Day: February 14, 2026

As France’s influence fades and with Russian weapons in limited supply, a “military vacuum” has been created in West and Central Africa that China is uniquely positioned to fill, according to analysts. In a January report in the official journal China Military to Civilian, arms supplier China National Aero-Technology Import & Export Corporation said Beijing was leveraging its reputation for “cost-effective technology and flexible financing” in Africa. This follows a wave of military coups across the Sahel since 2020 – including in Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger – that has…

China’s box office presales topped 200 million yuan (US$28.9 million) by Saturday ahead of the coming Lunar New Year holiday, led exclusively by domestic productions – a decline of more than 60 per cent from about 600 million yuan over the same period last year, according to Taopiaopiao, the online ticketing arm of Alibaba Pictures. Presales are closely watched by distributors and investors as an early indicator of holiday audience demand. Long seen as a crucial pillar of China’s film market, the Spring Festival season is facing cautious expectations for…

One of China’s most anticipated Lunar New Year holiday films features a renowned director, a cast of stars and an unusual creative consultant: the country’s top counter-espionage agency. Scare Out, which will debut in cinemas in mainland China on February 17, is the first film directly supervised by the Ministry of State Security. The ministry said it provided technical guidance for the film and that the script was based on real cases. Directed by the multi-award-winning Zhang Yimou, the film focuses on modern espionage in China, depicting an investigation into…

The US and China sought to manage their great power competition at Europe’s premier defence summit on Saturday, even as their top diplomats traded thinly veiled barbs at their respective roles in the current global tumult. In back-to-back speeches at the Munich Security Conference, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke of the need to carefully manage the superpowers’ differences, continuing a relative thaw that is expected to see US President Donald Trump travel to Beijing in April. Wang said he was encouraged that…

Last week, US ambassador to Poland Tom Rose cut off contact with his host country’s parliamentary speaker over what he described as “outrageous and unprovoked insults” against President Donald Trump. Washington would “not permit anyone to harm US-Polish relations nor disrespect” the president, Rose warned, without specifying the insults. However, lower house speaker Wlodzimierz Czarzasty, a left-wing Polish politician, had earlier criticised Trump’s policies and said he would not support an initiative to nominate the US leader for the Nobel Peace Prize. Advertisement While Rose later told Polish media that…

Japan’s fisheries agency said the captain was released before 8pm on Friday after China submitted documents guaranteeing payment of bail, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday. The agency said the boat, the Qiong Dong Yu, was seized inside Japan’s EEZ off its southwestern Nagasaki prefecture on Thursday. It was ordered to stop for an inspection “but the vessel failed to comply and fled”. The 47-year-old captain, Zheng Nianli, was arrested on the same day, the agency said. Advertisement In its response, Beijing urged Tokyo to protect its crew members’ rights.…

People across China are buying up gold in large volumes ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, as surging prices for the precious metal fuel its popularity as both a festive gift and an investment. From migrant workers splashing out on gold-coated jewellery, to white-collar workers pouring their savings into gold-linked investment funds, the metal is widely seen not only as a marker of social respectability, but also as a safety net amid an uncertain world. The rising demand comes amid an unprecedented rally in gold prices. Spot gold briefly…