Kinaforum

tirsdag 30. desember 2025

How Trump’s New Warships Compare to Chinese, Russian Ships

President Donald Trump has hailed his new class of "battleship"—named for himself—as "100 times more powerful than any battleship ever built." And it will counter "everyone," the president said as he unveiled the project on Monday.

The U.S. has not used "battleships" since the Iowa-class vessels were retired in the early 1990s. But Trump had publicly weighed in on a return to 20th-century battleships and said he would be involved in the design of the new vessel. He previously criticized U.S. naval vessels as unsightly.

The 850-crew Trump-class battleships will be the centerpiece of Trump's "Golden Fleet" of advanced vessels. The Navy this month announced a new set of small combatant ships based on the U.S. Coast Guard's Legend-class national security cutter as part of the vaunted new "fleet."

China’s High-Speed Rail Network Surpasses Rest of World Combined

China’s high-speed rail network continues to expand at a rapid pace, and recently added routes have pushed its total length to over 50,000 kilometers, around 31,000 miles.

According to a press release from China State Railway Group, the state-owned company which operates the country’s rail network, this means the country's network now exceeds the combined length of all other countries’ high-speed systems.

China’s high-speed rail network’s world-beating development has been attributed to centralized planning, rail standardization and substantial state investment, and the scale and speed of its expansion over only a few decades have made it a revered achievement in the world of engineering. But its global dominance also reflects the difficulty other nations have faced in trying to boost connectivity, tourism and commerce with their own high-speed links.

Panama Demolishes China Friendship Park

China has said it is “seriously dissatisfied” with the demolition of a Chinese-Panamanian friendship monument in Panama and is calling for an investigation into what it described as “wrong acts” by the local government. The demolished monument commemorated 150 years of Chinese presence and their contributions to Panama’s development, Chinese authorities said.

China is one of Panama’s largest trading partners and has invested in infrastructure, ports, and logistics projects. China-Panama relations accelerated rapidly following the latter’s diplomatic switch away from Taiwan in 2017. United States officials and analysts expressed concern about growing Chinese influence around Panama and the key global trade route.

Chinese Oil Tankers Challenge US Blockade off Venezuela

Chinese oil tankers are pressing ahead with Venezuela-linked voyages despite a U.S. blockade and an escalating campaign of tanker seizures. Two Chinese-flagged VLCCs are operating near Venezuelan waters, with the Thousand Sunny due to arrive in mid-January and the Xing Ye waiting off French Guiana, according to a new report by Lloyd's List.

The movements come as China said it opposed U.S. oil seizures and naval pressure on Venezuela. President Donald Trump is tightening maritime enforcement to choke off oil revenues to Caracas, which has in turn said the blockade won’t deter its oil shipments, and is reportedly deploying vessels to escort commercial vessels carrying petroleum products.

World Map Shows Where China Wants New Military Bases

A Newsweek map shows where China has considered establishing overseas military bases beyond the two currently in operation, according to a Pentagon report.

China's Defense Ministry said it acts in accordance with domestic and international law to safeguard its rights and interests and to provide what it called "international public security goods," in response to the Pentagon's report on Chinese military power released on December 23.

As part of its push to build "world-class" armed forces to challenge its top rival, the United States, the Chinese military is undergoing rapid modernization, along with an expansion of overseas outposts to support its fast-growing presence beyond the East Asian coastline and to project and sustain power at greater distances, the Pentagon said.

Elon Musk envisions humanoid robots everywhere. China may be the first to make it a reality

Billionaire Elon Musk has put humanoid robots in the spotlight this year, positioning them as central to Tesla’s valuation, which he thinks could hit tens of trillions of dollars. But Tesla is yet to sell its flagship humanoid robot Optimus.

Instead, it’s likely a slew of Chinese companies that will beat Tesla to the punch and begin ramping up production of robots in 2026, as Beijing puts the technology at the center of its strategic plans.

“China currently leads the United States in the early commercialization of humanoid robots,” Andreas Brauchle, partner at consultancy Horváth, told CNBC by email. “While both countries are expected to build similarly large markets over time, China is scaling more rapidly in this initial phase.”

Humanoid robots are designed to be shaped and move like a human. Artificial intelligence algorithms power their abilities along with complex hardware like semiconductors. Proponents say they could be used across various settings, from factories to hospitality and even in the home.

China encircles Taiwan in massive military display

China fired rockets into waters off Taiwan on Tuesday, showcased new assault ships and dismissed prospects of U.S. and allied intervention to block any future attack by Beijing to take control of the island in its most extensive war games to date. As part of drills rehearsing a blockade, China’s Eastern Theatre Command conducted 10 hours of live-fire exercises, launching rockets into waters to the north and south of the democratically governed island.

Chinese naval and air force units also simulated strikes on maritime and aerial targets and carried out anti-submarine drills around the island, while state media released images touting Beijing’s technological and military superiority and its ability to take Taiwan by force if necessary.

Named “Justice Mission 2025,” the drills began 11 days after the U.S. announced a record $11.1 billion arms package to Taiwan, drawing the Chinese defense ministry’s ire and warnings that the military would “take forceful measures” in response.

China stages war games around Taiwan after hitting out at major US arms dea

China’s military mobilized army, navy, air and rocket units around Taiwan for two days of military drills aimed at sending a “serious warning” against any push for Taiwanese independence and “external” forces interfering with the island. The exercises – dubbed “Justice Mission-2025” – would test combat readiness and “blockade and control of key ports and critical areas,” China’s Eastern Theater Command said Monday.

The drills have included live-fire activities as well as rocket launches according to both Chinese and Taiwanese authorities.

Torbjørn Færøvik: The Trump Class - A Battleship Dream from a Bygone Age

Donald Trump’s plan to build a new generation of “fantastic battleships” is a dream that will never become reality. It springs from nostalgia and megalomania, not from realism and mature deliberation. When he promises warships that will be “a hundred times more powerful than today’s,” he enters a rhetorical universe in which fantastical numbers replace sober analysis.

Five days after Trump unveiled the plan, military experts are lining up to dismiss it outright.

“There is no reason to discuss this, because these ships will never be launched,” says senior adviser Mark Cancian at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. His devastating verdict is echoed by many others.

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Hannah Arendt can help us understand today’s far-right populism

Sales of Hannah Arendt’s The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) rocketed when Donald Trump won the 2016 US presidential election. Nearly a year into the second Trump administration – and 50 years since Arendt’s death in December 1975 – it seems an apposite time to revisit the book and see what light it sheds on 2025.

The book is brilliant but difficult, combining history, political science and philosophy in a way that can be very disorientating. So what might democratic citizens gain from reading it?

Born to a secular German Jewish family in 1906, Arendt studied philosophy under Martin Heidegger and Karl Jaspers before turning to Zionist activism in Berlin in the early 1930s. After a brush with the Gestapo, she fled to France, and in 1941 left Europe for the US. So when she began researching Origins in the early 1940s, she was no stranger to totalitarianism.

The disaster-prone Philippines invested billions in flood control. Then officials looted the funds

Ace Aguirre was just two bites into his oatmeal on the morning of November 4 when he noticed something strange: mud had seeped onto the living room floor of his bungalow in Cotcot, a village in the Philippines’ Cebu province.

The moments that followed will be forever seared into Aguirre’s memory. His living room furniture floating; the terrifying few minutes when he wasn’t sure he’d be able to pry the front door open; his son praying to God as the water rose to their chests; his daughter, who can’t swim, perched high on a pillar as water and cars gushed by, inches from her feet.

“I don’t know how we were able to survive. One detail that didn’t go our way and many of us could have died,” Aguirre told CNN.

That morning Typhoon Kalmaegi dumped over a month’s worth of rain, causing rivers and waterways in Cebu to swell and unleashing catastrophic flash flooding that killed more than 230 people nationwide.

China announces war games around Taiwan after hitting out at major US arms deal

China’s military announced Monday it was mobilizing army, navy, air and rocket units around Taiwan for “major military drills” aimed at sending a “serious warning” against any push for Taiwanese independence and “external” forcing interfering with the island.

The exercises – dubbed “Justice Mission-2025” – would test combat readiness and “blockade and control of key ports and critical areas,” China’s Eastern Theater Command said. Live-fire activities would take place in five maritime and airspace zones encircling the island, according to information released by the command.

Taiwan’s government condemned the drills, accusing China of “military intimidation,” while its defense ministry said it was “fully on guard” and would “take concrete action to defend the values of democracy and freedom.”

Myanmar’s military junta begins elections as civil war sparked by coup still rages

Voters queued at polling stations in Myanmar on Sunday to vote in a controversial election the military junta says will return democratic rule, nearly five years after it seized power from an elected government, unleashing a brutal civil war it has yet to win.

The country’s most popular politician Aung San Suu Kyi is languishing in prison and its most successful political party has been dissolved. The ballot is dominated by parties perceived to be close to the military and hundreds have been arrested under a new law criminalizing obstruction, disruption and criticism of the poll.

And there are whole swaths of the country where voting will not take place, as the junta continues to battle a patchwork of ethnic rebels and pro-democracy fighters in the hilly borderlands and arid central plains.

What’s happening in Myanmar’s civil war as military stages elections?

North Korea’s Kim oversees test launch of long-range cruise missiles

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has overseen a test launch of long-range strategic cruise missiles and called for the “unlimited and sustained” development of his country’s nuclear combat forces, according to state media.

The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Monday that Kim expressed satisfaction as the cruise missiles flew along their orbit, set above the sea west of the Korean Peninsula, and hit their target.The launch, which took place on Sunday, was the latest event Kim attended, in a flurry of activity by the North Korean leader to underscore the country’s military and economic progress before a key party congress expected to be held in early 2026.

The meeting will set a development plan for North Korea for the next five years.

Why everyone loves Japan: From fashion and pop culture to tourism and livability, Japan is surging in global appeal

In 2015, my employers at Bloomberg Opinion sent me to Japan to learn about the state of the Japanese economy. They helped me arrange many interesting discussions.

I talked to the Financial Services Agency about the new corporate governance code; to Goldman Sachs about women joining the workforce; to Foreign Ministry officials about trade treaties; to an economics professor about fiscal sustainability; and so on. But the interview that stuck in my mind for many years after was with a manager at Kodansha.

My goal for the meeting was to learn about Japan’s efforts to increase its cultural exports — something the Western press had been talking about for decades. So I was absolutely astonished when the Kodansha manager told me that his company had no strategy and no plans to increase their sales of manga and anime in overseas markets. Even more surprising was his explanation as to why. “Americans don’t want to see Asian faces,” he told me.

Built on the Past: How Edo shaped the Tokyo we know today

Tokyo may be a futuristic metropolis, but its roots run deep in the 17th century when the city was known as Edo—then one of the world’s largest urban centers, with a population of over 1 million, that flourished with commerce, entertainment, and culture. Street-side stalls serving nigiri sushi evolved into today’s counter-style dining, while former daimyo gardens and kabuki theaters took on a distinctly Edo identity that helped shape the city’s character.

Edo also faced major disasters, most notably the Great Fire of 1657 which destroyed more than half of the city. Out of these trials grew a spirit of resilience and ambition that lives on in modern initiatives such as the TOKYO Resilience Project, designed to strengthen the city’s preparedness against future natural disasters.

Centuries on, today’s Tokyo has some remnants from the imprint of Edo in the shape of its distinct neighborhoods, canals, and roads laid down by its former city planners.

Can Catholic Church and Vietnamese state finally coexist?

The survival of Catholicism in Vietnam is undoubtedly one of the most significant challenges the Church is facing in Asia today.

Introduced in the 16th century by Portuguese, Spanish, and Dominican missionaries, the Catholic Church experienced significant growth in the 17th century, driven in part by Jesuit missionary activity, among which Alexandre de Rhodes emerged as a particularly influential figure.De Rhodes contributed to the creation of the romanized Vietnamese alphabet (chu Quoc ngu), which replaced traditional Chinese characters and Vietnamese-developed characters that were in use before this time.

Despite periods of tolerance, the Catholic faith was subjected to severe persecutions, especially between the 18th and 19th centuries under the Nguyen dynasty, leading to the martyrdom of tens of thousands of faithful: between 130,000 and 300,000 Catholics lost their lives, and 117 of them were canonized as Vietnamese martyrs by John Paul II in 1988.

Half a billion voters. One list. Just seven weeks to clean it up

A gargantuan task is underway to update the longest voter list in the world. This is India, and that’s nearly a billion people whose details need to be verified before they’re allowed to participate in the world’s largest democracy. Across the country, tens of thousands of civil servants are rushing to input voter details into a database, by hand. And the deadline is New Year’s Eve for India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh.

The last list dates from 2003 and authorities say it needs cleaning up to reflect mass migration from the countryside to the cities, the accumulation of deceased voters and to remove those on the list illegally.

Twelve states and union territories –– home to some 500 million people –– have been making updates since early November, vetting which voters can participate in the next polls.