Category: The Diplomat

On September 29, Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) announced the dismissal of a teacher surnamed Pei, widely identified in reporting as law school assistant professor Pei Yi. The university canceled her eligibility to supervise graduate students, revoked her eligibility to hold a teaching position at BIT, and terminated her employment.  The university said a special working group had investigated allegations against Pei and found serious violations of teachers’ professional ethics and codes of conduct. Its public statement did not specify the conduct or disclose the supporting evidence. The announcement followed…

“It is critical that we utilize data to identify individuals who have not contributed to the social security program. Currently, some people have not participated in the program, but we will use different means to identify and find them to encourage them to join.” These are quotes from Li Zhong, deputy minister of the Chinese Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), on the government’s goal to increase the number of individuals in the Chinese social security program.  Li’s remarks at the ministry’s news conference on October 10 quickly…

Russia’s war against Ukraine has shown that energy security is no longer just about access to fuels, pipelines, and large power stations. It also depends on solar panels, batteries, and other distributed energy equipment that can keep homes, businesses, and critical services operating when the electricity grid is under attack. Ironically, most of the equipment helping Ukraine keep the lights on comes from China. Beijing has maintained close strategic ties with Russia. Yet through trade and global supply chains, Chinese-made clean energy technologies are helping Ukraine reduce the vulnerability created…

News broke earlier this month that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had arrested real estate agent Wanying “Heather” Zhang for spying on Lai Ting-yu, the eldest child of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te. Zhang lived in Irvine, California, where she worked as a real estate agent. She was originally from Changsha, China, before emigrating to the United States and naturalizing.  Lai Ting-yu is not a political figure – members of the Lai family tend to keep a low profile. Lai Ching-te’s wife, First Lady Wu Mei-ju, does not often…

The recent thaw in China-U.S. relations – highlighted by reciprocal visits by President Donald Trump and Xi Jinping – raised the prospect of a more stable relationship between the world’s two largest powers. After years of escalating tariffs, technology restrictions, and strategic mistrust, both governments appear willing to step back from the brink. The emerging language of “constructive strategic stability” suggests that Washington and Beijing may be converging on the need to manage their rivalry rather than allow it to define every aspect of their relationship. But agreement on the…

On September 24, the presidents of the United States and China met in Washington and agreed to build what their joint language calls a “constructive relationship of strategic stability.” On November 18-19, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping are expected to meet again, on the sidelines of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen. Two summits in three months is a rare occurrence in China-U.S. relations.  In the September summit, already their second of 2026, one key area stood out as the focus: artificial intelligence. The risks of AI now have…

In the leadup to the U.S.-China summit in September 2026, President Xi Jinping attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and the BRICS summit in Delhi. He also visited the Middle East — all between August and September. What is notable is that in speeches delivered at both the SCO and BRICS summits, Xi made heavy use of the term “Global South.” This reflects China’s positioning of the SCO and BRICS as gatherings of the Global South, even though Russia and Turkey are among their members. How,…

On October 6, CNN reported that the United States and China are engaged in informal, preliminary discussion on reciprocal visits to nuclear facilities. According to the report, the idea was first raised by the Chinese side in meetings with U.S. officials this year, during which the two sides discussed U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories and their Chinese counterparts. The same source also indicated that the U.S. side is willing to discuss visits to nuclear test sites.  At the China-U.S. leaders’ summit held in September, the two sides agreed to…

In September 2026, a British physicist posted an update to a months-long Reddit thread, writing that he finally had a K visa and that the visa “does exist.” The process had taken roughly five months from application to passport collection, although he acknowledged that part of the delay was his own doing, since one of his degree certificates had to be reissued and an embassy email sat unnoticed in his spam folder.  The application itself, as he described it, was simple; there was no interview, no invitation letter, and no…

As China celebrated its dominance at the Asian Games that concluded days ago in Nagoya, Japan, its achievement at another global sporting festival in Shanghai has been largely overlooked. In the 2026 edition of WorldSkills, what the organizers call an Olympics for vocational skills, the Chinese team topped the medal table with 41 gold, 11 silver, and 4 bronze medals. In fact, the Chinese team has topped the medal table five straight times in the biennial competition, a phenomenon that has been attributed to the country’s unparalleled investments in providing…