Day: July 2, 2025

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Trump’s Vietnam Trade Deal Signals Harder Line on China Supply Chain Diversions

President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that he had struck a trade deal with Vietnam under which the country would face a minimum 20 percent tariff and open its market to U.S. products. The deal comes a week ahead of Trump's self-imposed ...

India’s Modi Visits Ghana en Route to BRICS Summit

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is due in Ghana on Wednesday, the first Indian leader to visit the cocoa-rich country in three decades as the Asian nation competes with China and Russia for economic influence in Africa. He is scheduled to hold ...

China Sanctions Philippine Senator Who Crafted South China Sea Claim

The Chinese announced sanctions against Francis Tolentino, the former Senate majority leader of the Philippines. The move bars Tolentino, whose term ended on Monday, from traveling to the Chinese mainland, Macau, and Hong Kong. Tolentino was the main author of the 

Youthful Technicians Building Malawi’s E-bikes Driven by Chinese Tech

An electric vehicle (EV) company in Malawi, one of the continent’s smallest and landlocked economies, is making groundbreaking efforts to electrify transportation in the country, which is also one of the poorest in the world. Despite the challenges of raising capital ...

In China, Ecuador’s Noboa Looks for Breathing Room and Bargains

With a tightening fiscal clock and the weight of geopolitical balancing on his shoulders, Ecuadorian President Daniel Noboa touched down in China last week with more than just a forum appearance on his agenda. His trip to the 2025 Summer Davos Forum in Tianjin doubled as a ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

The Pain of Un-Polarity

“THE G2 WILL BE CONVENING SHORTLY!”
This post by U.S. President Donald Trump in the run-up to his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week may end up leaving a more lasting mark than the actual summit he attended.

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How China is Challenging Russia’s Nuclear Dominance in Central Asia Through Kazakhstan

Having reshaped Central Asia’s oil and gas infrastructure and challenged Russia’s long-standing dominance of the region’s traditional energy sector, China is now setting its sights on nuclear power as the next frontier.  This next step is not just about energy diversification. ...

Indonesia and China’s Battery Alliance Must Be Built on Sustainability

In a bold display of ambition and diplomacy, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto stood beside Chinese executives last week to break ground on what is touted as Asia’s largest integrated electric vehicle (EV) battery ecosystem. Backed by $5.9 billion in ...

Fake War Footage Clouds Israel-Iran Conflict, Say Chinese Fact-Checkers

A recent investigation by Mingcha (明查)—the fact-checking and fake news verification desk under The Paper, a major Shanghai-based digital news outlet—has revealed how an avalanche of AI-generated images, video game footage, and recycled clips have flooded social media during the recent Israel-Iran conflict.  ...

Thailand’s Political Crisis Poses Risk to China’s BRI, Warns Scholar

In a recent analysis published by Shanghai-based news outlet The Paper, Yu Haiqiu, a prominent Chinese scholar of Southeast Asian politics, offers a deeper look at the roots and implications of Thailand’s escalating political crisis, focusing on its historical tensions with Cambodia and the fallout for ...

China’s Internet Shines a Light on the Hidden Struggles of Construction Workers in Israel

As the Israel-Iran conflict drags on, a typically overlooked workforce has suddenly entered the public eye: Chinese construction laborers in Israel. Despite its image as a high-tech nation, Israel relies heavily on foreign manual labor—especially in construction. Chinese workers, in particular, dominate skilled trades like tiling, carpentry, ...

What Next for China-Israel Ties After the Iran War

In the first few months of this year, it seemed that China's ties with Israel were on the mend after entering into a deep freeze following the October 7th terrorist attack by Hamas. China had begun to soften some of its ...

U.S., Japan, India, Australia Pledge Mineral Cooperation on China Jitters

By Shaun TANDON U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Tuesday with counterparts from Australia, India and Japan, shifting focus to Asia after a tenure so far marked by crises elsewhere and domestic priorities. Rubio ...