Be warned. The global economy is likely to experience a recession next year. War across the Middle East is set to escalate, wrecking energy supplies for many years, even as the artificial intelligence (AI) bubble is ripe to burst. This, however, would also create an energy leadership opportunity for China. High energy prices already fuel demand for Chinese renewable energy products and electric vehicles. But as a leader in building coal-fired power plants, China can also offer the global market...

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...

Leaders of the EU’s 27 member states will instruct Brussels to “urgently” come up with new weapons to counter the imbalances they believe are caused by China’s economic policies, at a meeting in the Belgian capital on Thursday. The instruction – part of a draft statement being negotiated ahead of this week’s European Council summit – comes after the European Union and China reached a surprise deal in Beijing last week that will cap the number of Chinese hybrid cars imported to the bloc at...

The United States Army has launched a new task force aimed at countering Chinese efforts to block American and allied warships and aircraft in a potential conflict. The 4th Multi-Domain Task Force (MDTF) – established at Fort Carson, Colorado on October 8 – is the latest addition to a series of specialised formations developed for operations in the western Pacific. Those formations were earlier activated in Washington state, Germany and Hawaii. The new unit includes nearly 2,100 soldiers and...

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...

For a decade, former Chongqing mayor Huang Qifan stood out as a political survivor while colleague after close colleague fell in China’s far-reaching anti-corruption campaign. Throughout that time, including his seven years as the megacity’s mayor from 2009 to 2016, Huang was seen as a “tumbler” in Chinese politics – a weighted doll that wobbles but never falls over. The nickname was well-deserved – he served under six municipal Communist Party secretaries, watching two of them – Bo Xilai and...

Beijing has warned Taiwanese people against acting “two-faced” on the issue of “Taiwan independence” after television host Kevin Tsai Kang-yong attended a campaign rally for a Taipei mayoral candidate labelled a separatist by Beijing. The episode underscores the political risks facing Taiwanese entertainers working on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. “No individual or force may act as a ‘two-faced person’ – reaping the benefits of the mainland’s development while simultaneously colluding with...

Taiwan’s coastguard is buying US-designed uncrewed surface vessels for its first dedicated drone-boat programme to strengthen its ability to detect and track the growing presence of mainland Chinese vessels operating around the island. Florida-based Maritime Tactical Systems (Martac) announced on Tuesday that the deal covered an undisclosed number of its Devil Ray T24 autonomous boats, with production planned for both the United States and Taiwan. Martac described the deal as “one of the most...

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...

The PLA Navy’s Liaoning aircraft carrier has started its second drill series in the western Pacific this year, with the training likely to coincide with an expanded US-Japan military exercise that could have implications for a Taiwan contingency. The Liaoning carrier group was carrying out the drill in “relevant waters” of the western Pacific Ocean as part of the navy’s annual training plan, China’s defence ministry said on Wednesday. While it did not disclose the exact location of the drill,...

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...

Chinese researchers have built a self-propelled crawler robot that harvests iron from sand and have tested the device in the dunes of the vast Taklamakan Desert – an area the size of Germany – in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region. In Frank Herbert’s classic science fiction novel Dune, mobile factories traverse the sands of the fictional planet Arrakis to extract the drug melange, also known as “spice”. The real-world device similarly travels across the desert, extracting...

Up to 6,000 metres (19,700 feet) beneath the surface of the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii, billions of potato-shaped metallic nodules are scattered across the seabed. The Clarion-Clipperton zone’s reserves of vital metals such as nickel, cobalt and manganese could surpass the total known reserves on land, according to some estimates. While no commercial mining has yet taken place on the underwater plain, the International Seabed Authority has issued 17 exploration contracts for the...

Two Taiwanese executives have been arrested for allegedly using mainland Chinese-made components in drones supplied to the island’s military. It is the second time in two months that a Taiwanese drone supplier has been investigated by the island’s authorities over the alleged use of prohibited mainland components. The case has intensified opposition scrutiny of the government’s efforts to build a “drone team” based on a “non-red” supply chain that excludes components and technology from mainland...

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...