Month: April 2026

Beijing’s decision to block Meta Platforms’ proposed acquisition of artificial intelligence firm Manus should not be seen as a restriction on foreign investment, Chinese state media said, urging companies in the sector to “go global when ready” and “pursue partnerships where appropriate”. “What stands out from Meta’s Manus deal is that the AI industry is transcending simple commercial logic,” Yuyuan Tantian, the influential social media account run by state broadcaster CCTV, said on Wednesday in a post on its WeChat page. “Certain countries are using mechanisms such as security reviews…

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that Taiwan is “the biggest risk factor in China-US relations” during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The call laid the groundwork for a highly anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in Beijing in mid-May. According to CCTV, Wang said that Beijing and Washington “must safeguard the hard-won stability and make thorough preparations for the coming high-level engagements”. Advertisement This apparently refers to possible multiple Xi-Trump…

The row between China and Japan has ratcheted up a notch, with Beijing issuing a strongly worded position paper warning that Tokyo would soon be able to produce nuclear weapons. In the document released on Thursday, China called on the United Nations to make Japan’s potential pursuit of nuclear arms an “important agenda item” at an ongoing convention at the organisation’s New York headquarters. China is a permanent member of the UN Security Council and will assume the monthly rotating presidency of the body in May. In the report, the…

China has confirmed plans to expand its space station, potentially more than doubling in size to meet growing scientific demand and expand international cooperation. The ISS, led by Nasa and built with contributions from 15 countries, is the biggest structure in space and has been a laboratory for more than 3,000 experiments. Advertisement Nasa plans to retire the ISS in early 2031, using a dedicated deorbit vehicle being developed by SpaceX to guide it into a controlled re-entry over the South Pacific. China’s T-shaped Tiangong space station will first be…

The international order is under mounting strain. In recent years, unilateralism, protectionism and the selective application of international law have eroded confidence in the rules-based frameworks that once underpinned global cooperation. The return of Donald Trump to the centre of American politics, along with the policy instincts the US president represents, has only reinforced concerns that the United States may continue to privilege narrow domestic calculations over international responsibility. This is not merely a matter of style or rhetoric. From tariff escalations and extraterritorial sanctions to military interventions in open…

Chinese scholars must sharpen their focus on the internal conflicts reshaping the United States if they are to help Beijing navigate its rivalry with Washington, according to a prominent academic. These crises include shifts in political culture, heightened racial tensions, the unsustainability of the country’s economic and fiscal model and the widespread influence of protectionism and populism, according to Ni Feng, a researcher and former director of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of American Studies. “Without updating our knowledge base on these issues, it will be difficult to…