Month: August 2026

Can Taiwan’s new F-16s level the playing field against the PLA’s J-20 stealth fighters?

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Taiwan’s first two F-16 Block 70 fighter jets from the United States are expected to arrive within days, with some analysts saying the improved models could give Taipei better odds against the People’s Liberation Army’s fifth-generation J-20 fighters. The jets will be the first deliveries under a long-delayed NT$247.3 billion (US$7.76 billion) deal for 66 aircraft. The two fighters, numbered 6727 and 6728, left a production facility in South Carolina on August 17. They stopped in Hawaii on Friday and will later fly to Guam, their final stop before heading…

Could Mecca defence pact be first step to new Middle East order?

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The Mecca security pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan stipulates that an armed attack against one shall count as an attack against all three. Yet the real message is directed at the United States: if being an American ally offers no immunity against attack, there is little point in waiting for Washington to honour its security guarantees. That there has been no official White House statement casts some doubt on whether Donald Trump is really “very happy to see that Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan have recently, and finally,…

China’s ‘Three-Anti’ Legal Framework in Action

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Law has become an increasingly important arena for international competition. Over the past six years, China has introduced a series of foreign-related laws and regulations to counter foreign sanctions, intervention, and long-arm jurisdiction, collectively constituting what Chinese policy discourse calls the “three-anti”  legal framework (“三反”法治体系). While Beijing’s sanctions and export controls have attracted much of the international attention over the past few years, the blocking and judicial remedy mechanisms under this framework are now also being put into practice. The latest case came on August 19, when China’s Ministry of…

Artist known for sculptures of Mao Zedong jailed for slandering ‘heroes and martyrs’

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Gao Zhen, a prominent Chinese artist known for provocative sculptures of the former leader Mao Zedong, has been sentenced to three years in prison after being found guilty of slandering China’s “heroes and martyrs”. The sentencing came two years after he was detained while visiting the country with his family, according to his wife and human rights groups. The case has attracted international condemnation, largely because the artworks at the centre of the case were created more than 10 years before China created the law under which Gao was charged.…

China hits out at ‘illegal’ new US sanctions on Iran and trading partners

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The US has dubbed its latest sanctions “Operation Economic Outcast” and described them as an “economic D-Day” against Iran. It comes almost six months after the start of the Iran war. The conflict has since led to hikes in oil prices worldwide, with Tehran effectively blocking exports through the Strait of Hormuz – a waterway vital to the global economy. The US has also slowed traffic via its own naval blockade. Recent attempts to end the conflict via diplomacy have failed, and a 60-day ceasefire formally expired last week with…

US building twice as much gas-fired capacity as China in AI boom, analysis finds

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The US has surged ahead of China in the building of new gas-fired power generation, largely to feed a boom in artificial intelligence (AI) that is adding vast amounts of planet-heating emissions, a new analysis has found. For decades, China’s rapid economic growth has seen it outpace the US in the addition of new gas power generation but a recent “frenzy” in datacenter construction for AI has reversed this, said Global Energy Monitor (Gem) in its new report. The US is now building twice as much gas-fired capacity as China,…

China’s J-16s face off against Egypt’s Rafales in combat drills as Iran war rumbles on

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Chinese fighter jets have conducted combat training with their Egyptian counterparts in a joint exercise following a major Chinese air force deployment to the Middle East. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force deployed J-16 fighter jets, YU-20 aerial tankers, KJ-500 airborne early warning and control aircraft and Z-20 helicopters. What do we know about China’s two next-generation aircraft? The aircraft flew more than 6,000km (3,730 miles) over nine hours to reach Egypt, crossing four countries, according to a report by state broadcaster CCTV. However, it did not specify which…

Why was China’s response to North Korea’s latest missile launches so muted?

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China’s muted response to North Korea’s latest missile launch, which came soon after top diplomat Wang Yi’s visit to Seoul, underscores how Beijing is prioritising Pyongyang’s stability over near‑term denuclearisation, according to analysts. North Korea started launching more than 10 short-range ballistic missiles just hours after Wang concluded his two-day visit on Thursday, the foreign minister’s first official trip to South Korea in nearly five years. South Korea and Japan condemned the launch as a provocation. Beijing declined to criticise the barrage fired into the sea east of the peninsula,…