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The United States Senate has passed a bill seeking to review long-standing restrictions on official engagement with Taiwan, a move certain to anger Beijing. For over four decades, Washington’s own guidelines have limited how officials may interact with their Taiwanese counterparts. But the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act asks the State Department to “identify opportunities and plans to lift self-imposed restrictions on relations with Taiwan”. Passed without objection by senators from both...

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China’s intake of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) surged to an all-time high in October as Western sanctions forced a retreat by other buyers and redirected cargoes, while analysts said that key drivers included discounted prices and Beijing’s shift to non-US suppliers. Chinese customs data released on Thursday showed that imports from Russia jumped by 76.7 per cent, year on year, to 1.3 million tonnes – the first time monthly volumes from across the northern border topped 1 million tonnes,...

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An angular F-35 fighter jet penetrates the bright blue sky over a dusty desert, its engines roaring as it goes through a series of high-speed, gravity-defying turns and high-G manoeuvres before disappearing over the horizon. About an hour later, another aircraft appears, this time a Russian Su-57 with a blended-wing design and slightly deeper engine noise that also displays its aerobatics and speed, showcasing its supersonic cruising ability before returning to the runway. These two flights on...

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James Liang, co-founder of Chinese online travel giant Trip.com Group, has launched a HK$500 million (US$64.23 million) foundation in Hong Kong to tackle China’s deepening fertility crisis. Citing Hong Kong’s unique advantages as a global hub that facilitates the exchange of international expertise, he said the city was the ideal springboard for tackling China’s mounting demographic pressures. “The challenge of low fertility rates faced by Hong Kong society is highly representative, and the...

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Lenovo Group, the world’s largest personal computer maker, is betting that its own artificial intelligence agent will help grow its AI-powered consumer electronics business, even as the industry faces a global memory chip supply crunch. Chairman and CEO Yang Yuanqing on Thursday said the company would globally launch in January its “personal AI super agent”, which would leverage AI models to anticipate a user’s intentions via “portable devices and personal trusted computing hubs”. Beijing-based...

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China’s suspension of sweeping rare earth export controls has lent “new stability” to its ties with the European Union, the bloc’s ambassador to China has said, suggesting that the two sides now have a window to improve frosty relations. Speaking at a forum in Beijing on Thursday, Jorge Toledo initially offered a bleak assessment of the EU’s “difficult” relationship with China even after the high-profile summit in July between European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese...

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China’s shipments of rare earth permanent magnets to the US surged to a nine-month high in October as the two countries engaged in a roller-coaster round of manoeuvring over export controls that led to an easing of trade tensions late last month. During the same period, exports to the European Union fell from the level recorded in September. China is the world’s largest supplier of permanent magnets – essential components in hi-tech products such as electric vehicles and defence systems – and...

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US chipmaker Nvidia said it is “disappointed” about current restrictions locking it out of China’s artificial intelligence market, but the company reported record revenues for the third quarter despite shrinking sales in the world’s second-largest economy. Nvidia reported a 62 per cent surge in total revenue to a record US$57 billion, even as its sales in China, including Hong Kong, plunged 63 per cent to US$3 billion in the three months ended October 26, according to the company’s financial...

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China has urged Tokyo to “behave with restraint” after it called for talks amid the diplomatic freeze over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments about Taiwan. Asked about a possible meeting between Premier Li Qiang and Takaichi on the sidelines of the Group of 20 Summit in South Africa this weekend, foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said China had no such plans. “There’s no arrangement for Premier Li Qiang meeting the Japanese leader. We urge Japan to behave with proper self-restraint,”...

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Footage of a Japanese diplomat appearing to bow to his Chinese counterpart following their talks in Beijing on Tuesday has prompted a complaint from Tokyo that it was not informed about media filming after the meeting. It comes amid a diplomatic feud between Beijing and Tokyo over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan. Tuesday’s meeting between China’s Asian affairs chief Liu Jinsong and his Japanese counterpart Masaaki Kanai ended without consensus. The video of Liu and...

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China should prepare for stricter US-EU regulations on global rules of origin – as signalled in their recent trade deal – potentially weighing on its export sector by redefining global trade patterns, according to a Chinese economist. “Trump’s current measures are temporary – tariffs can be imposed today and rolled back or even eliminated tomorrow. The real question for us is what the future global trade framework looks like,” said Zhang Yuyan, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Social...

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China has accused the United States of trying to undermine its relations with Greece after the US ambassador Kimberly Guilfoyle urged Athens to sell the Chinese-operated port of Piraeus. Guilfoyle called the presence of China’s state-owned shipping giant Cosco at the port in the south of Greece “unfortunate”, in an interview last week with Greek broadcaster Antenna TV. “But I think there are ways around it, that something could be worked out, whether you pursue a path of enhancing output in...

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China Evergrande Group’s famous log-cabin hotel in Quebec, Canada, has been placed in receivership after the defaulted real estate developer failed to make payments on its debt. Fairmont Le Chateau Montebello, which has hosted luminaries including Grace Kelly and Margaret Thatcher, would be put up for sale by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, the court-appointed receiver, according to documents filed this week on the accounting firm’s website. Evergrande’s collapse was by far the biggest in a property...

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Dozens of senior officials and diplomats from across Asia, Africa and the Pacific will touch down in Brussels on Thursday, as the European Union tries to convince them it is a more reliable partner than the United States and China. More than 70 delegations will attend the bloc’s fourth Indo-Pacific forum, with more than 50 ministers or vice-ministers expected at talks on Friday, EU officials said. Crucially, neither Beijing or Washington are invited. “There was no invitation to special guests –...

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There have again been calls in Chinese state media for more research into “historical justice” and legal claims around Ryukyu, as a diplomatic row over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments on Taiwan drags on. On Wednesday, state-run Global Times in an editorial called for further studies to be done on the Ryukyu island chain, arguing that it was an important issue that was much more than academic. “The geopolitical position, strategic choices and future trajectory of the Ryukyu...

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China’s airlines are stuck in a difficult paradox, according to a new industry report: while their passenger numbers have risen, they are struggling to secure profits as competition intensifies on the most common routes and a world-leading high-speed rail network offers an appealing alternative for many of the country’s travellers. In its report, Brazilian planemaker Embraer said that passenger volumes have surged past pre-pandemic levels – putting the government’s official goal of 1.5 billion...

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China’s growing pipeline of novel drug candidates is expected to draw increased attention from global pharmaceutical companies and investors scouting for licensing opportunities, as the country’s clinical trial capacity has expanded to match those in the US. That assessment was made by Shanghai-based Helen Chen, Greater China managing partner at L.E.K. Consulting, one of the most respected analysts in the mainland’s life sciences industry. “There is increased interest from multinational...

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The Japanese comedy Cells at Work! was expected to be released in Chinese cinemas on Saturday. The live-action movie is adapted from a popular manga series and follows the slapstick adventures of cells inside the body of a Japanese teenager. However, the movie’s launch date in China has been pushed back. Also postponed is the release of Crayon Shinchan the Movie: Super Hot! The Spicy Kasukabe Dancers, an animated film that was scheduled to hit Chinese screens in early December. The delays come...

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Soybeans are more than just a crop – they have become a litmus test of Beijing’s evolving food security strategy and sit at the heart of the US-China trade war. As a crucial source of animal feed and cooking oil, soybeans have remained a flashpoint throughout the ebbs and flows of the two nations’ trade disputes, from the tariff war during US President Donald Trump’s first term to the current one. Less well known is China’s transformation from soybean exporter to the world’s leading importer....

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US lawmakers on Wednesday called for a change in Washington’s strategy to evade China’s chokehold on rare earth mineral supplies, arguing that new approaches are needed in parallel with President Donald Trump’s efforts to speed up domestic production. Proposals to dismantle the chokepoint – including new technologies and development of components that do not require the critical minerals as inputs – were presented during a hearing of the US House Select Committee on China. The suggestions came...

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The world’s largest “ghost particle” detector, located in southern China’s Guangdong province, has shattered expectations in just two months. Initial results from the vast new Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (Juno) have shown a record level of precision, surpassing decades of cumulative data from other global experiments on neutrinos. The immediate success has confirmed that the detector is ready to tackle fundamental questions, potentially uncovering new laws of physics and solving...

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A senior US Democrat is urging the Commerce Department to investigate four Chinese semiconductor firms potentially tied to Dutch chipmaker Nexperia, warning they could threaten the safety and reliability of components used in cars across the US and its allies. The request marks the latest twist in the turmoil surrounding the Chinese-owned firm, which has become a flashpoint in broader disputes involving China, Europe, and the US, following months of internal conflicts, regulatory intervention...

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Amid a heated diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo which has shown no signs of cooling off, several employees of China’s state-owned enterprises have been advised to scrap their immediate travel plans to Japan, they told the Post on condition of anonymity. One of them, an engineer at a state-owned firm in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, received an unexpected phone call on Tuesday. It was his company’s administrative office, urging him to cancel his coming holiday. Like employees at many...

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Some of China’s cryptocurrency heavyweights have called off a US$500 million ether digital asset treasury (DAT) project, as the broader crypto market remains in a slump, according to people familiar with the matter. The project was initiated earlier this year by Huobi founder Leon Li Lin, HashKey Group chairman and CEO Xiao Feng, Meitu co-founder Mike Cai Wensheng and Fenbushi Capital founder Bo Shen, who aimed to raise US$500 million to launch a DAT firm that would invest in the world’s...

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The Dutch government has suspended its invocation of the Goods Availability Act, a Cold War-era law it used to effectively seize the European operations of Chinese-owned chipmaker Nexperia. In a statement on Wednesday, the Dutch economy minister said the government had held “constructive meetings with the Chinese authorities” in recent days and that he was “positive about the measures already taken by the Chinese authorities to ensure the supply of chips to Europe and the rest of the world”. “We...

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