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Washington should tighten its export controls by adding inspection staff and plugging loopholes to slow Beijing’s chipmaking advances and curb evasion efforts with support from allies such as the Netherlands and Japan, US lawmakers and experts said on Thursday. Such actions should be deployed, including empowering the Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to close trade loopholes and also targeting China’s national champion firms in the semiconductor sector as well as their US subsidiaries,...

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Washington needs to accelerate arms sales to Taiwan and help establish a regional contingency stockpile for its defence, the US Senate heard on Thursday. Such steps would help implement provisions in a landmark 2022 law – the Taiwan Enhanced Resilience Act (TERA) – that have not yet been fully realised, as well as boost morale on the self-governed island, witnesses said at a hearing hosted by the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Despite last week’s approval of a sale of aircraft...

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China’s lending since the turn of the century has been “vastly” larger than previously understood, with loans and grants increasingly going to developed countries including the United States – the largest recipient – according to a new report by an American university research team. Of the US$2.2 trillion disbursed by China’s “official sector” between 2000 and 2023, nearly US$202 billion went to projects in the US, the AidData research lab at Virginia-based university William & Mary found. “Our...

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For years, many foreign companies treated China as a vast consumer base or a low-cost manufacturing hub. Now that paradigm is shifting dramatically. China is not just where multinationals scale production or sell at volume; it is increasingly where they make strategic decisions, engage in serious research and development and innovate in ways that will have a global impact. For example, take Toyota’s R&D centre in Changshu, Jiangsu province. Led by local engineers, it has helped develop electric...

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit China at the end of January, Sky News reported on Thursday, in what would be the first visit to the country by a British leader in seven years. Starmer’s Labour government has made improved relations with Beijing a priority as it seeks foreign investment to make good on its election pledge to upgrade infrastructure and grow Britain’s economy. But the relationship has been bumpy with both countries trading accusations of spying. The prime minister’s...

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This month, the Russian Academy of Sciences completed a study assessing the comprehensive strength of 193 countries across economic, technological, demographic, military, infrastructural and other dimensions. This annual assessment of national power is conducted using advanced methods of multivariate statistical analysis. The latest results, calculated for 2025 and 2026, show the global balance of power has finally shifted from the United States towards China. Also, several regional power cores...

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The chief scientist at a university that plays a major role in developing China’s navy has been detained as part of an investigation into alleged academic misconduct and misuse of state research funds, according to local media reports. Jiangsu University of Science and Technology confirmed on Tuesday that Guo Wei’s case was under investigation and said his academic contract had been terminated over the accusations. The university was founded in 1953 in response to Mao Zedong’s call for the...

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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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1. China tells Japan to ‘behave’ properly as it dismisses call for talks 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.
2. Chinese rare earth magnet exports to US hit 9-month high as trade war resolves China’s shipments of rare earth permanent...

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has paid tribute to late reformist leader Hu Yaobang by urging today’s Communist Party cadres to follow in his footsteps to tackle the country’s tough issues. At the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday, Xi said that opening up and reform were the “magical instruments” of China’s modernisation but the party still had to “crack the hard nuts” to counter challenges and to improve governance. He issued the call at a symposium to mark the 110th anniversary of...

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Integrated resorts operator SJM Holdings, one of the six licensed casino concessionaires in Macau, has abandoned a plan to acquire Ponte 16, which is among the firm’s nine satellite gambling venues directed to halt operations under the city’s revised gaming laws. “Following a comprehensive business review and after a thorough assessment of long-term business planning, commercial considerations and resource prioritisation across the group’s portfolio, SJM Resorts will not proceed with the...

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China is building a mega science infrastructure that could add fuel to the global maritime power race: a floating artificial island engineered to withstand nuclear blasts. This 78,000-tonne, semi-submersible twin-hull platform is world’s first mobile, self-sustaining artificial island. With a displacement rivalling the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s new Fujian aircraft carrier and the capacity to house 238 occupants for four months without resupply, the facility will be able to project...

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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 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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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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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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