Bank of America, the second-largest US bank, failed to promptly report hundreds of millions of dollars in suspicious transactions bearing signs of Chinese money-laundering networks, US regulators said on Tuesday, announcing more than US$1.21 billion in penalties for broader anti-money-laundering and sanctions failures. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, said the activity included large wire transfers to counterparties in China, repeated credit-card purchases at major retailers...

Middle powers should become “indispensable” chokepoints to safeguard strategic autonomy and survive the power rivalry between the US and China, former leaders and top diplomats said at a forum in India on Wednesday. The assessment comes as smaller and middle-tier countries seek to protect themselves from mounting geopolitical uncertainties arising from the tariff war launched by US President Donald Trump. The trade conflict has hit America’s allies and foes alike and grown complicated amid...

Senior American diplomats, administration officials and Indo-Pacific military commanders met in Tokyo earlier this month in what one source called an “unusual” gathering ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned visit to China in November. People familiar with the meeting said it represented an evolution of a long-standing practice in which US ambassadors stationed across Asia and the Pacific gathered to exchange intelligence, coordinate diplomatic reporting and align regional priorities. The...

A business delegation from northeastern China has visited a Russian-controlled, Japanese-claimed island off Hokkaido to explore joint economic projects, prompting protests from Tokyo. Officials and business leaders from Heilongjiang province, which borders Russia’s far east, travelled to Etorofu – known to Russians as Iturup – to survey potential investment opportunities, according to the Sakhalin Oblast government, which oversees the island. Etorofu is the largest island in a disputed...

Africa’s resources should not be used as a tool for geopolitical rivalry, Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned, as the US challenges Chinese dominance of critical minerals on the continent. “Africa’s resources belong to Africa,” Xi told Botswanan President Duma Boko in Beijing on Tuesday, according to Chinese state news agency Xinhua. He said it was a “historical injustice” that an unfair international division of labour had left the continent at the bottom of industrial and value chains, and...

A bridge between China and North Korea that was completed 12 years ago will finally open on Thursday. The two countries will hold an opening ceremony to mark the official opening of the New Yalu River Bridge, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported on Wednesday morning. Last week, signs that the bridge would soon open were spotted, including vehicles crossing and traffic lights and bridge indicators being activated, according to South Korean newspaper The Chosun Daily. The bridge links the...

Kana Liu, a Chinese Canadian living in the US on a work visa, felt compelled to speak up. Faced with a Department of Homeland Security proposal to charge up to US$100,000 in fees for international students to work in the US after graduation under Optional Practical Training (OPT), she rushed to the government’s public comment portal. “I firmly oppose the proposed $70,000 initial OPT fee and $30,000 subsequent fee,” she wrote on the federal comment site on October 12. “They create undue barriers...

The White House’s bid for a US “golden age” of science should put China on alert, Chinese analysts have warned, but they remain sceptical as to whether President Donald Trump’s alliance with Silicon Valley billionaires can pull it off. This comes as Trump, in another arguably unconventional move, handed the country’s highest science and engineering awards to top American tech bosses. Elon Musk, head of electric-vehicle maker Tesla and aerospace manufacturer SpaceX, received the National Medal of...

IELTS examinations will resume across China on Wednesday, the British Council said after four days of cancellations that left test-takers scrambling at the height of the overseas university admissions season. The organisation announced on Tuesday afternoon that it would hold two free make-up sessions – on October 19 and 20 – for affected candidates and reimburse reasonable travel and accommodation costs for those who travelled to testing centres. The cancellations, which began on Saturday and...

Beijing and Moscow vowed deeper maritime and logistical cooperation to protect shipping lanes and energy supplies, as China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Nikolai Patrushev, chairman of the Russian Maritime Board in the Chinese capital on Monday. “China stands ready to work with Russia to align maritime strategies and leverage their complementary strengths to protect each other’s legitimate maritime interests,” Wang said, according to a foreign ministry statement released late on Monday. The two...

Some senior American executives are lukewarm about attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit and related business events in Shenzhen next month, according to people familiar with the matter. They cited limited scheduling details, few expected breakthroughs and a lack of opportunity for meaningful engagement. Beijing has invited multiple US business leaders – particularly those who joined President Donald Trump’s May trip to China and later attended the White House state dinner for...

China is likely to view the latest US dealings with Russia as “transactional”, according to observers, who said Beijing was likely to wait and see what the longer-term impact would be given the possibility that Donald Trump might abruptly change course again. The US president announced that under a deal with Vladimir Putin, Russia would “immediately” supply more than 300,000 tonnes of diesel to the US and global markets. He wrote on social media that another 500,000 tonnes would follow in...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Azerbaijan and three Balkan countries amid Beijing’s push to shore up its trade corridors and geopolitical influence in the regions. Wang will attend the seventh summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Thursday “as special representative of President Xi Jinping”, according to China’s foreign ministry. Aside from Azerbaijan, Beijing’s top diplomat will visit Croatia, Montenegro and...

China agreed to cut millions of hybrid car exports to the European Union over the next four years, easing simmering trade tensions ahead of a key meeting of European leaders later this week. The deal will slow exports to half or less the pace currently predicted by the EU, the bloc’s trade chief, Maros Sefcovic, told a press conference in Beijing on Friday after two days of negotiations. Next year alone, it will pare shipments by up to 700,000 vehicles and trim as much as €14 billion (US$16...

Beijing on Monday sanctioned Paraguayan and Belizean government ministers over the Taiwan issue, after the two nations sealed deals with Taipei in recent months. Gustavo Villate, Paraguay’s minister of information and communication technologies, and Francis Fonseca, Belize’s minister of foreign affairs, foreign trade, education, culture, science and technology, were placed under sanctions from Monday, the foreign ministry said. The measures include freezing their assets within China, prohibiting...

We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump’s new spokeswoman is a ‘devoted fan’ who lived in Beijing and speaks Chinese 2. Hong Kong hiker dies, Singaporean teen discharged after 2 trail emergencies 3. How a museum masterpiece’s life-size replica sparked rare US-China collaboration 4. Why Malaysian doctors are turning down...

Kurt Campbell is a veteran US diplomat and strategist who has played a leading role in shaping Washington’s approach to China and the Indo-Pacific for more than a decade. He served as the White House coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs from 2021 to 2024 and as US deputy secretary of state from 2024 to 2025. Previously, he served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2009 to 2013 and was a key architect of the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia”. Often...

Chinese President Xi Jinping has met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi three times in the past three years. Indian pilgrims are back at Kailash, the Tibetan mountain sacred to Hindus and Buddhists. Air China has restarted flights to New Delhi. But can trust grow between two armies that meet only in a crisis? And why does the Pentagon now talk to the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) more easily than India’s army does? In September, Xi made his first visit to India in nearly seven years; Beijing...

Russia is looking to expand shipbuilding cooperation with China through technology partnerships and joint investment, visiting presidential aide and Maritime Board chairman Nikolai Patrushev said. Patrushev held talks in Beijing with Ke Jixin, Chinese vice-minister of industry and information technology, the Russian Maritime Board said in a statement on Saturday. It said the two sides discussed the possibility of Chinese shipbuilders becoming technology partners and equipment suppliers for new...

In September, the Jaecoo 7 – a budget SUV from China’s Chery Automobile – made headlines when it shifted more than 10,000 units to become Britain’s bestselling car. Christened the “Temu Range Rover” online, a nod to the cheap goods available on the Chinese online marketplace and the luxury 4X4 made by Jaguar Land Rover that it resembles, its success showed British drivers’ new-found taste for cut-price Chinese cars. Overall, 23 per cent of new cars bought in Britain last month were Chinese...

Before she addresses the world from behind the White House briefing room podium this week, 42-year-old Katie Zacharia has a story that stretches far beyond Washington’s power corridors. Years before US President Donald Trump appointed her as his new press secretary, she lived in Beijing, worked at one of China’s leading law firms, and learned enough Chinese to occasionally surprise people. Her reported experience in China spans international law and a communications role with a non-profit...

Two Chinese ceramics at the British Museum have been damaged while on display and are being restored, sparking fresh debate over how museums should safely exhibit fragile cultural treasures. The museum confirmed on Friday that a bowl had fallen from its shelf and landed on a small box on the bottom shelf, damaging both pieces. “Both objects are already with our expert conservation team for complete restoration,” the museum said. The museum, which said the incident occurred on October 4, noted...

At events marking China’s National Day in Africa on October 1, robots provided the entertainment. In Luanda, Angola, dancing robots amused guests and ambassador Zhang Bin called the industry “a small snapshot of the Chinese economy’s move towards innovation and higher-quality development”. In Brazzaville, Congo, nearly 400 guests – including Congolese officials and Chinese business representatives – watched on as a robot dog performed. Guests also interacted with a robot dog at a Chinese New...

Last month, President Xi Jinping travelled to New Delhi to attend the Brics summit – his first visit in seven years. On the summit’s sidelines, Xi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had an in-depth conversation that explored topics of shared interest between them, such as leveraging open-weight artificial intelligence (AI) for mutual benefit. Even so, such sanguine signals were soon drowned out by a spate of downbeat headlines. One recent story warned of the “asymmetric” relationship...

Kurt Campbell is a veteran US diplomat and strategist who has played a leading role in shaping Washington’s approach to China and the Indo-Pacific for more than a decade. He served as the White House coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs from 2021 to 2024 and as US deputy secretary of state from 2024 to 2025. Previously, he served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2009 to 2013 and was a key architect of the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia”. Often...

US President Donald Trump has opened the American market to Russian diesel, reversing years of sanctions pressure on Moscow just three weeks after signing a law to punish buyers of its energy, as record fuel prices threaten his party in next month’s midterm elections. Trump said on Truth Social on Friday that he and Russian President Vladimir Putin had reached the supply deal in a phone call that had been expected to focus on suspected plague cases in Russia. According to Trump, Russia will...

When China and the United States agreed in May to frame their relationship as a “constructive relationship of strategic stability”, the phrase left many observers trying to guess what it actually meant. Four months on, they have added an elaboration that offers further insight into the two sides’ respective priorities. After presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump met in Washington last month, the two sides pledged to build a “constructive relationship of strategic stability on the basis of...

The Port of Los Angeles, the largest container port in the United States and the country’s leading gateway for imports from China and other Asian countries, had its busiest three-month period on record from July through to September, despite persistent uncertainty over tariffs and shifting global trade supply chains. “If there was ever a time for a drum roll, this is it,” said Gene Seroka, executive director of the Port of Los Angeles, during a media briefing on Friday. “July through September...

China’s cooperation with the Pacific islands is not part of a geopolitical competition, top diplomat Wang Yi told a delegation of politicians from the region on Friday. The comments come as Beijing and Washington vie for influence in the South Pacific. “China’s engagement with Pacific island countries is a form of South-South cooperation based on mutual assistance and support,” Wang said, according to a statement from the Communist Party’s International Department. “This cooperation does not...

China should avoid taking a “confrontational posture” over a new security pact between the United States, Denmark and Greenland as it might end up being excluded from engagement on the emerging Arctic order. That was the warning from Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s National Institute of Strategic Studies (NISS), a Chinese think tank, in a report released on Wednesday. It also said the US was unlikely to turn the northern polar region into its “exclusive strategic backyard”. The report noted that...

The European Union and China have “reached an understanding” that will cut Chinese hybrid car shipments to the bloc by “more than a half”, in a temporary salve to trade tensions that have threatened to boil over into a full-blown trade war. Speaking after marathon trade talks in Beijing, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said the deal would see China slash its hybrid car exports “by several million cars” over a four-year period. “This is the first time that China has accepted to moderate its exports...

China’s central bank rejected claims that the yuan is undervalued, rebutting a key European argument amid crunch negotiations ahead of a possible trade war. “China has no need or intent to gain competitive advantages through currency devaluation, nor has it ever resorted to competitive devaluation,” the People’s Bank of China said in a policy paper on Thursday, printed in both Chinese and English (see the full paper on SCMP Plus). “China’s trade growth is driven by its growing industrial...

China and the Philippines have traded accusations over a medical evacuation near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, with Manila also reporting a near-doubling of Chinese military and coastguard vessels around contested South China Sea features in September. The latest exchange centred on the evacuation on Thursday of an injured Philippine serviceman from the BRP Sierra Madre, a Philippine naval vessel grounded on the shoal decades ago. Known as Renai Jiao in China and Ayungin Shoal in the...

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent may skip a meeting of Apec finance ministers in Hong Kong later this month to focus on preparing for President Donald Trump’s historic visit to Shenzhen in November, sources told the South China Morning Post. Bessent is expected to meet Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng in Shenzhen ahead of Trump’s visit – when Trump will again hold talks with President Xi Jinping – as the two sides look to secure a longer extension of the bilateral trade truce, which is due to...

Chinese President Xi Jinping was busy travelling abroad last month. In September, he paid a historic state visit to the United States, his first to the country in more than a decade. He also made his first visit to India in seven years, meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the Brics summit. China will host the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November, where Xi will meet US President Donald Trump for the third time this year. During the summit, Xi is...

The United States has downgraded Hong Kong to the lowest tier in its annual human trafficking report, citing shortcomings in prosecutions and victim identification, an assessment the city’s government rejected as “entirely unfounded”. The US State Department’s 2026 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report, released on Thursday, moved Hong Kong from the Tier 2 Watch List, where it had been listed for two consecutive years, to Tier 3. That places the city alongside mainland China and Macau among 20...

The Trump administration is launching an investigation into nine US universities over alleged J-1 visa fraud, with officials raising concerns about Chinese scholars and the Chinese government. The J-1 programme covers exchange visitors including international researchers, scholars and students, who may receive temporary authorisation to work or conduct research in the US. At a Thursday press conference, Anthony D’Esposito, inspector general of the US Department of Labor, announced what he called...

BYD is studying whether to manufacture lithium batteries in Argentina, Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno said on Thursday after meeting Stella Li, the Chinese electric vehicle maker’s executive vice-president. According to Quirno, the company was looking at “investment opportunities in Argentina linked to the lithium value chain, particularly in the production of batteries and energy storage systems”. He did not say how much BYD might spend or where the factory could go. The minister tied the talks...

Washington’s policy towards Taiwan is increasingly tied to its relationship with Beijing, according to former American officials who also warn that the war on Iran is weakening US military readiness for a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait. During a fireside chat in an annual symposium hosted by the Global Taiwan Institute in Washington on Wednesday, Brent Christensen, former director of the Taipei Office of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), said Washington’s policy towards the...

China has nominated health official Song Li to run for director general of the World Health Organization, the foreign ministry confirmed on Thursday. If elected, Song would be the first person from mainland China to head the United Nations health agency. China previously backed Margaret Chan, a Hong Kong-born doctor and former director of health of Hong Kong, who served as WHO director general from 2007 to 2017. Song’s nomination comes as the WHO faces a major funding shake-up following the US...

An aide to Russia’s president arrived in China on Thursday for a visit that will be closely watched for signs of preparation for a possible trilateral summit with the US during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders’ meeting next month. Nikolai Patrushev, who is also chairman of Russia’s Maritime Board, was set to hold talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday. Leading a delegation that included representatives from government...

US President Donald Trump pressed Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping during last month’s summit to end a deep freeze in relations with Japan’s Sanae Takaichi, the South China Morning Post reported. Trump raised Japan’s grievances over Chinese restrictions imposed following Takaichi’s comment in November that the Japanese military might intervene in the event of conflict in the Taiwan Strait, according to Thursday’s report, which cited people familiar with the discussions. Beijing regards Taiwan as...

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