Jessica Mendoza

Instead, Trump administration officials say the White House is focused on blunting Beijing's aggression by setting up defenses in the Pacific around China.

Administration officials also say the U.S.

has already reinforced its security ties with Taiwan through a strategically important semiconductor trade deal and a weapons sale agreement worth more than $11 billion.

But Lingling says that rather than deter Xi from confronting Taiwan, these moves by the U.S.

may be giving Xi more confidence.

What does all of this tell you about where China is right now?

That's all for today, Wednesday, February 11th.

The Journal is a co-production of Spotify and The Wall Street Journal.

Additional reporting in this episode by Chunhan Wang.

Thanks for listening.

See you tomorrow.

This week, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk announced some major news having to do with two of his companies.

Our colleague, Berber Jin, covers tech.

But Elon Musk does have a grand vision that marries AI and space.

And so he made the deal happen, seemingly at light speed.

Is this something any billionaire can do, or is this very much an Elon Musk thing?

Welcome to The Journal, our show about money, business, and power.

I'm Jessica Mendoza.

It's Friday, February 6th.

Coming up on the show, Elon Musk's AI rocket ship mega merger.