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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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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China's policy can include imposing massive lockdowns on cities like Shanghai where outbreaks are detected.
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A pact between China and the Solomon Islands could help Beijing expand its naval presence in the Western Pacific. That has officials in the U.S. and Australia on edge.
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Russia's military has not performed as expected in Ukraine. The Chinese People's Liberation Army, which regularly drills with Russia, is watching closely.
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Shanghai, China, is approaching the end of its third week of a near-total lockdown to fight COVID. As case numbers rise, so does the frustration of many in the city of more than 25 million people.
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As omicron spreads in China, one of its largest cities — Shanghai — has been placed on lockdown under the government's "zero COVID" policy.
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Russia's invasion of Ukraine has raised tensions in Taiwan. People there are worried an emboldened China may use force to remove the island's democratic government.
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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. -
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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Hong Kong kept the pandemic mostly in check for two years, but now the territory is struggling with a wave of COVID-19 cases that's testing the government's ability to react.
