Your Thursday Briefing: Blinken heads to China

Good morning. We’re covering Antony Blinken’s upcoming visit to Beijing and Japan’s booming stock market.

The U.S. makes overtures to China

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is flying to China tomorrow for his first visit as the top U.S. diplomat. Both governments hope his visit will lead to trips to China by other senior U.S. officials during a period of rising tensions.

The visits could pave the way for a trip by China’s leader, Xi Jinping, to San Francisco in November for a summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group of nations that would include President Biden.

Blinken, above, had canceled a planned trip to Beijing in early February when, on the day of his scheduled departure, a Chinese spy balloon flying over the U.S. was causing an uproar. Officials are still working out whether he will meet with Xi on Sunday or Monday.

The Biden administration has been seeking to improve relations with China. Janet Yellen, the treasury secretary who may also make a trip to Beijing soon, told U.S. lawmakers this week that it would be a mistake to “decouple” from China and called for more cooperation with Beijing.

During his talks, Blinken will discuss “the importance of maintaining open lines of communication to responsibly manage” the relationship between the two nations, the State Department said.

Mideast diplomacy: Xi met yesterday with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian leader, as Beijing pushes to expand its influence in the Middle East and cast China as an alternative to U.S. leadership in global diplomacy.

Investors are flocking to Japan again

The Japanese stock market is up nearly 30 percent this year, far ahead of the S&P 500, as changes in how companies are run breathe new life into the economy.

The Nikkei has not been this high since the early 1990s, when Japan was slumping into what is known as the Lost Decade.

Canon shareholders have demanded a diverse board of directors, Citizen Watch has said it would buy back up to a quarter of its shares, and the owner of Uniqlo has promised its workers raises of up to 40 percent. The Tokyo Stock Exchange has implored companies to be “conscious” of their share prices. Mix in a surprisingly solid economy this year, a weak currency and ultralow interest rates, and you have the world’s best-performing major stock market.

Quotable: “The fundamental economic conditions in Japan, including corporate earnings, are better than in the U.S., Europe and China,” said a top executive at Nomura Asset Management in Tokyo.

Politics: Reuters reports that Fumio Kishida, Japan’s prime minister, could move to solidify his power with a snap election in the coming days.

In other business and economy news:

• The Federal Reserve paused interest rate increases, for now.
• The E.U. charged Google with violating its antitrust laws by undercutting rivals with its dominance in online ads.
• Global oil consumption will hit a peak in a few years, with gasoline use shrinking after 2026, the International Energy Agency said.

Imran Khan’s allies leave in droves

Pakistan’s military has launched a pressure campaign that aims to hollow out former prime minister Imran Khan’s political party ahead of general elections this fall.

Throngs of his supporters have been arrested. Media columnists considered sympathetic to him have been intimidated. More than 100 of his key allies have left his party in recent weeks. Many party leaders are now in hiding and have complained that their relatives are being harassed and hounded by the police.

The strategy is part of the military’s standard playbook to preserve its hold on politics, and might be familiar to Khan: The military used the same tactics to help bring him to power in 2018.

Analysis: Observers caution that Khan should not be written out of politics quite yet, but the sudden widespread defections are a stunning turnabout for Khan.

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THE LATEST NEWS

• Tropical Cyclone Biparjoy is expected to hit Pakistan and also India today and tomorrow. We’re tracking it here.
• At least 79 migrants drowned when their boat sank off Greece, the deadliest such episode there since the height of the migration crisis in 2015.
• A boat capsized in Nigeria this week, killing at least 103 people. Many were returning from a wedding ceremony.
• Donald Trump’s Republican rivals may struggle to differentiate themselves during months of news coverage about his indictment and a possible trial.
• Israel will not charge soldiers who last year detained and gagged a 78-year-old Palestinian American man, who later died.

• U.S. support for Ukraine is beginning to fray as Republicans in Congress seek to cut spending.

• Two allies of Aleksei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader, were sentenced to years in prison.
• Russian soldiers left graffiti in a bar in a once-occupied Ukrainian village. “It doesn’t count as a war crime if you had fun,” one wrote, above a smiley face.

• Some doctors are using ChatGPT to improve their bedside manner.
• Patients using obesity drugs have lost weight. But many are ashamed — they feel like they had just lacked willpower, and took an easy way out.
• Researchers have discovered a “soda ocean” on a moon of Saturn has all the elements that are essential for life.
• An extinct dolphin that used to swim near New Zealand had tusklike teeth.

Food waste is one of the biggest contributors to climate change. When sent to landfills, it rots and releases methane, one of the most potent greenhouse gases. Not in South Korea.

There, the vast majority of food scraps gets turned into animal feed, fertilizer and fuel for heating homes. The system keeps about 90 percent of discarded food out of landfills and incinerators, and has been studied by governments around the world, but never duplicated on the same scale.

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SPOTLIGHT ON AFRICA

Senegal in crisis

At least 16 people died this month during clashes in the West African nation of Senegal between the police and supporters of a leading opposition figure, Ousmane Sonko.

Elian Peltier, our West Africa correspondent, spoke to grieving families and obtained evidence showing that several victims died of gunshot wounds, raising questions about the police’s use of force. He spoke about his reporting with Lynsey Chutel, a Briefings writer in Johannesburg.

Senegal has been a stable country in a volatile region. What does the violence say about the country’s stability right now?

Elian: The interior minister justified the use of force as a necessity to protect Senegal, which he called an “island of stability in a troubled region.” The government labeled protesters as rioters and said that the death toll could have been much worse had the police not shown restraint. On the ground at funerals in Dakar’s disadvantaged suburbs, it was a completely different story. There, the feeling is that the state killed a brother, a son, a nephew, a neighbor, a friend.

Are tensions easing?

The situation is calmer now, but there are definitely concerns that this could get out of hand as the presidential election, scheduled for February, gets closer. Some are optimistic and believe that Senegal will resolve this crisis just like it has resolved others. Others are more pessimistic and wonder if the country hasn’t reached a point of no return.

PLAY, WATCH, EAT

Dumplings with chile crisp form the base of this main-course salad.

Here’s a guide to Cormac McCarthy’s books.

A playlist for when you’re gardening.

Play the Mini Crossword, and a clue: Use your eyes (three letters).

Here are the Wordle and the Spelling Bee. You can find all our puzzles here.

That’s it for today’s briefing. See you next time. — Amelia and Justin

P.S. Christopher Clarey wrote about covering global sports for The Times for more than 30 years. It all started with a mistake on his first byline.

“The Daily” is about Donald Trump’s arraignment.

Share your thoughts with briefing@nytimes.com.

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