China News

Luuk van Middelaar is the director of the Brussels Institute for Geopolitics, a think tank he co-founded in 2022. A political theorist and historian by trade, he has written several books and was in the cabinet of the first European Council president, Herman Van Rompuy. Van Middelaar is widely read and cited across Europe for his analysis of the EU’s political evolution, with his books translated into many languages and awarded major European literary prizes. He writes regularly for leading...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Beijing’s new hybrid-powered unmanned transport aircraft has completed its maiden flight, a development one analyst said could be a military “game changer” in the Taiwan Strait by helping supply elite frontline troops. On Tuesday, state broadcaster CCTV described the CH YH-1000S as “the world’s first hybrid-powered unmanned transport aircraft” and said it had completed its maiden flight on Sunday at an airport in the southwestern city of Chongqing. “[The drone] carried a high-powered hybrid...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Brazil has ended a temporary tariff exemption that allowed electric and hybrid vehicles assembled using imported parts from China to enter the country at sharply reduced costs, closing a measure that fuelled months of confrontation between the government, Chinese carmaker BYD and Brazil’s established automotive industry. The exemption expired on January 31 and was not renewed, the South China Morning Post confirmed with multiple sources on Wednesday. Companies like BYD and Great Wall Motors will...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China has criticised the European Commission’s anti-subsidy probe into Chinese wind turbine maker Goldwind Science & Technology as “targeted” and “discriminatory”, warning that such measures would undermine Chinese companies’ confidence in the European market and disrupt the bloc’s green transition. “The European side’s related investigations have generalised the concept of ‘foreign subsidies’ and have many problems, such as insufficient evidence for opening cases and a lack of procedural...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Turkey remains committed to becoming a full member of the Brics bloc, positioning itself as a bridge between Asia and Europe despite widening transatlantic rifts, according to the new Turkish ambassador to China. Ankara, meanwhile, would continue to work with Beijing to deepen trade ties, promote high-level visits, expand cultural and academic exchanges and build political trust through dialogue on security, counterterrorism and other sensitive issues, the envoy told the South China Morning...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Countries having cautious reliance on China while maintaining constructive engagement is essential to the future of globalisation in a world where trade is increasingly used as a weapon, according to Canada’s former deputy prime minister. “In a world where the weaponisation of trade is real, we need to be thoughtful about where we’re building economic dependencies,” Chrystia Freeland told the Peterson Institute for International Economics during a discussion about the securitisation of trade and...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Cathy Zhang, head of Asia-Pacific equity capital markets at Morgan Stanley, sounded hoarse after a day of back-to-back meetings with companies keen to go public in Hong Kong. “It’s very possible that the value and number may exceed last year’s IPO figures, given the momentum we have seen in January,” Zhang said in an interview on January 30. Nearly 100 companies filed for stock offerings in the city last month, more than triple the same period in 2025, a year which saw Hong Kong crowned as the...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Leading chipmaking engineer Xu Zhenpeng said the United States no longer offered the freedom that researchers once expected – a key reason for his decision to continue his work in China. Xu, who joined Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) as a tenure-track assistant professor in January, left behind a team leadership role at Atomic Semi, a California start-up with high-profile backers that included OpenAI’s venture fund. Before his departure, Xu led a team that was developing a new kind of...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China’s discounted crude purchases are coming under strain as the United States tightens its stance on Iran and Venezuela, with analysts warning that more refineries may have to turn to higher-priced barrels from Canada, Brazil and the Middle East. The world’s second-largest economy is also accelerating its shift to electric vehicles and ramping up domestic fossil fuel production to help narrow its oil supply gap, while maintaining strategic reserves to mitigate any potential disruption. After...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

In a direct challenge to Beijing’s decades-long grip on the hi-tech economy, the United States on Wednesday sought to rally more than 50 countries and the European Union in Washington around a landmark framework to loosen China’s control over the global critical minerals trade. “This morning, the Trump administration is proposing a concrete mechanism to return the global critical minerals market to a healthier, more competitive state,” US Vice-President J.D. Vance said in his opening remarks at...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

In the article below, published in the Morning Star on 4 February, Andrew Murray argues that Keir Starmer’s visit to China marks a rare moment of realism in British foreign policy after years of hopelessly counterproductive hostility shaped by the demands of Washington. Starmer’s pragmatism reflects an overdue recognition that rebuilding relations with China is … Continue reading Keir Starmer’s small-stick diplomacy

The post Keir Starmer’s small-stick diplomacy appeared first on Friends of Socialist China.

From Friends of Socialist China via This RSS Feed.

Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino rejected criticism from Chinese and Hong Kong authorities on Wednesday over a Supreme Court ruling that voided a long-standing port concession at the Panama Canal, arguing that the decision falls squarely within Panama’s constitutional and legal framework. Mulino’s comments came after China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office issued a sharply worded commentary condemning the court’s decision to declare unconstitutional the concession held by Panama Ports...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

US President Donald Trump wants to build his “Dream Military”. In January, he proposed setting military spending at US$1.5 trillion in 2027 while citing “very troubled and dangerous times”. The move would increase the country’s defence budget by around 50 per cent amid growing concern at the Pentagon about China’s AI advancements. As the United States and China race to develop the latest artificial intelligence, the use of AI technology in the military has become a battleground in its own right,...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

In the following article, which was originally published by the Morning Star, Keith Bennett notes that the recent China visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer marked the end of a long diplomatic hiatus and produced tangible, if limited, economic results. It had been nearly eight years since a British prime minister, Theresa May, had … Continue reading Breaking the ice: Starmer’s pragmatic turn to China

The post Breaking the ice: Starmer’s pragmatic turn to China appeared first on Friends of Socialist China.

From Friends of Socialist China via This RSS Feed.

A proposal to build a Boston campus of Tsinghua University, China’s most prestigious tertiary institution, with the help of Harvard University faculty was unexpectedly revealed in Friday’s release of emails related to Jeffrey Epstein. The plan eventually fell through and has little chance of revival as the US and China engage in a heated science and technology rivalry. Tsinghua is now a bastion of China’s efforts to break US tech sanctions and controls. But the proposal offers a glimpse at how...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China’s global outbound direct investment surged to a seven-year high in 2025 as Chinese firms pivoted their capital towards strategic raw materials and data centres, according to a report by Rhodium Group released on Wednesday. The latest China Cross-Border Monitor report found that Chinese firms announced US$124 billion of new outbound direct investment last year, an 18 per cent jump from 2024 and the highest level recorded since 2018. Completed deals also saw a robust 14 per cent increase to...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China has removed three senior defence industry executives, including a nuclear weapons expert, from the national legislature as part of a deepening anti-corruption campaign. The Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on Wednesday said it had expelled Liu Cangli, former president of the China Academy of Engineering Physics, Luo Qi, chief engineer of the China National Nuclear Corporation, and Zhou Xinmin, former chairman of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China. It did not say...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Chinese President Xi Jinping held a phone conversation with US counterpart Donald Trump on Wednesday, state media said. It came hours after a video conversation between Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin. More to follow …

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

The maker of China’s expanding family of civilian aircraft has announced new orders for a regional jet and secured a crucial “brain” for its ambitious C929 widebody jet, coinciding with the Singapore Airshow. The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) said on Tuesday that it signed a letter of intent for cooperation with Aviage Systems for the C929’s core avionics processing system, according to a Yicai news report. Avionics refer to an aircraft’s electronic systems, including...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

The United States has been constructing a new dimension of its economic security policy: outbound investment rules. Since January last year, Washington has not only established its first outbound investment screening programme but codified it into law and explicitly provided for its expansion. These rules are gaining teeth, giving rise to a compliance architecture that conditions US foreign direct investment on national security priorities. As firms begin to operationalise these rules, capital...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China will “deeply participate” in agricultural trade and expand imports of products in short domestic supply, a senior official said on Wednesday, signalling strong and sustained demand for overseas soybeans – a long-standing food security concern and a flashpoint in its ties with the United States. Despite a tight balance between production and demand, China would diversify import sources and make full use of international markets, said Han Wenxiu, head of the office of the Communist Party’s...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Wang Huning, mainland China’s top official on Taiwan affairs, told the vice-chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT), the island’s main opposition party, that Beijing sought to promote cross-strait exchanges and peace on Wednesday. KMT vice-chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen was received by Wang, chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and Beijing’s No 4 official, and Song Tao, head of the mainland’s Taiwan Affairs Office, at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Chinese President Xi Jinping held a video call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, telling him that relations are on the “right trajectory” and that the two countries need a “grand plan” to develop ties. Putin told Xi that China-Russia ties were a stabilising factor at a time of global turbulence, according to media reports, citing a Russian state television broadcast. It was the first talks between the two leaders this year as both sides seek to ramp up strategic alignment...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China said Panama risks paying a “hefty political and economic price” following the cancellation of Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison Holdings’ contract to operate two major ports serving the Panama Canal. “The Panamanian authorities’ insistence on this despite widespread concerns is tantamount to shooting themselves in the foot,” China’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office said in a commentary posted on its WeChat account on Tuesday. The decision by the Panama Supreme Court “is legally unfounded and...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez is set to visit China later this year, as tensions with the United States prompt more European countries to rethink ties with Beijing. A source familiar with the talks said the two sides were discussing details of the trip. If it goes ahead, it will be Sanchez’s fourth to China in four years. Miguel Otero-Iglesias, a senior analyst at the Madrid-based Elcano Royal Institute, said the prime minister had suggested in the past that visits to China should be an...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.