Author: Media Library

Seeking to blunt China’s dominance over critical minerals that underpin hi-tech manufacturing, the administration of US President Donald Trump is rolling out a slate of measures this week aimed at reducing US reliance on Beijing. A White House official has confirmed to the South China Morning Post that Trump will be launching a US$12 billion public-private initiative to build a large commercial stockpile of critical minerals titled “Project Vault”. The project is being billed as a strategic reserve designed to shield US manufacturers from supply disruptions and price volatility in…

Defying a tight domestic job market, a record wave of overseas graduates is flooding back to China, eager to snatch up opportunities in its fast-growing tech and advanced manufacturing sectors. The influx, up 12 per cent in 2025 to an eight-year high, signals “determined confidence” among globally trained talent, according to findings by job-recruitment platform Zhaopin. And the robustness of this homecoming trend, at 2.25 times the 2018 level, points to a “sustained trend” in domestic opportunities, the platform said in a report last week. Despite hiring demand remaining concentrated…

US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace is unlikely to pose a credible challenge to the United Nations, analysts say. They also warn that legal ambiguity, as well as doubts over credibility and funding, make the initiative’s long-term viability uncertain. Beijing was likely to respond cautiously but might also see some advantages if Washington’s attention was diverted elsewhere, leading to China potentially taking on a more proactive role in some regional security matters, they said. Advertisement The peace board concept was first laid out in Trump’s 20-point Gaza ceasefire plan…

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings aims to replicate the success of WeChat Pay by splashing cash for its artificial intelligence app Yuanbao, but analysts are sceptical about whether subsidies can move the needle in the increasingly crowded market. Yuanbao’s 1 billion yuan (US$144 million) promotional campaign, which gives out cash through digital red packets to drive adoption, kicked off with a high-profile launch on Sunday, as many users woke up to find their WeChat groups flooded with referral links to the AI app. Tencent is aiming to stir up the…

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump sells tariffs as farmers’ win in Iowa, but many aren’t buying it Photo: Randall Shelby In January, US President Donald Trump said farmers were “going to be the biggest beneficiary” of his tariff policy, even if it was “going to take a little while to kick in”. But many remained anxious that they could once…

Artificial intelligence (AI) may look automated, but it runs on human labour. Behind every chatbot and image generator are thousands of people labelling images, tagging text, moderating content and training systems to understand language and culture. This invisible workforce has quietly become a critical layer of the global AI economy. India has emerged as a major hub for this work. Its large English-speaking workforce and long history in information technology outsourcing have made it a go-to location for data annotation, content moderation and AI training support. However, much of this…

China is looking to escalate measures against cybercriminals operating inside and outside its borders by banning convicted citizens from leaving the country, even after they have completed their sentence. The draft Cybercrime Prevention and Control Law bill comes as China doubles down on working with Southeast Asian countries to crack down on cross-border online fraud. The bill, which aims to impose an exit ban on Chinese found guilty of cross-border online crimes for up to three years after serving their sentence, was announced by Beijing’s public security ministry on Saturday.…