Edward Wong
@ewong
Diplomatic Correspondent @nytimes. Author of "At the Edge of Empire: A Family's Reckoning with China." Harvard Nieman Fellow. Taught at Princeton & UC Berkeley.
I can’t believe I’m holding this! It’s the completion of a six-year project that really spans my adult life — and 80 years of Chinese history, from Mao to Xi. I tell the story of modern China through a dramatic family saga and contemporary reporting. Learn more and order here:…
If the president of a country in the developing world did an interview like this with his daughter-in-law and then tried to pass it off as a win, Western journalists would treat the entire spectacle with a scoff and a smirk and dismiss it as a mark of political backwardness.
.@POTUS on his legacy: "I really believed our country was going down for the fall. I don't know if it ever could've come back. It was very close to the edge — and I really would like to be known as the man that saved our country." 🇺🇸
Trump and Xi Jinping will likely meet this year, Sec. @marcorubio told us at an Asian diplomatic forum in Malaysia. He met with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi. They spoke about potential cooperation, but Trump's tariffs loom over everything. Our story: nytimes.com/2025/07/11/us/…
"The Chinese simply can’t believe their luck... OBBB 'virtually guarantees that China will own the future of solar, wind power and electric cars and trucks, as well as autonomous vehicles' 'And why? Because Rs view those as “liberal” energy sources' nytimes.com/2025/07/03/opi…
NEW: A State Dept. cable says Chinese intelligence officers interrogated a Commerce Dept. employee about his US Army service. He was visiting relatives in Chengdu. When US diplomats escorted him to Beijing, officers followed. He can't leave China. Story: nytimes.com/2025/07/21/us/…
The moment an Israeli strike hits the ministry of defence in Damascus for the second time today.
Good points in this thread. Rubio and the Chinese government both praised his meeting with Wang Yi in Kuala Lumpur as “constructive.” Rubio mentioned US-China cooperation. And he said Trump will likely meet with Xi this year. Our story from KL: nytimes.com/2025/07/11/us/…
1/ There appear to be efforts underway by the US and China to clear a path toward potential leader-level engagement later this year. Recent weeks have shown a series of steps by each side that appear to respond to each side's priorities and concerns. A few examples (short 🧵):
The futile efforts by the Biden administration to form much broader coalitions in support of Ukraine and Israel in their wars should have taught certain American officials a lesson.
The levels of complacency and presumption here re. "the other pieces" is off the charts.
Breaking: A cannabis farmworker who was critically injured during a chaotic immigration raid by federal authorities in California has died, according to his family. Jaime Alanis Garcia's death came days after he fell roughly 30 feet during a raid at Glass House Farms in…
People are asking why Trump and Bondi refuse to release the Epstein files. Here’s @WIRED on the prison video: “The embedded data suggest the video is not a continuous, unaltered export from a surveillance system, but a composite assembled from at least two separate MP4 files.”
BREAKING: Metadata shows the FBI’s ‘raw’ Jeffrey Epstein prison video was likely modified. wired.com/story/metadata…
HAPPENING NOW!! Moving scene - tears, hugs, and cheers - inside the State Dept HQ tonight, as diplomats gathered in the lobby to clap out their laid off colleague, some of which have served for decades 👇🏻
Sec. @marcorubio has landed in Malaysia for meetings with top Asian diplomats and others. China and Russia are here. He plans to meet with Lavrov on Thursday. US allies are frustrated by Trump's new tariff threats. My story from his trip to Kuala Lumpur: nytimes.com/2025/07/09/wor…
The State Dept. is investigating episodes in which someone used AI to impersonate @marcorubio over text and voice messages to other US officials and top foreign diplomats. @washingtonpost reported details earlier. Story: nytimes.com/2025/07/08/us/…
A senior US official in an agency could just freelance and try to create their own policy. They could do this without even trying to interpret the president's declarations, though they might paint their actions that way for internal or public consumption.
About six weeks ago I wrote in @TheAtlantic that the gutting of the NSC would mean that “The Pentagon, Treasury Department, Department of Homeland Security, Central Intelligence Agency, and other agencies could likewise set up their own mini–foreign policies, each based on the…
Texas officials have long worried about the dangers to children who packed into camps each summer along the flood-prone Guadalupe River. They knew that warning systems were inadequate. So why was nothing done? We have reviewed documents spanning a decade to find answers. 🧵 1/9
NEW: China and Russia keep Iran at arm's length during the crisis. They didn't rush to aid Iran as it was being pummeled by the US and Israel. Is there actually an "axis" among these nations and North Korea, as some US and UK officials said? Story: nytimes.com/2025/07/06/us/…
BIG. And so it begins, who would’ve thought? Rubio can’t be in two places at once as SecState and NSA. Plus, the Trump admin is leaving US allies hanging out to dry when some shoring up is needed. Also raises concerns, again, that Indo-Pacific isn’t really the priority theater.😔
3/ Hearing that the Japan/South Korea portion of the trip has been cancelled. Rubio needs to attend the Netanyahu meeting on Monday.
BREAKING: White House confirms it has halted weapons that Ukraine was scheduled to receive, including PAC3 Patriots, 155mm artillery rounds, GMLRS, Stinger, AIM-7, and Hellfire missiles. @AnnaKelly47 tells me: “This decision was made to put America’s interests first following a…
🚨🚨🚨17 million projected to lose health insurance, @yabutaleb7 reports
Sixty Democratic lawmakers sent a letter to Rubio telling him to refrain from mass layoffs at the State Dept. He plans to fire about 2,000 employees. One official said about 700 will be career diplomats. Anxiety is running high in the agency. Story: nytimes.com/2025/06/27/us/…
