World
In a meeting with Biden, China's Xi cautions US to 'make the wise choice' to keep relations stable
China’s leader Xi Jinping met for the last time with President Biden on Saturday, but was already looking ahead to President-elect Donald Trump and his “America first” policies, saying Beijing “is ready to work with a new U.S. administration.”
During their talks on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Peru, Xi cautioned that a stable China-U.S. relationship was critical not only to the two nations but to the “future and destiny of humanity.”
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“Make the wise choice,” he cautioned. “Keep exploring the right way for two major countries to get along well with each other.”
Without mentioning Trump’s name, Xi appeared to signal his concern that the incoming president’s protectionist rhetoric on the campaign trail could send the U.S.-China relationship into another valley.
“China is ready to work with a new U.S. administration to maintain communication, expand cooperation and manage differences so as to strive for a steady transition of the China-U.S. relationship for the benefit of the two peoples,” Xi said through an interpreter.
President Biden shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping before a bilateral meeting, Saturday, in Lima, Peru. (Leah Millis/Pool Photo via AP)
Xi, who is firmly entrenched atop China’s political hierarchy, spoke forcefully in his brief remarks before reporters. Biden, who is winding down more than 50 years of public service, talked in broader brushstrokes about where the relationship between the two countries has gone.
He reflected not just on the past four years but on the decades the two have known each other.
“We haven’t always agreed, but our conversations have always been candid and always been frank. We’ve never kidded one another,” Biden said. “These conversations prevent miscalculations, and they ensure the competition between our two countries will not veer into conflict.”
Biden urged Xi to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia’s war on Ukraine. The leaders, with top aides surrounding them, gathered around a long rectangle of tables in an expansive conference room at a Lima hotel.
They had much to discuss, including China’s indirect support for Russia, human rights issues, technology and Taiwan, the self-ruled democracy that Beijing claims as its own. On artificial intelligence, the two agreed on the need to maintain human control over the decision to use nuclear weapons and more broadly improve safety and international cooperation of the rapidly expanding technology.
President Joe Biden meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a bilateral meeting, Saturday, in Lima, Peru. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
There’s much uncertainty about what lies ahead in the U.S.-China relationship under Trump, who campaigned promising to levy 60% tariffs on Chinese imports.
Already, many American companies, including Nike and eyewear retailer Warby Parker, have been diversifying their sourcing away from China. Shoe brand Steve Madden says it plans to cut imports from China by as much as 45% next year.
In a congratulatory message to Trump after his victory over Vice President Kamala Harris, Xi called for the U.S. and China to manage their differences and get along in a new era. In front of cameras Saturday, Xi spoke to Biden — but it was unmistakable that his message was directed at Trump.
“In a major flourishing sci-tech revolution, neither decoupling nor supply chain disruption is a solution,” Xi said. “Only mutual, beneficial cooperation can lead to common development. ‘Small yard, high fence’ is not what a major country should pursue.”
Biden administration officials have said they would advise the Trump team that managing the intense competition with Beijing will likely be the most significant foreign policy challenge they will face.
On Saturday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Biden had reinforced to Xi “that these next two months are a time of transition” and that the president would like to pass off the U.S.-China relationship “in stable terms” to the new administration.
Biden has viewed his relationship with Xi as among the most consequential on the international stage and put much effort into cultivating it. The two first got to know each other on travels across the U.S. and China when both were vice presidents, interactions that both have said left a lasting impression. They last met a year ago on the APEC sidelines in Northern California.
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with President Joe Biden during a bilateral meeting, Saturday, in Lima, Peru. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
“For over a decade, you and I have spent many hours together, both here and in China and in between,” Biden said. “We’ve spent a long time dealing with these issues.”
But the last four years have presented a steady stream of difficult moments.
The FBI this week offered new details of a federal investigation into Chinese government efforts to hack into U.S. telecommunications networks. The initial findings have revealed a “broad and significant” cyberespionage campaign aimed at stealing information from Americans who work in government and politics.
Sullivan said Biden raised the matter with Xi during their talks and that the U.S. will have more to say about the investigation in the weeks ahead.
U.S. intelligence officials also have assessed China has surged sales to Russia of machine tools, microelectronics and other technology that Moscow is using to produce missiles, tanks, aircraft and other weaponry for use in its war against Ukraine.
And tensions flared last year after Biden ordered the shooting down of a Chinese spy balloon that traversed the United States.
Biden wants Xi to step up Chinese engagement to prevent an already dangerous moment with North Korea from further escalating.
Biden, along with South Korean President Yoon Seok Yul and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, on Friday condemned North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s decision to send thousands of troops to help Moscow repel Ukrainian forces who have seized territory in Russia’s Kursk border region.
White House officials have expressed frustration with Beijing, which accounts for the vast majority of North Korea’s trade, for not doing more to rein in Pyongyang.
The North Koreans also have provided Russia with artillery and other munitions, according to U.S. and South Korean intelligence officials. And the U.S., Japan and South Korea have expressed alarm over Pyongyang’s stepped-up cadence of ballistic missile tests.
Kim ordered testing exercises in the lead-up to this month’s U.S. election and is claiming progress on efforts to build capability to strike the U.S. mainland.
Xi and Biden started their day at the leaders’ retreat at the APEC summit, taking part in a photo where they all wore scarves made from vicuña wool, a symbolic animal for Peru. It’s common practice that leaders at these gatherings are given a gift — usually traditional clothing of the host country — that they don for the photo.
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By David E. Sanger, Coleman Lowndes, Nikolay Nikolov, Edward Vega and June Kim
January 14, 2026
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JOHANNESBURG: A staggering and growing wave of persecution against Christians across sub-Saharan Africa has been laid bare in the latest Open Doors’ World Watch List for 2025. The report says three out of four Christians murdered worldwide are killed in Nigeria.
Fourteen of the top 50 countries worldwide where verified deaths could be reasonably linked to victims’ Christian faith are in sub-Saharan Africa. Open Doors is a global Christian charity supporting Christians persecuted for their faith.
The organization states that one in seven Christians in the world face high levels of persecution. But that figure rises to one in five in Africa.
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Woman in Benue State Christian refugee camp. The camp is inhabited by Christians who fled anti-Christian violence. (Open Doors)
Nigeria
Africa’s most populous nation is also ranked as the seventh worst in the world for persecution in all its forms. According to Open Doors, out of the 4,849 Christians killed for their faith globally in the year up to the end of Sept. 2025, 3,490 of these were murdered in Nigeria — 72% of the total.
Muslims have also been killed in Nigeria. But the latest data from the report shows Christians have been “disproportionately targeted.” These are four of the affected states — there are others:
In Benue State in north-central Nigeria, 1,310 Christians were killed compared with 29 Muslims.
In Plateau State in north-central Nigeria, 546 Christians were killed compared with 48 Muslims.
In Taraba State in northeast Nigeria, 73 Christians were killed compared with 12 Muslims.
In north-western Kaduna State, 1,116 Christians were abducted in 2025, compared with 101 Muslims.
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Funerals for some 27 Christians who were reportedly killed by Islamist Fulani tribesmen in the village of Bindi Ta-hoss, Nigeria on July, 28, 2025 (Courtesy: Christian Solidarity International (CSI))
“The latest figures should leave us in no doubt: there is a clear religious element to this horrific violence,” Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors U.K. told Fox News Digital.
Blyth added, “For many thousands of Christians, this will come as no surprise. Those who witnessed their families being killed, and their homes razed to the ground by Islamist Fulani militants report being told by their attackers that ‘we will destroy all Christians.’”
“It’s surely time to dismiss the idea that this violence is somehow ‘random,’” Blyth stated. “If we don’t recognize the clear religious element to the violence, it won’t be possible to properly address this tragic situation.”
Mohammed Idris, Nigeria’s minister of information and national orientation, told Fox News Digital this week, “The loss of life in any form is unacceptable, and the Nigerian government recognizes the pain felt by all affected families and communities.”
Pope Leo XIV condemned the killings of up to 200 people in Yelewata community in Nigeria. (Associated Press)
The minister continued, “Nigeria has consistently maintained that its security challenges stem from a convergence of criminal insurgency, armed banditry, resource competition, and localized communal disputes, not from state-directed or institutional religious persecution. The government remains focused on upholding its constitutional duty to protect all citizens and on advancing security reforms that improve coordination, accountability, and civilian safety nationwide.”
At the time of writing, the new World Watch List had not been released to the minister, but he did share his thoughts on Middle Belt killings, “With respect to the Middle Belt states, the Nigerian government has long stated that violence in this region is primarily driven by long-standing disputes over land and resources, organized banditry, and criminal networks that prey on vulnerable communities, Christian and Muslim alike.”
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He concluded, “while some attacks tragically take on communal or identity dimensions, framing the Middle Belt crisis as a systematic campaign against Christians does not reflect the full security reality on the ground and risks obscuring the role of criminal actors who exploit instability for profit and power.”
The Evangelical church in Omdurman, Sudan after being bombed even though it was not in a combat zone or used by any warring forces. (Open Doors)
Sudan
Some 150,000 are estimated to have died in the civil war that has engulfed this nation since 2023. Open Doors reports, “the situation for the nation’s 2 million Christians is especially grim.”
“We are considered as the enemy by both (opposing) factions, who accuse us of being allied with the other side,” Rafat Samir, general secretary for the Sudan Evangelical Alliance, told Fox News Digital. We are told ‘you don’t belong here’ and driven from our homes. To make matters worse, Christians are often excluded when aid is distributed.” A particular pattern can be seen across sub-Saharan Africa, Open Doors states. The report claims, “Islamist militants enter the vacuums in law and order left by a weak junta and civil conflicts. It means they can operate with impunity across parts of Burkina Faso, Mali, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Somalia, Niger and Mozambique. Their stated aim is to create ‘Sharia states’ operating under their deadly interpretation of Islamic law.”
Church leaders of the Pentecostal Church in the northeast of Khartoum, stood by as their church building was demolished. The demolition was done under the premise that any building not complying with regulations would be destroyed in July 2025 in Sudan. (Open Doors.)
Elsewhere in the world, North Korea remains top of the list for having the world’s worst persecution of Christians, with Open Doors stating, “If Christians are discovered, they and their families are deported to labor camps or executed.”
A huge spike in reported violence against Christians in Syria has followed the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s presidency in Dec. 2024, and has led the country to jump to number six on the list. China is number 17, with churches driven underground by surveillance and heavy regulation.
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, a Civil Defence worker inspects the damage inside Mar Elias church where a suicide bomber detonated himself in Dweil’a in the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, Sunday June 22, 2025. (SANA via AP)
The reporting period for the World Watch List ended some two months before President Trump ordered U.S. forces to bomb Muslim militants in northwestern Nigeria on Christmas Day to try to stop the killing of Christians.
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Jo Newhouse from Open Doors sub-Saharan Africa, told Fox News Digital, “The U.S. airstrikes (against Jihadi groups in Nigeria) have thrown many of the militant groups in the area into a state of panic. They have been scattering and attacking civilians as they come across soft targets, hoping that they can rebuild their resources through looting and kidnapping.”
“Many Christians across the northern states are in a state of flux, unable to find any safety or stability. They bear the scars of living under the perpetual risk of death, destruction and displacement,” Newhouse said.
Published on
The European Parliament is set to hold a debate about the allocation of public defence funds to Hungary over fears that the money may be misused by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who faces a difficult election in April.
The money in question is part of the EU’s Security Action for Europe (SAFE) programme, a €150 billion loan scheme that enables member states to finance the purchase of defence equipment.
This is a part of the plan to boost Europe’s defences in the light of both Russian threats and the uncertainty of support from the United States.
Hungary has requested €17.4 billion in SAFE funds to boost its army. This would be the third biggest SAFE allocation among the member states, even though most of the EU’s regular payments to Hungary are suspended because of rule of law deficiencies and corruption risks.
The Greens in the European Parliament initiated the debate, which has gained the support of mainstream political parties.
“I’m really frustrated that the European Commission chose Hungary as the third largest beneficiary of this whole SAFE programme, which means that Hungary will get €16 billion for its defence industry without any human rights rule of law conditionality,” Greens-EFA MEP Tineke Strik told Euronews.
The debate will take place next Tuesday at the plenary session in Strasbourg, and will not be followed by a resolution.
Treading carefully
MEPs critical of Orbán argue that the EU should impose robust safeguards before transferring the SAFE funds to his government.
The EU has already suspended €17 billion out of €27 billion previously earmarked for Hungary, with payments made conditional on improvements in justice, rule of law and anti-corruption efforts.
EU budget Commissioner Piotr Serafin told the European Parliament last December that the same conditions might be applied to SAFE funds as well, but the 15% down payment could be allocated without conditions.
On Monday, Euronews reported that the European Commission has postponed most upcoming decisions related to Hungary in order to avoid any perception of interference in the current election campaign. But because boosting defence spending is a strategic goal of the von der Leyen Commission, SAFE is an exception.
If approved by the EU Council, the first of the defence payments could happen during the first quarter of this year, just before Hungary’s crucial parliamentary election on April 12.
“This is a huge present to Orbán, because he will get a big part of it before the elections in Hungary,” Strik said. “And because of the lack of conditions, he can use it for his own campaign and sell it as a sign of the legitimacy of his regime.”
“This is really a toxic present for democracy in Hungary.”
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