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NEWS AND ANALYSIS:

The Biden administration bowed to the Chinese government’s request and reversed restrictions imposed by the Trump administration on officials working at Chinese state-controlled media outlets in the United States.

A State Department spokesperson confirmed reports in Chinese state media that Beijing has once again agreed to issue visas to working US journalists and that the US government will respond to reporters in China with reporters in the US.

In 2020, the State Department placed restrictions on Chinese media outlets operating in the US, designating them as foreign missions due to heavy government controls over these organizations and their staff. Many of them are known to US officials as intelligence agents. Chinese He responded by deporting a number of American journalists working for major news organizations.

The agreement on the easing of visa restrictions was reached before the virtual summit between the President. Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday. At the opening of the talks, which lasted more than three hours, Mr. Xi referred to Mr. Xi. Biden as “old friend”

The concession to Chinese media was featured on a list of 16 requests and 10 specific concerns. presented During his visit by Chinese officials to Deputy Foreign Minister Wendy Sherman Chinese last summer.

The deal to relax restrictions on Chinese media outlets comes after the deal that led to the release from Canada of Huawei Technologies Chief Financial Officer Meng Wanzhou, who faces extradition to the United States on charges of illegal financial relations with Iran. Ms. Meng’s release was also among the items on the list of Chinese demands.

A third concession was a word from the President Biden Ending the US policy of identifying the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) as an illegitimate ruler ChineseUnlike the 1.4 billion Chinese. The CCP was targeted under the policies of the Trump administration in an attempt to put pressure on the Marxist-Leninist regime that runs the country. Chinese With devastating results since 1949.

Historians have said that the communist system resulted in the deaths of more than 60 million Chinese through policies of mass repression, government-generated famines, and devastating social engineering.

Chinese state media, Mr. Biden He promised Mr. Xi that the United States would not “try to change”. Chinesesystem.”

The White House made no mention of it at Monday night’s virtual summit’s reading.

A senior administration official declined to say whether the president had promised Mr. Xi the US would not undermine the Chinese system, but said previous policies that sought to transform that system were “faulty”.

“We are not trying to achieve a fundamental transformation. Chinese himself,” said the official.

Prior to the summit, a US official denied that the administration had taken any action on 16 requests and 10 lawsuits. Chinese He said that in order for US-China relations to be established closer, they must be resolved.

Global Times, affiliated with the CCP, Mr. Biden He made three promises to Mr. Xi, including the one about the Chinese system. Other remarks made by the president were statements that the growing US alliances in the region were not targeted. Chinese and does not want a conflict with the United States Chinese.

Second blunder in Taiwan stalemate

President Biden This is the second time he’s been wrong about Taiwan this week, on an issue that has contributed to escalating tensions between Washington and Beijing.

After that her Mr. Xi, virtual meeting with Mr. Xi Biden A reporter asked if the two leaders had made any progress on the thorny issue of Chinese pressure on Taiwan, an island democracy 100 miles off the coast of China.

“Yes. We’ve made it clear that we support Taiwan’s law and that’s it. Independent. He makes his own decisions,” he said. Biden said.

For the second time in recent weeks, the president has made harsh comments on US policy towards Taiwan.

Previously Mr. Biden He said the United States would defend Taiwan against a Chinese attack. Since the United States changed diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in the 1970s, policy has been deliberately left vague.

ChineseSeeing the island as part of its sovereign territory, he said Taiwan’s official declaration of independence from the mainland in 1949 was a “red line” for military intervention.

During the virtual summit, Mr. Xi told Mr. Xi: Biden he Chinese According to Chinese state media, Taiwan is ready for “decisive measures” if it takes any steps towards independence.

In the past weeks, ChineseThe military at one point sent more than 150 aircraft to the island’s defense identification zone, stepping up incendiary fighter flights near Taiwan.

Realizing Tuesday’s final blunder, Mr. Biden He backed off, telling reporters in New Hampshire: he It does not support Taiwan’s independence.

“We will definitely not change our policy” he said. “I said they had to decide – they – Taiwan. Not us. And we do not encourage independence; We encourage them to do exactly what Taiwanese law requires.”

The 1979 Taiwan Relations Act was passed by Congress in response to the lowering of relations with Taiwan. The law calls on the United States to supply Taiwan with defensive weapons, but it does not hesitate to formally declare that the United States will defend Taiwan militarily.

A report released Wednesday by the Congressional U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said the situation in the Taiwan Strait was “dangerous” and that it was “dangerous”. Chinesearmy has the power to retake the island for the first time.

Russian military hailed satellite death

Russia’s Ministry of Defense this week rejected international protests and insisted that the test posed no danger, citing that an orbiting and defunct Russian satellite had been destroyed from a ground-based anti-satellite (ASAT) missile test.

Defense analysts say the area of ​​thousands of potentially damaging fragments from the space explosion could threaten low-Earth-orbiting satellites and the International Space Station, which had to change its flight path this week to avoid being hit. Pieces of debris orbit at very high speeds and can puncture the shells of satellites.

The test came amid tensions over Moscow’s potential military moves against Ukraine, where thousands of Russian troops have repeatedly massed at the border. The test also appears to be timed as a geopolitical signal to the United States that Russia could target US satellites if a military response by NATO to Russia’s advance in support of pro-Moscow separatist forces is given.

Russian troops captured Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014, leading to US and European sanctions against Moscow.

The Russian ministry said in a statement that the military “successfully conducted a test in which the Russian Tselina-D satellite, which has been in orbit since 1982, was shot down” on November 15.

The statement said the test was “conducted in the context of an American space strategy aimed at creating an overall military advantage in space, and therefore the Russian Ministry of Defense has implemented planned measures to strengthen the country’s defense capacity.”

The US has protested the ASAT test but has so far taken no further action to punish Russia. The test looked like this ChineseExtremely destructive 2007 ASAT missile test, which also created a large debris field.

“The United States knows with certainty that the fragments revealed during testing and in terms of orbital parameters do not and will not pose any threat to orbital stations, satellites and space activities,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said in a statement. .

The ministry drew attention to previous space tests by the United States. Chinese and India, however, made no mention of the devastating space explosions carried out by the Soviet Union in the 1970s.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said the space station crew had taken “emergency procedures for safety” inside the station to avoid satellite debris. The station passes through the debris field every 90 minutes.

“I am outraged by this irresponsible and destabilizing action,” said Mr. Nelson, adding that Russia’s actions were “reckless and dangerous”.

• Contact Bill Gertz on Twitter at @Bill Gertz.