‘Justice Mission 2025’ exercises to test US response after largest-ever arms sale to TaipeiFinancial Times
Day: December 28, 2025
China launches live-fire drills encircling Taiwan
China has launched live-fire military drills around Taiwan, in what it calls a warning to “separatist” forces in Taiwan and “external interference” by foreign parties. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) – the military wing of the ruling Communist party in China – said it had sent naval, air force and rocket forces to surround Taiwan on Monday morning. The exercise, named Justice Mission 2025, was a “a stern warning against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces and external interference forces”, said a spokesperson for the PLA’s eastern theatre command, Col Shi Yi.…
The wildcat traders and US contractors piling into Pakistan’s antimony
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Mining myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. For years, the only buyers for the antimony Jabbar Khan sourced from wildcat traders in Afghanistan were secretive Chinese intermediaries, who bargained hard over the price. Now, Khan, chief operating officer at Himalayan Earth Exploration company, is fielding calls from US buyers interested in stockpiling the silvery-white rock vital to the production of missiles, batteries and flame retardants from Pakistan and central Asia. The price of antimony trioxide has shot up…
Chinese cities face subway delays as Beijing targets wasteful spending, high debt levels
China is tapping the brakes on some subway expansions, including in certain affluent cities, a decision analysts said reflects a shift from the debt-fuelled infrastructure boom of the past to a new era of fiscal discipline and investment efficiency. Rich eastern hubs such as Ningbo and Suzhou are among those facing regulatory roadblocks in securing Beijing’s approval for new lines as policymakers scrutinise loss-making projects. In an online response to public inquiries, the Ningbo Municipal Development and Reform Commission said this month that the city’s ridership metrics “need further improvement”…
PLA holds war games around Taiwan in warning to ‘independence forces’
The People’s Liberation Army kicked off drills around Taiwan on Monday that it called “legitimate and necessary” to safeguard national unity. Senior Colonel Shi Yi, a spokesman for the PLA’s Eastern Theatre Command, said the exercise was a warning to “independence forces” and external interference. He said the drills – dubbed Justice Mission 2025 – were taking place in waters and airspace in the Taiwan Strait and areas to the north, southwest, southeast and east of Taiwan’s main island. Advertisement Shi said the exercise was being conducted by Eastern Theatre…
Bulgarian political scientist Ivan Krastev on European vertigo in a post-American world
Ivan Krastev is a Bulgarian political scientist best known for his work on Europe’s democratic crisis, the psychology of post-communist societies and the political legacy of 1989. He is chair of the Centre for Liberal Strategies in Sofia, a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna and the author of several influential books on European politics. In this Open Questions interview, Krastev reflects on Europe’s loss of bearings in a faster, harsher world, the fading of the post-Cold War transatlantic order and the psychological shock of a…
The Guardian view on the new space race: humanity risks exporting its old politics to the moon | Editorial
During the cold war’s space race, the Apollo moon missions were driven by the need to prove American superiority. Having made that political and technological point with the 1969 moon landing, the contest between Moscow and Washington petered out. A new dash across the skies kicks off in 2026, reigniting geopolitical competition under the guise of “peaceful exploration”. The moon’s south pole is emerging as the most valuable real estate in the solar system, offering “peaks of eternal light” for solar arrays and ice deposits in craters shielded from the sun. The…
A closer look at China’s ‘Flying Shark’ J-15 jet that made waves near Japan
Of all the warplanes in China’s rapidly growing air arsenal, it was an older model that sent shock waves across the region earlier this month. A rare stand-off between Chinese and Japanese fighter jets took place near the Miyako Strait northeast of Taiwan. The incident brought the Shenyang J-15 carrier-based fighter jet, which has been in service for more than a decade, back into the spotlight. Japan said J-15 fighter jets, launched from the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, twice engaged their fire control radars to lock on to its F-15…
China’s industrial profits plunge as weak demand and deflation bite
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. China’s industrial profits last month fell at their fastest pace in more than a year, as President Xi Jinping’s economic planners struggled to contain the fallout from industrial overcapacity and lacklustre consumer confidence. Profits at industrial companies with annual revenues of more than Rmb20mn ($2.8mn) fell 13.1 per cent in November compared with a year earlier, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed on Saturday, down from a 5.5…
Why Saudi Arabia might not fulfil spending pledge to US amid China-America rivalry
Saudi Arabia has pledged to boost investments in America to nearly US$1 trillion, but according to analysts Riyadh could struggle to meet that target. Rather, they said the pledge – announced when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Washington last month – was more about the “political display” than a binding commitment. Advertisement By comparison, China and Saudi Arabia signed commercial deals worth about US$30 billion when Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Riyadh in 2022. China and Saudi Arabia signed about US$30 billion worth of deals when Chinese President Xi…