Is a thaw coming in the U.S.-China trade war?
Internal U.S. divisions and Chinese strategic caution shape the current stalemate
Welcome back to What’s Happening in China, your weekly China brief.
As with much of Trump 2.0’s foreign policy, U.S.-PRC relations remain tense, but are we beginning to see the first signs of a thaw in the trade war?
On Friday, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Commerce said that “China is currently evaluating” the U.S.’s repeated expression of willingness to negotiate on tariffs. So how should the PRC go about it? The Wall Street Journal’s Lingling Wei reported that Beijing “has been inquiring about what the Trump team wants China to do when it comes to the chemical ingredients used to make fentanyl.” That may be Beijing’s olive branch.
Still, does the Trump administration even know what it wants? As Mary Gallagher, a global affairs professor at the University of Notre Dame, points out in a recent piece, this administration’s erratic trade strategy likely reflects internal tensions between “trade hawks and long-time China threat mongers, such as Peter Navarro and Steve Bannon, on one side; and traditional pro-business GOP elites and tech CEOs, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, on the other,” and that conflict is unlikely to be resolved soon.
Graham Webster, a research scholar at Stanford University's Cyber Policy Center, is skeptical of a thaw. Perhaps rightly so. Despite the apparent openness to dialogue, the Ministry of Commerce added in the same response that the “tariff war and trade war were unilaterally initiated by the United States” and “it should show its sincerity and be prepared to correct its wrong practices and cancel the unilateral tariffs.”
In a sign of how Beijing is responding to Washington’s efforts under Trump 2.0 to change the world order, Xi Jinping, on Wednesday, chairing a symposium in Shanghai on economic and social development in the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), cautioned that his “country must adjust and optimise its economic structure” according to the “changes in the international landscape and their impact on China.” In practice, this likely means doubling down on efforts to boost domestic resilience in areas like high-end manufacturing, technology, and consumer demand.
Trade talks soon? Maybe. Maybe not.
Let’s jump into it.
— PC
Through the Lens
In Focus
I. Trade talks soon maybe
China says it is “currently assessing” proposals by the United States to begin trade talks, in a subtle tone shift that could open the door for negotiations.
A spokesperson for China’s Commerce Ministry said in a Friday statement that “the US has recently sent multiple messages to China through relevant parties, hoping to start talks with China. China is currently evaluating this.”
The comments signal a softening in Beijing’s position, which has been steadfastly defiant amid heightened tensions with the US because of President Donald Trump’s tariff war.
Trump has been repeatedly saying since last week that his administration was in talks with Chinese officials to strike a trade deal — only to be met with flat denials from Beijing each time.
Read: China says it’s evaluating possible trade talks with the US amid tariff war (CNN)
Related:
With China and US in trade war, other nations must choose sides (AP)
Trade war, tariffs 'full-blown crisis already,' U.S. farm exporters say (CNBC)
Chinese e-commerce exports to US plummet by 65% in face of tariffs (The Guardian)
Temu to stop selling goods from China directly to US customers (BBC)
How China Armed Itself for the Trade War (Foreign Affairs)
Will China Escalate? (Foreign Affairs)
II. “Seeking the next DeepSeek”
To my mind, the most interesting aspect of this data set is that it paints a picture of a chaotic, all-out scramble at the starting line of China’s generative AI race, as major players compete to establish and refine the core technologies on which they hope to build empires of AI-powered products and services. This data set suggests that China’s big tech firms are loath to allow their competitors to build or control the tools they will need, preferring to reinvent the wheel rather than let someone else drive. Early winners in this fierce competition – like DeepSeek and Alibaba – are only beginning to emerge.
Against that backdrop, I think it’s a mistake to view DeepSeek as some kind of anomaly, rising out of otherwise fallow ground. China’s generative AI industry – both in terms of companies exploring foundational models and those releasing consumer-facing apps – is varied and vibrant, with many new competitors entering the fray on a monthly basis. Given this environment, DeepSeek was more of an inevitability than an anomaly, and China very well may give rise to more impactful foundational LLMs in the not-too-distant future.
But foundational AI will not be the competitive focus for long, in China or elsewhere. As winners of the foundational AI contest emerge and consolidate their leads, the industry will turn its attention to building consumer-facing applications on top of existing toolkits, and the Chinese public will see an explosion of AI-based applications take place. That shift should be visible in this data set, as we would expect to see a slowdown in the number of foundational GATs registered and an explosion in sector-specific registrations.
To close things off, I’ll note that if history is any guide, this intense domestic competition within China will eventually lead to more globally competitive AI-powered tools developed by Chinese firms making their way onto the international stage.
Read: Seeking the next DeepSeek: What China’s generative AI registration data can tell us about China’s AI competitiveness (Trivium China)
Related: Forum: Xi’s Message to the Politburo on AI (DigiChina)
III. “China Targets”
China Targets is a cross-border investigation led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that uncovers the sprawling scope and terrifying tactics of Beijing’s campaign to target regime critics living overseas.
The 10-month investigation also reveals how the United Nations has become a staging ground for China’s transnational repression under Xi Jinping’s regime — and how Chinese authorities abuse Interpol red notices for political ends.
ICIJ and 42 media partners interviewed 105 people in 23 countries who have been targeted by Chinese authorities in recent years for criticizing the government’s policies in public and privately. These individuals include Chinese and Hong Kong political dissidents as well as members of oppressed Uyghur and Tibetan minorities.
Read: China Targets (ICIJ)
Related: Wanted HK activist Anna Kwok's father detained pending trial (HKFP)
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Politics & Society
Xi: Formulate five-year plan scientifically (China Daily)
President Xi Jinping has underlined the need to take a forward-looking approach, and to consider the impact of the changing international landscape on the country's socioeconomic development, in formulating the next five-year plan for 2026-30.
He said it is important to adapt to changing situations and grasp strategic priorities to work out the 15th Five-Year Plan for Economic and Social Development in a scientific way.
China mulls law on standards for national 5-year plans (SCMP)
China is set to introduce legislation to standardise the drafting of the country’s five-year plans for key economic and political goals.
The draft law on national development planning was submitted for its first reading to the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, China’s top legislative body, during its four-day session that began on Sunday [Apr 27], state news agency Xinhua said.
The legislation is meant to improve strategic guidance for national development plans and “advance the modernisation of the national governance system”, according to Xinhua.
The draft, one of 23 bills to be given their first reading this year, has not been released to the public.
It is expected to be adopted after a third reading, which could be in time for March, when China’s next five-year plans covering 2026-2030 will be released.
The State Council, China’s cabinet, decided at a meeting in February to submit the draft to the legislature for review. The meeting noted the need to improve “the scientific, democratic, law-based, and standardised formulation of national development plans”.
Preparation for the new law has been under way for years, first appearing in the NPC Standing Committee’s five-year legislative plan in 2013, before being included in the country’s five-year plans for national economic and social development.
Explaining Xi’s PLA purges (Lowy Institute)
Not only has Xi, like Stalin, targeted real and imagined opponents within the regime (such as Zhou Yongkang), but once his position was consolidated he has turned on allies and proteges alike in order to reinforce discipline, demonstrate his authoritative role atop the Party-state, and provide scapegoats for enduring governance problems. Each of these elements converge to make the “further consolidation of power” in the hands of the leader “necessary and more desirable for better governance”.
The recent purges suggest the consolidation of this logic and reflect the institutional and ideological dominance of Xi rather than any weakening of his power. Indeed, historical precedents within the CCP show that purges can consolidate authority rather than diminish it. In this sense, Xi through his repeated campaigns against ill-discipline and corruption within the Party-state, including the PLA, has simply reinforced its Leninist nature resulting in an increasingly centralised and personalised regime at the highest levels.
China’s military likens anti-corruption drive to preparations for war (SCMP)
In one of a number of articles on the topic in the past week, the PLA Daily said in a commentary on Wednesday that the Chinese military should “make good use of political rectification” – a euphemism for anti-corruption and political loyalty – to be fully prepared for combat at any time.
“Looking back on the history of development of our military, we have carried out major rectification every time before a key war,” the article said, referring to the second Sino-Japanese war, China’s civil war, and the Korean war.
By getting rid of corrupt practices and unifying political loyalty, political rectification had “not only ensured the completion of the military missions at the time, but also had an important impact on the construction and development of our army”.
At a time of growing national security uncertainty, the forces should not expect to be “soldiers and officers of peace time”, the article said.
China calls US a ‘small stranded boat’ in propaganda campaign (Financial Times)
China has stepped up an international propaganda campaign against the US trade war, unleashing slick videos portraying itself as standing up against American “bullying” on behalf of the rest of the world, especially the “weak” in developing countries.
Posted by the ministry of foreign affairs on social media, the videos represent a dramatic hardening of Beijing’s diplomatic stance in the trade war and are part of a charm offensive designed to portray China as championing free commerce while Washington “slaps its allies in the face”.
The propaganda videos contrast dark scenes of Wall Street chaos and angry American protesters with a bright and futuristic China, illustrated by high-tech humanoid robots and rockets shooting into space.
In images chosen to highlight China’s positive relationships with other countries, Mercedes-Benz chief executive Ola Källenius is seen speaking at a recent conference in Beijing and an African traditional tribesman is pictured apparently making a deal with a Chinese businessperson.
The latest video, titled “Never Kneel Down”, was released on Tuesday and warns countries not to make deals with the US, reflecting concerns in Beijing that US President Donald Trump is using tariffs to force other countries to join America in isolating China.
“Bowing to a bully is like drinking poison to quench a thirst,” the video said.
“China won’t back down so the voices of the weak will be heard,” it added, showing images of African children. “Bullying will be stopped . . . when the rest of the world stands together in solidarity, the US is just a small stranded boat.”
Chinese entrepreneurs educated overseas hit back at ‘appliance queen’ over spy allegations (SCMP)
A group of Chinese entrepreneurs educated abroad publicly condemned a leading businesswoman’s remarks that overseas-trained workers could be spies.
The comments by Dong Mingzhu, chairwoman of Gree Group and China’s “home appliance queen”, have fuelled debate over global versus local talent in China amid ongoing tension with the United States.
Dong told a closed-door shareholder meeting last week that her company would “never use a haigui pai”, or people who had been educated or worked overseas, because there could be spies among them.
Her comments were leaked to the public and sparked controversy across the country.
In the latest response, the Society of Younger Generation Entrepreneurs Returned from Overseas of Shanxi Province – also known as the Shanxi Returnees’ Chamber of Commerce – published an open letter on Monday demanding Dong “be held accountable for her inappropriate remarks and apologise to the overseas students and the whole society”.
It also said that if her company had discriminatory recruitment policies, they should be rectified.
“Ms Dong imposed the ungrounded ‘spy’ speculation on the entire group [of returnees], which not only lacks data support, but also exposes enthusiastic overseas students to prejudice,” the statement said.
Sovereignty, Security, & U.S.-China Relations ()
The point is not that the Chinese public desires going to war to realize their government’s foreign policy goals. Instead, as this survey shows, there is support in China for coercive military actions short of war that could escalate into proxy conflicts between China and the United States.
Vice Chairman of China’s Securities Regulator Latest Target of Corruption Probe (Caixin)
Wang Jianjun, a vice chairman at China’s top securities regulatory body, has become the latest target of an anti-corruption probe unsettling the country’s financial industry.
Wang, who oversaw institutions, market and bond regulations at the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC), has been placed under investigation for suspected “serious violations of discipline and law,” according to an announcement Wednesday by the nation’s top anti-graft watchdog. His tenure at the CSRC spanned 28 years.
At least 22 people killed in restaurant fire in northeast China (Al Jazeera)
At least 22 people have been killed and three others injured in a fire at a restaurant in China’s northern city of Liaoyang, Chinese authorities said.
Authorities did not provide details on what caused the blaze, which broke out shortly after noon local time (04:25 GMT) on Tuesday.
But images from the scene showed huge flames spurting from the windows and doors of the multi-storey building in Liaoyang, about 580km (360 miles) northeast of the capital Beijing.
Explosion in residential area in China’s Shanxi kills at least one, state media reports (The Straits Times)
At least one person was killed and 21 others injured when an explosion rocked a residential area in northern China’s Shanxi province, creating clouds of smoke and shattering glass in nearby buildings, the state media reported on April 30.
The blast occurred at around 1.15pm in Shanxi’s Taiyuan city, state broadcaster CCTV said, adding that the cause was being investigated.
When a Deng Xiaoping-Approved Marriage Spurred the Hunan Democracy Movement — with Judith Shapiro ()
How did that experience of teaching change your views on China?
As I got to know my students, they would tell me more about what they had experienced. We would have conversation class, and I would say, “Tell me about how wonderful it was to go to the countryside to learn from the peasants.” And they would say, “Actually, it wasn’t wonderful at all.” That gradually educated me.
Xinjiang
As China eases up on EU lawmakers, Brussels stays the course on Xinjiang sanctions (SCMP)
The European Union will not remove sanctions on Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, even as Beijing moves to lift some of its retaliatory sanctions on EU lawmakers.
The Post reported earlier that China and the European Parliament were in the “final stages” of lifting the punitive measures on sitting members, with an announcement expected in the coming weeks.
However a spokeswoman for the EU’s diplomatic arm, which oversees foreign policy and sanctions, said on Thursday it had no plans to reciprocate because it had not observed an improvement in conditions in the far western region of China.
3 Uyghurs who were detained in Thailand for over a decade have been resettled in Canada (AP)
Three Uyghur men who spent over a decade in Thai detention were resettled in Canada in April, Thai lawmakers and activists confirmed, months after Thailand drew international condemnation for sending 40 other Uyghurs back to China, where they feared further detention, torture and even death.
The three made their way to Canada during Thailand’s Songkran festival weekend in April, said Kannavee Suebsang, a lawmaker who has advocated on behalf of the Uyghurs, and Chalida Tajaroensuk, president of the People’s Empowerment Foundation, a Thai human rights group that works closely with migrants and refugees.
RFA shuts language services after Trump cuts, including Uyghur, Tibetan (HKFP)
Radio Free Asia said Friday it will lay off almost all of its staff and close production in several languages, including a rare Uyghur service, after President Donald Trump cut off funding.
Radio Free Asia — created by the United States with a mission to deliver news in countries without free media — said it will terminate 280 staff members in Washington, accounting for more than 90 percent of its US-based workforce, as well as 20 positions overseas.
Hong Kong & Macao
Press Freedom Index 2025: HK falls to 140th, enters 'red zone' for first time (HKFP)
Hong Kong has tumbled five places in the annual Reporters Without Borders Press (RSF) Freedom Index, entering the “red zone” – meaning a “very serious” situation – for the first time, alongside China.
The city fell five places to 140th place, sandwiched between Sri Lanka and Kazakhstan. China fell six places to 178th place – only North Korea and Eritrea ranked lower.
“At RSF, we have never seen such a sharp and rapid deterioration in the press freedom record of any country or territory,” the watchdog’s Asia-Pacific Bureau Advocacy Officer Aleksandra Bielakowska told HKFP. “Today, Hong Kong increasingly resembles neighbouring China, the world’s largest prison for journalists.”
Media 360: A Look Back on Hong Kong Press Freedom Events as Journalists Perservere (Hong Kong Journalists Association)
The Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) has launched its latest project titled Media 360, offering a comprehensive review of major developments in Hong Kong's media industry over recent years.
Press freedom in Hong Kong shifted significantly between 2021 and 2025. The enactment of the National Security Law and Article 23 of the Basic Law drastically changed the legal risks facing media organizations.
Despite these challenges, Hong Kong journalists have found new ways to report and operate in a difficult environment. Meanwhile, some reporters and documentary filmmakers discovered greater freedom abroad, earning international accolades and recognition for their work.
Four pro-democracy lawmakers from ‘Hong Kong 47’ group freed after four years in jail (The Guardian)
Four members of the “Hong Kong 47” group of pro-democracy campaigners and activists jailed on contentious national security convictions have been freed.
Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam and Gary Fan are the first of the group to be released from jail, after serving sentences of more than four years. The group - tried together in Hong Kong’s largest ever national security trial - were sentenced in November. However most of them, including the four released on Tuesday, had already spent several years detained after courts denied bail.
The Hong Kong 47 are among a group of more than 50 pro-democracy politicians, activists, community workers and campaigners who were arrested in mass dawn raids in early 2021. The 47 were accused of breaching the 2020 national security by holding unofficial primaries before Hong Kong’s scheduled elections.
HK's ex-lawmaker Claudia Mo breaks silence on prison life since release (HKFP)
Former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo has made her first public comment about her “prison experience,” days after she was released from jail.
Hong Kong’s former opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo posts this photo of herself on Facebook on May 2, 2025, saying the photo was taken hours after she was released from prison three days earlier. Photo: Screenshot, via Facebook.
“My prison experience… Prison life was surreal, almost Kafka-esque to start with,” Mo wrote in a Facebook post on Friday. “But I didn’t suffer the two major incarceration traumas, loneliness and boredom, thanks to the social arrangements inside.”
She said she had read over 300 books and picked up her French during her custody.
HK minimum wage rises to HK$42.10 (HKFP)
The 5.3 per cent increase from HK$40 in hourly base pay took effect on Thursday, when Hong Kong marked the annual International Labour Day.
Labour groups and NGOs in the city, however, say that the new minimum wage still fails to meet basic living needs, and the monthly income of a full-time minimum wage worker is less than the amount the government hands out to a two-person household under the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance scheme.
The government also officially scrapped the policy that allowed employers to offset long service and severance payments with mandatory contributions under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) system.
99 people, aged 13 to 74, arrested in drug trafficking bust (HKFP)
Police seized 220 kilogrammes of drugs, ranging from cocaine and ketamine to cannabis and “space oil,” with an estimated market value of HK$117 million, said Senior Inspector Ho Ho-ting of the force’s narcotics bureau.
Taiwan
US ability to defeat China in Taiwan threatened, top Indo-Pacific commander warns (Financial Times)
The top American military commander in the Indo-Pacific said the US would defeat China in a conflict over Taiwan now but warned that it faced increasing challenges as China rapidly expanded its military.
“The United States will prevail in the conflict as it stands now, with the force that we have right now,” Admiral Samuel Paparo told the McCain Institute’s annual Sedona Forum in Arizona on Friday.
Speaking one year after taking the helm at Indo-Pacific command, Paparo stressed that the US military had key advantages over China in undersea capabilities, as well as superior capabilities in space and weapons that counter space assets. But he warned that China was building weapons systems, including warships, at a much faster pace than the US.
“Our trajectory on . . . really every force element that is salient is a bad trajectory,” Paparo said.
China produces two submarines a year for every 1.4 made in the US, Paparo said. It also builds six combatant warships annually compared with the 1.8 manufactured in America.
His warning comes as the People’s Liberation Army continues to significantly expand its exercises around Taiwan.
Lai commits to ’Taiwan plus America’ strategy (Taiwan News)
President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) welcomed a visiting delegation from the Atlantic Council on Friday, emphasizing Taiwan’s commitment to deepening cooperation with the US.
In his remarks, Lai outlined a roadmap for strengthening bilateral trade, lowering tariffs, and expanding Taiwan’s investment in the US under a “Taiwan plus America” strategy, per a press release.
Addressing regional security, Lai reaffirmed Taiwan’s resolve to defend itself against China, per CNA. He announced plans to increase Taiwan’s defense budget from 2.5% to over 3% of GDP.
Taiwan legislators talk chips at U.S. Commerce Department (Focus Taiwan)
A delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers met with American officials in Washington, D.C. on Thursday to discuss several issues, including the flow of chips made in Taiwan, according to Wang Ting-yu (王定宇), one of the lawmakers.
The delegation met with officials of the Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security, accompanied by Ingrid Larson, the managing director of the American Institute in Taiwan's (AIT) Washington office.
Wang, of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said after the meeting that the bureau voiced concern about possible "origin washing" of Chinese products and Taiwan's high-end chips reaching third parties restricted by the United States through illicit means.
Wang said his group proposed law enforcement cooperation to tackle that problem, contending that Taiwan's exclusion from Interpol put it at a disadvantage and made it hard to track users who acquire their chips through indirect means.
Taiwan Focuses on Societal Resilience and U.S. Cooperation in New Defense Review ()
Taiwan’s 2025 QDR represents a significant improvement over its predecessor in content and clarity. However, it still suffers the fundamental limitation of being a document without consensus. Some parts espouse the importance of disaster mitigation and economic prosperity, while others urge the need to counter the existential threat the PRC increasingly poses. This limitation can only be remedied by top-level strategic guidance in the form of a national security strategy that addresses gaps such as how to prioritize gray zone, invasion, and blockade or quarantine scenarios; how to resupply the island and maintain sea lines of communication (SLOC); and how to communicate effectively to Taiwan’s public on what potential assistance they can expect from external actors.
The Taiwanese people need to understand what the government can do for them as well as what the government expects from them. Additionally, increased transparency and civilian oversight on critical issues from readiness to doctrine development and implementation are necessary to ensure that the guidance provided by QDR, a document without the force of law, can be followed through and understood at all levels of the armed forces.
Tens of thousands rally in Taiwan against William Lai as recall turmoil engulfs legislature (SCMP)
Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Taipei on the weekend as part of an opposition rally against Taiwanese leader William Lai Ching-te.
The Kuomintang (KMT) organisers of the rally claimed that more than 200,000 supporters attended the event. Citing an unidentified police source, Taiwan news site UDN.com said that at least 60,000 people attended the rally.
Protesters gathered on Ketagalan Boulevard in front of the Presidential Office Building on Saturday [Apr 26], holding Republic of China flags and banners denouncing Lai’s rule.
Addressing the crowd, KMT chairman Eric Chu Li-luan accused Lai of being a “dictator” who was trying to “eliminate opposition parties”.
Taiwan to mark World War Two end in history narrative battle with China (Reuters)
President Lai Ching-te will next week mark for the first time in Taiwan the end of World War Two in Europe and underscore that aggression must be defeated, sources told Reuters, at a time the island is facing increasing military pressure from China.
Taiwan has since the start of this year sought to cast the war as a lesson to China in why aggression will end in failure, and take back the narrative from Beijing that it was not communist forces who took victory.
World War Two, and the full-scale Japanese invasion of China in 1937 that preceded the start of the conflict in 1939, is a touchy historical subject in both China and Taiwan.
The Chinese government at the time was the Republic of China, part of the U.S. and British-led alliance, and its forces did much of the fighting against Japan, putting on pause a bitter civil war with Mao Zedong's Communists whose military also fought the Japanese.
The republican government then fled to Taiwan in 1949 after finally being defeated by Mao, and Republic of China remains the democratic island's official name.
Four sources familiar with the matter, speaking on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media, told Reuters that Lai will host foreign diplomats and other dignitaries in Taipei on Thursday and give a speech about the 80th anniversary of the war's end.
Taiwan climbs to 24th in World Press Freedom rankings, up 3 spots (Focus Taiwan)
Taiwan ranked 24th in the 2025 World Press Freedom Index released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday, climbing three places from the previous year at a time when press freedom declined in most countries.
The latest rankings saw Taiwan moving up three spots to the 24th out of the 180 countries and regions reviewed by RSF, placing 2nd in the Asia-Pacific and 1st in East Asia.
Aleksandra Bielakowska. Photo courtesy of Reporters Without Borders
Speaking with CNA, Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy manager at RSF's Asia-Pacific Bureau, said Taiwan's improvement was largely due to declines in other countries, as the country's global score, which stood at 77.04, remained nearly stagnant.
World
Asia & Pacific
The latest maritime dispute surfaced last week, when China’s state-controlled media claimed that China Coast Guard “implemented maritime control” and “exercised sovereign jurisdiction” over Tiexian Reef – the Chinese name for Sandy Cay – in mid-April.
A photo aired on China’s state broadcaster Saturday showed four Chinese officers in black uniforms walking along the white sandbar as a fifth officer held an inflatable boat by the water. Another photo showed four officers holding up a Chinese flag in what the broadcaster described as “a show of sovereignty.”
“China Coast Guard officers landed on Tiexian Reef to conduct patrols and recorded video evidence of the illegal activities carried out by the Philippine side,” said the state broadcaster CCTV. It added that the officers also cleaned up leftover plastic bottles, wooden sticks and other debris on the reef.
The Philippines was quick to unleash its own publicity move in response, sending teams to multiple sandbars.
On Sunday, a spokesperson for the Philippines Coast Guard said the country’s navy, coast guard and police deployed four teams in rubber boats to Pag-asa Cay 1, Cay 2 and Cay 3 – names the Philippines uses to refer to Sandy Cay.
During the inter-agency operation, the officers “observed the illegal presence” of a nearby China Coast Guard vessel and seven Chinese maritime militia vessels.
Vietnam opposes China, Philippines acts on disputed South China Sea reef (The Straits Times)
Vietnam has sent diplomatic notes to China and the Philippines to protest against their activities in contested South China Sea waters, and urging them to respect its territorial claims, it said on Saturday.
The statement follows activities by China and the Philippines in Sandy Cay, which Vietnam considers part of its territory, Vietnam's foreign ministry spokesperson Pham Thu Hang said.
Philippine-Taiwan interaction would be seen in Beijing as independence support, analyst says (SCMP)
Potential Philippine interactions with Taiwan would be a “dangerous step” that would be seen as support for Taiwanese independence and could trigger economic retaliation from Beijing, according to a Chinese academic.
China’s foreign ministry summoned Jaime FlorCruz, Manila’s envoy to Beijing, on Tuesday to lodge “solemn representations over a series of negative moves recently made by the Philippines concerning Taiwan and security-related issues”, the ministry said.
The ministry did not elaborate but on the same day the Chinese embassy in Manila warned against remarks by Philippine Navy Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad that the Philippines and Taiwan were in talks over “international cooperation”.
Philippines, U.S. and Australian Forces Simulate Amphibious Invasion in Balikatan (USNI News)
The coastal defense activity comes amid a renewed round of tensions between Beijing and Manila over the disputed South China Sea. Last week, Chinese and Philippine forces landed on multiple features to assert their maritime jurisdiction over a series of sandbars near Manila’s Thitu Island and Beijing’s artificial island base at Subi Reef. Multiple rounds of competing maritime drills from Chinese and Philippine forces have occurred across the South China Sea within the last week, one of which included considerable U.S. Pacific Air Forces and Marine Corps aviation through the inclusion of a B-1B bomber and Clark-based F/A-18 Hornets.
Chinese PLA soldiers make first-ever appearance at Vietnam’s fall of Saigon parade (SCMP)
Soldiers from China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on Wednesday made their first ever appearance at Vietnam’s annual celebration of the fall of Saigon, marching in its biggest parade to mark 50 years since the end of Vietnam’s civil war.
Vietnam’s defence ministry invited a PLA honour guard to join the military parade in Ho Chi Minh City, a display that marked the end of the civil war 50 years ago, which saw the ruling party defeat the regime that controlled southern Vietnam.
The celebration came as both sides confront steep trade pressures from US-imposed tariffs, with Vietnam and China facing some of the highest tariffs imposed. Chinese state media described the PLA’s appearance as symbolic of a “brotherhood” between Hanoi and Beijing.
China is reshaping central Asia’s energy sector as Russian influence fades (The Conversation)
One of the main reasons for China’s expanding footprint in central Asia is to intensify energy cooperation. By becoming a major buyer, lender and investor in the region’s energy sector, China is hoping to reduce its dependence on countries such as Russia.
Central Asia has been politically and economically dependent on Russia since the Soviet Union invaded the region in the 19th century. Much of its infrastructure was built to provide commodities like cotton and energy to Russia, with the latter selling it at high prices to Europe. This infrastructure has, until relatively recently, remained largely unchanged.
However, some central Asian countries have been able to reduce their dependence on Russia over the past decade or so. China has become the main importer of Uzbek gas, with a peak share of more than 80%. And Uzbekistan exported almost US$2 billion worth of goods to China in 2022, matching its volume of trade with Russia.
Trump Chaos Leaves Australia Isolated Against China In the South Pacific (Bloomberg)
Albanese’s government, which is seeking reelection on May 3, has made significant progress in solidifying security ties in the region. But such gains are at risk as US President Donald Trump alienates local leaders with massive tariffs, foreign aid cuts and his retreat on tackling climate change — a critical issue for island nations threatened by rising sea levels.
The US pivot has opened the door to China’s President Xi Jinping, leaving Australia as a last line of defense against Beijing’s influence. At stake is China’s diplomatic clout in bodies such as the United Nations, and its ability to project naval power across the region.
At first glance, a map of the Pacific Ocean shows a huge expanse of water with the US on one side, East Asia including China and Japan on the other and Hawaii in the center. But look closer and you’ll see some 14 independent island nations dotted mostly around or below the equator. Only one, Papua New Guinea, has a population greater than 1 million. The islands’ combined gross domestic product of roughly $36 billion is about the same as the US state of Vermont.
Nevertheless, the region has long been strategically important. In the early 1940s, Japan fought the US and its allies for control of the tiny islands, which were seen as vital forward bases. The grueling Battle of the Coral Sea in May 1942 took place off the coast of PNG. The Guadalcanal campaign in the Solomon Islands is considered a turning point in the Pacific theater of the war.
More than 80 years later, the region’s importance hasn’t diminished. At the closest point, Papa New Guinea is just 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the mainland of northern Australia — where 2,500 US marines are stationed in the city of Darwin. Kiribati, a tiny island chain with a population of just over 130,000, is as close to Hawaii as Los Angeles is to New York.
Many of the South Pacific’s island nations also have vast exclusive economic zones that spread out 370 kilometers from their shores, encompassing fishing rights and potential seafloor minerals. They’re located along key maritime trade routes, have numerous deep-water ports that are valuable commercially or for defense, and the seabed has a critical network of cables for global telecommunications.
Analysts warn that if China managed to establish military bases in Pacific nations, it could block trade routes, carry out more regular surveillance of the US and its allies, and even launch attacks against Australia, New Zealand or Hawaii.
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How a stage-managed vote in China shaped my first real vote in Australia's federal election (ABC News)
I was 16 years old when I cast my first vote at high school in China, after the school suddenly ordered all staff and students into the indoor stadium.
Later, I learned the vote was for a district representative to the Communist Youth League — a pathway towards membership of the ruling Communist Party.
The scene remains vivid in my mind: red curtains and flags covering the stage, and three giant red banners hanging from the ceiling, each bearing only a name.
Below them stood three large red boxes.
There were no speeches. No policies. No chance to ask questions.
As I stood there, trying to figure out who the candidates were, a teacher quietly moved through our ranks, telling us: vote for the second candidate.
So I did. We all did.
Americas
Nvidia CEO Urges Trump to Change Rules for AI Chip Exports (Bloomberg)
“We need to accelerate the diffusion of American AI technology around the world,” Huang said in a brief meeting Wednesday with reporters in Washington. “The policies and encouragement from the administration really need to support that.”
Nvidia sells the leading AI chips for training artificial-intelligence models, including for OpenAI, but it’s been banned from selling its most-advanced products to customers in China. The Biden administration had sketched out an additional policy for AI diffusion, or limiting the sale of AI technology to countries around the world based on three bands of qualification.
“I’m not sure what the new diffusion rule is going to be, but whatever it turns out to be, it really has to recognize that the world has changed fundamentally since the previous diffusion rule was released,” Huang said.
He also cautioned that China is growing into a formidable rival in technology, and he singled out Huawei Technologies Co., the Chinese telecom giant that has expanded into designing its own AI chips.
“China is not behind,” he said. “Are they ahead of us? China is right behind us. We’re very, very close.”
US lawmakers urge SEC to delist Alibaba and Chinese companies (Financial Times)
The heads of two Congressional panels have urged the Securities and Exchange Commission to delist Chinese groups, including Alibaba, that they say have military links that put US national security at risk.
John Moolenaar, the Republican chair of the House China committee, and Rick Scott, the Republican chair of the Senate committee on ageing, wrote to SEC chair Paul Atkins on Friday to ask his agency to take action against 25 Chinese groups listed on American exchanges.
The targets also include search engine Baidu, online retail platform JD.com and the popular social media platform Weibo.
“These entities benefit from American investor capital while advancing the strategic objectives of the Chinese Communist party . . . supporting military modernisation and gross human rights violations,” the lawmakers said in the letter, which was obtained by the Financial Times. “They also pose an unacceptable risk to American investors.”
Moolenaar and Scott said that no matter how commercial the Chinese groups appeared on the surface, they were “ultimately harnessed for nefarious state purposes”, partly due to China’s military-civil fusion programme which requires Chinese companies to share technology with the People’s Liberation Army when so ordered by Beijing.
The push marks the latest US effort to counter China and reduce its ability to use American capital, technology and expertise to modernise its military.
Tulsi Gabbard is out to prove Covid came from a lab (Politico)
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard’s office is working with NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to investigate the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an interview Thursday on former Fox News host Megyn Kelly’s podcast, The Megyn Kelly Show, Gabbard also said she wants to end so-called gain-of-function research in which scientists alter pathogens to make them more transmissible or deadly so they can study them.
Gabbard, like many in the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress, believes the pandemic was caused by a laboratory accident in Wuhan, China, rather than by the virus spilling over from animals to people, as many virologists say is more likely.
China suggests Covid-19 originated in US in response to Trump allegation (CNN)
China restated its case that Covid-19 may have originated in the United States in a white paper on its pandemic response released on Wednesday, after President Donald Trump’s administration blamed a lab leak in China.
The White House launched a Covid-19 website on April 18 in which it said the coronavirus came from a lab leak in China while criticizing former President Joe Biden, former top US health official Anthony Fauci and the World Health Organization (WHO).
In the white paper, released by the official Xinhua news agency, China accused the US of politicizing the matter of the origins of Covid-19. It cited a Missouri lawsuit which resulted in a $24 billion ruling against China for hoarding protective medical equipment and covering up the outbreak.
CHINA Town Hall 2025 | The First 100 Days of President Trump's China Policy (National Committee on U.S.-China Relations)
CHINA Town Hall (CTH), a program that provides a snapshot of the current U.S.-China relationship and examines how that relationship reverberates at the local level – in our towns, states, and nation – connects people around the country with U.S. policymakers and thought leaders on China.
The 2025 CHINA Town Hall program took place on Thursday, April 24, at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT, and discussed President Trump’s China policy 100 days in. Featured speakers included Ryan Hass, Director of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution; Matthew Turpin, Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution; and Lingling Wei, Chief China Correspondent at The Wall Street Journal.
Port of Los Angeles sees shipping volume down 35% next week as tariffs bite (CNBC)
Shipments from China to the West Coast of the U.S. will plummet next week as the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariffs leads companies to cut their import orders.
Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, said Tuesday on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” that he expects incoming cargo volume to slide by more than a third next week compared with the same period in 2024.
“According to our own port optimizer, which measures the loadings in Asia, we’ll be down just a little bit over 35% next week compared to last year. And it’s a precipitous drop in volume with a number of major American retailers stopping all shipments from China based on the tariffs,” Seroka said.
C.I.A. Aims to Recruit Chinese Nationals With New Videos (The New York Times)
A pair of new C.I.A. videos released Thursday aim to encourage Chinese nationals to spy for the agency, appealing to their frustrations with, and fears of, Beijing’s government and its corruption.
The Mandarin-language videos are modeled on a series of videos the agency made in recent years asking Russians to spy for the United States, appeals that previous C.I.A. leaders said helped develop new sources.
The appeal to Chinese nationals reflects the priority John Ratcliffe, the C.I.A. director, has placed on increasing the agency’s intelligence collection on China. In a note to C.I.A. officers last month, Mr. Ratcliffe said China was atop the agency’s priority list.
“No adversary in the history of our nation has presented a more formidable challenge or a more capable strategic competitor than the Chinese Communist Party,” Mr. Ratcliffe wrote. “It is intent on dominating the world economically, militarily and technologically, and it is aggressively trying to outcompete America in every corner of the globe.”
Cautioning His Students to Stay Quiet, A Scholar of China Hears Echoes of Its Past in America's Present (ChinaFile)
As the MAGA movement attacks members of the Democratic party as “socialists” and “communists” while positioning China as the “greatest threat” to American security, it might seem strange to compare Donald Trump to Mao Zedong, a figure alternately worshipped and reviled for his role in the Chinese revolution. As a scholar of modern Chinese fiction, film, and cultural history, much of what has unfolded throughout the American political arena over the past few months has felt eerily reminiscent of events from the era of high socialism and the reign of Mao Zedong.
US space agency Nasa will not fund study on China’s moon sample: American scientist (SCMP)
American scientists are eager to get their hands on China’s Chang’e-5 moon samples – but they will not be allowed to use Nasa funding to study them.
Earlier this month, planetary scientist Timothy Glotch of Stony Brook University was selected by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) to receive a rare set of specimens collected by China’s lunar sample return mission in 2020.
Glotch told the South China Morning Post he hoped to compare properties of the soil and rock samples to Apollo-era rocks. His goal was to help answer long-standing questions about the moon’s volcanic past, diverse surface materials and how they have been altered by billions of years in space.
But unlike most US research involving lunar samples, his project will not be supported by Nasa. The reason is the Wolf Amendment, a congressional restriction that bars Nasa and its grantees from direct cooperation with Chinese government entities like CNSA.
Europe
China lifts sanctions on MEPs in EU 'charm offensive' (DW)
They were just one of many bones of contention between the European Union and China: tit-for-tat Chinese sanctions targeting members of the European Parliament first imposed in 2021 after the EU slapped restrictions on Chinese officials the bloc held responsible rights abuses in Xinjiang.
The blacklist included sitting MEPs whom China accused of "maliciously spread[ing] lies and disinformation." The sanctions were the nail in the coffin for ill-fated trade and investment deal inked by the EU and China in late 2020.
But, with US President Donald Trump rewriting the global order and China appearing keen to capitalize on the fallout, changes were made.
"It has always been the European Parliament's intention to have sanctions lifted and resume relations with China," a European Parliament spokesperson told DW.
Deal or no deal? EU engages US, China on high-wire bargaining act (SCMP)
On one side, it faces off against a China that is on an aggressive European charm offensive. Fresh from lifting retaliatory sanctions against some EU lawmakers, Beijing wants to convince Europe and other parties to unite in tackling US President Donald Trump’s tariffs and uphold the multilateral order.
On the other, it faces a United States that wants to force the world to cut their trading ties with China and choose Trump’s America, but which has shown little sign of being willing to make concessions for anyone willing to do so.
Caught in the middle, Europe must navigate between two powers from whom it wants to get economic carve-outs, knowing that cutting a deal with one could make it impossible to do so with the other.
Further complicating matters is the fact that the US and China are edging closer to negotiations of their own, with some fearing Europe could be left high and dry. It is no wonder officials in Brussels talk frequently about performing a “high-wire act”.
“It’s very complicated … the worst of all scenarios for Europe is that out of this triangle the US and China get a quick deal and we’re totally out,” said Alicia Garcia Herrero, an economist focused on Asia at the French investment bank Natixis. “And I think that is very worrying for Europe at this current juncture.”
Europe’s priority is a deal with Washington and the latest signs are it is willing to sacrifice ties with China to get one.
On Wednesday, top EU officials told diplomats they would offer to work with Trump on countering China’s trade barriers and industrial overcapacity as part of a package the bloc hopes can stave off the deepest of the US tariff cuts, Politico reported.
A deal with the US, to which the EU exported twice as much as to China last year, is absorbing much of the energy in the bloc these days, even as it flirts with other potential dance partners.
“A popular narrative right now is that Trump is driving Europe into China’s arms. But I won’t be surprised if in the coming weeks you see the opposite happening – that there is a joint approach on overcapacity,” said an EU official, who was not permitted to speak publicly.
TikTok fined $600 million for China data transfers that broke EU privacy rules (AP)
A European Union privacy watchdog fined TikTok 530 million euros ($600 million) on Friday after a four-year investigation found that the video sharing app’s data transfers to China put users at risk of spying, in breach of strict EU data privacy rules.
Ireland’s Data Protection Commission also sanctioned TikTok for not being transparent with users about where their personal data was being sent and ordered the company to comply with the rules within six months.
The Irish national watchdog serves as TikTok’s lead data privacy regulator in the 27-nation EU because the company’s European headquarters is based in Dublin.
“TikTok failed to verify, guarantee and demonstrate that the personal data of (European) users, remotely accessed by staff in China, was afforded a level of protection essentially equivalent to that guaranteed within the EU,” Deputy Commissioner Graham Doyle said in a statement.
Beijing wooed Belgian socialist to spy on China-hawkish MP: reports (Politico)
Chinese spies sought to gain information on Samuel Cogolati, a Belgian co-chair of the Greens party and prominent China critic, by attempting to coerce one of his political opponents, local media reported on Wednesday.
Chinese intelligence services in 2020 approached Eric Dosogne, the then mayor of the Wallonian town Huy and a political rival of Cogolati, the media reported, adding that Dosogne had a close relationship with the Chinese state due to a city friendship agreement.
Belgian security services were monitoring the phone of the Chinese agent that approached Dosogne and warned the local politician of the risks of interference and espionage at least two times, say the reports. Services later warned Cogolati and the chairman of the French-speaking Socialist Party (PS), Paul Magnette, of the threat.
Revealed: online campaign urged far right to attack China’s opponents in UK (The Guardian)
Working with the anti-racism group Hope Not Hate, the Guardian found more than 150 posts from 29 accounts on three days in August 2024 that sought to draw the attention of anti-immigrant groups and the far right to Lau and other Hong Kong exiles. Cybersecurity experts who have reviewed the posts say they exhibited some similarities to a major online influence operation that a Chinese security agency is suspected of orchestrating.
Dancing Lions: China’s Influence Campaigns Target Influencers (China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe)
Beyond influencers, China’s covert propaganda has infiltrated traditional Czech media. Between 2019 and 2023, the show “Barevný svět” aired up to six times a week on Radio HEY. While it appeared to be a travel program, analysis by China analyst Ivana Karásková revealed it was produced in partnership with China Radio International (CRI), a state outlet under the Chinese Communist Party’s control. The program portrayed China exclusively in a positive light, referred to Taiwan as “the largest island belonging to China,” and promoted Tibet’s inclusion as a rightful part of the country. The broadcast was discontinued only after Karásková’s findings were published.
Watching China in Europe with Noah Barkin—May 2025 Edition ( for the German Marshall Fund of the United States)
Can China take advantage of the dire state of transatlantic ties? It appears to be trying. This week, the Chinese mission to the EU informed European Parliament President Roberta Metsola that Beijing was lifting the sanctions it imposed on members of the assembly in 2021, a move that led to the collapse of an EU-China investment pact. But the EU will need more than symbolic gestures like this at a time when concerns about a flood of Chinese exports into Europe are growing. “The removal of sanctions does not create a new political reality with China,” an official close to Metsola told me. An EU diplomat added: “This is not part of some grand plan that Metsola has been dreaming up with [European Commission President] Ursula von der Leyen or [European Council President] Antonio Costa. What the parliament does, it does in isolation.”
That does not mean the Commission is ruling out some sort of agreement with Chinese leaders when they meet in Beijing in the July 21-25 week, following an EU-Japan summit. But neither is there confidence that China will be willing and able to make the tangible concessions that EU trade officials say they will continue to insist upon.
From Chips to Mercenaries: China’s Role in Russia’s War (China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe)
Bringing accusations against China into the public domain is unlikely to change Beijing’s behavior or strategic calculations. From the very beginning, China has viewed the war through the lens of its own confrontation with the United States, with strategic relations with Russia serving as a crucial tool for advancing its own geopolitical goals. China has become a beneficiary of this war, actively supporting Russia’s military capacities.
The Ukrainian government’s publication of information regarding Chinese mercenaries and Beijing’s military assistance was clearly aimed at the Trump administration, in order to highlight not only Moscow’s deep dependence on Chinese support but also Beijing’s broader geopolitical interests, which extend beyond the Indo-Pacific region. However, the restrained response from the White House suggests that this information did not significantly affect its foreign policy outlook or priorities. Unfortunately, the American president’s desire to quickly strike a deal with Russia is pushing the administration toward hasty decisions at Ukraine’s expense – ones that involve major concessions to Moscow and ignore the broader consequences for global security.
The Chinese Mercenaries Fighting Russia’s War in Ukraine (The Diplomat)
For the Chinese government, the revelations about the mercenaries were decidedly unwelcome, undermining Beijing’s effort to place the blame on NATO for escalating the conflict through its support for Ukraine and to portray China as neutral and a potential mediator. Amid the Trump administration’s purported effort to broker a ceasefire in Ukraine, German newspaper Die Welt had suggested on March 22 that China had indicated it might participate in a joint peacekeeping force to enforce a future peace. Although China’s Foreign Ministry contended that the report was unfounded, Ukraine would likely reject such an offer from China in the future, given the news of the Chinese nationals fighting for Russia in Ukraine.
EU’s War on US Big Tech is Handing China the Future (China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe)
While the US and EU bicker over trade and regulation, China is strategically expanding its high-tech influence. Despite facing a record number of WTO trade investigations, China’s massive exports continue to flood global markets, with its long-term ambitions largely undeterred. Yet instead of confronting this real challenge, the European Commission, already struggling to curb the flood of Chinese goods, is doubling down on regulations that hurt American tech firms.
The EU claims these laws create a fairer digital economy. In reality, they disproportionately hurt US companies. Europe lacks its own tech giants, and instead of fostering them, it imposes burdensome rules which make life harder for the few that do exist. Meanwhile, Chinese companies face few such restrictions at home. While American firms are busy navigating EU bureaucracy, their Chinese counterparts are free to expand, innovate, and out-maneuver them.
European approval for China's C919 plane needs 3-6 years, regulator says (Reuters)
Europe's aviation regulator needs between three and six years to certify Chinese planemaker COMAC's C919 single-aisle commercial jet, the agency's executive director told a French publication on Monday.
The C919 - designed to compete with best-selling narrow-body models of dominant planemakers Airbus and Boeing - entered service in China in 2023 after winning domestic safety certification in 2022.
COMAC has previously said it was aiming for certification of the plane by the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) this year, to help it start selling internationally. The C919 currently only flies within China and Hong Kong.
"As we informed them officially, the C919 cannot be certified in 2025 ... We should be certifying the C919 within three to six years," EASA executive director Florian Guillermet told L'Usine Nouvelle in an interview published on Monday.
Chinese EV makers sell more plugin-hybrids in the EU to avoid tariffs, research firm says (Reuters)
Chinese carmakers including BYD and Chery are selling more plugin-hybrids in the European Union to avoid import tariffs on Chinese-made electric cars, data released on Friday showed.
The two brands sold 3,269 and 757 plugin-hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), respectively, in the bloc in March, up from near zero sales in July 2024 when provisional tariffs were first introduced, research firm Rho Motion said in a report.
EU tariffs of up to 45.3% on Chinese-built battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) came into full effect in November to prevent a flood of cheap cars.
Facing disruption from U.S. tariffs, the EU and China are negotiating a relaxation of the European levies.
But in the meantime, EV makers such as BYD and Leapmotor have adjusted their European strategy to adapt to the EU tariffs and the slower-than-expected mass adoption of BEVs in Europe.
On Tuesday, BYD said it would introduce two more PHEV models in Germany this year.
Met police ‘maintain concerns’ about China super-embassy plan (The Guardian)
China’s proposed “super-embassy” in London would require additional police officers to deal with any large protests involving thousands of people, the Metropolitan police have said before a decision by ministers.
Despite having dropped its official objection to the proposals, the Met “maintains concerns” that large protests of more than 500 people outside the embassy would impede traffic and “require additional police resource”, said the deputy assistant commissioner Jon Savell
In a letter sent to the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith and to the Home Office earlier this month, Savell said the Met continued to have concerns about the impact the embassy would have on the area near Tower Bridge.
Middle East & North Africa (MENA)
US targets China, Iran-based firms in fresh Iran sanctions (Reuters)
The United States on Tuesday imposed sanctions on a network based in Iran and China that it accused of procuring ballistic missile propellant ingredients on behalf of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as President Donald Trump's administration seeks to increase pressure on Tehran.
The U.S. Treasury Department in a statement said it was targeting six entities and six individuals as part of the action, which comes as the Trump administration has relaunched negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
"Iran's aggressive development of missiles and other weapons capabilities imperils the safety of the United States and our partners," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Syria’s foreign minister wants to ‘strengthen relations’ with China (SCMP)
Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani expressed on Monday his government’s willingness to build a “strategic partnership” with China, a key backer of ousted ruler Bashar al-Assad.
A foreign ministry statement said that Shaibani met the Chinese ambassador to the United Nations, Fu Cong, at UN headquarters in New York, where he had been representing Syria at a session of the Security Council.
In the meeting with Beijing’s envoy, Shaibani said Syria’s new government was seeking to “strengthen relations with China” and that the two countries “will work together to build a long-term strategic partnership in the near future”, according to the statement.
Global Institutions & Multilateral Relations
Meeting in Brazil, Brics foreign ministers fail to issue joint statement (SCMP)
Opposition from some African nations to United Nations Security Council reform blocked a joint declaration at a Brics foreign ministers’ meeting in Rio de Janeiro on Tuesday, exposing divisions as the bloc expands and undermining efforts by Brazil to project unity.
The two-day gathering of the Brics officials – representing Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, and six newer members including Egypt and Ethiopia – ended without a consensus document, a rare breakdown in what was expected to be a show of cooperation with the Global South.
The failure to produce a joint statement followed disagreements over language related to reform of the UN Security Council, a long-time ambition of Brazil, India and South Africa.
Egypt and Ethiopia objected to references that appeared to endorse these countries’ bids for permanent seats, with Cairo reportedly insisting that the Brics forum was not the appropriate venue for such discussions.
Xi visits New Development Bank, hails broader BRICS cooperation for ‘entering a stage of high-quality development’ (Global Times)
Established in 2015, NDB is a multilateral development bank established by BRICS countries with the purpose of mobilizing resources for infrastructure and sustainable development projects in emerging markets and developing countries.
Xi stressed that broader BRICS cooperation has entered a stage of high-quality development, and that the bank is set to embark on its second golden decade of high-quality development. The Chinese leader called on the bank to consider the development needs of the Global South, and to provide more high-quality, low-cost and sustainable infrastructure financing, according to Xinhua.
The bank needs to improve its management and operations, implement more technology and green finance projects, and help developing countries bridge the digital divide and accelerate green and low-carbon transformation, Xi said.
Development as Strategy: The U.S., China, and the Global South (Asia Society)
Development as Strategy: The U.S., China, and the Global South examines and compares the international development strategies of the United States and China, focusing on how each engages with recipient states and partners in the Global South. Drawing on dialogues between U.S. and Chinese experts and development practitioners from Africa and Southeast Asia, the report captures regional perspectives on what aspects of U.S. and Chinese development efforts are effective, where they fall short, and what stakeholders seek from external partners. In a time of intensifying competition over global development, the report offers practical, actionable recommendations that stand to benefit the U.S., China, and their partners across the Global South.
Business, Economy & Finance
Beijing Doesn’t Want America to See Its Trade-War Pain (WSJ)
Companies reliant on sales to the U.S. market, ranging from makers of toys, furniture and T-shirts, to metal producers and manufacturers of electrical appliances and construction equipment, have suspended production and put employees on leave. Those that need to source U.S. components for production, such as semiconductor plants and carmakers, have been scrambling to keep operations running.
Some business owners have likened the disruptions to production shutdowns during the Covid pandemic—with the warning that the outlook appears more dismal this time.
“Everyone I know is worried,” said Feng Qiang, who recently furloughed a dozen workers at his modest machinery plant in southern China’s Guangdong province because of canceled orders from his American customers. “There is no end in sight.”
While the trade war is also hitting American businesses and heightening inflationary pressure and recession risks in the U.S., the pain for China is likely to go deeper. That is partly because it has increased, rather than decreased, its focus on exports as a cornerstone of the economy.
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China says it can live without US farm and energy goods (Financial Times)
China’s top economic officials said the country could do without American farm and energy imports as they vowed to achieve a 5 per cent GDP growth target for the year despite the trade war with the US.
Zhao Chenxin, vice chair of the National Development and Reform Commission, China’s state planner, said domestic farm and energy production, along with imports from non-US sources, would be more than enough to satisfy demand.
“Even if we do not purchase feed grains and oilseeds from the United States, it will not have much impact on our country’s grain supply,” Zhao said.
His comments came during a Monday press conference where top Chinese policymakers sought to reassure the public about the state of the economy and pledged to step up support to stave off the effects of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.
Zhao said that US agricultural imports were “primarily for feed grains, which were highly substitutable” and noted there would be limited impact on China’s energy supplies if companies stopped importing American oil, natural gas and coal.
Beijing Treads Carefully on Yuan as Tariffs Weigh (WSJ)
As tariffs from the U.S. start to dent Chinese outbound shipments, businesses and investors are looking for signs that Beijing might sharply devalue its currency to bolster exports.
Instead, Chinese policymakers are hoping to stabilize the yuan, which is already facing downward pressure because of U.S. levies and a gloomy growth outlook. A stable currency could help Beijing cast itself as a reliable trading partner for the world amid President Trump’s upending of global trade.
Zou Lan, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, on Monday reiterated authorities’ determination to defend the yuan, vowing to keep the exchange rate “at a reasonable and balanced level.”
How China is quietly diversifying from US Treasuries (Financial Times)
US government bonds have long formed the bedrock of China’s $3.2tn in foreign reserves. So far, there has been no public indication of a change in that strategy, despite the imposition of tariffs and other gyrations in US policy.
Zou Lan, vice-governor of the People’s Bank of China, told a briefing this week that the investment portfolio was already effectively diversified and that “the impact of fluctuations in any single market or single asset on China’s foreign exchange reserves is generally limited”.
But many advisers, scholars and academics are voicing concern. “The safety of US Treasuries is no longer a given,” said Yang Panpan and Xu Qiyuan, two senior fellows at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, in an article in April. “That era is behind us, and we should be concerned about that change from the safeguarding perspective of our Treasury holdings.”
As Trump unravels the global trade system and publicly criticises the Federal Reserve, investors more widely are starting to question the haven status of the dollar and Treasuries.
The April sell-off in US Treasuries following Trump’s announcement of sweeping tariffs on America’s trading partners fuelled a long-standing fear in Washington and elsewhere: that China could attack the US by revenge-selling its Treasuries. Doing so could trigger alarming volatility in an asset coveted by central banks, asset managers and pension funds around the world for its stability.
But officials with knowledge of Safe’s workings say the agency does not regard massive dumping as a sensible option, preferring a gradual transition from Treasuries to other short-term assets and gold over a period of years.
China's April resale home prices fall as more properties put up for sale, report says (Reuters)
The average price of resale homes across 100 Chinese cities fell by 0.7% month-on-month in April, a report by a Chinese real estate research institute said, as more residential properties came onto the market boosting competition for buyers.
"Price cuts to drive sales remained the market norm," the China Index Academy wrote in the report published on its official WeChat social media account on Thursday.
It said there were a relatively high number of listings in core cities last month following the lifting of resale restrictions in some cities.
As 70% of China's household wealth is held in real estate signs of stabilisation or even a mild rebound in the property market, which accounted for about a quarter of the economy at its peak, could help cushion China's economy from the impact of a renewed trade war with the United States.
Some analysts estimate average home prices have slumped by 20-30% since a peak in August 2021 amid a protracted property crisis.
China's factory activity drops to 16-month low in April as trade tariffs bite (CNBC)
China’s manufacturing activity fell more than expected to a 16-month low, sliding into contractionary territory in April as the escalating trade war with the U.S. hurts bilateral trade.
The official purchasing managers’ index came in at 49.0 in April, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics on Wednesday, falling below the 50-level threshold, which determines expansion from contraction, for the first time since January.
That reading missed analysts’ expectations for a 49.8 contraction in a Reuters poll and marked the weakest level since December 2023, according to LSEG data. The slowdown came after China’s manufacturing activity grew at its fastest rate in a year in March, as exporters front-loaded outbound shipments to avoid higher duties.
Chinese Manufacturers Are Scouring the World for New Buyers (WSJ)
It won’t be easy to find alternatives to America’s voracious consumers. The U.S. is by far the largest single-country buyer of China’s exported goods, accounting for roughly half a trillion dollars of products, or about 15% of China’s goods exports, last year, according to Chinese customs data.
About a fifth of China’s goods exports to the U.S. have a high dependency on the U.S., Oxford Economics found.
At stake are about 10 million to 20 million jobs in China geared toward making products for American consumers, according to Goldman Sachs estimates. Also on the line is the health of the world’s second-largest economy.
Many Chinese manufacturers have little choice but to find new overseas markets for their goods, since they face brutal competition and a stagnating economy at home.
China’s leaders said they plan to boost domestic consumption and support tariff-hit sectors, and some e-commerce companies such as JD.com have announced initiatives to help exporters transition to the local market.
But demand from households and businesses in China is weak. After an epic property-market collapse and slowing economic growth, Chinese people are saving more and spending less. Consumer prices have flatlined, factory-gate prices have fallen for more than two years and imports have declined, a reflection of how tepid domestic spending is in China.
China adopts law to bolster private sector amid trade war (Reuters)
The private sector is "a vital force in advancing Chinese-style modernization, a key foundation for high-quality development, and an important force in building China into a modern socialist power and realising the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," Xinhua cited the law as saying.
It said the legislation, to take effect on May 20, will ensure fair market competition and promote the growth of both the private economy and private entrepreneurs.
The law reaffirms Beijing's "two unswervingly" stance - to unswervingly consolidate and develop the public sector and to unswervingly encourage, support and guide the development of the non-public sector, according to Xinhua.
China will implement a system for market access, under which all types of economic entities, including private firms, will be able to enter the market on an equal footing, Xinhua reported.
The government has in recent months unveiled a raft of measures to support the depressed private firms and the economy, which has been reeling from weak domestic consumption and a destabilising debt crisis in the property sector.
Local governments key to China's macro stimulus policy effectiveness ()
Prof. Yang noted that the four key roles/functions of local governments are shrinking: first, driving economic growth; second, investment; third, expenditure capacity; and fourth, stimulating business investment. He believes that this contraction has, to some extent, undermined the effectiveness of macroeconomic stimulus policies.
Finally, he called for a shift in the development model, reform of performance evaluation criteria, and a reevaluation of the allocation of fiscal and administrative powers between the central and local governments.
China Passes Private Economy Promotion Law ()
Complete text and key changes in the final version
Starting Today, Rules Against Prepaid Rip-Offs Take Effect in China (Sixth Tone)
Starting Thursday, new rules from China’s top court take effect to curb widespread abuses in the prepaid consumer sector, where sudden business closures, refund denials, and disappearing operators have routinely stranded customers without protection.
The Supreme People’s Court guidelines aim to clarify who bears responsibility when businesses fail to deliver prepaid services — a common model in gyms, beauty salons, training centers, and other service industries.
They target evasive practices such as shifting company names, using shell entities, or denying refund claims through vague contracts, all of which have fueled a surge in consumer complaints and legal disputes.
In recent years, the prepaid model has surged in popularity across China’s consumer services where customers pay upfront, often through memberships, in exchange for discounts. But when businesses shut down, change hands, or refuse refunds, consumers are often left with little recourse.
Will Market Shake Up Smooth the Road for Takeout Couriers? (Sixth Tone)
Platforms have pledged to provide food delivery riders with social insurance, but many of them appear not to want it.
Shanghai Adult Expo: Hugging Robots, Talking Dolls, Toys That Learn (Sixth Tone)
China is the world’s largest producer of adult products, with over one million companies in the sector, according to industry platform Qichacha. The market, which caters to both exports and growing domestic demand, reached 179.43 billion yuan in 2023 and is projected to exceed 200 billion yuan by 2025.
This surge in demand has attracted major tech players. Platforms like Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, have launched hourly delivery services for adult product merchants, while delivery giant Ele.me and e-commerce platform JD.com have introduced instant retail solutions. Meituan has also entered the space with its Love Lab chain, featuring unmanned warehouses and rapid deliveries via scan-and-pick systems.
Chinese tea hub Pu’er branches into coffee as tastes change (The Straits Times)
At a mountainside cafe in south-western China, Mr Liao Shihao brews handfuls of locally grown beans into steaming cups of coffee, a modern twist on the region’s traditional drink.
For centuries, Pu’er in Yunnan province has given its name to a type of richly fermented tea – sometimes styled “pu-er” – famous across East Asia and beyond.
But as younger Chinese cultivate a taste for punchy espressos, frothy lattes and flat whites, growers are increasingly branching out into tea’s historic rival.
“People are coming to try our hand-drip coffee... and more fully experience the flavours it brings,” said Mr Liao, 25. “In the past, they mostly went for commercialised coffee, and wouldn’t dabble in the artisanal varieties.”
Tech & Media
China’s Huawei Develops New AI Chip, Seeking to Match Nvidia (WSJ)
Huawei Technologies is gearing up to test its newest and most powerful artificial-intelligence processor, which the company hopes could replace some higher-end products of U.S. chip giant Nvidia.
The steady advance by one of China’s flagship technology companies points to the resilience of the country’s semiconductor industry despite efforts by Washington to stymie it, including by cutting off access to some Western chip-making equipment.
Huawei has approached some Chinese tech companies about testing the technical feasibility of the new chip, called the Ascend 910D, people familiar with the matter said. The company is slated to receive the first batch of samples of the processor as soon as late May, some of the people said.
The development is still at an early stage, and a series of tests will be needed to assess the chip’s performance and get it ready for customers, the people said.
Huawei hopes that the latest iteration of its Ascend AI processors will be more powerful than Nvidia’s H100, a popular chip used for AI training that was released in 2022, said one of the people. Previous versions are called 910B and 910C.
Chinese chipmakers are gaining on Nvidia and TSMC (Rest of World)
Washington’s latest export restrictions on Nvidia’s H20 chips are likely to accelerate China’s shift toward domestic alternatives, as homegrown firms strive to close the gap with global rivals.
Years of controls on U.S. chips have pushed the Chinese government to invest billions in its domestic supply chain for semiconductors that are key to the development of artificial intelligence.
“China’s progress is being slowed down by chip-related controls, but it is hard to imagine a situation where you can stop them forever,” Ray Wang, a semiconductor analyst based in Washington, D.C., told Rest of World.
China has advanced more in some areas — such as memory chips and design — than others, while struggling with equipment making, he said.
Alibaba Qwen3 AI series — China’s latest open-source AI breakthrough (CNBC)
Alibaba released the next generation of its open-sourced large language models, Qwen3, on Tuesday — and experts are calling it yet another breakthrough in China’s booming open-source artificial intelligence space.
In a blog post, the Chinese tech giant said Qwen3 promises improvements in reasoning, instruction following, tool usage and multilingual tasks, rivaling other top-tier models such as DeepSeek’s R1 in several industry benchmarks.
The LLM series includes eight variations that span a range of architectures and sizes, offering developers flexibility when using Qwen to build AI applications for edge devices like mobile phones.
Qwen3 is also Alibaba’s debut into so-called “hybrid reasoning models,” which it says combines traditional LLM capabilities with “advanced, dynamic reasoning.”
Disney, Universal Score China Film Dates Despite Trade Woes (Bloomberg)
China is keeping the door open for Hollywood movies, even with the ongoing trade dispute with the US.
Walt Disney Co. won Beijing’s approval to release a live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch and Pixar’s animated feature Elio in Chinese theaters, according to people familiar with the matter. A third Disney movie, the Thunderbolts* superhero film from Marvel, opens in the country on Wednesday.
How to Train Your Dragon, from Comcast Corp.’s Universal Pictures, also won approval from the government-backed company that sanctions movies, said the people, who asked not to be identified discussing nonpublic information. The studio expects to confirm a release date in the coming weeks.
The approvals suggest that, as major studios prepare to release their big-budget summer pictures, there’s been no measurable pullback as a result of the trade tensions. China’s government said earlier this month it will “moderately reduce” the number of US pictures allowed in the country in response to tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. recently submitted the car-racing movie F1 for approval, while Paramount Global is also seeking release in China for Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning, the people said.
Science, Health & Environment
China Approves 10 New Reactors in Nuclear Power Ramp-Up (Bloomberg)
China’s State Council approved 10 new reactors on Sunday in a vote of confidence for nuclear power to remain central to the nation’s clean energy transition.
It’s the fourth year in a row that China has approved at least 10 new reactors. The nation has 30 under construction, nearly half the global total, and is expected to leapfrog the US to become the world’s largest atomic energy generator by the end of the decade.
The 10 latest reactors are expected to cost a total of 200 billion yuan ($27 billion), according to local media outlet, The Paper. Four were awarded to China General Nuclear Power Corp., to be deployed at its Fangchenggang and Taishan plants. China National Nuclear Corp., State Power Investment Corp. and China Huaneng Group Co. won approvals for two reactors each.
China leads global hydrogen production amid clean energy race (SCMP)
China accounted for more than a third of global hydrogen output last year, making it possibly the biggest producer as the country reached a critical point to push for large-scale projects.
The country produced about 36.5 million tons of hydrogen last year, the National Energy Administration (NEA) said in a report on Monday. Fossil fuel-based hydrogen remains the dominant source, accounting for 56 per cent of the production, while hydrogen generated through electrolysis process amounted to only 320,000 tons, it said.
Global hydrogen production probably reached 100 million tons in 2024, according to an estimate by Paris-based International Energy Agency, up from about 97 million tons in 2023. 2025 is a crucial year for driving China’s hydrogen industry towards large-scale development, an NEA official said.
The country still faces challenges, such as improving the economic viability of hydrogen projects and industry standards, said Xu Jilin, deputy director general of the Department of Energy Conservation and Science and Technology Equipment. Beijing would increase its support to spur innovation and international cooperation in the next five years, he added.
China Asks Drugmakers, Hospitals to Find US Import Substitutes (Bloomberg)
China has asked some of its state-owned drugmakers to study how they can reduce reliance on the US for pharmaceutical products and raw materials, people familiar with the matter said, as Beijing prepares for a potential decoupling that threatens its medical supply.
Chinese drug regulator National Medical Products Administration conveyed the message to executives of state-owned drugmakers earlier this year, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the deliberations are private. The directive was to assess the feasibility of replacing US-made healthcare products.
The goods identified for potential replacement — by either sourcing locally or from other countries such as Japan — range from ingredients and supplies used to make drugs to lab equipment and testing reagents, the people said.
The discussion started soon after Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, and at least two Chinese state-owned drugmakers have since completed taking stock of their US exposure, the people said.
Former Harvard professor convicted over China ties joins Tsinghua University (SCMP)
Retired Harvard University chemist and nanoscientist Charles Lieber, who was convicted in 2021 for not disclosing his connections to a Chinese talent programme, has joined Tsinghua University as a chair professor.
Lieber, 66, a pioneer in the integration of nanotechnology for use in biology and medicine, will be researching at the Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School, launched by the top Chinese university in 2019.
Lieber said his goal in the next few years was to “work with everyone to build a global science and technology hub and realise more scientific dreams in the vibrant and innovative city of Shenzhen”, according to a social media post by the graduate school on Thursday.
“He is ready to start a new research journey in Shenzhen and cannot wait to get to work as soon as possible,” the post said.
Lieber told the South China Morning Post last year that he was exploring work opportunities in mainland China and Hong Kong. He said at the time that he aimed to find an institution where he could best conduct research to benefit all, and where he would best be able to aid other researchers in their work.
Arts & Culture
Chinese Record Store Day releases + a punk Eason Chan cover ()
In this issue: Guangdong shoegaze, Chengdu skate punk, a new Carsick Cars music video, a couple of Chinese RSD 2025 releases, a bewitching recording from Asia’s largest railway station, and some of China’s best experimental artists collaborate with a renowned poet for a new album.
Katy Perry to perform first shows in mainland China since Taiwan controversy (SCMP)
American pop star Katy Perry is expected to perform in mainland China in November, years after she was denied a visa for wearing a controversial sunflower dress in Taiwan.
Perry, 40, who made headlines earlier this month when she took a brief trip to space, is set to hold two concerts in an 18,000-seat stadium in the eastern city of Hangzhou on November 21 and 22, according to a notice from Zhejiang province’s culture and tourism bureau.
The news comes eight years after Perry was reportedly denied entry for a Victoria’s Secret fashion show in Shanghai in 2017.
Yan Geling: Crossing the Red Line (China Books Review)
Hers is the story of a writer who grew up in the shadow of China’s political unrest, saw her family persecuted, and took a turn as a soldier and artist for China’s military before starting to write — only to become increasingly outspoken about the role of truth in modern China, the country she still loves.
ChinaFile Presents: ‘The Party’s Interests Come First’ (ChinaFile)
Joseph Torigian discusses the life of Xi Jinping’s father, Xi Zhongxun, and how his legacy shapes the worldview of one of the world’s most powerful leaders today. Torigian’s new book, The Party’s Interests Come First: The Life of Xi Zhongxun, Father of Xi Jinping, examines the elder Xi’s role as a revolutionary and early leader in the Chinese Communist Party. The book, due to be published in June, is the first English-language biography of Xi Zhongxun.
Sports
Brilliant Zhao Xintong beats O’Sullivan with session to spare to reach final (The Guardian)
Zhao Xintong produced an amazing display of attacking snooker to knock out his hero, the seven-time world champion Ronnie O’Sullivan, with a session to spare and reach the final of the World Snooker Championship.
O’Sullivan was left helpless to respond to the brilliance of the Chinese sensation who had come through four rounds of qualifying to reach the final stages at the Crucible. Zhao said: “I can’t believe it. Thank you to Ronnie, he helped me a lot before. He’s my idol.”
O’Sullivan was gracious in defeat and warmly congratulated his opponent after he sealed victory with another effortless clearance to complete a 17-7 triumph. “Zhao deserves his victory,” he said.
Events
Why the China-India relationship matters for the future of the global order (Chatham House)
8 May 2025 — 1:00PM TO 2:00PM
Chatham House and Online
This panel discussion will ask key questions including:
What is the trajectory and drivers of the bilateral relationship?
What are the key flashpoints and watchpoints?
How are both countries responding to geo-economic competition?
What are the areas of convergence and divergence on issues of global governance?
How does the China-India relationship influence western engagement and policy towards both countries?
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See you next week!