Micah McCartney

Taipei

Journalist at Newsweek

Asia security, economics reporter @Newsweek. 📩 tips to [email protected]

Articles

4 key moments this week

6 days ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

Beijing's pressure campaign on Taipei continues, with fresh points of diplomatic friction emerging this week. Newsweek reached out to the Taiwanese and Chinese foreign ministries with emailed requests for comment. Why It MattersTensions remain high across the narrow Taiwan Strait following China's large-scale military drills around Taiwan earlier this month. Beijing claims the self-ruled island as its territory and has ramped up its multipronged pressure campaign against Taipei.
Xi tours China's backyard to rally against Trump

6 days ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

Chinese President Xi Jinping has wrapped up a whirlwind tour of Southeast Asia, seeking to rally support amid U.S. President Donald Trump's chaotic trade offensive. Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Department of State by email outside of office hours. Why It MattersThe sweeping tariffs Trump imposed on scores of countries and regions earlier this month-many of them were later walked back-shook global markets and revived uncertainty over U.S. trade policy.
China calls bluff on 245% US tariff: 'Meaningless'

1 week ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

China has shrugged off the latest U.S. tariff hike, dismissing the Trump administration's threats as a "meaningless tariff numbers game."Newsweek reached out to the White House by email with a request for comment. Why It MattersPresident Donald Trump's move last week to impose tariffs on scores of countries and regions wiped trillions of dollars off Wall Street and shook global markets.
Exclusive-satellites show Chinese moves against US ally

1 week ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

New satellite imagery has revealed for the first time a hulking steel rig in the Yellow Sea between China and South Korea that has inflamed tensions between the two nations. The photographs, supplied exclusively to Newsweek, show the latest of several large steel platforms that China has installed in the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ), a jointly managed stretch of the Yellow Sea, known in Korea as the West Sea, where the Chinese and South Korean exclusive economic zones (EEZs) overlap.
Beijing responds to Google label in South China Sea

1 week ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

China has pushed back against Google Maps labeling parts of the South China Sea east of the Philippines as the "West Philippine Sea."Newsweek has contacted Google and the Chinese Foreign Ministry for comment via email. Why It MattersThe Philippines, a U.S. defense treaty ally, uses the term "West Philippine Sea" to refer to the portion of the South China Sea that lies within its exclusive economic zone -an area where international law accords the country the sole right to natural resources.
China mocks US trains with embassy meme post

1 week ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

China's embassy in Washington, D.C., has shared an image contrasting the country's rail infrastructure with that of the United States in a pointed jab at Beijing's rival amid simmering trade tensions. Newsweek reached out to the Chinese Embassy via email for comment. Why It MattersThe image, posted Sunday on the Chinese embassy's Facebook page, followed President Donald Trump's latest escalation of the U.S.-China trade war, on Friday raising the blanket tariff on Chinese goods to 145 percent.
Japan sinks further into population crisis

1 week ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

The Japanese government has issued another grim update as the window for preventing a demographic crisis continues to narrow. The country's population shrank by nearly 900,000 people in the year leading up to October 1, according to statistics released Monday by Japan's internal affairs ministry.
Russia could help China resist Trump's trade war

1 week ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

Though President Donald Trump's April 9 "Liberation Day" tariff offensive sent global markets into chaos and slapped new levies on nearly every U.S. trading partner, one conspicuous exception stood out: Russia. The decision not to impose new tariffs on a country still sanctioned by much of the West has fueled speculation that China could use its closest geopolitical partner as a workaround to keep its exports flowing.
China thinks Trump has blinked first in tariff war

1 week ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

President Donald Trump's move to exempt electronics from a sweeping U.S. tariff on China marks a "small step" back from an "erroneous practice," Beijing said on Sunday, urging the administration to scrap its tariff regime altogether. Trump has defended his tariff strategy as a way to restore U.S. manufacturing and push trading partners to eliminate what he calls unfair barriers to American goods.
Russia's hidden recruitment of Chinese soldiers revealed in report

1 week ago | newsweek.com | Micah McCartney

A new investigation has uncovered evidence of Chinese nationals enlisting to join Russia's forces in Russian President Vladimir Putin's war against Ukraine. The findings were published days after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said two Chinese nationals had been captured on the battlefield-intensifying the spotlight on Beijing's unofficial role in the conflict. Newsweek has contacted the Russian and Chinese Foreign Ministries for comment via email.