Month: December 2025

“The Quad is a force for good, working to maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific. It is always great to meet with the Quad Ambassadors here in Beijing,” said US Ambassador to China David Perdue in a social media post along with a group photo. Perdue, a businessman and former senator from Georgia appointed earlier this year by US President Donald Trump to manage the most delicate bilateral relationship, added that relations among the four countries “continue to be strong”. Advertisement The Quad is an informal strategic forum aimed at…

At least two oil tankers have made their way to Venezuela in recent days and others are navigating towards the country, a sign of ‍state-run oil and natural gas company PDVSA’s effort to expand floating storage and keep selling crude even as a US blockade has reduced exports to a minimum. US President Donald Trump this month announced a blockade of all sanctioned vessels going in or out of Venezuelan waters as part of a strategy to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The US move has cut oil exports this…

China has signalled that its YJ-20 hypersonic ship-to-ship missile is ready for mass production with the release of a video showing the advanced weapon being put through its “finalisation test”. The footage of the YJ-20 being fired from the vertical launch system (VLS) of the Type 055 destroyer Wuxi was posted to social media on Sunday by China Military Bugle, the official People’s Liberation Army account. “Missile hit. Target destroyed,” the crew can be heard saying over the radio, though neither the target nor any details of what it might…

US President Donald Trump’s hopes for a grand deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping are being undercut by American allies’ self-interested amplification of the “China threat”. This year’s Nanking massacre memorial was particularly poignant in light of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s controversial remarks on Taiwan. Beijing warned that any attempt to challenge the post-war international order or undermine established historical truths would be “doomed to failure”. Meanwhile, Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has suggested that Southeast Asia offers a path for the two Asian neighbours to move beyond the…

China’s official national Buddhist association has established its first supervisory body less than six months after the high-profile downfall of the “CEO monk”, former Shaolin Temple abbot Shi Yongxin. The move to improve oversight of Chinese Buddhist monks’ conduct was announced on Tuesday, a day after the Buddhist Association of China’s (BAC) 11th national congress concluded in Beijing. Shi Zhengci, the abbot of Wuzu Temple in Huangmei county, Hubei province, was elected as the association’s chairman of the board of supervisors, according to the association, which is the national governing…

The trip will make Lee the first sitting South Korean president to travel to China since 2019, and will include a three-day stop in Beijing from Sunday, a presidential official in Seoul said on Tuesday. Lee will meet President Xi Jinping in the Chinese capital before heading to Shanghai and then back to Seoul. Advertisement The talks were expected to cover key issues such as supply chains, investment, the digital economy, environmental protection and ways to combat transnational crime, the South Korean presidential office said, adding that several agreements were…

Shenzhen, China’s top tech hub, plans to roll out what it calls “full-suite, full-time” adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) across households and businesses over the next five years – a move analysts say could position the city at the forefront of the country’s intensifying tech race with the United States. The local government announced the goal on Monday in a new policy paper on Shenzhen’s 15th five-year plan, the socio-economic blueprint covering the years 2026 to 2030. The document outlined the city’s ambition to become one of the world’s most…

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Tuesday called for a new paradigm for engagement with the United States, emphasising the need for stable, cooperative ties while firmly defending what he described as China’s core interests, particularly regarding Taiwan. During a speech in Beijing, Foreign Minister Wang also accused Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of “openly challenging” Chinese territorial sovereignty after she suggested last month that a potential Taiwan conflict could threaten Japan’s survival. Wang, who was speaking at the Symposium on the International Situation and China’s Foreign Relations, reiterated that…