John Ruwitch
John Ruwitch is a correspondent with NPR's international desk. He covers Chinese affairs.
Ruwitch joined NPR in early 2020, and has since chronicled the tectonic shift in America's relations with China, from hopeful engagement to suspicion-fueled competition. He's also reported on a range of other issues, including Beijing's pressure campaign on Taiwan, Hong Kong's National Security Law, Asian-Americans considering guns for self-defense in the face of rising violence and a herd of elephants roaming in the Chinese countryside in search of a home.
Ruwitch joined NPR after more than 19 years with Reuters in Asia, the last eight of which were in Shanghai. There, he first covered a broad beat that took him as far afield as the China-North Korea border and the edge of the South China Sea. Later, he led a team that covered business and financial markets in the world's second biggest economy. Ruwitch has also had postings in Hanoi, Hong Kong and Beijing, reporting on anti-corruption campaigns, elite Communist politics, labor disputes, human rights, currency devaluations, earthquakes, snowstorms, Olympic badminton and everything in between.
Ruwitch studied history at U.C. Santa Cruz and got a master's in Regional Studies East Asia from Harvard. He speaks Mandarin and Vietnamese.
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Zhao Lijian, a foreign ministry spokesman known for his combative approach, was reassigned. The change is mostly tactical, but analysts see a window of opportunity to improve China-U.S. relations. -
The reluctance of many citizens — especially the elderly — to get vaccinated is a problem for a government facing intense pressure to roll back strict COVID policies.
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Extraordinary street protests in some Chinese cities and campuses over the weekend put Xi Jinping's controversial approach to the pandemic under the spotlight.
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Unverified videos show people breaking down barriers and marching through streets in Guangzhou as frustration boils over about China's strict COVID-19 controls.
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President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a high-stakes face-to-face meeting in Bali, Indonesia.
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The meeting at the G20 in Indonesia will be their first in person since President Biden took office. Whether they can find common ground is a key question, and reflects the current state of relations.
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Authorities in Beijing ease — but don't end — COVID-19 control policies that have kept case counts low but hurt the Chinese economy.
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Most attempts at leader succession in China have flopped, but Xi Jinping's norm-breaking practice comes at a precarious time for his country.
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Xi Jinping has came out of the party congress stronger than ever after securing a third term as party boss and pushing all but his most loyal of allies out of the picture.
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Xi Jinping has become China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. NPR has been speaking with a broad range of Chinese people about the impact he has had. Here is what four of them had to say.
