Iran

On April 19, 1979, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware was in Beijing, meeting with China’s paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping, when he put Washington’s nascent friendship with the Communists to the test. That Biden was sitting there at all was remarkable. The United States and China had been implacable foes for decades. In Washington, Deng and his cadres were seen as a dangerous arm of the Red menace, their conquest of China 30 years earlier bitterly lamented as its “loss” to godless Communism. In Beijing, the Americans were viewed as merciless imperialists, defenders of the Nationalists, the Communists’ mortal enemy ensconced on the island of Taiwan. In 1971, when National Security Adviser Henry Kissinger initially broke the ice with the Chinese Communists, he had to sneak into Beijing secretly. Biden arrived quite publicly as part of a five-member delegation from the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. His six-day tour included visits to a school, factories, and a commune. Still, … [Read more...] about When Biden Went to China

Published 8 December 2016 comments Comments Share close Share page Copy link About sharing Downing Street has said Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson's comments on Saudi Arabia do not represent "the government's position". Footage has emerged from an event last week at which Mr Johnson said UK ally Saudi Arabia was engaging in "proxy wars" in the Middle East. The PM's spokeswoman said these were the foreign secretary's personal views. But former minister Crispin Blunt said No 10 had been "a little too sensitive in responding to his remarks". Laura Kuenssberg: Is Boris in bother? The chairman of the foreign affairs select committee told the BBC: "We have an intellectually brilliant foreign secretary who is thinking about the issues and engaging fully. Boris is making the personal transition to foreign secretary from commentator and the watching media jump on … [Read more...] about Boris Johnson’s Saudi ‘proxy wars’ comment ‘not UK’s view’