Day: May 14, 2025

Taiwan authorities move to calm public unease after Trump’s ‘unification’ comment on trade

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Authorities in Taiwan have sought to ease concerns on the self-ruled island arising from US President Donald Trump’s reference to “unification” when talking about trade talks with Beijing. Advertisement “They’ve agreed to open China, fully open China, and I think it’s going to be fantastic for China, I think it’s going to be fantastic for us, and I think it’s going to be great for unification and peace,” Trump told a White House press conference on Monday. He was speaking after the first round of trade talks in which Beijing…

China criticises UK-US trade deal; Aviva’s £3.7bn acquisition of Direct Line faces competition probe – business live

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US deep sea mining plan would likely violate international law

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BANGKOK – The Trump administration plan to allow mining of deep sea metals in the Pacific Ocean would unequivocally violate international law, experts said, making any attempt to sell the minerals – used in batteries, weapons and smartphones – open to challenge by other nations. President Donald Trump last month signed an executive order to speed development of the contentious deep sea mining industry, including in off-limits international waters governed by a treaty most nations are signatory to. The order said action is needed to “counter China’s growing influence over…

Climate data from Cretaceous era suggests icy interludes in dinosaurs’ greenhouse

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Climate data gathered from oyster fossils is challenging the common belief that Antarctica was ice-free during the Cretaceous period 140 million years ago and offers insight into climate behaviour today, according to an international team of scientists. Advertisement During that time, a period in which dinosaurs dominated, the mid-latitudes of the southern hemisphere experienced seasonal temperature changes of up to 16 degrees Celsius – comparable to those of today. Polar ice was also present, according to the researchers led by the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research of the Chinese Academy…

Pakistan’s use of J-10C jets and missiles exposes potency of Chinese weaponry

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As India and Pakistan traded missile strikes over the weekend, and the world watched with horror as the two nuclear-armed neighbours erupted into open conflict, military analysts spotted something curious. Pakistan, it seemed, had used Chinese jets to shoot down India’s planes. Last week, India launched missiles at Pakistan, in retaliation for a militant attack in Indian-administered Kashmir in April that killed 26 people. The conflict escalated with mutual strikes and drone attacks. Pakistan claimed to have shot down several Indian air force fighter jets with Chinese-made missiles fired from…

Exporters ‘shocked and elated’ as China trade cranks back into gear

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Jacob Rothman, who has been making kitchenware in China sold by US retailers including Walmart for more than two decades, was “shocked and elated” when Washington and Beijing reached a truce in their tariff war. But the co-founder of Velong Enterprises said the deal, under which the US agreed to slash additional tariffs on Chinese goods from 145 per cent to 30 per cent for 90 days, offered little more…

US warns against using Huawei chips ‘anywhere in the world’

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. President Donald Trump’s administration has taken a tougher stance on Chinese technology advances, warning companies around the world that using artificial intelligence chips made by Huawei could trigger criminal penalties for violating US export controls. The commerce department issued guidance to clarify that Huawei’s Ascend processors were subject to export controls because they almost certainly contained, or were made with, US technology. Its Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees…

China reasserts India border claims with fresh list of ‘standard’ place names

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China has reasserted its territorial claims near its contested border with India by releasing “standard” names for dozens of places in the region – most of them in Indian-controlled territory. Advertisement Despite recent efforts to improve diplomatic ties with its Southeast Asian neighbour, the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs published its latest names for places in Arunachal Pradesh, which China calls Zangnan, and says is part of the Tibetan autonomous region. The renaming of 27 places covered a diverse array of geographical features: 15 mountains, five residential areas, four mountain…

US-China trade ceasefire to drive early Christmas stockpiling

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Ports and shipping lines are braced for a “whipsaw” in demand as businesses race to stockpile Black Friday and Christmas goods during the 90-day ceasefire in the US-China trade war. Analysts warned that the sharp drop-off in container ship bookings from China to the US following President Donald Trump’s April “liberation day” tariff announcements would now be followed by an equally rapid surge in imports that will test port handling…

My top 10: Jan Dalley’s guide to Hong Kong’s M+ Museum

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Hong Kong’s M+ Museum is carefully named: pay attention to the + sign. Beyond its remit as a museum of 20th- and 21st-century art, additional elements such as architecture and design, fashion, film, graphics and more make this a celebration of the recent visual culture of the immediate region and beyond.  At the heart of the museum, which opened in 2021, is an exceptional founding collection, consisting of more than 1,500 pieces of Chinese contemporary art donated by Swiss businessman and diplomat Uli Sigg. Too extensive to be on permanent…