Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with China’s President Xi Jinping and other Beijing officials as differences between the two nations grow on a number of issues. 

Blinken said he outlined the U.S. worries with China, mentioning Beijing’s backing of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which has surpassed the two-year mark, and Taiwan.

“Russia would struggle to sustain its assault on Ukraine without China’s support,” Blinken said to reporters following the meeting.

The areas where the United States and China can work together seem to be shrinking fast, and the risks of confrontation are growing. But it was clear on Friday that both countries are trying to salvage what they can.

Preserving some semblance of cooperation — and the difficulty of doing so — was at the heart of a meeting between Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken and China’s leader, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Friday. It was the latest effort by the rivals to keep communications open even as disputes escalate over trade, national security and geopolitical frictions.

China is making “attempts to influence and arguably interfere” in the 2024 elections in the United States, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said during a diplomatic tour to the communist country.

Taiwanese voters struck a blow to China on Saturday as they elected a president who has vowed to protect the island’s democratic way of life from Beijing’s influence.

Lai Ching-te, the presidential candidate for Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party, won the closely-watched election, with partial results showing he had taken 40.2 per cent of ballots cast as his two opponents conceded defeat in front of supporters.

Taiwanese voters swept the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential candidate Lai Ching-te into power on Saturday, strongly rejecting Chinese pressure to spurn him, as China said it would not give up on achieving "reunification".

Lai's party, which champions Taiwan's separate identity and rejects China's territorial claims, was seeking a third successive four year term, unprecedented under Taiwan's current electoral system.

Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party pulled off a historic third consecutive presidential victory on Saturday as voters shrugged off warnings by China that their re-election would increase the risk of conflict.

Lai Ching-te, Taiwan’s current vice president, declared victory on Saturday evening while his two opposition rivals both conceded defeat.

“This is a night that belongs to Taiwan. We managed to keep Taiwan on the map of the world,” Lai told thousands of jubilant supporters at a rally after his win.

In a cozy, upper Midwestern industrial town, something a little unusual happened on Aug. 30, when representatives from both major parties along with industry and labor representatives came together to recognize a common threat.

"China has a plan to replace the United States, and they're working on it every single day," Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) told The Epoch Times on the factory floor at Stoughton Trailers, a manufacturer of dry vans, grain trailers, and similar products.

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was heavily criticized Friday after a Fox News Digital report showed she spoke twice with a top Chinese government official before the White House announced plans to tap emergency oil stocks.

According to internal Department of Energy (DOE) calendars obtained by Americans for Public Trust, Granholm consulted China National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang Jianhua, a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party, Nov. 19, 2021, and two days later on Nov. 21, 2021. 

China and the U.S. took steps to halt the spiral in relations, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping, though the two powers might have trouble keeping their global rivalry from swamping the tentative rapprochement.