Category: The Diplomat

On July 21, President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa awarded Shen Minjuan, China’s ambassador to the country since 2023, Mongolia’s Order of the Polar Star (Altan Gerege), the country’s highest state honor for foreign nationals. Barely a week later, on July 29, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) updated its official organizational roster: Shen had taken office as director-general of the Department of Asian Affairs, succeeding Liu Jinsong.  The speed of the promotion was striking. So was its symbolism. For Mongolian policymakers and analysts who observed Shen’s nearly three-year tenure up close, her…

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force now uses an AI system that draws up plans for large-scale strike operations. Instead of being released with great fanfare, the system appeared in a CCTV documentary released in early August to mark the PLA’s 99th anniversary. The system is described as prioritizing targets from a pool of hundreds, coordinating dozens of formations, and assigning tasks to more than 100 tactical units. According to the documentary, it has already been used in multiple missions. The timing lines up neatly with Xi Jinping’s instruction…

In March, a 21-year-old music student in Beijing arrived at an apartment complex to teach a piano lesson. Waiting for her were her father, her aunt, and two employees of a private disciplinary institution. Her relatives told her the strangers were police officers investigating a family matter. Instead, they forced her into a vehicle, confiscated her phone, and drove her hundreds of miles to an institution in Henan province, where she spent the next 11 days. According to Southern People Weekly, her parents objected to her romantic relationship and believed…

Taiwan’s local elections – often referred to as “nine-in-one elections,” due to voting taking place simultaneously for nine different kinds of positions – will soon be upon us, with voting scheduled for the end of November. Alongside the elections, however, a number of referendum issues will also be voted on nationally.  The referendums are advanced by the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), the opposition parties currently in control of the legislature. However, unlike past referendums, the KMT and TPP will not campaign with the general public for…

Xi Jinping, president of China and general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), traveled to Shanghai in mid-July. While the major reason for his trip was to open an international AI conference, he also had another priority: symbolically addressing concerns related to the distressed property market. Xi began his Shanghai visit with an inspection tour in Huangpu District, the traditional heart of the old city of Shanghai. Huangpu is home to the Bund and its 19th century British-built buildings. Xi met local citizens and CCP officials alike, and made…

“My womb cannot give birth to the knife that will one day stab me.” Over the past couple of years, this line has spread widely across China’s social media. It is almost always presented as something “Hannü” (韩女, literally “Korean women” in Chinese).  Whether the quote actually originated in South Korea – or how widely it is known there – is impossible to verify. Yet its factual origins have become almost beside the point. The quote resonates with many Chinese feminist internet users because it expresses a radical refusal of…

China has imposed sanctions on two Polish entities linked to the country’s defense and high-tech sectors. The move comes in response to the European Union’s 21st sanctions package against Russia. The latest EU measures targeted several companies from China and Hong Kong that are accused of supplying Moscow with technologies and components used in Russia’s war against Ukraine. One of the Polish entities placed on China’s export control list is Wrocław University of Science and Technology (WUST), one of Poland’s leading technical universities with recognized expertise in satellite technologies, and…

The United Nations has been undergoing its most significant overhaul in history, the UN80 initiative, which aims to review mandates, reduce costs, and consider structural changes across the system. This is partly due to mounting arrears, of which more than 95 percent of what is owed to the regular U.N. budget is owed by the United States, historically the organization’s largest financial contributor. In January, Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the U.N. faced “imminent financial collapse,” with long-lasting impact on its global operations. As the United States becomes a less…

In April 2026, a Murakami-class Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (MSDF) destroyer transited the Taiwan Strait. Such passages have become more frequent amid rising tensions over Taiwan since 2025. Yet this instance triggered an unusually strong reaction from China. The reason was not the transit itself, but its timing. It occurred on April 17, the anniversary of the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ended the First Sino-Japanese War. In Chinese historical narratives, the Treaty of Shimonoseki is part of the “Century of Humiliation.” Chinese commentators quickly interpreted the timing as deliberate.…

Since the start of 2026, few capitals have seen more diplomatic traffic than Beijing. A non-stop stream of world leaders has arrived seeking to deepen or recalibrate relations with China. Beyond the most headline-grabbing visits by U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, leaders from Canada, the United Kingdom, Spain, Uruguay, Ireland, South Korea, Vietnam, Serbia, and the United Arab Emirates, among others, have all made their way to China with distinct objectives in mind.  This burst of diplomatic engagement has take place against a backdrop of mounting…