Month: April 2026

China has launched a bond-market-connect scheme with Brazil, Chinese media outlets reported this week, marking the first such link among emerging markets. Schemes such as this one, often dubbed “connects” between Chinese bond or stock markets and their offshore counterparts, typically allow investors to bypass special permits or capital-flow controls when trading on either side’s exchanges. Advertisement China now maintains at least five offshore capital-market “connect” schemes on three continents. Hong Kong: The Global Gateway The Hong Kong stock exchange set up China’s best-known connect scheme with the bourses in…

US President Donald Trump’s close ally, Senator Steve Daines, will lead a bipartisan delegation to China next week, according to sources, even as Washington steps up pressure on Beijing over trade, technological competition, and its ties to Iran, ahead of a closely watched leaders’ summit on May 14-15. According to people familiar who requested anonymity, the five-member delegation led by Daines, a Republican from Montana, will begin its visit on May 1, with stops in Shanghai and Beijing. The trip has been in the works since last year and was…

US confrontations with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz point to future American attempts to contain China via maritime chokepoints, a Chinese policy adviser has warned, suggesting that Beijing boost its naval presence in the region. In a policy recommendation addressed to Beijing, Gu Dingguo, an East China Normal University research fellow in neighbourhood diplomacy and security, said the Iran war reflected Washington’s greater emphasis on implementing its maritime security strategy. “By observing Iran’s leverage over strategic waterways, the US is likely to intensify its focus on global maritime chokepoints,…

In the latest cycle of threats and concessions that have marked US President Donald Trump’s approach to the war that he and his Israeli counterpart started against Iran, the mercurial president said on Thursday he would destroy any undersized boat attempting to lay mines in the blocked Strait of Hormuz. His focus on diminutive vessels followed his oft-repeated messaging that Iran’s larger naval vessels are no more as he renews his effort to muscle Tehran’s frustratingly resilient regime to concede defeat. “I have ordered the United States Navy to shoot…

As key allies turn away and war costs soar, the US military campaign against Iran is spurring a growing consensus among Chinese observers and state media – that Washington’s unrivalled global dominance is crumbling. Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily issued a sharp critique on Thursday, warning that the United States’ shift from an “international rule-builder” to a “predatory hegemon” would ultimately undermine its prosperity and influence. “In the post-Cold War era, while the undercurrents of US hegemony were always present, Washington at least maintained on the surface the image of…