Emily Fang

Emily Fang, NPR News.

That top leaders from Russia and China are meeting just days after U.S.

President Trump vowed to restart nuclear testing lent the visit to Beijing more weight.

Following trade talks with the U.S., China signed more cooperation agreements with Russia and satellite technology and customs payments.

And China's President Xi said deepening ties with the Kremlin was a strategic choice.

A choice that Beijing has doubled down on since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, after which trade between Russia and China has increased.

The governments of Russia and China have been on and off again rivals and allies.

And in recent years, they've grown politically closer as tensions with the U.S.

have increased.

Emily Fang, NPR News.

This is NPR.

Issues like rare earths and China's refusal to buy American soybeans were top of the agenda.

Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang told reporters in Malaysia where the talks were held that the two countries had a, quote, substantive exchange.

presented its views forcefully, but China protected its interests.

Meanwhile, U.S.

Treasury Secretary Scott Besant told Sunday Morning Talk shows that an extra 100 percent tariff that President Trump had threatened was, quote, effectively off the table now, as was a potentially punishing export control regime that China was trialing for rare earth materials.

Emily Fang, NPR News.

Issues like rare earths and China's refusal to buy American soybeans were top of the agenda.

Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang told reporters in Malaysia where the talks were held that the two countries had a quote, substantive exchange.

presented its views forcefully, but China protected its interests.