Category Archives: China

Trump trade deal shows how vital China’s rare-earth metals are to US defense firms

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Draft agreement may reassure top US military suppliers after president’s tariffs flip-flopping threatened production

The draft trade agreement with China announced by Donald Trump on Wednesday would ease concerns from top US military suppliers about rare-earth metals and magnets that, if cut off permanently, could hobble production of everything from smart bombs to fighter jets to submarines and other weapons in the US arsenal.

While the deal has not yet been finalised, it may reassure major defense companies such as Lockheed Martin, the largest US user of samarium – a rare-earth metal used in military-grade magnets – whose supply is entirely controlled by China.

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Hong Kong police tell people not to download ‘secessionist’ mobile game

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Players face possible arrest for downloading Taiwan-developed Reversed Front: Bonfire, which lets them ‘overthrow the communist regime’

Hong Kong police have warned people against downloading a Taiwan-developed mobile game which they say is “secessionist” and could lead to arrest.

The game, Reversed Front: Bonfire, allows users to “pledge allegiance” to various groups linked to locations that have been major flashpoints or targets for China including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet, Uyghurs, Kazakhs and Manchuria, in order to “overthrow the communist regime” known as the “People’s Republic”.

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US and China agree framework deal to extend trade war truce

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US commerce secretary expresses optimism that deal will resolve concerns about rare earths and magnets

The US and China have extended the truce in their trade war after two days of talks in London that resulted in a “framework” deal over export restrictions on rare earths and semiconductors.

Negotiations to resolve the wider tariff war triggered by Donald Trump in April will continue but the truce settles, for now, growing tension between the two economic super-powers.

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Four former staff of Taiwan’s ruling party charged with spying for China

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Accused held senior positions with Democratic Progressive party including one who worked for Taiwan’s president

Taiwan prosecutors have charged four former staffers in the ruling Democratic Progressive party with spying for China while they worked in senior positions.

The four include a former aide to Lai Ching-te when he was vice-president and for a time during his current presidency, and a senior staffer to Joseph Wu, then foreign minister and now the national security chief.

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Chinese tech firms freeze AI tools in crackdown on exam cheats

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Suspension comes as 13m students take four-day gaokao tests for limited spots at country’s universities

Big Chinese tech companies appear to have turned off some AI functions to prevent cheating during the country’s highly competitive university entrance exams.

More than 13.3 million students are sitting the four-day gaokao exams, which began on Saturday and determine if and where students can secure a limited place at university.

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Chinese aircraft carrier group enters waters near Japan’s easternmost island for first time

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The Liaoning carrier, accompanied by two missile destroyers and a supply ship, entered Japan’s exclusive economic zone before exiting to conduct military drills

A Chinese aircraft carrier group has entered an area of Japan’s territorial waters for the first time, prompting concern in Tokyo over China’s expanding naval reach.

The Liaoning carrier, accompanied by two missile destroyers and a supply ship, entered Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) on Saturday evening, Japan’s defence ministry said, before exiting to conduct military drills.

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Jailed Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong hit with new charges

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Wong accused of conspiracy in move rights groups condemn as ‘outrageous’ attempt to keep influential dissident imprisoned

Jailed pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been hit with further national security charges, a move rights groups said showed the Hong Kong government was trying to keep dissidents behind bars for as long as possible.

Wong, a well-known activist who has been in jail for more than four years either awaiting trial or serving sentences, is accused of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country. He appeared in court on Friday to hear the charge and did not apply for bail.

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Trump announces US-China trade talks in London next week

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President, who had Thursday call with China’s Xi Jinping amid tariff dispute, says ‘meeting should go very well’

Senior US administration officials will meet with a Chinese delegation on Monday in London for the next round of trade negotiations between Washington and Beijing, Donald Trump said on Friday.

The meeting comes after a phone call between Trump and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday, which the US president described as a “very positive” conversation as the two countries attempt to break an impasse over tariffs and global supplies of rare earth minerals.

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Frequent TikTok users in Taiwan more likely to agree with pro-China narratives, study finds

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Survey shows correlation between use of Chinese-owned platform and approval of unification with China

Taiwanese people who spend large amounts of time on TikTok are more likely to agree with some pro-China narratives, a survey has suggested.

The study, conducted by the Taiwan-based DoubleThink Lab, surveyed people across Taiwan in March, asking a series of questions about politics and democracy in Taiwan and China, and their views on unification of the two sides.

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‘Total discrimination’: Chinese students facing US visa ban say their lives are in limbo

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Across the US, hundreds of thousands of Chinese students are now uncertain about their academic future and some are considering moving away

Chinese students in the United States are questioning their future in the country after the state department announced last week that it would “aggressively” revoke visas for Chinese students and enhance scrutiny of future applications from China and Hong Kong.

Chinese students hoping to study at Harvard, the US’s oldest and wealthiest university, are under particular pressure after the Trump administration announced on Wednesday that it was banning the school from enrolling new foreign students. The presidential proclamation cited Harvard’s links with China as a particular cause for concern.

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Donald Trump to meet Xi Jinping in China after ‘very good’ call on trade

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US president says he accepted invitation in first phone conversation between leaders since January

Donald Trump said he had accepted an invitation to meet Xi Jinping in China after a phone conversation on trade was held between the leaders of the world’s two largest economies.

In a post on Truth Social, the US president said the “very good” call lasted about 90 minutes and the conversation was “almost entirely focused on trade”.

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World won’t forget Tiananmen Square, US and Taiwan say on 36th anniversary of massacre

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Date of 4 June remains one of China’s strictest taboos, with government using increasingly sophisticated tools to censor its discussion

The world will never forget the Tiananmen Square massacre, the US secretary of state and Taiwan president have said on the 36th anniversary of the crackdown, which China’s government still tries to erase from domestic memory.

There is no official death toll but activists believe hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the streets around Tiananmen Square, Beijing’s central plaza, on 4 June 1989.

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Potential ‘agroterrorism weapon’ fungus smuggled into US by Chinese scientists, FBI alleges

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Yunqing Jian and Zunyong Liu charged after allegedly smuggling a fungus to US that can cause serious illness and billions of dollars in crop losses

Two Chinese scientists have been charged with smuggling a toxic fungus into the United States that they planned to research at an American university, the justice department has said.

Yunqing Jian, 33, and Zunyong Liu, 34, are charged with conspiracy, smuggling, false statements, and visa fraud, the US attorney’s office for the eastern district of Michigan said in a statement on Tuesday.

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China accuses US of ‘seriously violating’ trade truce

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Beijing says it will safeguard its interests after Donald Trump claimed it had ‘totally violated’ agreement

China has accused the US of “seriously violating” the fragile US-China detente that has been in place for less than a month since the two countries agreed to pause the trade war that risked upending the global economy.

China and the US agreed on 12 May to pause for 90 days the skyrocketing “reciprocal” tariffs that both countries had placed on the others goods in a frenzied trade war that started a few weeks earlier. Tariffs had reached 125% on each side, which officials feared amounted to virtual embargo on trade between the world’s two biggest economies.

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British businessman accused of plotting to smuggle US military technology to China

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John Miller and Chinese national Cui Guanghai are facing extradition in connection with an FBI investigation

A British businessman has been indicted in the US with attempting to traffic sensitive American military technology to China and silence a critic of the Chinese president.

John Miller, 63, was named by US authorities at the weekend after his arrest in Serbia, where he is facing extradition in connection with an FBI investigation. The Mail on Sunday reported that he was from Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

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‘We’ll determine our defence policy’: Albanese responds to US push for huge rise in spending as Hegseth stokes China fears

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Prime minister also reaffirms policy on Taiwan while hitting back at Donald Trump’s doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminium imports

Anthony Albanese has responded to the United States’ calls for a huge rise in defence spending amid fears about China, while hitting back at Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on steel and aluminium.

On Saturday US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, urged US allies in the region, including Australia, to “share the burden” and lift defence spending to 5% of GDP, warning that “Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”.

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Tourist damages two of China’s terracotta warriors after jumping fence

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The man ‘pushed and pulled’ the ancient clay warriors and damaged them to varying degrees, said authorities

A domestic tourist climbed over a fence and jumped into a section of the world-famous display of China’s terracotta army, damaging two ancient clay warriors, authorities said on Saturday.

The 30-year-old was visiting the museum housing the terracotta army in the city of Xi’an on Friday when he “climbed over the guardrail and the protective net and jumped”, public security officials said in a statement.

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China has ‘totally violated’ its trade agreement with the US, says Trump

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President took to social media to denounce Beijing in the latest development in his ongoing tariff war

Donald Trump declared that China has “totally violated its agreement” against the US on trade just two weeks after the countries reached a deal, raising fears that the trade war will continue to rattle the global economy.

“I made a FAST DEAL with China in order to save them from what I thought was going to be a very bad situation,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Friday morning. “Everybody was happy! That is the good news!!! The bad news is that China, perhaps not surprisingly to some, HAS TOTALLY VIOLATED ITS AGREEMENT WITH US.”

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Hong Kong releases second group of democrats jailed for four years in national security trial

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Among those freed was long-time political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham, who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups

Four people jailed in the landmark national security trial of the “Hong Kong 47”, the pro-democracy figures accused of conspiracy to commit subversion, were freed on Friday after more than four years behind bars, the second group to be released in a month.

Among those freed was longtime political and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham, who also led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which disbanded in 2021.

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Doubts raised over Chinese paraglider’s claim of accidental 8,000-metre flight

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Peng Yujiang says updraft took him nearly as high as Mount Everest but parts of flight video appear to be AI-generated

A Chinese paraglider’s story of being accidentally propelled more than 8,000 metres high by an updraft has been thrown into doubt after it emerged that parts of a video of the flight appear to have been AI-generated.

Peng Yujiang, who has been banned from the activity for six months, said he began from an elevation of about 3,000 metres in the Qilian mountain range in northern China, where he intended to test some secondhand equipment he bought without making a proper flight, according to an investigative report by the Gansu Provincial Aviation Sports Association.

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