Year: 2026

With Washington’s objectives in the Iran war shifting, the evolving goals could allow US President Donald Trump to justify success and finish the conflict sooner than expected, Chinese analysts said. However, the observers cautioned that a wide gap with Israel over the conflict’s endgame could hinder the White House from swiftly moving past the war. The assessment coincides with growing international scepticism regarding the duration of the war in the Middle East. With global oil markets already volatile, questions swirl as to whether the conflict will conclude in the “two…

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering Latin American relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. As Trump ramps up pressure on Cuba, China has ‘very limited options’ Photo: AFP As Washington stepped up rhetoric and pressure on Cuba after the start of its campaign in Iran, Beijing found itself torn between geopolitical reality and ideological affinity. Read the full story here. 2. US threats and a Chinese cable scandal mark…

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump-Xi summit will be very amicable, predicts former Biden official Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS US President Donald Trump’s focus on short-term deliverables and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s bid for bilateral stability are likely to mean an exceptionally amicable summit when they finally sit down, despite “unusual” circumstances brought by the Iran conflict, former senior US diplomat Kurt…

The Kinetica-2 Y1 carrier rocket, also known as the Lijian-2 Y1, took off on its inaugural flight on Monday before delivering three satellites into orbit, including a prototype commercial cargo spacecraft and a satellite to function as a mini-orbiting space lab. The rocket developed by Chinese commercial space firm CAS Space – established by the Chinese Academy of Sciences – was launched from the commercial innovation pilot zone at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China. Advertisement It cost 30,000 yuan per kilogram (US$4,350 per 2.2lbs) of payload capacity to…

By issuing a joint five-point plan on the Iran crisis on Tuesday, China and Pakistan have laid out what Chinese analysts described as a “feasible path” towards a ceasefire and renewed diplomacy. At the same time, the move quietly signalled an early effort to shape the post-war Middle East order in a region where the long-standing US-dominated security framework was already facing growing strain and uncertainty, the observers said. In recent weeks, regional powers have emerged as mediators to prevent Iran’s total collapse and the permanent closure of global energy…

The United States attacked Iran without consulting its European allies. President Donald Trump assumed the operation would be a quick win, over before anyone had to take a position. Instead, Washington answered a question Western governments had long avoided. After years of pushing Nato towards confrontation with China, would the transatlantic alliance fight a war it had not chosen together? The answer was no. Iran and Taiwan are different cases. One sits on Europe’s wider periphery and carries immediate consequences for energy, migration and regional spillover. The other lies in…

Beijing has ordered a sweeping national inventory of all state-owned museum collections following a high-profile scandal at a top museum, where former officials illegally sold donated national treasures for personal gain over several decades. The National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA) announced the nationwide campaign on Wednesday. It mandates that every state-owned museum conduct a meticulous, piece-by-piece physical count of its collections this year, verifying every artefact against official records to ensure that accounts match physical objects. Advertisement Local authorities should “fortify the security defence line” and “elevate the overall level…

As Tokyo was completing the deployment on Tuesday of its two Type 25 missiles targeting China, a Chinese naval fleet entered the Sea of Japan, while bilateral tensions continued to escalate. China has strongly protested the Japan Ground Self-Defence Force’s addition of the newly designated Type 25 long-range surface-to-ship guided (SSM) missile and hypervelocity gliding projectiles (HGP). The deployments were an example of “neo-militarism in Japan, which has become more than just a perilous tendency but a very real threat that may wreak havoc on regional peace and security”, the…

Lawmakers in the United States have urged the administration of US President Donald Trump to take action against China’s alleged sanctioned oil imports by blacklisting port operators and blocking complex settlement networks. Despite Washington’s temporary easing of sanctions on Russian and Iranian oil to relieve price pressures from the US-Israeli war in Iran, the “House Select Committee on Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party” has released a 41-page report calling for a wide-ranging crackdown on China’s access to sanctioned crude. The committee – a bipartisan…