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 years of U.S. criticism about human rights, China's Communist Party has seized on protests sparked by George Floyd's death to spread propaganda about what it calls American "double standards."
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Protests across the U.S. sparked by George Floyd's death have created an unlikely opportunity — for China. The scenes of violence became a propaganda gold mine for the ruling Communist Party.
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After China's central government asserted more direct authority over Hong Kong, President Trump announced his intent to revoke Hong Kong's special customs status and take other steps.
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President Trump announced a set of measures on Hong Kong on Friday, after China announced earlier this week that it was going to impose new national security measures in the city.
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Here are some key points about what the latest moves by Beijing and Washington may mean for Hong Kong.
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he has reported to Congress that Hong Kong is no longer autonomous from China — a move that may lead the U.S. to withdraw preferential trade status of the city.
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Experts say the Communist Party sees more at stake than public health. One of the biggest concerns is the economy. China is also looking to defuse criticism over its early handling of the outbreak.
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China is leading the global race in the development of a COVID-19 vaccine. Half of the vaccines that have already gone into clinical trials were discovered by Chinese companies.
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By not inviting Taiwan to its health assembly, the World Health Organization kept out "scientific expertise on pandemic disease" and "damaged the WHO's credibility," the secretary of state said.
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Taiwan has reported fewer than 500 cases of COVID-19 and six deaths, but a push to get the country invited to the World Health Organization's annual meeting is expected to fail.