi Was Resolute. The Difference Spoke Volumes.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: In contrast to his rhetoric about China at home, President Trump spoke in conciliatory terms with Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader.

For President Trump, the first day of his visit to Beijing was all about the personal relationship between him and Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader.

“You’re a great leader,” he told his host, whom he has often said he admires for his “powerful” control over a nation of 1.4 billion people. “I say it to everybody.”

Mr. Xi, unsurprisingly, spent little time on flattery. Once the 21-gun salute and precision-marching by units of the People’s Liberation Army were finished, the disciplined Chinese leader plunged right away into setting boundaries for the two country’s relations. The red line was Taiwan, he said, making it abundantly clear that Mr. Trump’s effort at rapprochement could crash on takeoff if he interferes with China’s long-term effort to take control of the self-governing island.

“The U.S. must handle the Taiwan issue with utmost caution,” he said according to a readout from Xinhua, China’s official news agency. The warning came just minutes into his public remarks in the Great Hall of the People, the center of power for the People’s Republic starting just a decade into Mao’s revolution. For Mr. Xi, it was all about setting boundaries, from the start.

The moment seemed to capture the new equilibrium between the two adversaries. Mr. Xi arrived highly scripted, leaving no doubt that for all of China’s problems — deflation, depopulation, the bursting of the real estate bubble — the moment when China acts as a peer superpower had arrived. » | David E. Sanger | David E. Sanger has covered five American presidents and their encounters with China, a subject of his latest book. He reported from Beijing. | Thursday, May 14, 2026

Xi Warns Trump of Potential "Conflict" over Taiwan in Beijing Summit on Iran, Trade, Tech & More

May 14, 2026 | U.S. President Donald Trump is in Beijing for a highly anticipated summit with his Chinese counterpart President Xi Jinping. It is the first U.S. state visit to China since 2017, during Trump's first administration. Trade, the Iran war, artificial intelligence and the fate of Taiwan are some of the issues being discussed, although it's not clear if any new agreements are likely. Trump traveled to China with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, along with a delegation of top U.S. executives including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Elon Musk of Tesla and Jensen Huang of Nvidia.

The summit comes after years of rising hostility between the two superpowers, but leaders recognize the importance of improving the bilateral relationship, says Zhao Hai, director of international political studies at the Institute of World Economics and Politics in Beijing. "This is a very critical historical moment [at] a crossroad, and both sides now are working together to establish a stable relationship that will have a global ramification," he says.

We also speak with Jake Werner, a historian of modern China and director of the East Asia Program at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. He says the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and the resulting economic chaos have strengthened China's position.

"China has ties to all the countries in the region. It has acted in the past to help broker the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran," says Werner. "So it has some experience in this realm, sort of acting as a broker towards peace."


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China’s Xi Warns Trump on Taiwan at Beijing Summit

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Xi Jinping, China’s leader, told President Trump that Taiwan, if handled poorly, could lead to a clash with the United States. The two leaders are also expected to discuss trade and the Iran war at the two-day summit.

China’s leader, Xi Jinping, delivered a warning on Taiwan to President Trump as the two leaders began their summit in Beijing on Thursday, saying that the issue, if handled poorly, could lead to conflict and “an extremely dangerous situation.”

The two men met in the Chinese capital in a ceremony laden with pageantry and pleasantries. But Mr. Xi’s warning was a stark reminder that Taiwan, a self-governing island claimed by China, is a red line.

The two-day summit, the first U.S. presidential visit to China in nearly a decade, could determine whether a détente that has prevailed between the two countries will continue — and what concessions, if any, either side is willing to make.

Mr. Xi greeted Mr. Trump on Thursday morning outside the Great Hall of the People. They shook hands before walking together past an honor guard and rows of cheering children. As “The Star-Spangled Banner” played, a 21-gun salute echoed across Tiananmen Square.

Inside the Great Hall, Mr. Xi called for the two countries to work together to confront an increasingly “complex and turbulent world.”

“We should be partners, not adversaries,” he said.

Mr. Trump emphasized his personal relationship with Mr. Xi, and said the two leaders speak to each other on the phone to work out problems. “You’re a great leader,” he told Mr. Xi.

But Mr. Xi made clear that Taiwan had the potential to spoil the relationship. “If handled poorly, the two countries will collide or even clash, putting the entire U.S.-China relationship in an extremely dangerous situation,” he said while referring to Taiwan, according to a readout from Xinhua, China’s official news agency.

One of China’s related priorities is persuading the United States to curtail its arms sales to Taiwan.

Aside from Taiwan, Mr. Xi and Mr. Trump discussed trade, the Middle East, Ukraine and the Korean Peninsula, according to Xinhua. Details about the talks were not immediately released and there was little indication of whether there had been any breakthroughs. Live Updates » | Lily Kuo and David E. Sanger | David E. Sanger reported from the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. | Thursday, May 14, 2026

Trump in Peking gelandet: Xi empfängt US-Präsidenten mit großem Zeremoniell

BERLINER ZEITUNG: Donald Trump ist am Mittwochabend in Peking eingetroffen. Begleitet wird der US-Präsident von Tech-Managern wie Elon Musk und Nvidia-Chef Jensen Huang.

US-Präsident Donald Trump ist in Peking eingetroffen. Zum Auftakt seines zweitägigen Staatsbesuchs wurde Trump auf dem Flughafen mit militärischen Ehren, chinesischen Flaggen schwenkenden Studenten und einem streng choreografierten Empfang begrüßt, wie Reuters, BBC und AP berichten. Auf Bildern war zu sehen, wie Trump auf dem roten Teppich stehen blieb, in die Menge winkte und die Faust hob.

Die Präsidentenmaschine Air Force One landete am Mittwoch um 19.50 Uhr (Ortszeit, 13.50 MESZ) auf dem internationalen Flughafen von Peking. Trump wurde von Chinas Vizepräsident Han Zheng in Empfang genommen und bekam einen Blumenstrauß überreicht. Dann schritt er über einen roten Teppich, während 300 Jugendliche in Uniformen kleine chinesische und US-Flaggen schwenkten. » | Alexander Schmalz | Mittwoch, 13. Mai 2026

Steve Schmidt: Trump Will Accelerate America's Decline

May 12, 2026 | Donald Trump is headed to China for the first time since 2017 to meet with Xi Jinping. Steve Schmidt explains why America has never been weaker and Trump bears the blame.

How Americans could have been so stupid and reckless as to elect, and even re-elect, this most unsuitable man into the White House is beyond belief! As I have said many times before, the man belongs in clink. And if Americans cannot bring themselves to incarcerate him, the least they should do is gag him, and enchain him to a rocking chair with a view over the ocean! Whilst this man holds the reins of power in the Occident, the Orient, and actually the whole wide world will remain unstable. — © Mark Alexander

Militärschiff in Taiwanstraße: China wirft Japan vor, „bewusst Ärger zu provozieren“

BERLINER ZEITUNG: Ein Schiff des japanischen Militärs soll durch die Taiwanstraße gefahren sein. China spricht von einem „gefährlichen“ Vorgang.

Screenshot stammt aus diesem Artikel. | Der Sprecher des chinesischen Außenministeriums, Guo Jiakun | Kyodo News/imago
Die Spannungen zwischen China und Japan haben sich erneut verschärft. Ein Schiff der japanischen Selbstverteidigungsstreitkräfte (SDF) ist nach chinesischen Angaben am Freitag in die Taiwanstraße gefahren, wogegen China protestierte.

„Dies entlarvt einmal mehr den gefährlichen Versuch bestimmter Personen in Japan, militärisch in die Taiwanstraße einzugreifen und Frieden und Stabilität über die Straße hinweg zu untergraben“, sagte Chinas Außenministeriumssprecher Guo Jiakun laut der staatlichen Nachrichtenagentur Xinhua am Freitag. » | Anika Schlünz | Freitag, 17. April 2026

China’s Role in Iran-Israeli Tensions | John Mearsheimer

These are John Mearsheimer’s thoughts.

China Calls Trump’s Hormuz Blockade ‘Dangerous and Irresponsible’

THE TELEGRAPH: China condemned the US naval blockade of Iranian ports as “dangerous and irresponsible” after Donald Trump threatened to sink any boats that defy it.

The blockade came into force on Monday after peace talks between Washington and Tehran collapsed in Pakistan, although a fragile ceasefire still holds.

“The US increased military deployments and took a targeted blockade action, which will only exacerbate tensions and undermine the already fragile ceasefire agreement and further jeopardise safety of passage through the strait,” Guo Jiakun, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters.

“This is dangerous and irresponsible behaviour,” he added. » | Iona Cleave. Chanel Zagon. Kelly-Anne Taylor | Tuesday, April 14, 2026

Richard Wolff: China Won the Economic War; the West Fragments

Mar 20, 2026

China Has a Ten-year Strategy; the US Has None amid Deep Political Division

Ptofessor Jeffrey Sachs explains.

nternational: China will Frauen zurück in die Gebärsäle bringen

Mar 8, 2026 | Jahrzehntelang galt die strikte Ein-Kind-Doktrin. China fürchtete sich vor Überbevölkerung. Doch inzwischen ist alles anders. Die Bevölkerung schrumpft und die Behörden versuchen, Frauen zum Gebären zu motivieren. Auch mit unzimperlichen Methoden.

China hat eine der tiefsten Geburtsraten der Welt. Laut Demographen kommen auf jede Chinesin durchschnittlich nur noch 0.9 Kinder. Das ist weniger als in den geburtenschwachen südeuropäischen Ländern. Und weit entfernt von den 2.1 Kindern, die nötig wären, um die Bevölkerungszahl stabil zu halten.

Die Angst vor dem Bevölkerungsschwund hat dazu geführt, dass der Staat in den letzten Jahren den Druck auf junge Frauen stetig erhöht hat. Sie sollen wieder mehr Kinder auf die Welt bringen. Inzwischen heisst die offizielle Losung Drei-Kind-Politik. Die Behörden setzen auf Anreize, locken etwa mit Geburtenzulagen und Kindergeld. Doch sie scheuen auch nicht vor direkter Einflussnahme zurück. Verhütung wurde verteuert, frisch verheiratete Frauen bekommen Anrufe von Parteikadern, die sich erkundigen, wann sie endlich schwanger würden.

Viele moderne Chinesinnen aber entziehen sich der staatlich verordneten Familienförderung. Sie wollen sich nicht in die traditionelle Hausfrauen- und Mutterrolle zurückdrängen lassen.

‘Deep Dark Son of a B**ch’: Jeffrey Sachs Loses Cool at Netanyahu's Iran War | US News

Mar 4, 2026 | American economist Jeffrey Sachs launches a fierce critique of U.S. foreign policy, accusing Washington and President Donald Trump of misleading the public over wars in the Middle East, including Iran. He questions whether American democracy truly functions on life-and-death decisions, claims wars were sold through narratives and focus groups, and argues interventions from Iraq to Syria were based on phony pretences. Sachs also criticises regime change operations, CIA secrecy, and what he calls a “game” of power politics. He warns America’s greatest risks come from within, not from China.

Jeffrey Sachs: “US Will Fail” in Iran War | Israel a Terror State? | Russia & China’s Next Move

Mar 1, 2026 | We interviewed Jeffrey Sachs on the ongoing US-Israel attack on Iran — and his verdict is blunt: “The US will fail.”