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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New textbooks contend the territory was never a British colony. The reason: China never recognized the treaties that ceded it to Britain. -
China's foreign minister recently wrapped up a visit to eight Pacific island nations, raising alarm in the U.S. and its allies.
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Hong Kong's new leader, John Lee, rose through the law enforcement ranks to become the territory's No. 2 under outgoing Chief Executive Carrie Lam. He faces governing a divided and mistrustful city.
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U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese diplomats in Rome on Monday in what a senior administration adviser described as an "intense" seven-hour session.
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Top Chinese and U.S. officials met in Rome to discuss the Ukraine crisis amid reports that Russia has asked Beijing for military and economic assistance.
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Ahead of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, China was widely seen as one of Moscow's few allies. But the recent actions of President Vladmir Putin now has China trying to distance itself from Russia.
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Until the middle of last year, most cryptocurrency mining took place in China. Then authorities pulled the plug. So Chinese bitcoin miners began moving their gear to U.S. towns like Kearney, Nebraska.
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Hong Kong has imposed severe restrictions to fight COVID-19. For many expatriates, this is the last straw after years of seeing its autonomy erode as China tightens its grip on the territory.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are meeting Friday in Beijing on the eve of the Winter Olympics.
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Next week, Beijing will become the first city to host both Summer and Winter Olympics. To China, it's a big deal — even if a handful of countries are protesting China's human rights record.
