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Argentine President Javier Milei has every right to reassert his country’s territorial claims over the Falkland Islands. His proposal to use the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration as a template for resolving the Falkland Islands dispute merits serious consideration as a pragmatic framework for bringing this long-standing territorial conflict to a peaceful conclusion. Argentina’s claim to what its citizens call the Islas Malvinas rests on solid foundations. Upon independence from Spain in 1816, Argentina inherited sovereignty over the islands under territorial succession. Argentina arguably exercised governmental authority over the archipelago between…

The risk of a conflict over Taiwan is shaping Japanese defence planning, with Tokyo shoring up security at home and abroad for a potentially prolonged fight. But there are economic, demographic and political constraints on how far its military transformation can go. In the second of a three-part series, Gabriel Dominguez examines how Tokyo is building military resilience within its territory. Japan’s recent purchase of a former Nippon Steel site to build a sprawling new defence hub points to a deeper shift in Tokyo’s preparations for a potential Taiwan conflict:…

Nicaragua has granted a Chinese-owned company linked to one sanctioned by Washington the right to prospect and dig for gold across 262 sq km (101 sq miles) of rainforest, about a quarter the size of Hong Kong. The 25-year concession over the block, named Jade, went to Linze Excelente Mineria, a company that appeared in Nicaragua’s mining registry only last year. The block is in a corner of the country where prospectors first struck gold in 1880. Corporate filings list Lijun Dong as legal representative of both Linze Excelente and…

When US President Donald Trump announced on August 28 that the United States had secured majority control over some 65 billion barrels of Venezuelan oil through a private company, the North American Blue Energy Partners (NABEP), he called it “the biggest oil deal in history”. The White House fact sheet provided the details: NABEP’s 100-year concessions on 17 oilfields with 65 billion barrels of proven reserves, a 35 per cent Pentagon stake, a 20 per cent State Department offtake at cost with right of first refusal, and a Washington veto…

⁠The US government on Tuesday accused Chinese artificial intelligence companies of maliciously copying technology from American AI firms, potentially complicating relations ahead of a planned meeting between leaders of the world’s two biggest economies later this month. The Chinese companies ‌copied US AI labs’ intellectual property through a technique known as distillation, according to a statement from US law enforcement and intelligence officials. Distillation is the process of training smaller AI models using output from larger, more expensive ones as part of an effort to lower the costs of training…

United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in Colombia on Tuesday to meet President Abelardo de la Espriella, sign agreements on critical minerals and civil nuclear cooperation and take up the country’s ties to China, in the first visit by a cabinet-level US official since the Colombian leader took office a month ago. Colombia’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and Chinese investment in critical infrastructure were on the agenda for the meeting, a Colombian official who was not authorised to speak publicly told the South China…

Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies went on trial on Tuesday in Brooklyn, New York, on criminal charges after eight years of legal wrangling with the US government. The Shenzhen-based company has pleaded not guilty to all 14 counts, including bank fraud, wire fraud, trade secret theft, and racketeering, with the alleged criminal activity dating back to 1999. Jury selection began on Tuesday, local time, with US District Judge Ann M. Donnelly of the Eastern District of New York instructing potential jurors to strive to be as “fair and impartial” as…

President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for deeper cooperation between “major technological powers” China and the UK as he held his first official call with Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Xi congratulated Burnham on his appointment as prime minister, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, emphasising that the shared interests of China and the United Kingdom outweighed their differences in social systems. “Both sides should respect and trust each other, transcend differences, seek common ground while reserving differences, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation,” Xi was quoted as saying. “Both China…

President Xi Jinping on Tuesday called for deeper cooperation between “major technological powers” China and the UK as he held his first official call with Prime Minister Andy Burnham. Xi congratulated Burnham on his appointment as prime minister, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua, emphasising that the shared interests of China and the United Kingdom outweighed their differences in social systems. “Both sides should respect and trust each other, transcend differences, seek common ground while reserving differences, and expand mutually beneficial cooperation,” Xi was quoted as saying. “Both China…

Pakistan has unveiled a newly acquired Chinese-made short-range air defence system that analysts say could boost its ability to counter Indian drones and low-altitude threats in a future conflict. A social media video posted by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) on Sunday confirmed for the first time that it was operating the HQ-17AE short-range air defence (Shorad) system. The HQ-17AE is an export version of China’s HQ-17A air defence system – a wheeled variant of the original HQ-17 that was reverse-engineered from the Russian Tor-M1 missiles. The HQ-17AE has an…