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A new report on the auto industry cites extensive links to Xinjiang, where the U.S. government now presumes goods are made with forced labor.

Chinese president’s three-day trip to Riyadh will lead to a ‘strategic agreement’ between the authoritarian powers
Xi Jinping will arrive in Riyadh on Wednesday on a long awaited visit to a regional ally that has readied full state pageantry and a round of agreements likely to cement ties between China and Saudi Arabia – and deepen alarm in Washington.
China’s president will meet more than 30 heads of state and business leaders during his three-day visit to the Saudi capital, which is set to lead to a “strategic agreement” between the authoritarian powers. The trip is the culmination of decades of cooperation once based on oil sales, which has grown into bilateral trade of close to $90bn a year.

For years, we've known the Chinese Communist Party is pillaging Africa for rare earth elements integral to modern life.

At annual high-level talks, defence secretary pledges to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines ‘as quickly as possible’
The US will increase rotations of its air, land and sea forces to Australia and has condemned China’s “dangerous and coercive actions” across the Indo-Pacific region.
As part of the step-up in defence ties, the US plans to preposition munitions and fuel in Australia to support its military forces. Airfields in northern Australia are set to be upgraded to enable rotations of US aircraft.

In September, MPR News aired a story about theater in the Twin Cities, which was offering an unusually wide selection of Asian-centered plays.  Now there is a new book on the history of Asian American ...

Joseph Wu backs Chinese protesters but says Beijing ‘might try to create external crisis to divert domestic attention’
Taiwan’s foreign minister has backed China’s anti-Covid protesters but also expressed concerns that Beijing could seek to scapegoat Taiwan if demonstrations restarted.
Joseph Wu said Taiwan stood alongside other democracies in calling for China to “respect basic human rights” regarding the that spread across China last week and the swift police response to close in on those involved.

Apple's planning to source chips from TSMC's Arizona plant, as the tech giant navigates geopolitical tensions and China's strict COVID-19 measures.

António Guterres calls for end to destruction of nature as Canada pushes proposal to protect 30% of Earth
Humanity has become a weapon of mass extinction and governments must end the “orgy of destruction”, the UN secretary general, António Guterres, has said at the beginning of the biodiversity Cop15.
“We are out of harmony with nature. In fact, we are playing an entirely different song. Around the world, for hundreds of years, we have conducted a cacophony of chaos, played with instruments of destruction. Deforestation and desertification are creating wastelands of once-thriving ecosystems,” he said.

Xi Jinping’s trip, which will include three regional summits, aims to deepen a relationship with Gulf States that has grown far beyond oil.

BayaniPay, a financial service for global professionals, has raised $4.5 million in seed funding from East West Bank, Wavemaker Partners and Talino Venture Labs.

To go from that, to now being in House leadership in the Democratic caucus,” Lieu said, shows “the durability of the American dream.” His arc is also somewhat of a metaphor for a larger phenomenon ...

Key Takeaways U.S.-person personnel at Chinese chip manufacturers are in a precarious position. New rules limit what activities those persons may undertake with respect to their work.