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America’s top defence official declared that the US must achieve unquestioned AI “dominance” to prevent adversaries from gaining a technological edge, as he unveiled a strategy that includes integrating Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok. Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth’s announcement did not mention China by name, but it came a month after a report to the US Congress in which the Pentagon warned of Beijing’s accelerating use of AI to reach its military modernisation goals. On Monday, Hegseth said the...

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China and the European Union began 2026 with another trade clash. As the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism entered its definitive phase, Brussels tightened compliance and Beijing warned of countermeasures. However, this week, the two sides signalled progress on defusing the electric vehicle dispute; the EU issued guidance to Chinese EV exporters on submitting minimum price plans. The juxtaposition underlines the point: even when one high-profile area shifts from escalation to technical...

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Alexey Amunts, whose pioneering work on mitochondrial ribosomes helped catalyse the cryo-electron microscopy “resolution revolution”, has left the Max Planck Institute in Germany to join China’s Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation (SMART) this month. Amunts confirmed he had joined SMART as a senior investigator and would “contribute to its international relations agenda”. He is internationally recognised for his breakthroughs in visualising life’s molecular machinery at...

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UBS Group conveyed a sanguine outlook on Chinese stocks in 2026, as the world’s second-largest economy proved to be an important alternative for global investors seeking to diversify away from US equities, which face headwinds from stretched valuations to jitters about the independence of the Federal Reserve. Chinese stocks are expected to be energised by the nation’s growing innovation capability, greater adoption of artificial intelligence across traditional industries and potential inflows...

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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is said to be weighing up an early election, a move that could put her in a stronger position with both China and the United States if she secures a decisive win, according to observers. But a diplomatic thaw between Japan and China is not expected any time soon. Media reports in recent days have suggested that Takaichi may call a snap general election to capitalise on her high approval ratings. Citing government sources, the Yomiuri Shinbun reported on...

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China’s central bank strengthened the yuan’s daily fixing for a third consecutive session to a nearly 16-month high, as the currency also held firm in offshore markets despite recent US dollar strength. On Tuesday, the People’s Bank of China set the yuan’s midpoint rate, also known as the daily fixing rate, at 7.0103 to the US dollar – the strongest showing since the end of September 2024, when the rate was set at 7.0074. That official midpoint rate, however, was still weaker than that of the...

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A partnership between China’s SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals and Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis on Monday has revived hopes for treating Alzheimer’s disease. The deal, worth nearly US$1.7 billion, grants Novartis exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialise SciNeuro’s antibody candidates to develop drugs for the progressive brain disease. SciNeuro’s novel amyloid beta targeted antibody programme leverages proprietary blood-brain barrier shuttle technology to help more of the drug cross...

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China is stepping up its efforts to use its vast coal reserves instead of oil to produce plastics and synthetic rubber. Coal can be refined to make olefins – an essential raw material for tens of thousands of chemical products that include plastics, synthetic fibres and rubber. While the mainstream practice is to produce olefins from oil, using coal can bring significant cost savings and might help to reduce the country’s reliance on imported fuel at a time when Donald Trump is seeking to expand...

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Mainland chip designer GigaDevice Semiconductor jumped more than 45 per cent on its first trading day in Hong Kong on Tuesday, as the Beijing-based firm’s debut catered to investor appetite for tech companies amid China’s push for self-reliance. The firm’s shares started trading at HK$235, versus the offer price of HK$162. Its shares closed between HK$224.20 and HK$226.80 on the grey market on Monday evening, helping some investors cash in gains of about 40 per cent before the official debut,...

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Last month, the United States announced its decision to sell advanced weapons amounting to US$11.1 billion to China’s Taiwan region. The authorisation of the largest ever arms package to Taiwan since China and the US established diplomatic relations has seriously violated the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, severely undermined Chinese sovereignty and security interests, gravely interfered in China’s internal affairs and sent the wrong signals to “Taiwan...

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In the daytime the temperature in northern China often stays below freezing, but for many rural villagers the prohibitive cost of heating means that they have little choice but to endure the cold. “We dare not turn on the heating during the day,” one woman from Guan county in Hebei named Wang said. The 75-year-old’s home is around 70km (43 miles) from the centre of Beijing, but running the heating all day would cost between 60 and 90 yuan (US$8-13), an expense that could soar over the course of...

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Distressed Chinese property developer Vanke’s potential debt restructuring constitutes a one-off, technical default, and was not likely to result in contagion effects, according to an HSBC report. The leading mainland developer before it got caught up in the property crisis, Vanke has not yet registered a material default on its domestic bonds. However, two of its key medium-term notes have entered grace periods, and S&P downgraded the company’s long-term issuer credit rating from “CCC-” to “SD”...

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Foreign and mainland Chinese drug makers are fighting for a multibillion-dollar slice of the domestic weight-loss market by slashing prices by as much as 80 per cent, as China faces a worsening obesity crisis. Competition in the sector, dominated by global pharmaceutical giants Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, intensified after both secured obesity-drug approvals in China in 2024. The landscape is set to shift further when the patent on Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide expires in March in China, opening...

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US President Donald Trump on Monday announced sweeping new tariffs targeting nations maintaining commercial ties with Iran. Effective immediately, the US will impose a 25 per cent tariff on all goods and services imported from any country that “does business” with Iran, Trump said in a social media post. The president characterised the order as “final and conclusive”. While the order is global, it is expected to hit major economies, specifically China and India, the hardest, given their...

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With domestic profits narrowing and production capacity expanding, China’s firms are continuing to widen their overseas footprints in search of new, more lucrative markets. In this series, we examine China Inc.’s next phase of “going global” and the complex, challenging international environment its companies have chosen to enter. In the days since Washington’s ousting and abduction of former Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro – an event that sent shock waves through global markets – some...

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The Ukraine war and Donald Trump’s return to the White House have significantly altered northeast Asia’s geopolitical landscape. North Korea’s defence treaty with Russia and leader Kim Jong-un’s decision to deploy troops to support Moscow have shattered any remaining illusions of strategic restraint. While Russia is believed to be supplying North Korea with finance and technology, Japan and South Korea are accelerating military spending and preparing for long-term confrontation, potentially –...

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Two China-flagged supertankers that were ‌sailing to Venezuela to pick up debt-paying crude cargoes ‍amid the US oil embargo on the Opec country have made U-turns and are now heading back to Asia, LSEG shipping data showed on Monday. Following the US announcement last week of a US$2 billion deal to export up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil stuck in storage, US President Donald Trump said China would not ‍be deprived of Venezuela’s crude. But the Asian country, the first market of the...

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Argentine President Javier Milei said he intends to travel to China in 2026, confirming the plan at a moment when the United States is stepping up pressure on Buenos Aires to scale back its relations with Beijing. Milei made the remarks in an interview with the local newspaper Clarin that was published on Sunday. Asked whether the trip was still on his schedule, he said it was and framed the visit as part of Argentina’s wider commercial agenda rather than a political signal. “We have a very good...

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Integrated space-air fighters featured in China’s Nantianmen science-fiction project, represent the future of aerospace technology, and it is only a matter of time before they are realised, according to state media. The comments appeared on Friday in a programme on CCTV’s military channel that repositions the Nantianmen Project – a research initiative dating back to 2017 that focused on future air and space warfare – from a collection of fantasy concepts to attainable future tech. In the...

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Fears of China choking off exports of critical minerals to Japan amid a deepening political dispute have set off industry alarms and prompted Tokyo to elevate the issue at a G7 gathering of finance ministers this week, despite Beijing’s assurances that civilian trade would be spared. Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said last week that she would attend the Group of Seven event in Washington on Monday with the “risk of a rare-earth-supply interruption from China in mind”, the...

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has said there must be no room for corrupt elements to hide as he warned that the problem was a threat to the country’s development. On Monday, he told a plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) – China’s top anti-corruption body – that the country had made notable progress last year, but the issue remained a “major struggle”. “Corruption is a stumbling block and obstacle to the development of the [Communist] party and the country,...

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Taiwan’s legislature is weighing amendments to an anti-infiltration law that would impose a minimum one-year prison term on Beijing-linked influence and infiltration activities, while critics have raised concerns about tighter social controls. The proposed changes to the Anti-Infiltration Act, under review by the legislature’s Interior Affairs Committee on Monday, come six years after the law took effect. They also come amid growing concerns within the government that prosecutions have resulted...

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High-Flyer Quant, co-owned by DeepSeek founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng, recorded a return of 56.6 per cent last year to rank second among China’s 10 top-performing large hedge-fund firms. According to the ranking published on Monday by data provider Shenzhen PaiPaiWang Investment & Management, High-Flyer only trailed behind Lingjun Investment, which posted a return of 73.5 per cent in 2025. All the top performers were quantitative hedge funds, underscoring the popularity in China of using complex...

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Europe made a “misjudgment” in categorising Russia as its top security threat and instead the continent’s real danger lay in Europeans’ inner “demon”, according to China’s longest-serving ambassador to the US. Cui Tiankai, a former Chinese foreign vice-minister, also claimed Nato had outlived its relevance and argued that the transatlantic security alliance no longer served the long-term interests of its members. Cui’s comments came during a discussion examining US relations with its allies...

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China has made strengthening export control rules and safeguarding supply-chain resilience top priorities this year, as officials move to secure the nation’s economic interests amid rising geopolitical friction. The Ministry of Commerce said it would enhance legal frameworks and risk prevention and tighten the “safety net for opening up” as one of eight core work areas, according to a statement released on Sunday after its annual work conference in Beijing. China has increasingly used export...

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