President Joe Biden has said the United States (US) would come to Taiwan’s defence and had a commitment to defend the island China claims as its own, forcing the White House to clarify for the second time in three months that US policy on the subject has not changed.“Yes, we have a commitment to do that,” Biden said at a CNN town hall on Thursday night when asked if the US would come to the defence of Taiwan, which has complained of mounting military and political pressure from Beijing to acc

The relationship between the United States (US) and China promises to do much to define this era. And what could determine this relationship might well be whether the two countries are able to continue to avoid armed conflict over Taiwan. But with signs that the chances of conflict are growing, the question facing the US and its partners is how to avoid that outcome without sacrificing essential interests. Conceptual framing is always critical to foreign policy.

The United States (US) is "very concerned" about China's hypersonic missile tests, US disarmament ambassador Robert Wood said Monday, after reports that Beijing launched one with a nuclear capacity in August.On Saturday, the Financial Times (FT) reported that China had launched a hypersonic missile that completed a circuit of the planet before landing, missing its target."We are very concerned by what China has been doing on the hypersonic front," said Wood, who next

The European Union (EU) has exported "over one billion" doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the past 10 months, the bloc's chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday."Very clearly, the European Union is the largest exporter of COVID-19 vaccines," she said, announcing the "important milestone" in a brief broadcast and statement.Von der Leyen said that 87 million of the doses had been funnelled through the WHO-led COVAX scheme to mid- and low-income countries.&nb

People who received Johnson & Johnson's COVID-19 vaccine may benefit from a booster dose of Pfizer or Moderna, preliminary results of a United States (US) study published Wednesday showed.The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was eagerly awaited in the US because it looked at the possibility of "mixing" vaccines – using a different vaccine than the initial doses for the booster shot – which is not currently allowed in the country.The study was co

United States (US) drugmaker Pfizer said Thursday it has formally requested emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in children aged five to 11.Children have been infected in greater numbers in the latest coronavirus wave driven by the Delta variant, and inoculating young people is seen as key to keeping schools open and helping end the pandemic.In late September, Pfizer and BioNTech, the German biotechnology giant which co-developed the vaccine, began submitting data to Food and

As United States (US) President Joe Biden’s administration implements its strategy of great power competition with China, analysts seek historical metaphors to explain the deepening rivalry. But while many invoke the onset of the Cold War, a more worrisome historical metaphor is the start of World War I. In 1914, all the great powers expected a short third Balkan War.

The top diplomat of the Philippines issued a statement published on the Department of Foreign Affairs’ website on 19 September, 2021 saying that “The Philippines welcomes Australia’s decision to establish an enhanced trilateral security partnership with the US primarily and the UK.

United States (US) pharmaceutical company Merck said Friday it will seek authorization of its oral drug molnupiravir for COVID-19 after it was shown to reduce the chance newly infected patients were hospitalised by 50 percent.A simple pill to treat the coronavirus has been sought since the start of the pandemic and Friday's announcement was hailed as a major step towards that goal."We are optimistic that molnupiravir can become an important medicine as part of the global effort to f

The planet is heating up – and so are global geopolitics. With less than two months until the crucial United Nations (UN) Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, the United States (US) and China must commit to cooperate on the existential challenge global warming represents. But bilateral relations remain burdened by mistrust, antagonism, and even warmongering. Technically, the US and China are both willing to cooperate on climate change.