The most important outcome of the Communist Party of China’s fourth plenum, held last month in Beijing, was the review and adoption of the “Recommendations of the CPC Central Committee on Formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development”. Leading the drafting team in person, Communist Party General Secretary and Chinese President…
Chinese media and ordinary citizens expressed outrage Monday towards Japan, as an escalating diplomatic spat threatens to wreck relations strained by historical grievances and strategic rivalry. Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on November 7 that the use of force against self-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing claims, could warrant a military response from Tokyo. “What does…
Even as China’s travel warning to Japan after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Taiwan comments deepens a diplomatic rift, many ordinary Chinese are keeping their plans to visit this season’s hottest overseas destination. Despite Beijing’s caution, there’s been no significant cancellations yet of trips to Japan on China’s biggest online travel booking platforms as of Monday,…
Under pressure from Beijing’s chokehold on rare earths and the simmering feud over chipmaker Nexperia, EU officials have been asked to tone down their public rhetoric on Beijing, even as the bloc moves forward aggressively with its de-risking plans. Brussels is in “de-escalation mode”, several official sources confirmed, as it looks to convince China to…
China, which long possessed just a small nuclear force, is catching up fast, while Russia is developing a variety of new-generation systems aimed at American cities. Russian President Vladimir Putin has already used nuclear saber-rattling to throttle American support for Ukraine. He has deployed nuclear weapons to Belarus and, in recent weeks, tested a nuclear-powered…
A man from southern China who donated 140 yuan (US$20) as a child to help build an aircraft carrier has seen his dream of the country becoming a stronger nation come true. To top his wish, in November, the China State Shipbuilding Corporation invited him to visit the carrier fleet and gave him a commemorative…
Japan risked turning the entire country into a battlefield if it intervened militarily in the Taiwan Strait, an article published by Beijing’s military mouthpiece PLA Daily warned on Sunday, marking the latest escalation in a diplomatic clash sparked by comments from the Japanese leader. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi told the Japanese parliament on November 7…
By lifting its arms embargo on Cambodia, Washington has signalled that President Donald Trump aims to lure Phnom Penh away from Beijing – a move experts warn would be difficult to achieve. According to a notice from the US Federal Register, the State Department formally ended its arms embargo on Cambodia as of November 7,…
China’s premier metropolis has a vision for the future of dining – and it is one involving restaurants run by artificial intelligence, with automated kitchens, robot servers, data-driven menus and intelligent supply chains. The spread of automation in the catering sector has become a hot-button issue in China over recent months, but Shanghai appears committed…
When Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump met in Busan, South Korea, on October 30, they spent nearly two hours discussing rare earths, fentanyl and trade. Taiwan, the one issue most likely to bring the world’s two largest powers into direct conflict, never came up. That silence was the message. It revealed…