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China
Apple partners with Alibaba to sell AI-powered iPhones in China
Apple Inc. partnered with Alibaba to bring artificial intelligence (AI) features to the iPhone, ignoring US lawmakers’ call to stop all AI partnerships between American and Chinese companies. Apple’s share price increased to US$241.5 on Thursday, up 6.4% from...
US losing crucial hypersonic race to China and Russia
Hypersonic weapons promise game-changing war-fighting capabilities, but unresolved technological flaws, operational vulnerabilities and strategic risks may outweigh their potential advantage for the US military. This month, the US Congressional Research Service (CRS) released a report saying that despite the...
The US weapon China’s communists fear the most
America has a weapon that scares the daylights out of Xi Jinping. Nukes? F35s? Attack submarines? No. Tariffs? Trade and technology sanctions? No. It’s Public Law 117-263 — passed by Congress on December 23, 2022, known also the National Defense Authorization Act for...
China fueling a political explosion in the Philippines
MANILA – The Philippines kicked off its midterm election cycle in turmoil, with the Ferdinand Marcos Jr administration engaged in a two-front assault targeting his former ally-turned-enemy the Dutertes on one hand and their perceived backers in Beijing on...
Trump skeptical of calls for a complete DeepSeek ban
DeepSeek’s successful launch of a low-cost chatbot has sent shockwaves through the American IT community, sparking growing calls to ban Chinese AI tools in the United States. New York and Virginia said this week that they had decided to...
The silver linings in Trump’s trade war storm clouds
US tariffs – both threatened and imposed – on trade partners including China, Canada, Mexico and the EU quickly set off waves of retaliatory measures. The latest commodities in the sights of President Donald Trump are steel and aluminum...
DeepSeek: China’s open-source AI caused a geopolitical earthquake
Readers in a hurry may wish to put this article aside for later. It is an important long-form exploration, not a quick read. – Editors We are in the early days of a seismic shift in the global AI...
Russia better than China for making Afghan-Pakistan peace
Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Albert Khorev told TASS over the weekend that his country supports Pakistan and Afghanistan’s respective counter-terrorism efforts. He then added that it encourages both of them to resolve their border tensions through bilateral or multilateral means. This suggests...
How Vietnam can parry and dodge Trump’s tariffs
Vietnam’s economic rise has been one of the biggest success stories of the past decade. Its position as a key manufacturing hub and a favored alternative to China in global supply chains has brought remarkable growth and foreign investment....
US Sentinel missile stalls as China, Russia steam ahead
As the US struggles with delays and cost overruns in its Sentinel missile program, China and Russia are pressing forward with cutting-edge missile developments, potentially tilting the global nuclear balance in their favor. This month, Defense One reported that...
Trump’s retreat leaves Myanmar wholly to China
CHIANG MAI – US President Donald Trump’s move to freeze American foreign aid programs will impact civil war-wracked Myanmar, where multi-million-dollar USAID programs have supported health, rights, democracy, governance and independent media programs along the Thai-Myanmar border. While the...
Putin’s diminishing returns and Russia’s shrinking world
Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a guarded message of congratulations to Donald Trump on inauguration day but then held a long direct call with his “dear friend,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping. From Putin’s perspective, this makes sense. Russia gets...
China: one country, two economies, two strategies
The Chinese economy is divided into two parts, one geared toward domestic growth and another for exports. The structure can function because its currency, the RMB, is not fully convertible and its market is not freely accessible. Exports help...
China could fill the gap 3 ways as West exits west Africa region
With France fast losing its influence in west Africa’s Sahel region and an unpredictable US president in power, will China fill the vacuum? The Sahel region includes Nigeria, one of the continent’s largest economies, and nine other countries: Burkina...
US-China: ‘Cold War 2’ or something worse
Most of Washington finally realizes – even if grudgingly – that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is a threat. Indeed, President Trump’s challenge resembles that of Ronald Reagan taking over in 1981 from a feckless administration that allowed America’s...
DeepSeek’s revelation was only a matter of time
Chinese start-up DeepSeek’s remarkable AI software results have shaken public markets, driving down the shares of leading US technology companies, including Nvidia. Many now wonder how a small team in China could, in such a short time, challenge the...
There’s method behind Trump madness but he’s set up China for wins
It has been three weeks since Donald Trump was inaugurated as America’s 47th president, but it feels like three years. Tariffs imposed, tariffs suspended; a Gaza ceasefire negotiated and then put in danger; Greenland, Panama and Gaza all desired as...
Japan’s hypersonic arsenal getting up to speed
Japan is ramping up its hypersonic weapons program amid mounting threats from China and North Korea, but technological gaps and dependence on the US defense industry could slow progress. This month, Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MOD) announced that it...
China’s magnetic tech can detect US stealth subs: study
Could China’s new magnetic wake detection technology mark the end of stealth submarine warfare? Recent Chinese research suggests it might. This month, South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported that researchers at Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) in Xian, China, have...
The depths of Taiwan’s military morale crisis
From the massive-scale retreat of 1949 to the crises over Quemoy, the ROC’s armed forces have long symbolized perseverance amidst adversity. However, amid Xi Jinping’s increasing pressure on Taiwan through China’s recent Joint Sword Exercises, ADIZ incursions and cognitive...
Empire redux: Putin, Xi and now Trump ushering in new imperial age
Over the past few weeks the new US president, Donald Trump, has repeatedly claimed that the United States should “take back” the Panama Canal and that it should assume control of Greenland – one way or another. He has...
Pharmaceuticals become a battlefield in the Sino-US trade war
Since Beijing and Washington imposed tariffs on each other’s goods this month, Western media have been closely monitoring whether the trade war will hurt China’s supply of medicines to the United States and result in drug price hikes. After...
Could US forcing Panama to exit China’s Belt and Road set pattern?
Following Donald Trump’s repeated claims that the US needs to “take back” the Panama canal from Chinese control, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, visited Panama to demand the country reduce China’s influence. On the surface, it seems...
India-Indonesia near BrahMos missile deal aimed at China
India and Indonesia are apparently near a deal that will see the former to supply the latter with the BrahMos supersonic missile, a potential game-changer for security dynamics vis-à-vis-China in the southern reaches of the South China Sea. A...
Trump 2.0: How to lose a trade war in just 18 days
TOKYO – So far, China has had a much better-than-feared experience with the Donald Trump 2.0 presidency. In fact, Xi Jinping’s Communist Party is probably thrilled to see Trump roiling global markets, torching democratic alliances and trashing the soft...