Headlines

China targets EU pork in tit-for-tat trade spat

China has launched an anti-dumping investigation into pork imports from the European Union after the bloc decided to impose new tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles. The investigation could eventually lead to an increase in China’s tariffs on EU pork products, hitting Spain,

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Why is NATO expanding its nuclear force?

Jens Stoltenberg, the 13th secretary general of NATO, says that the alliance is in talks to deploy more nuclear weapons and modernize their delivery systems. Stoltenberg told the Telegraph in the UK: “I won’t go into operational details about how many nuclear warheads should be

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China retail surge hints at economic rebalancing

China’s recent economic data presents a mixed, yet promising, picture of its ongoing and evolving economic recovery. While industrial expansion showed signs of slowing in May, retail spending surged past forecasts, suggesting a potential easing of the deep imbalances that have

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Albanese-Li meeting not all peaches and cream

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has said he and Chinese Premier Li Qiang discussed improving military-to-military communications to avoid future incidents involving their armed forces in their wide-ranging meeting on Monday. This follows an encounter last year in which

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Putting China’s science surge in proper perspective

The Economist has a good story on the rise of Chinese science. In terms of “high-impact” (i.e. highly cited) publications, China has soared past the US and Europe: Now, these numbers have to be taken with a grain of salt. Measuring the impact of papers by looking at how many

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China’s war with Taiwan is already underway

KINMEN, Taiwan – The Shun Da was kilometers off course. Authorized by China’s Maritime Safety Administration to dredge the seafloor for a new bridge near Xiamen, the Chinese-flagged vessel was instead buzzing the Taiwanese coast guard on Taiwan’s Dadan Island, about 16

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China’s long and fuzzy history of ‘panda diplomacy’

During his visit to the Adelaide Zoo on Sunday, Chinese Premier Li Qiang announced that two “equally beautiful, lively, cute, and younger” pandas would be given to Australia to replace Wang Wang and Fu Ni, who will return to China later this year after calling Adelaide home for

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US doubling down on drone swarm war for Taiwan

The US seeks to revolutionize drone warfare through the rapid, iterative development and procurement of adaptable, cost-effective Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drones, now seen as essential for maintaining air superiority against near-peer adversaries. This month, The

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What’s the real size of China’s economy?

(Big time) I’m on my way, I’m making it (Big time) (Big time) I’ve got to make it show, yeah (Big time) (Big time) So much larger than life (Big time) I’m gonna watch it growing (Big time) – Peter Gabriel In May, the World Bank concluded one of its periodic International

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