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The havoc unleashed on global shipping by the US-Israel war on Iran has underlined China’s urgent need to fix its lack of a robust maritime insurance industry, a shipping expert has said. “In the maritime shipping sector, China’s industrial chain for ‘hardware’ is very well-established and mature,” said Chen Jihong, director of the Shenzhen International Maritime Research Institute. “However, when it comes to ‘software’, we are still constrained by others, and it will be difficult to change any...

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In these turbulent times, focusing on the World Trade Organization’s 14th ministerial conference (MC14) in Yaounde, Cameroon, is a bit like trying to focus on a picnic sitting alongside a bar brawl, or listening to a lesson in pruning bonsai while a lumberjack takes a chainsaw to a giant redwood. But try we must. Even if the deliverables are meagre and may take years to materialise, the symbolism of Yaounde points to a possible future very different from today’s chaotic hegemonic unilateralism –...

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After eight years in the deep freeze, the European Parliament is sending an official delegation to China next week in the clearest sign yet that Beijing’s targeted lobbying blitz of its members is paying off. Seven members from the parliament’s Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection (IMCO) will travel to Beijing and Shanghai alongside Engin Eroglu, head of its China delegation. They will meet officials, customs and port authorities, lawmakers and companies, including Shein and...

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Chinese researchers have shown that a silicon quantum chip can carry out a full set of error-detecting logical operations – the first time this has been done and a key step towards building reliable quantum computers. The study, published in Nature Nanotechnology on Monday, found the device could process quantum information with built-in error checks – something previously achieved in platforms like superconducting circuits but not with silicon. According to the team from the Shenzhen...

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Nuclear containment and regional ceasefires are the most viable entry points for potential negotiations between Washington and Tehran, according to a prominent Chinese expert on the Middle East. Niu Xinchun, director of the China-Arab Research Institute at Ningxia University, said the escalating conflict had vindicated China’s insistence on diplomatic and political solutions as the only way forward. He said that although both the US and Iran were open to talks – with Washington “in a much...

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Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC) launched an action plan to enhance its current businesses and seek new growth in 2026, as the largest contract chipmaker in China aims to solidify its role as the backbone of the country’s self-sufficiency drive. Released alongside its annual report for 2025, the plan outlined a commitment to “optimising existing stock and digging for new increments”, the company said in a stock exchange filing on Thursday. The company said two trends would...

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China’s airlines are expected to add nearly 2,900 more China-Europe flights to their summer schedules compared with last year, analysts said, as the US-Israel war on Iran hands them an even greater competitive advantage over other global carriers. Unlike many Western airlines, Chinese carriers can fly directly through Russian airspace to Europe rather than taking a lengthy detour, allowing them to offer quicker flights, save on fuel and avoid sending planes over the Middle East. The number of...

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Amid uncertainty over the timing of a summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, the world is watching closely to see where the two largest economies are leading us. At a time of cascading crises like wars, regional tensions and economic uncertainty, the relationship between Washington and Beijing has become one of the most important variables for global stability. And yet, for all the analysis of military budgets, trade deficits and geopolitical competition, one...

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The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA) is lagging behind China’s national average in basic research, despite showing strong potential in sectors such as semiconductors and smart manufacturing, according to Deloitte. The cluster of cities in southern China, which included Shenzhen, spent about 28.9 billion yuan (US$4.2 billion) on basic research in 2024, accounting for just 5.67 per cent of total spending in research and development (R&D), the consulting firm said in a report...

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The scramble in Asia to secure Russian energy supplies – coupled with the temporary lifting of US sanctions – in the wake of the war in Iran has created a growing sense that Moscow might prove the main winner from the conflict. Earlier this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin told a meeting of oil and gas suppliers that they should use the “additional revenues” generated by the spike in energy prices as a result of the war and the effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Putin has also...

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Beijing is probably sighing with relief following US President Donald Trump’s postponement of his visit to China for “a month or so”. Initially, Trump had tried to threaten China for not joining a proposed naval escort campaign in the Strait of Hormuz, but quickly changed his tone after recognising the absurdity of such a demand. Not even the United States’ closest allies are willing to lend a hand. However, Beijing is even more frustrated with Washington’s lack of clarity and Trump’s hazy...

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China warned Mexico on Thursday it could impose retaliatory measures after concluding a formal investigation into tariffs Mexico imposed on more than 1,400 categories of Asian goods, in a dispute that threatens to complicate Mexico City’s parallel negotiations to renew its trade agreement with the United States. China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said the tariffs, which range from 5 to 50 per cent on 1,463 product categories in force since January 1, restrict the entry of Chinese goods,...

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As the criminal US-Israeli war on Iran enters its fourth week, a new front has opened in the information space. Alongside the bombs and missiles, a set of coordinated Western narratives has emerged targeting China: claiming that Beijing has suffered a strategic failure, that it bears some responsibility for the conflict, or that it hopes … Continue reading Narratives seeking to smear China by exploiting the US-Israel-Iran conflict should stop

The post Narratives seeking to smear China by exploiting the US-Israel-Iran conflict should stop appeared first on Friends of Socialist China.

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Donald Trump’s planned visit to China in May may offer some clues about the preferred US road map for ending the war with Iran, according to Chinese analysts, who said that if the conflict dragged on, it could play into Beijing’s hands. The US president delayed the visit, initially scheduled to start at the end of this month, to focus on the conflict, but said on Wednesday that he would visit Beijing on May 14 and 15. China has yet to confirm the dates and on Thursday foreign ministry spokesman...

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Britain’s decision to block a £1.5 billion (US$2 billion) plan by Chinese clean energy giant Mingyang to build the UK’s largest wind turbine factory in Scotland highlights the mounting challenges of doing business with China in an era of deepening global mistrust, analysts said. The move was likely the result of direct pressure from Washington, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday. The US-Israeli war in Iran and the subsequent energy crisis had raised hopes for the project to be...

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US President Donald Trump is expected to aim for an “economic deal” with China when he is in Beijing, according to a former senior diplomat who served under the American leader during his first term. However if Beijing were to drag out trade negotiations with Washington for too long, it could risk Trump taking a much tougher turn against China, warned Stephen Biegun, who served as US deputy secretary of state from 2019 to 2021. “The president wants a deal, an economic deal, specifically,” he...

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Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday for taking bribes and misusing political donations, dealing a heavy blow to the opposition party he built. Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) in 2019 and finished last in a three-way race for the island’s top political job in 2024, did not plead guilty, according to Taiwanese media reports. The TPP is the third-biggest party in Taiwanese politics and has been in talks with the larger Kuomintang (KMT) to...

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Volkswagen will withdraw its mass-market car brand Skoda from mainland China after years of lacklustre sales, as international marques continue to lose their appeal in the world’s largest automotive market. “Skoda Auto has realigned its global strategy to focus on growth markets such as India and the Asean region,” a Volkswagen spokesperson said on Thursday in a written response to the South China Morning Post, without denying earlier reports that the Czech brand would cease selling new vehicles...

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An estimated 93 million pieces of debris could be floating on the surface of the South China Sea, based on data collected by China in a projection of its marine monitoring and remote sensing prowess. Using technologies such as fixed-ship monitoring, underway surveys and satellite remote sensing, marine scientists and ecologists audited 26 spots in the central and southern parts of the disputed waters. In a report released this month, Beijing’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment said it...

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China could lead the way in Asia in forging new pathways for plurilateral cooperation, Singapore’s prime minister has said, calling for smaller groups of like-minded countries to work together to address challenges in multilateralism. Delivering a keynote address at the Boao Forum for Asia on Thursday, Lawrence Wong also said Beijing could spearhead areas such as AI governance and play a greater role in promoting economic prosperity across Asia, noting Singapore was willing to collaborate with...

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US President Donald Trump said he would visit China from May 14 to May 15, including a meeting with President Xi Jinping, after delaying the trip by about six weeks because of the war on Iran. The new schedule is a day shorter than the original three-day visit that was due to start on March 31. China didn’t join the White House in announcing the trip. It rarely makes statements about planned visits more than a few days ahead of the arrival date. “I look very much forward to spending time with...

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Chinese government advisers are calling for government-set “red lines” in artificial intelligence development and applications, as mounting threats of job displacement and data security challenges spark concerns in the country. Jiang Xiaojuan, former deputy secretary general of the State Council, said at the Boao Forum for Asia annual conference in Hainan province that precaution was needed when using AI simply to reduce labour costs. “Those that do not improve service quality or promote...

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While China appears better prepared than other countries to deal with the shocks brought by the US-Israel war on Iran, its economy would still come under pressure in the short term if its regional partners suffer, an executive with a global consultancy has said. “China might be more resilient, but China is not resilient to a demand shock,” said Denis Depoux, a global managing director at consultancy Roland Berger. “For example, if the economy is slowing down in Southeast Asia, if people stop...

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As the US-Israeli war on Iran continues, China’s top legislator, Zhao Leji, has told the Boao Forum for Asia – a high-level gathering of governments and business leaders – that power politics should be rejected in favour of economic development and conflicts should be resolved through negotiations. “The people of Asia, having endured the scourge of war and chaos, deeply understand the value of peace and stability,” said Zhao, chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s...

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A Chinese military research team has released what it described as the first publicly available visible light-infrared ship detection data set, a resource that could sharpen maritime target recognition for drones, missiles or surveillance systems operating at night or in environments where radar is degraded or suppressed. The dual-modal ship detection (DMSD) data set contains more than 2,000 paired visible and infrared vessel images and nearly 20,000 annotated instances, according to the...

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