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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After hours of talks, the two leaders emerged with agreements to cooperate. Biden even said he and Xi agreed that they should be able to pick up the phone and talk with one another whenever they want. -
From Taiwan to fentanyl, President Biden and China's leader Xi Jinping have plenty to sort through when the two meet face-to-face for the first time in a year. -
The meeting will follow months of back-and-forth diplomacy to smooth over disagreements and set stage for first interaction since they sat down together in Bali, Indonesia last year -
Li was groomed for leadership, and was seen at one point as a contender for China's top job, only to be pushed aside as Xi Jinping ascended. -
China's leadership has formally dismissed the country's defense minister, Li Shangfu, two months after he disappeared from the public eye — the second minister to be removed recently. -
Almost all of China's medium and large cities are susceptible to floods. Some experts are promoting a solution called sponge cities — urban landscapes that are softer and meant to absorb more water. -
He Jiankui, who shocked the world in 2018 by announcing the creation of the first gene-edited babies, tells NPR he's now working on a cure for Duchenne muscular dystrophy. -
The Chinese leader's call comes as he has sought to play the role of peacemaker, though chances of a big breakthrough are slim, given how far apart Russia's and Ukraine's positions remain.
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For President Tsai Ing-wen, the meeting capped off a high-stakes trip intended to prove to voters that strengthening U.S. ties is worth the fallout, as Taipei's relations with China deteriorate. -
Taiwan's president is in the United States as part of a multi-day itinerary that will take the leader of the Asian democratic island through Central and North America.
