(Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that Prime Minister Mark Carney did an “about-face” by striking a deal with China to lower some trade barriers, reinforcing President Donald Trump’s latest tariff threat against Canada. “The Canadians a few months ago joined the US in putting high steel tariffs on China because the Chinese are…
The US is in danger of falling increasingly behind China in 2026 as the Asian giant tightens its grip on drones, battery storage, robots and manufacturing, although the No 1 risk to global stability is the US under President Donald Trump, Eurasia Group said on Monday in its closely watched annual forecast of threats, challenges…
On December 16, Chinese President Xi Jinping, on receiving a work report from Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, said the city should proactively align with the country’s 15th five-year plan and better integrate into, and serve, the national development agenda. In recent days, discussion of the coming plan across the Hong Kong government…
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called on Hong Kong’s leader to proactively align with the 15th five-year plan, while offering his full recognition of the local government’s work as he extended condolences to the families of victims of the city’s deadliest fire in decades. Xi also said on Tuesday that Beijing fully recognised the work…
A political row over former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has intensified after his guilty verdict, with the Hong Kong government condemning what it called “despicable political manipulations” and the United States calling for his release. The clash overnight followed Monday’s guilty verdict against the 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper. Lai was…
In 1865, when a British entrepreneur built a demonstration railroad near Beijing, Empress Dowager Cixi saw not progress but danger – of disruptions to feng shui, imperial graves and rural order – and had the tracks torn up. Two decades later, when a Chinese-built coal line threatened to steam too close to sacred grounds, Cixi’s…
Beijing’s state media has praised the swift rescue and relief efforts by the Hong Kong government after the city’s worst fire in decades, commending its leadership and pledging support in its first editorial commentary on the disaster. The commentary by Xinhua, which typically reflects the stance of the central government, published on Sunday focused on…
Macron has included the European Union on his last few engagements with Chinese President Xi Jinping. This was seen as an effort to “Europeanise” his dealings with Beijing. Von der Leyen went to Paris last year to meet Xi alongside Macron and also visited Beijing in 2023 alongside the two-term centrist French leader. Before that,…
Chinese President Xi Jinping and the US President Donald Trump had a phone conversation on Taiwan and Ukraine issues on Monday, according to the official Chinese news agency Xinhua. The phone call came after a series of fast-changing geopolitics in recent weeks. China has seen an escalating row with Japan over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s…
China stands ready to align development strategies with Thailand for “greater progress” in bilateral ties, President Xi Jinping told the visiting Thai monarch King Maha Vajiralongkorn in Beijing on Friday. The Chinese leader described the two nations as “true good relatives, friends and partners” during his meeting with the king at the Great Hall of…