Day: March 16, 2026

President Xi Jinping has vowed to advance the creation of an international port alliance under the Belt and Road Initiative, at a time when the world’s top merchandise exporter confronts mounting challenges to global shipping routes – from the Strait of Hormuz to Panama. An excerpt of his speech, initially given at a closed-door meeting on July 1, 2025, was first published on Monday by Qiushi, the Communist Party’s top theoretical journal. “[China needs to] deeply participate in global ocean governance, unwaveringly defend ocean and maritime rights and interests, and…

South China Morning Post

South Korea and Japan have led declines in global stock markets amid the oil shock, underscoring how supply disruptions in the Middle East are weighing on growth in economies heavily reliant on fuel imports. The Kospi index in Seoul has slumped 12 per cent since the US-Israel war with Iran broke out on February 28, while Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 has slid nearly 9 per cent. South Korea last week moved to cap oil price increases to limit inflation, while rising crude costs added to price pressures in Japan, complicating the…

Large passenger jets and advanced chips, BeiDou satellites and the Tiangong space station: these large-scale science and technology projects could be part of China’s efforts to mobilise resources nationwide to speed up the development of new weapons, according to a study by researchers with China’s top defence university. China’s military modernisation has accelerated at a pace that unsettles many analysts in Washington. In the past decade alone, Beijing has rolled out a sequence of major defence technologies: electromagnetic catapult systems for aircraft carriers, new stealth fighter platforms, hypersonic weapons, directed-energy…

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that his planned trip to Beijing later this month may be postponed, adding uncertainty to a visit expected to include talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Speaking at a news conference at the White House, Trump said the timing of the visit was still under discussion, citing the need to remain in Washington as the US manages its ongoing military campaign against Iran. The trip had been scheduled for March 31 to April 2. “I don’t know, we’re working on that right now.…

A United States diplomat has told Brazilian port industry executives that Washington does not want a Chinese company to win the concession for a major container terminal in Santos, the largest port in Latin America, in the latest sign that the race for one of Brazil’s most prized infrastructure assets has become a front in the broader rivalry between Washington and Beijing. Kevin Murakami, the US consul-general in Sao Paulo, made the comments on March 5, at an event organised by Grupo A Tribuna, a media group based in the…