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Top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi urged his Israeli counterpart to help bring about an immediate end to the war in Iran during a call on Tuesday, reportedly held at Israel’s request. The call came three days after Israel and the United States launched a massive attack on Tehran, killing its Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his wife and senior Iranian officials, prompting largely ineffective Iranian counter-attacks across the Middle East to date. “China opposes any military strikes launched by...

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China is expected to rebalance its ties with Israel as US-Israeli air strikes on Iran reshape the region’s security landscape, but analysts say it is unlikely to abandon its long-standing “balanced diplomacy” in the Middle East. The strikes began on Saturday after nuclear talks between Washington and Tehran reached a stalemate and tensions spiralled. Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 86-year-old cleric who had dominated the Islamic Republic’s political system for nearly four...

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China could potentially face shortages of methanol – a vital input for several industries – if the Iran war drags on and causes lengthy disruptions to shipping traffic along the Strait of Hormuz, analysts said. Methanol, also known as methyl alcohol, is a chemical compound that is widely used by Chinese producers. It is both a biofuel and a key raw material for a range of products – from paint and formaldehyde to plastics and synthetic fabrics. The growing conflict in the Middle East could be a...

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The European Union’s ambitious industrial policy to challenge China has been gutted, removing AI, semiconductors and quantum computing from a list of strategic technologies that must be “made in Europe” to tap billions in government funds. Biotechnology and robotics are other cutting-edge sectors to be cut from the Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) ahead of the proposal’s formal unveiling by the European Commission on Wednesday, a leaked draft showed. Plans to exclude non-EU-based producers from...

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Iran is unlikely to dominate the agenda at this year’s national legislative sessions but it is likely to feature in policy discussions, according to observers. Analysts said the Middle East turmoil could prompt a broader rethink in some policy areas in Beijing, including a reassessment of its Middle East strategy and how it can safeguard its expanding overseas interests. The “two sessions”, the annual meetings of China’s top legislature and political advisory body, get under way this week, with...

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China has called on European powers to help uphold the UN’s authority following the US and Israeli military strikes on Iran. In talks with his French counterpart Jean-Noel Barrot on Monday, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Paris to work with Beijing to promote de-escalation and safeguard “the basic norms of international relations”, according to China’s foreign ministry. “The international community must resist any violation of international law and reject double standards,” Wang said,...

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Chinese artificial intelligence-powered drug researcher XtalPi Holdings said it expects to turn its first annual profit on the back of strong revenue growth, according to a corporate filing. The Shenzhen-based company projected a swing to a net profit of at least 100 million yuan (US$14.5 million) in 2025 from a net loss of around 1.5 billion yuan in 2024, notching its first full-year profit, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Tuesday. XtalPi attributed the earnings boost...

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From Venezuela to Iran, a wave of military interventions by the United States threatens to disrupt China’s oil supplies – and could accelerate Beijing’s transition away from fossil fuels, according to analysts. “Geopolitical tensions often serve as a reminder that heavy dependence on imported fossil fuels represents a structural vulnerability,” said Shen Xinyi, a researcher at the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air. The current turmoil could reinforce Beijing’s growing emphasis on...

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US land-based reconnaissance aircraft sorties over the South China Sea decreased by around 30 per cent month on month in February, according to a Beijing-based think tank, as the US deploys assets to the Middle East. The South China Sea Strategic Situation Probing Initiative (SCSPI) said on Monday that only 72 US reconnaissance aircraft sorties were detected over the South China Sea in February. By contrast, 102 US reconnaissance aircraft sorties were observed over the waters in both January and...

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The iPhone 17e, the entry-level addition to Apple’s latest iPhone 17 series, faces an uphill battle in China’s highly competitive smartphone market, according to analysts, as presales for the new handset start on Wednesday. The new budget-priced iPhone “lacks competitiveness”, said IDC China research manager Guo Tianxiang, who pointed out that the handset “still uses outdated moulds, with the chip being the only major upgrade”. “The shortcomings in imaging and display persist, making its overall...

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Beijing should create a “connect” scheme for initial public offerings (IPOs) in the Greater Bay Area to allow mainland Chinese and Hong Kong investors to buy into new listings across the border, HSBC Asia-Pacific chairman Peter Wong Tung-shun said on the eve of China’s annual “two sessions” meetings. “If investors in both Shenzhen and Hong Kong are further allowed to participate simultaneously in IPOs in both markets – achieving a more comprehensive IPO connect mechanism for the Greater Bay Area...

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China would have bought nearly 60 per cent more goods from the United States in 2025 if not for US President Donald Trump’s trade wars, according to a former chief economist at the US State Department. That shortfall would have reached about US$90 billion for the year, wrote Chad Bown in an article published on Tuesday by the Peterson Institute for International Economics, where he is a senior fellow. His comments came as US goods exports to China declined sharply by 25.8 per cent in 2025 from a...

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China should accelerate development of a space-based solar power station, as the technology could one day do far more than beam clean energy to Earth, it might even help tame typhoons, according to a senior Chinese engineer. Duan Baoyan, the lead scientist behind the ambitious “Zhuri” project – which aims to hold a megawatt-class demonstration in the Earth’s orbit by 2030 – said microwave beams generated by such a station to transmit electricity back to Earth could potentially be directed to...

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On the eve of the Chinese New Year, the Spring Festival Gala, one of the world’s most-watched television broadcasts, delivered more than just festive entertainment. It served as a high-definition manifesto of China’s “embodied AI” supremacy. International observers, from Reuters to El Pais, watched as humanoid robots from start-ups such as Unitree performed complex martial arts, backflips and synchronised dances. As Beijing-based tech analyst Poe Zhao noted, these humanoids represent the...

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The joint US-Israel strikes on Iran, which have plunged the Middle East into deeper turmoil, have received qualified support from some countries and condemnation from others. China – which confirmed the death of one Chinese national in Iran and the evacuation of its 3,000 citizens from the country – partnered with Russia on Saturday to hold an emergency session of the UN Security Council and condemned the military action. In a call on Monday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, China’s...

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China has revoked the political advisory seats of three generals, including two who previously held key positions in the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) ground force, as the anti-corruption drive continues within the top brass and defence industry. Han Weiguo, Gao Jin and Liu Lei were removed from membership of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and their respective roles in its Standing Committee and relevant special committees, the political advisory body said on...

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Rising tensions in the Middle East following attacks on Iran are having an impact on the trade corridors and investment plans of Chinese exporters and investors, who had seen Iran and the broader region as crucial growth markets. Joint strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel since Saturday have left shipments stalled, payments delayed and clients unreachable, Chinese businesspeople said. For many of them, the disruption has been direct and immediate. David Xie, an executive at a...

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We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering Latin America relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. China becomes Brazil’s biggest vehicle exporter in January, surpassing Argentina China surpassed Argentina in February to become Brazil’s largest exporter of vehicles, solidifying Chinese brands’ dominance in the region’s biggest car market and undercutting a long-standing Argentine...

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Beijing and Washington have begun discussing ways to revive reciprocal investment – a move that could be one of the few deliverables during an upcoming China visit by US President Donald Trump, according to multiple sources. The investment issue was touched upon as working-level officials prepared for Trump’s trip, which is scheduled to take place between March 31 and April 2. However, the potential scope and structure of such investments remain undefined, sources said. One source said both...

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Chinese military academics have stepped up calls to overhaul defence language training, arguing that linguistic proficiency has become as critical as firepower in modern warfare – a lesson starkly underscored by the Ukraine war. Among them is Lu Danyun, a professor at the military-affiliated National University of Defence Technology and a representative on China’s top lawmaking body, the National People’s Congress. In a report published in the official People’s Liberation Army (PLA) newspaper,...

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US officials are considering caps on the number of AI accelerators Nvidia can export to any one Chinese company, which would further constrain the chipmaker’s re-entry into a crucial market. The Trump administration has talked about limiting Chinese firms to buying 75,000 of Nvidia’s H200 chips each, according to people familiar with the matter. Shipments of Advanced Micro Devices’ MI325 chips, which have similar capabilities, would also count towards a customer’s cap, the people said. These...

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Ahead of China’s annual legislative meetings – typically a window into Beijing’s top-level policy agenda – this is the sixth entry in a series examining the complex economic recalibration driving China’s growth philosophy and its wide-ranging implications for local governments, financial investors and private enterprises. Stock investors will zero in on China’s annual parliamentary gathering this week for signals it could revive equity momentum, as fears of artificial intelligence-driven...

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A key congressional advisory panel issued a warning on Monday about China’s rapidly advancing maritime capabilities and urged the Pentagon to maintain its undersea “superiority”, underscoring growing friction in US-China relations weeks ahead of a high-stakes summit next month. China has invested heavily in submarines, undersea cables and sea-floor mining, potentially undercutting the US lead in undersea warfare, commissioners and witnesses said at a hearing of the US-China Economic and Security...

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In the run-up to this year’s ‘two sessions’ – the annual meetings of China’s top legislature and political advisory body – high-level policymakers have reiterated the need to defuse financial risks and root out political corruption, two of President Xi Jinping’s long-term priorities. In this series, we take stock of how those efforts have progressed, and what remains to be done. The iron ore trade between Australian miners and Chinese buyers has long followed a familiar, bruising pattern. Tense...

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US President Donald Trump’s 2026 Trade Policy Agenda sharpens and, in some ways, reshapes Washington’s approach to Beijing, blending enforcement with a new emphasis on “managed” trade between the world’s two largest economies. United States Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer delivered the 2026 Trade Policy Agenda and 2025 Annual Report to Congress on Monday, highlighting a significant shift in the US-China trade relationship. Managing trade with China for “reciprocity and balance” is one...

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