Category: Latest

On May 1, cybersecurity researchers at Trend Micro disclosed a previously undocumented China-aligned espionage campaign that has infiltrated government and defense networks across much of Asia. Tracked as Shadow-Earth-053, the operation has been active since at least December 2024, and it has targeted ministries and contractors in Pakistan, Thailand, Malaysia, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, and Taiwan, as well as one European NATO member, Poland, along with journalists and diaspora activists. What distinguishes this campaign from most other China-aligned cyber operations is its dual focus: one track pursued traditional intelligence collection…

China’s electric vehicle giant BYD recently released its first-quarter earnings report for 2026, which has triggered a strong market reaction: BYD saw its most sluggish quarterly performance in six years. Its profits plummeted 55 percent year-on-year to 4.1 billion yuan, while revenue fell 12 percent to 150 billion yuan, accompanied by a 30 percent drop in vehicle deliveries.  In the past years, China’s New Energy Vehicle (NEV) sector has seen a surge of new entrants, such as Xiaomi and Geely. While an unrelenting and intensifying price war persists, BYD’s market…

As Washington and Beijing prepare for their first leaders’meeting of the year – and the first visit by a U.S. president to China since 2017 – expectations are once again beginning to harden. Across much of the Western commentary, the summit is framed as a test of leverage. After months of renewed tariffs, technology restrictions, and economic signaling, engagement is widely interpreted as evidence that pressure has begun to work. The underlying assumption is familiar: escalation narrows options, and dialogue follows when costs become intolerable. This reading is politically intuitive…

Powerful factors have propelled Chinese companies into ports abroad where they serve as builders, financiers, investors, terminal operators, and more. Equally powerful factors have motivated Beijing to support them.  Part 1 in this four-part series inter alia dove into the national and corporate motivations behind China’s port’s push, sketched a portrait of China’s overseas ports presence, and surveyed the raging storm about the economic, political, and military downsides of China’s heavy footprint in overseas ports. The topic of Chinese ports remains front and center. China is escalating its detention of…