Month: August 2026

Diplomats for China and the US in Latin America have traded brickbats on social media over alleged espionage risks posed by Chinese tech firms in the region, in the latest sign of the two powers’ unfolding strategic tensions in the western hemisphere. US assistant secretary of state for western hemisphere affairs Juan Pablo Segura named telecoms giants Huawei Technologies, ZTE and Hytera, surveillance equipment makers Hikvision and Dahua, and drone heavyweight DJI in a post on social media on Saturday. “Chinese law forces these suppliers to cooperate with Beijing’s intelligence…

There is no shortage of Western commentary on US President Donald Trump’s second term. What’s missing is an honest account of how 1.4 billion of us in China see it – or at least how China’s officials and scholars do, since that’s who I can speak for here. I’ve spent a decade watching that view change, from real alarm in 2017 to something closer to a shrug today. Four things now count as consensus among Chinese scholars. One, Trump is undermining America’s alliance system. His first term rattled Washington’s furniture.…

Taiwan’s top weapons developer has unveiled details of its Chiang Kung, or Strong Bow, anti-ballistic missile system as it seeks legislative funding for mass production to strengthen the island’s air defences amid growing pressure from Beijing. The government-funded National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology disclosed key specifications of the locally developed system earlier this month, including its hypersonic speed, two-stage solid-fuel propulsion, guidance system and active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. The disclosure comes as the government prepares another attempt to secure funding after the system was excluded from…

The world’s largest coal-to-liquids plant is turning coal into oil products that can power rockets and serve as machine lubricants while boosting its value sevenfold, according to a Chinese newspaper. The production line, built by China Energy Group Ningxia Coal Industry Co Ltd, began full operations in northwest China’s Ningxia Hui autonomous region last month and processed 24 million tonnes of coal in 2025 – a quarter of the region’s total annual output, according to a report published by Science and Technology Daily on Wednesday. The technology has been a…

A banking veteran has been appointed the new deputy Communist Party secretary and acting mayor of the southern Chinese metropolis of Shenzhen, just months before the city is scheduled to host a series of Apec meetings. The positions have been filled by Li Yun, who spent more than two decades working in financial institutions and has been the vice-governor of Guangdong province since March last year. As Shenzhen’s new deputy party secretary and acting mayor, Li takes over from Qin Weizhong, the Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported on Monday. Meeting…

Brazil’s presidential candidates opened the televised campaign season on Sunday with a debate that turned repeatedly to the country’s position between Washington and Beijing. The exchange comes in an election cycle already shaped by American tariffs, a visa dispute over election monitoring and the Lula government’s warming ties with China. Ronaldo Caiado, Augusto Cury and Renan Santos took to the debate stage in Sao Paulo but the lecterns reserved for President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro and former Minas Gerais governor Romeu Zema remained empty. Brazil plans…