The United States has stepped up scrutiny of China’s overseas lending, warning that the lack of transparency surrounding Chinese loans could increase the risk of unexpected defaults and debt restructuring in emerging markets. In its 2026 Fiscal Transparency Report, released on Tuesday, the US State Department said China had failed to meet its minimum transparency requirements, citing deficiencies in both its domestic finances and the disclosure of claims against foreign borrowers. “China’s lack...

The Trump administration’s export-control licensing regime is achieving little strategic benefit while costing the United States billions of dollars in lost exports and undermining American companies’ global market share, according to a new business survey. “Months-long licensing delays are costing the United States billions of dollars in exports and eroding American market share globally,” the US-China Business Council (USCBC) found in a flash survey of companies conducted in July. The survey...

As the United States and China consolidate their dominance in artificial intelligence, attention is turning to whether Europe can carve out a distinct third pole – a “G3” – or remain in Washington’s technological orbit. The race is rapidly evolving into a contest over international order. In June, Washington signed up 10 more partners for its Pax Silica framework – designed to secure supply chains for key advanced technologies such as microchips and AI – bringing the total to 24. Weeks later, 29...

The “long peace” is a term coined by Yale professor and Cold War historian John Lewis Gaddis in his 1987 book The Long Peace: Inquiries into the History of the Cold War. It refers to the fact that, from the end of World War II in 1945 into the 1980s, more than 40 years passed without a third world war between the United States and Soviet Union. For centuries before 1945, great powers fought destructive general wars such as the Napoleonic Wars, World War I and World War II roughly once every...

China has detained several Japanese nationals, including top executives of companies with offices in China, for allegedly violating export restrictions on dual-use goods, Japanese newspaper The Mainichi said, citing multiple sources. Dual-use items comprise goods, software and technologies with both civilian and military applications, including critical minerals essential for manufacturing drones and advanced semiconductors. The detentions follow a string of enforcement measures, including the...

A Republican-led congressional committee focused on US competition with China has issued a public call for American academics to come forward if they think they missed out on jobs in favour of “applicants from China”. “Are you an American student, postdoctoral researcher, or academic who believes you were denied a research position, laboratory opportunity, or postdoctoral appointment because preference was given to applicants from China?” the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition...

US Undersecretary of Defence for Policy Elbridge Colby avoided naming Beijing or addressing escalating tensions in the South China Sea during a speech in Manila on Monday, adopting a measured tone weeks before an expected meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Despite speaking in the capital of Washington’s oldest treaty ally in Asia, Colby made no direct reference to recent confrontations between Chinese and Philippine forces near the disputed Scarborough...

China has asked to join World Trade Organization consultations that Brazil opened against US tariffs of up to 37.5 per cent. Beijing filed the request in Geneva on Monday, telling the trade body it held a substantial commercial interest in the case. The move was first reported by the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo and independently confirmed to the South China Morning Post by a Brazilian government source. In the request, China said Washington could apply comparable measures to Chinese...

A Chinese citizen faces up to 20 years in US federal prison after pleading guilty on Monday to attempting to purchase US-made military equipment to export to China, in violation of US arms export controls, according to the US Department of Justice (DOJ). Chen Dingwei, 29, was charged with attempting to purchase military-grade satellite modems and radios manufactured for the US military by US companies, which are barred from being exported to China under the US Arms Export Control Act. US...

The Trump administration is on pace to revoke a record number of visas this year, the State Department said on Monday, as it disclosed that more than 175,000 had been revoked since US President Donald Trump returned to office. The visas were revoked from foreign nationals who “violated the terms of their visas, committed crimes, called for violence against US citizens, defrauded Americans, abused our immigration system, or endangered national security”, according to the State Department. A State...