Day: July 1, 2025

For the first time, Taiwan’s largest annual military exercise will combine conventional war games and urban survival drills under “unprecedented” live-fire conditions when it gets under way next week. Advertisement The move signals growing concerns in Taipei that Beijing could trigger a prolonged conflict requiring both military defence and civilian resilience. The 41st Han Kuang exercise from July 9 to 18 would test joint operational readiness under “unprecedented 10-day, round-the-clock live-fire conditions”, the Taiwanese defence ministry said on Tuesday. The ministry stated that this year’s edition would incorporate the “whole-of-society…

While China’s economy has shown considerable resilience through a turbulent first half of 2025 – navigating the dramatic twists and turns of US trade policy while maintaining steady growth – experts warn Beijing’s challenges are far from over. Advertisement Although many believe the country can still hit its annual goal of “around 5 per cent” for gross domestic product growth, more pressure points are expected to emerge in the latter half of the year. After the bilateral trade war saw a temporary de-escalation following separate rounds of talks in Geneva…

America’s view of China as a “pacing threat” has shaped its defence priorities as the military seeks to maintain an edge over a rapidly modernising PLA. In the second of a three-part series on how US budget tensions will affect efforts to deter China, we look at the race for air superiority. Advertisement The high-stakes race for air superiority between China and the United States will have profound implications should a conflict break out – including how a war over Taiwan would be fought. Both militaries are developing sixth-generation fighter…

China is ramping up its science and technology outreach to the Global South while its collaboration with the US on the same front is receding, analysts said on Tuesday at an event hosted by the Institute for China-America Studies, a Washington think tank. Advertisement “China is very heavily engaging with those countries,” said Caroline Wagner of the Ohio State University, noting Beijing has signed science and technology agreements with “dozens and dozens of countries”. That development marks a “critical departure” from earlier years when China was primarily focused on the…

The US Congress is poised to bar companies with ties to China from gaining clean energy tax credits – a move that critics warn could jeopardise dozens of planned projects and freeze investment in a sector already struggling to decouple from the country. Advertisement After an overnight series of amendment votes, the Senate on Tuesday passed its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – which would also remove the decades-old “de minimis” trade rule that allows low-value packages to avoid duties and rigorous screening – by a vote…

The family of late neurology professor Jane Wu has filed a civil complaint against a US university, saying the university’s actions became “a decisive factor in her decision to end her life”. Advertisement In a civil complaint filed last week in Cook County Circuit Court, Wu’s family – acting through her legal estate – accused Northwestern University of discrimination and isolation. Wu took her own life in July 2024 after years of China-related investigations in the US. According to the filing, the university partially shut down Wu’s laboratory, dismantled her…