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...