A US immigration judge has granted asylum to a Chinese national who he said had a “well founded fear” of persecution if sent back to China after exposing alleged human rights abuses against Uyghurs there. Guan Heng applied for asylum after arriving in the US illegally in 2021. He has been in custody since being swept up in an immigration enforcement operation in August last year as part of a mass deportation campaign by the Trump administration. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) initially sought to deport Guan to Uganda…
Category: Media Library
China vows to help find man who allegedly burned baby with hot coffee in Brisbane — video
A Chinese team will visit Australia to help search for a man who allegedly randomly attacked a baby with hot coffee before fleeing the country. China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, announced on Wednesday that investigators will travel to Queensland to work with police to investigate the 33-year-old accused attacker. The stranger allegedly dumped a Thermos of coffee on a nine-month-old boy, Luka, at a Brisbane park on 27 August 2024 before fleeing to his home country, China, with which Australia has no extradition arrangement The Guardian
UK probably needs large new factory to meet target of 1.3m cars a year, say industry boss
A target of building 1.3m cars a year is likely to be missed unless a large new UK factory is built in the coming years, an industry group has said, as Keir Starmer prepares to hold trade talks in China. Labour aims to have 1.3m vehicles rolling off production lines by 2035, a central ambition of its industrial strategy. That would nearly double the 764,715 cars and vans made in 2025, according to new data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). UK vehicle production slumped 15.5% in…
How Singapore Inc became a safe place for investors
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. At first glance, Singapore may appear an odd winner from the disruption to global trade brought on by Donald Trump’s “reciprocal” tariff regime. As a major beneficiary of the postwar era of globalisation, the city-state’s entire economy is structured upon being a linchpin for international commerce. But after a year dominated by trade shocks and geopolitical tension, international investors are flocking to Singapore. The country’s stock market had its best…
Keir Starmer to hold talks with Xi to bolster economic ties with China
Keir Starmer will meet the Chinese president Xi Jinping on Thursday for historic talks he hopes will deepen economic ties at a time when some inside government fear the US is no longer a reliable partner. The prime minister – the first UK leader to visit China in eight years – will hold a 40-minute meeting with Xi at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing before a number of cultural and business receptions. On the flight to Beijing, Starmer told journalists he wanted to bring “stability and clarity”…
UK and China to share intelligence over people traffickers in the Channel
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will on Thursday sign a pact with China’s President Xi Jinping to share intelligence to tackle people-trafficking gangs, in a sign of a significant warming of relations. After a spell of what Starmer called “Ice Age” diplomacy, Britain and China have agreed to work together to curtail the supply of the Chinese-made small boat engines used in Channel crossings. Chinese state media have given…
Chinese investigators to visit Brisbane to help in search for man who allegedly burned baby with coffee
A Chinese team will visit Australia to help search for a man who allegedly randomly attacked a baby with hot coffee before fleeing the country. China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, announced on Wednesday that investigators will travel to Queensland to work with police to investigate the 33-year-old accused attacker. Soon after Australian police discovered the identity of a man accused of attacking a baby with hot coffee in Brisbane in 2024, they learned he had flown to China. Photograph: Queensland police The stranger allegedly dumped a Thermos of coffee…
Burner phones and lead-lined bags: a history of UK security tactics in China
When prime ministers travel to China, heightened security arrangements are a given – as is the quiet game of cat and mouse that takes place behind the scenes as each country tests out each other’s tradecraft and capabilities. Keir Starmer’s team has been issued with burner phones and fresh sim cards, and is using temporary email addresses, to prevent devices being loaded with spyware or UK government servers being hacked into. The employment of such tactics may sound dramatic but they are par for the course in an age of…
The Guardian view on Keir Starmer in China: engagement is necessary, caution is vital | Editorial
It has been clear for many years that China’s status as a second global superpower poses challenges to the world’s democracies. Donald Trump’s marauding behaviour as president of the first-placed superpower makes those challenges more acute. In the past, the UK’s relationship with Beijing has been anchored, and sometimes dictated, by the alliance with Washington. Mr Trump’s contempt for former allies, expressed as sabotage of Nato and a scattergun imposition of tariffs, scrambles the old strategic calculus. This is an ominous backdrop for Sir Keir Starmer’s visit to Beijing. The…
Starmer thaws China relations: what’s at stake? – The Latest
Keir Starmer has landed in China to meet Xi Jinping, in the first trip to the country by a British prime minister in eight years. But Starmer is facing myriad issues, including pressure to try to secure the release of Jimmy Lai, the jailed former media tycoon and one of Hong Kong’s most significant pro-democracy voices, as well as raising other human rights concerns. On top of that he has the difficult task of trying to boost trade with China without triggering the fury of Donald Trump. Nosheen Iqbal speaks…