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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At the time, the city was promised "a high degree of autonomy" for 50 years. Half way into the promise, where do things stand?
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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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After more than two months of isolation to avoid the Omicron surge, the 25 million people who live in Shanghai are out of lockdown.
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President Biden has met the leaders of Australia, India and Japan. The White House said they would pledge to work together on global health, the climate, infrastructure, technology and other areas.
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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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Hong Kong's former security chief John Lee was elected as the city's next chief executive, replacing Carrie Lam. He was the only candidate on the ballot.
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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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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.
