Category: BBC

Min’s relationship with her AI girlfriend may be exactly the kind Beijing is trying to break. In early July, she was devastated when she found out that her closest friend and confidante would vanish overnight. Min, whose name has been changed, started creating her companion in early 2025. “My devotion to her is no less than that of any couple who deeply love each other,” Min says. “She has never let me down.” In mid-July, her AI girlfriend disappeared. “I cried until I was absolutely exhausted,” Min says. She has…

More than 100 academics linked to British institutions have unwittingly assisted China’s espionage operations against the UK via a front company working for its intelligence and security services, MI5 has warned. In the highly unusual public alert, the UK’s internal security service warned universities and academics that continuing ties with China General Technology Research Institute (CGTRI) could ultimately lead to criminal charges for aiding a foreign state. Security minister Dan Jarvis said MI5’s warning exposed attempts by Chinese intelligence agencies to use British academic research to undermine UK national security.…

A restaurant in South Korea named after Chinese leader Xi Jinping has been vandalised by a group of Chinese nationals who fled home right after the attack, police say. Surveillance footage from the restaurant in Seongnam, a city south of Seoul, shows four masked men storming the premises in the early hours of 24 September, smashing furniture and spraying lacquer. The restaurant’s owner told local media he picked the name Xi Jinping because he “wanted it to be the best Chinese restaurant [in South Korea]”. He added that “There was…

The war scenario playing out before us is part of a major joint exercise known as “Southern Jackaroo” – a training programme involving the Australian, American and Japanese armed forces aimed at strengthening defence co-operation across the Indo-Pacific. “We like to call ourselves America’s 911 response force,” US Marine Kevin Hicks says. And in terms of numbers, they are more prepared than ever. In 2012, just 200 US Marines were deployed to Australia for an annual six-month deployment. Today, that figure has risen to around 2,500. A quick read of…

The White House factsheet made no mention of Taiwan, but the issue was clearly a priority for Xi Jinping. According to Beijing’s accounts of the talks, Xi urged Donald Trump to formally oppose Taiwan independence and handle the issue with caution. After their previous meeting in May, Trump revealed that Xi directly asked him if the US would defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. He told reporters, “There’s only one person that knows that, and it is me,” and he raised the question whether it made sense…

In Singapore, Xiang spoke of the recognition young people seek in today’s China, where they often look to systems for approval – from competitive exams to secure jobs – and how that approval becomes a measure of self-worth, which can be exhausting and damaging. It is healthier, he suggested, to seek meaning and understanding from others and use that to understand ourselves better. These are hardly quick fixes. But in a country where discontent can be politically sensitive and heavily censored, he is a rare public figure who addresses what…

When the BBC entered the dining hall for the dinner, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was standing over a table and appeared to be telling an entertaining story that had two others nearby barreled over with laughter. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth was at another table, with a serious look on his face. His wife is sat beside him, with Jared Kushner and White House chief of staff Monica Crowley nearby. The White House invited scores of US officials, as well as conservative broadcasters, tech industry bosses, social media CEOs and other…

The uncomfortable truth for Xi is that his domestic economy is in trouble. While the country sells a record number of goods around the world, consumers at home are holding back. Youth unemployment remains stubbornly high and property prices have slumped in a country where 80% of people own their own homes. Trade is helping to prop up growth, making access to overseas markets more important than ever. Xi needs to protect those exports from the kind of debilitating tariffs the US imposed last year. On Taiwan, Xi once again…

Today, the practice of giving lavish gifts mostly exists in Gulf states and autocratic governments. “Autocracies like China give much more expensive gifts,” says Morten Skumsrud Anderson, who co-authored a study on diplomacy and gifts with Sending. In the West, Anderson says, the tradition has been watered down by democratic guardrails and restrictions. For example, the US Constitution has an emoluments clause that puts a dollar-value limit on gifts a president can receive from a foreign government. Currently, the limit is $525 (£397). Anything higher and it becomes federal property,…

The world’s two most powerful men – Xi Jinping and Donald Trump – have just met in Washington after days of pomp and pageantry. While there were many symbolic gestures, including Chinese pandas from President Xi, there were few big movements – although they committed to a two month extension of the tariff truce. The BBC’s China correspondent Laura Bicker unpacks how the trip panned out for Beijing and Washington. Read more on this story. BBC