Xi and Biden exchange congratulations on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of bilateral relations

Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart, Joe Biden, exchanged congratulations on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beijing and Washington, according to what Chinese official media reported Monday.

 

"On January 1, President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden exchanged congratulatory messages on the occasion of the forty-fifth anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries," state-run CCTV reported.

Biden and Xi held discussions on the sidelines of the APEC summit in mid-November, in San Francisco, without achieving breakthroughs, although they led to a number of agreements.

The two leaders then announced the resumption of communications between the military of the two countries and the establishment of a working group to combat drugs.

But shortly after the meeting, which the US President described as constructive and fruitful, Biden returned and described the Chinese President as a dictator.

"The New York Times": The Pentagon has prepared plans to target Houthi bases, but it fears that this will harm Iran's interest

The American New York Times reported on Monday that the Pentagon has prepared plans to attack bases of the Ansar Allah Houthi group in Yemen.

The newspaper pointed out that "Pentagon officials have drawn up detailed plans to strike missile and drone bases in Yemen and some facilities that include speedboats of the type used by the Houthis to attack the giant container ship, Maersk."

She noted that there is still concern that such attacks “will be in the interest of Iran and its plan.” 

This comes after ten Yemeni Houthis were killed and two were injured on Sunday by an American bombing targeting boats that attacked a Maersk container ship in the southern Red Sea.

On Sunday, the US military announced that it had sunk three Houthi boats and killed their crews in response to the second attack on a container ship in the Red Sea in less than 24 hours, prompting the company that owned the ship to suspend transit in the region for 48 hours.

On  Saturday, a US destroyer shot down two anti-ship ballistic missiles launched from Houthi-controlled territory.

The Houthis have intensified their attacks on Red Sea ships, threatening to disrupt global maritime trade flows, stressing that they will continue their attacks as long as sufficient quantities of food and medicine do not enter the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel and has launched a continuous bombing campaign and ground operations since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.