Both leaders were in a jovial mood. “Let the dragon and the elephant dance together,” China’s Xi Jinping told India’s Narendra Modi last week.
The Indian prime minister had traveled to Tianjin, a city near Beijing, to attend a summit convened by Xi. Leaders from 25 other countries also joined the discussions under the umbrella of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a loose grouping of states China seeks to keep within its orbit.
China and India may be neighbors, but their relationship has long been strained. Modi’s visit to Beijing was therefore far from a given. What tipped the scales was America’s newly imposed 50 percent tariff on Indian goods. Ever the strategist, Modi seized the chance to signal to Washington that India has more than one option on the table.
tirsdag 9. september 2025
How China forgot promises and ‘debts’ to Ukraine, and backed Russia’s war
As Chinese leader Xi Jinping stood beside Russian President Vladimir Putin in Beijing last week, he claimed to be working towards a “true multilateralism” in which nations treat each other as equals and avoid “hegemonism and power politics” – a vocabulary the Chinese president returns to with regularity.
China is officially neutral in Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Xi has presented himself as a mediator, inviting Putin, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and United States President Donald Trump to Beijing in December for talks.But China is not equidistant from the neighbours at war.
Xi’s “no limits” alliance with Putin, pronounced just before the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, puts him in the camp of an aggressor bent on “hegemonism”, experts tell Al Jazeera.
Three decades ago, however, China was Ukraine’s ally, not Russia’s.
China’s grand global plan on full display at SCO Summit
The 2025 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin was by no means a game-changer, but it was a useful bellwether for close observers of China’s shifting foreign policy strategy. Over the past decade, Beijing’s understanding and interaction with the so-called “global order” has undergone a significant transformation — from a historically deferential approach rooted in compliance with Western-led institutions, to now tentatively attempting to convene a coalition of the “aggrieved.”
For many SCO members, abstention costs more than participation. Central Asian states treat it as insurance against great power rivalry, while India stays engaged to prevent China from monopolizing regional leadership.
For many SCO members, abstention costs more than participation. Central Asian states treat it as insurance against great power rivalry, while India stays engaged to prevent China from monopolizing regional leadership.
US tech companies enabled the surveillance and detention of hundreds of thousands in China
Over the past quarter century, American tech companies to a large degree designed and built China’s surveillance state, playing a far greater role in enabling human rights abuses than previously known, an Associated Press investigation found. They sold billions of dollars of technology to the Chinese police, government and surveillance companies, despite repeated warningsfrom the U.S. Congress and in the media that such tools were being used to quash dissent, persecute religious sects and target minorities.
Critically, American surveillance technologies allowed a brutal mass detention campaign in the far west region of Xinjiang — targeting, tracking and grading virtually the entire native Uyghur population to forcibly assimilate and subdue them.
Critically, American surveillance technologies allowed a brutal mass detention campaign in the far west region of Xinjiang — targeting, tracking and grading virtually the entire native Uyghur population to forcibly assimilate and subdue them.
How the AP uncovered US big tech's role in China's digital police state
Over the past quarter century, American tech companies to a large degree designed and built China’s surveillance state, playing a far greater role in enabling human rights abuses than previously known, the Associated Press has found.
AP journalists spoke to more than 100 sources, scoured tens of thousands of documents, and obtained several major leaks of internal and classified material, the existence of which is being reported here for the first time. Researchers and reporters have raised questions about American technology in Chinese policing before. Companies have pushed back, saying they weren’t aware of or responsible for the way their technology was being used.
AP journalists spoke to more than 100 sources, scoured tens of thousands of documents, and obtained several major leaks of internal and classified material, the existence of which is being reported here for the first time. Researchers and reporters have raised questions about American technology in Chinese policing before. Companies have pushed back, saying they weren’t aware of or responsible for the way their technology was being used.
Trump Korean land grab: from maritime genius to continental folly
The August summit between US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung produced little substance. Yet one remark stood out and echoed far beyond the meeting room. Trump mused aloud that the United States should own the land where nearly 28,500 American troops are stationed.
“We spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea, but I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base,” he said.
To many Koreans, long wary of US withdrawal, this sounded almost reassuring. It suggested permanence, not abandonment.
“We spent a lot of money building a fort, and there was a contribution made by South Korea, but I would like to see if we could get rid of the lease and get ownership of the land where we have a massive military base,” he said.
To many Koreans, long wary of US withdrawal, this sounded almost reassuring. It suggested permanence, not abandonment.
China is a threat to world peace, President Lai says
If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said. China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence.
Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times).
“China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international order in every aspect.
Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times).
“China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international order in every aspect.
North Korea’s Kim heralds new ICBM rocket engine test as ‘significant’
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a test of a new rocket engine designed for intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that he described as marking a “significant change in expanding and strengthening” the country’s strategic nuclear forces.
The country’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday that the successful test marked the ninth and final ground test of the solid-fuel rocket engine, built with carbon fibre and capable of producing 1,971 kilonewtons of thrust – a measure of propulsive force which is more powerful than earlier North Korean rocket engines.
The country’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday that the successful test marked the ninth and final ground test of the solid-fuel rocket engine, built with carbon fibre and capable of producing 1,971 kilonewtons of thrust – a measure of propulsive force which is more powerful than earlier North Korean rocket engines.
South Korean minister heads to US to resolve fallout from immigration raid
South Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Hyun was to head to the US yesterday as he sought to resolve the fallout over the detention of hundreds of Korean workers during an immigration raid at a time when Seoul has committed to massive investment plans in the US.
Seoul on Sunday said that negotiations to arrange the release of about 300 Korean workers arrested at a Georgia battery plant being built by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution (LGES) had concluded, and a plan is in the works to fly them home this week. The detention of the workers by the US Department of Homeland Security agents sent shock waves through South Korea, a major US ally, which has been trying to finalize a US trade deal agreed in late July.
Seoul on Sunday said that negotiations to arrange the release of about 300 Korean workers arrested at a Georgia battery plant being built by Hyundai Motor and LG Energy Solution (LGES) had concluded, and a plan is in the works to fly them home this week. The detention of the workers by the US Department of Homeland Security agents sent shock waves through South Korea, a major US ally, which has been trying to finalize a US trade deal agreed in late July.
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi faces worsening health in military custody, son says
The son of former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday that his mother is suffering from health problems and needs urgent medical attention, appealing for her release from military custody. Kim Aris told Reuters that the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate had asked to see a cardiologist about a month ago, but that he wasn’t able to determine if that request had been granted.
“I am extremely worried,” he said, according to Reuters. “There is no way of verifying if she is even alive.” Aris said that his mother also suffered from bone and gum issues, and that she was likely injured in a March earthquake that killed more than 3,700 people.
“I am extremely worried,” he said, according to Reuters. “There is no way of verifying if she is even alive.” Aris said that his mother also suffered from bone and gum issues, and that she was likely injured in a March earthquake that killed more than 3,700 people.
U.S. House passes Uyghur Policy Act supporting victims of persecution by China
The House passed the Uyghur Policy Act on Tuesday, a bill that advances a strategy for the United States to support Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities enduring persecution at the hands of China’s government. It’s the latest try for the measure, which was passed by the House in the past two congressional terms without advancing further.
Sponsored by a bipartisan group led by Rep. Young Kim, a California Republican, and Rep. Ami Bera, a California Democrat, the measure calls on the State Department to oversee Uyghur human rights-related policies and programs that preserve Uyghurs’ ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic identities.
Sponsored by a bipartisan group led by Rep. Young Kim, a California Republican, and Rep. Ami Bera, a California Democrat, the measure calls on the State Department to oversee Uyghur human rights-related policies and programs that preserve Uyghurs’ ethnic, religious, cultural and linguistic identities.
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