Recently, in The Signal: What are the risks of “killer robots” to civilians? Lucy Suchman on the automation of modern warfare.
Today: Why are millions of factory jobs leaving China? Victor Shih on the country’s extraordinary self-inflicted loss.
+ Is Donald Trump making the People’s Republic more popular? What we’re tracking for this week’s member’s despatch. & New music from Max Richter …
Feature
Allison Braden
Connections / from the member’s despatch
China first. Since U.S. President Donald Trump declared a new round of global tariffs on April 2, Chinese diplomats have been unusually busy: They organized a meeting with their counterparts from Japan and South Korea—the first meeting among representatives of the three countries in five years. President Xi Jinping is in Russia now, at ceremonies commemorating the end of World War II, where he’s meeting with President Vladimir Putin and many other heads of state. Since April 2, Xi has already traveled to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Malaysia—and next week, he’ll meet with Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and other Latin American leaders at a summit in Beijing.
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has meanwhile met with more than 20 foreign leaders, including of Nigeria, Uzbekistan, and Switzerland. And last week, Beijing dropped sanctions against several members of the European Parliament that had been in place for four years.
What’s going on here?
Developments / what we’re tracking
An offer you can’t refuse. On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump said Qatar would present his administration with a luxury jetliner valued at about US$400 billion—widely described as a “flying palace”—to use as the presidential aircraft, Air Force One, during his tenure. After which, the jet would be decommissioned and transferred to his presidential library. Democrats and other critics described the plan as blatant corruption and illegal under the American Constitution.
- Trump defended the plan on Monday, saying the plane would be transferred to the Defense Department, not directly to him personally—and that only a “stupid person” would say no to such a gift.
- Authoritarian regimes in the Middle East regularly spend millions each year on influence operations in Washington, in both direct lobbying and gifts to think tanks or universities—and in fact, Qatar lags behind the annual spending by the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. … For context, see Ben Freeman, “Broad daylight”—from The Signal’s recent print extra Altered States.
- A UAE investment firm recently put $2 billion into a cryptocurrency venture owned by the Trump family.
The Gulf autocracies are typically low-key with their U.S. influence strategies: They might sponsor sports teams or events—but in politics, they typically funnel money through legal donations to institutions and registered lobbying efforts in Washington. These latest, massive—and obvious—moves to win favor with the Trump administration raise a question about why these dictators are suddenly operating so conspicuously.
They clearly expect the White House to be receptive—and part of the reason for that may be that they now see in it a similar governing style to their own, in which power is concentrated in the person of the ruler, who runs the state like a family business. … For context: Stephen Hanson, “The custom of dons.”
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Coming soon: Rosie Campbell on what’s behind the growing difference in voting patterns between men and women in the U.S. and Europe …
Music
‘Perihelion’
