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China is reviewing its trade countermeasures against the United States as Washington’s new global tariffs take effect, following a Supreme Court ruling that struck down the Trump administration’s sweeping levies imposed last year. The Ministry of Commerce on Tuesday also confirmed that Beijing would soon hold a new round of high-level trade talks with Washington, expected to pave the way for US President Donald Trump’s state visit to the country in late March. “China has consistently opposed...

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It’s no surprise that US President Donald Trump came out swinging after the Supreme Court’s stunning rebuke struck at the core of his economic agenda. It delivered his most consequential legal setback by blocking him from invoking emergency powers to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs on trading partners. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), enacted in 1977, allows the president to regulate economic transactions after declaring a national emergency in response to an...

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Taiwan is at risk of missing out on three US-approved weapons packages for the first time because of delays to a stalled NT$1.25 trillion (US$40 billion) special defence budget in the legislature. The unprecedented situation has prompted Defence Minister Wellington Koo Li-hsiung to urge opposition lawmakers to give the budget emergency authorisation ahead of a March 15 deadline, when letters of offer and acceptance for three arms deals will expire. If the deals – to buy M109A7 self-propelled...

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China’s maritime militia was deployed in “record-high numbers” across the disputed South China Sea in 2025, according to a US think tank report. However, the report also cited a concentration of civilian fishing fleets near less contested reefs, saying this suggested their waning strategic role for Beijing. The report was published on Monday by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) – a research programme affiliated with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a...

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Beijing is encouraging equity investors to pursue representative action against unscrupulous listed or delisted firms in an apparent effort to bolster confidence in the country’s stock markets, as trading resumed on Tuesday following a 10-day break. The Supreme People’s Court, mainland China’s highest judicial organ, also announced at a press conference that it would issue more edicts on civil compensation for insider trading and market manipulation to better safeguard retail investors’...

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China’s Lunar New Year box office slid to its weakest level since 2020, weighed down by the absence of major breakout films, despite the country leading global single-market takings so far this year. Cinemas generated 5.75 billion yuan (US$831 million) over the nine-day holiday that ended on Monday, according to box-office tracker Dengta Data – a drop of nearly 40 per cent from last year’s record 9.51 billion yuan haul. The result marked the lowest Lunar New Year takings since 2020, when...

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In the early days of 2026, there has been an unexpected turn in China’s global relations. Some US allies have started reaching out to China just as China faced complications in ties with some friendly countries in the Global South. The underlying cause for both trends is the Trump administration’s imperial behaviour. With the dramatic abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and US President Donald Trump’s wish to control Venezuela’s oil, China’s economic stake in one of its closest...

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Human rights cannot be used to “whitewash hegemony”, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said at a UN meeting, warning against any single country acting as a “human rights teacher”. Wang delivered his remarks via video link to a high-level meeting of the United Nations Human Rights Council held in Geneva, Switzerland, on Monday. “No country is qualified to act as the self-appointed ‘teacher of human rights’. No model of human rights should be proclaimed as ‘the sole prescription’,” he said,...

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Thailand led the list of destinations for Chinese tourists travelling overseas during this year’s extended Lunar New Year holiday, as former favourite Japan saw arrivals plummet amid a political dispute with China over Taiwan. The Southeast Asian nation saw roughly 250,000 arrivals from China during the holiday, which ran from February 15 to 23, according to the travel marketing and technology firm China Trading Desk. This year’s Lunar New Year holiday was expected to be a key period for global...

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Zhu Ziqiang, one of the world’s leading experts in electric motor engineering, has left his four-decade career in Britain to take up a full-time position at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In his new role as chair professor of electrical machines and control systems, Zhu will continue his long-standing work on high-efficiency permanent magnet motors, according to his faculty page on the PolyU website. Zhu spent 38 years at the University of Sheffield, where he eventually established what was...

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China will accelerate investment in alternative nickel supply sources and strengthen its role across the metal’s wider supply chain, analysts said, after the United States finalised a deal with Indonesia on Thursday that will give America unrestricted access to the country’s industrial commodities. While the US Supreme Court’s tariff ruling last week could add some uncertainty to US-Indonesia trade, the agreement has the potential to reshape the global supply chain for nickel – a metal used to...

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For his family’s first overseas trip together, Tang Junjie carefully planned a holiday to Japan during China’s longest Lunar New Year break on record. Flights were booked months in advance by the 22-year-old from Sichuan province, who had already made three solo visits to the neighbouring country that has long been a draw for Chinese tourists. But a sudden deterioration in Sino-Japanese relations changed everything. “The original plan was to transit through Seoul on our way to Japan,” Tang said....

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China has added 20 Japanese entities to its export control list and 20 more to a watch list scrutinising the trade of select goods, increasing economic pressure on Tokyo in a move that widens the scope of the countries’ prolonged diplomatic row to include some of Japan’s largest companies. Chinese exporters have been banned from shipping dual-use goods – items with military and civilian applications – to the firms and institutions on the export control list, Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce said...

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South Korea last week protested to the US over a rare stand-off between American and Chinese fighter jets in the Yellow Sea, according to media reports. Analysts said the move signalled Seoul was reluctant to see US forces stationed in South Korea more actively confront Beijing. According to a Yonhap News Agency report on Saturday citing unnamed military sources, South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back lodged a complaint with General Xavier Brunson, commander of US Forces Korea (USFK),...

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After being sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment for national security offences on February 9, Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying will decide if he wishes to appeal. He may challenge his convictions and/or sentences and has about two weeks to make up his mind. Given the length of his trial (156 days), the mountain of evidence and the legal issues, it will take time for any appeal to be resolved. Meanwhile, foreign actors have turned their attention to securing Lai’s early release. The lead...

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As US President Donald Trump prepares for a high-stakes summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing from March 31 to April 2, analysts say recent US policy reversals, including a Supreme Court of the United States ruling striking down broad tariffs, have shifted trade tensions into a phase of cautious stability rather than escalation. The legal setback has strengthened China’s negotiating position, bolstered by lowered effective tariffs, its leverage over critical minerals like rare earths,...

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The Wassenaar Arrangement has long been seen as a symbol of China’s isolation from the global community. This major international regime controls the export of weapons and advanced technologies, and its 42 member states include nearly all developed Western countries, nations closely tied to China like Russia, and developing countries such as India. Together, they have worked to block non-members’ access to cutting-edge defence technologies and equipment. In China, the arrangement is viewed as...

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African nations have long been asking: who really opens their market, on what terms and how fast? Earlier this month, China provided a clear answer when it stated that starting on May 1, China will apply zero tariffs on imports from 53 African countries with which it maintains diplomatic relations. For years, Western governments have promised to rethink their partnerships with their African counterparts, tying positive language about equality and sustainability to complex trade frameworks. China...

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The United States on Monday accused China of dramatically swelling its nuclear arsenal and doubled down on claims that Beijing had conducted secret nuclear tests, demanding again it be part of any future arms control treaty. Washington said the lapsing earlier this month of New Start – the last treaty between top nuclear powers the United States and Russia – presented the possibility of striking a “better agreement” including Beijing. Christopher Yeaw, the US assistant secretary of state for...

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The Panamanian government on Monday issued a decree ordering the occupation of two ports at the entrances of the Panama Canal, a move triggered by a final Supreme Court ruling that declared the operating concession held by the Hong Kong-based company CK Hutchison unconstitutional. The decree authorises the Panama Maritime Authority to occupy the ports for “reasons of urgent social interest”. The occupation includes all movable property within or outside the Balboa and Cristobal terminals,...

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At a time when German industry is frequently slammed for being too slow and reluctant to change, there is one area in which industrialists have noticed rapid evolution. “The speed at which our position towards China has changed and at which our members are changing their minds on China – it’s China speed,” said Oliver Richtberg, head of the foreign trade department at Germany’s Mechanical Engineering Industry Association (VDMA). Richtberg’s group represents more than 3,000 of Germany’s “hidden...

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German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who heads to Beijing this week, had warned last year in relation to China that economic dependencies make Germany “susceptible to blackmail”. As chancellor, he confronts an export model under strain, a deteriorating transatlantic environment and the fiscal reality that moral posturing does not sustain an industrial economy. Merz has never been shy about stating where he stands. As chairman of the non-profit Atlantik-Brucke from 2009 to 2019, he boosted the view...

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Beijing appears to be testing its 155mm (6.1-inch) naval gun to boost the PLA Navy’s land-attack firepower. The weapon would be the biggest in the People’s Liberation Army’s naval arsenal and could be useful in an amphibious operation against Taiwan. Photos of the massive weapon mounted on the bow of a test vessel have recently emerged on Chinese social media. The location was identified as the Liaonan shipyard in Dalian, in China’s northeastern Liaoning province. The estimated barrel length and...

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Taiwan has moved swiftly to seek clarification from Washington after the US Supreme Court struck down Donald Trump’s tariff authority. The ruling on Friday prompted the US president to invoke a separate statute – Section 122 of the US Trade Act of 1974 – to impose a 15 per cent global tariff, casting fresh uncertainty over Taiwan’s trade outlook. The legal reset has raised questions in Taipei about whether tariff exemptions negotiated under the existing Taiwan-US trade framework – including...

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China’s sprawling export sector is eyeing a brief window of opportunity to front-load shipments to the United States following a Supreme Court ruling that appears to have eased tariff rates – even as industry insiders remain wary of potential shocks ahead. All eyes are now on the coming Beijing summit, where US President Donald Trump is set to meet President Xi Jinping in a visit that could prove decisive for the future of bilateral trade, analysts and exporters said. Chinese goods had been...

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