Kinaforum

lørdag 18. juli 2026

Video apparently depicting Filipinos as monkeys on China media draws Manila’s protest

The Philippine government strongly protested to China what it said was the depiction of Filipinos as monkeys in an editorial video publicized by a Chinese state-owned media outlet, and demanded it be taken down.

The Department of Foreign Affairs in Manila said Friday that the series of opinion and editorial videos and cartoons, particularly an animated video posted by the China Daily on its Facebook page on July 10, centered on Beijing’s rejection of a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated China’s expansive claims in the disputed South China Sea.

The Philippines initiated the arbitration in 2013, after China seized a shoal west of the Philippines following a tense standoff. China questioned the jurisdiction of the tribunal in The Hague, refused to take part in the proceedings and rejected its ruling as a sham.

Chinese AI model takes US tech industry by surprise with abilities rivaling Claude and ChatGPT

Another powerful new artificial intelligence model from China took the U.S. tech industry by surprise Friday, the latest sign that Chinese startups that publicly release their “open-source” AI technology are making the California titans of AI sweat.

The newest Kimi K3 model from Beijing-based startup Moonshot, run by a Pink Floyd-loving entrepreneur who earned his doctorate in Pittsburgh, appears to be catching up to the best versions of Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT. “This may be the single biggest release of the year,” and marks a moment when open-source Chinese models are surpassing closed U.S. models, said Anastasios Angelopoulos, co-founder and CEO of Arena, a platform for evaluating AI systems.

China’s Xi calls for more global efforts to guide AI, chides US for its curbs on tech sharing

Trump says these documents prove his false claims of election fraud. Here’s what they really say

President Donald Trump released a trove of documents during a primetime address to the nation that allies had hyped as a smoking gun that would prove his long-debunked allegations of mass voter fraud.

Speaking from the White House on Thursday night, he described shocking revelations, like Chinese meddling to undermine his failed candidacy in 2020 and a cover-up by the “deep state.” He claimed, “Americans were blatantly lied to about the security of our election infrastructure.”

But a review by The Associated Press found no such confirmation in the collection of newly declassified reports, investigation files, intelligence analysis and assorted correspondence. Many pages are so heavily redacted that their findings are unclear. Others outline vulnerabilities and assessments that have been well-documented for years. There’s no evidence that China or any other foreign entity manipulated the vote in 2020 or any other year.

China completes building a fifth new border defence village few km from Arunachal border

China said Jul 16 that it had recently completed the building of the last of five new national border defence villages in Tibet’s Metog country, located just a few kilometres from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Guoxing settlement, in Tibet’s Metog county, is the last of five resettlement projects designed to improve livelihoods in the geographically isolated region. Situated just a few kilometres from the LAC in the Tibet-India border area, the village represents the dual strategy of poverty alleviation and border reinforcement through civilian development, reported China’s official chinadaily.com.cn Jul 16.

The settlement was stated to have transitioned hundreds of residents from hazardous, landslide-prone mountain villages into a modern, tourism-focused hub.

Trump Has Lower Global Trust Than Xi—and Biden

China is now viewed more favorably than the United States, according to a new Pew Research poll of more than 30 countries, with President Donald Trump also lagging Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in global opinion.

The annual survey examines how the world's leading two powers are viewed around the globe, including their leaders and foreign policies. While U.S. popularity had already worsened in the 2025 edition of the survey released last spring, shortly after Trump began his second term, the country's standing has since fallen even more sharply. The findings mark a recent shift across many of the places surveyed, and the change is driven by both worsening views of the United States and improving perceptions of China, Pew said.

Chinese Carmaker XPENG ‘Would Love to Come to the US’

XPENG views the United States as a possible market for expansion; however, escalating trade barriers, high tariffs, and national security concerns have effectively blocked the company from entering the world's second-largest automotive market.

The company develops and sells various types of artificial intelligence-enhanced consumer electronics, including robots, flying cars and roadworthy passenger cars. A spokesperson for the Chinese technology company confirmed the company’s stance on possible entry into the U.S. market on Wednesday, telling Newsweek, “We would love to come to the U.S.”

US Universities Got Over $300M From Sanctioned China Entities

Spooked by a decades-long outflow of top Amerian science and technology to adversaries, the Department of Education has disclosed new data on donations to American universities by foreign companies and universities that today are sanctioned by the U.S., including 527 donations from Chinese entities.

A spreadsheet of 697 donations in total, obtained by Newsweek, is titled "Counterparties of Concern" and includes 156 donations to U.S. universities from Chinese technology giant Huawei and its U.S. subsidary FutureWei, totaling $42 million. Also prominent among donors was the Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT), one China's "Seven Sons of National Defense" military-affiliated universities, which donated more than $49 million.

Torbjørn Færøvik: Legendary Xanadu - Unearthing the Emperor's Summer Capital

Sunshine and summer, and gentle breezes sweep across the green plains of Inner Mongolia. Also in Xanadu, once the capital of the world. Here a travel-weary Marco Polo arrived in 1275, where he was granted the honor of kneeling before the Emperor himself, the incomparable Kublai Khan.

“You are most welcome,” Kublai said to the small Italian party, which, in addition to the twenty-year-old Marco, consisted of his father and uncle.

Years later, the Venetian recorded that Kublai Khan was “of a good stature, neither too tall nor too short, but of a middle height.” He had “a fresh complexion, with black and handsome eyes, and a well-shaped nose, properly situated in his face.”

Xanadu, or Shangdu, was the summer capital of the Mongol Empire. Today, almost nothing remains, yet patient archaeologists continue to dig in the vast solitude with trowel and spade day in and day out, for as long as the weather permits.

As Trump accuses China of stealing voter data, Xi pitches China as a responsible tech leader

As US President Donald Trump accused Beijing of exploiting US election data in a televised speech in Washington, halfway across the world in China, Xi Jinping was sending a very different message.

Beijing is a responsible global leader bent on shaping the future of technology for good, Xi intoned to hundreds of tech executives, researchers and industry figures gathering in Shanghai Friday for the opening of China’s flagship artificial intelligence summit.

“With AI advancing at a staggering speed, we must ensure its development is for positive, for good, and for humanity,” Xi said in an opening address to the conference. “We must make its oversight and governance precise and effective and constantly refine measures to forestall loss of control.”

Trump doubles down on 2020 election claims in national address, alleging China meddling

President Donald Trump in a national address Thursday night sowed doubts about the security of U.S. election systems and voter information, alleging widespread meddling by China in the 2020 cycle among numerous other claims that were quickly challenged by fact checkers.

Trump, who has falsely claimed for years that his loss to former President Joe Biden in the 2020 race was “rigged” due to widespread fraud, claimed in the primetime speech that newly declassified intelligence reveals “shocking vulnerabilities in our election infrastructure.”

The roughly 25-minute primetime speech came as the president and his allies work to impose major changes in U.S. elections ahead of the November midterms via redistricting, adding procedural steps for Americans to vote and casting doubt on the validity of the country’s electoral systems. Polls show Democrats are favored to retake the U.S. House amid Trump’s slumping popularity, and Trump has expressed concerns about investigations he could face if Democrats control one or both chambers of Congress.

What living in one of the world’s hottest towns feels like

Heat at all hours, even in the middle of the night. Long stretches without electricity, meaning some homes can’t even use basic fans. And a constant search for relief, like being hosed down with water or sleeping outside.

For many residents of Banda, a town in northern India that has recorded some of the country’s highest temperatures, just getting through each day is a challenge. Global warming, caused mostly by the burning of fuels like gas, oil and coal, is making heat waves across India more frequent and intense. Uttar Pradesh, the state Banda is in, is among those most vulnerable to extreme heat. In 2023, at least 119 people died over several days during a severe heat wave in parts of the state.

In May, temperatures reached 48.2 Celsius (118.8 Fahrenheit), one of multiple times this year that the town recorded the country’s highest temperature for the day. Banda was also the hottest spot on Earth seven times this year, most of them in April, according to climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera, who tracks global weather extremes. Since then, temperatures have dropped some but are still stifling, particularly as seasonal rains increase humidity.

Climate-driven heat in India’s textile factories stifles workers but coolers and ventilation help

Hong Kong official says booksellers should ensure titles won’t harm national security after arrests

Hong Kong ’s top security official said Thursday that booksellers should ensure the titles they sell do not harm national security, a day after five people linked to two bookstores were arrested. The police operation on Wednesday was the third round of arrests targeting independent bookstores within four months. Critics have raised concerns over the city’s freedom of expression under what they called an unclear red line. Two of the booksellers were seen released on bail on Friday morning.

On Thursday, Secretary for Security Chris Tang told reporters at the legislative building that the law is clear.

“If you are a bookseller, you have the responsibility to make sure the books you sell won’t endanger national security,” he said. “It’s equal to, for example, when you are selling food, you need to ensure the food won’t cause a stomach ache and is not either poison or illegal.”

Japan is running out of royals. So why won’t it let women become emperor?

Japan may have its first ever female prime minister, but her government’s attempts to avoid a royal succession crisis are making the chances of a woman taking the imperial throne ever slimmer. With just three eligible heirs to the Chrysanthemum throne – and two of them 60 or over – the imperial family is facing a succession crisis.

Japan’s monarchy has for centuries maintained male-only succession, which is on-brand for a deeply patriarchal society where men dominate other spheres of life such as business and politics. Now, that rule has come to threaten the very survival of the world’s oldest monarchy which, in recent decades, has spawned more daughters than sons.

Read more

One of China’s top investors says finance, not AI, is the country’s biggest bottleneck

China’s biggest weakness in its rivalry with the United States isn’t AI, semiconductors or tariffs. It’s finance, according to one of the financiers who helped open China’s markets to Wall Street.

Fred Hu, the former Goldman Sachs executive who helped engineer the firm’s landmark investment in Industrial and Commercial Bank of China before founding Primavera Capital, says Beijing’s financial system has become the country’s “short plank” as Washington and Beijing increasingly sever investment ties. Hu’s private equity firm has backed several of the China’s tech and consumer conglomerates, including Alibaba, ByteDance, Yum China and ride-hailing firm Didi Chuxing.

Loga Rangzen: The Spirit Lives On

Those who dedicated their lives in exile to the cause of Tibetan independence as their ultimate purpose endured countless obstacles. There were moments when they felt completely lost and wondered how much more they could bear. At times, it seemed as though the darkness would never lift. Yet, in those moments of despair, many found strength in a simple but profound Buddhist teaching: everything is impermanent. No pain, no hardship, and no suffering lasts forever.

Whenever they felt overwhelmed, they reminded themselves that time is always changing. Just as joy is impermanent, so too is sorrow. Rather than allowing themselves to be consumed by grief, they accepted their struggles as part of the long journey toward freedom, trusting that even the most difficult setbacks would eventually pass. This belief became their source of hope, giving them the courage to continue, one day at a time, with faith that brighter days lay beyond the pain.

Loga Rangzen will be deeply missed, but his spirit will never be forgotten.

The Next Dalai Lama: Faith, Power and the Contest for Legitimacy

Every time the Dalai Lama appears in public these days, there’s this quiet question hanging in the air. You hear it in monasteries, in conversations among Tibetans and in diplomatic backrooms across Asia: what happens when he’s gone?

His 91st birthday celebrations in Leh this July felt both joyful and heavy. Thousands came for the prayers, the traditional dances, the long-life ceremonies. There was real warmth in the air, but underneath it all was the awareness that the institution he’s carried for over six decades is heading toward a crossroads. The question of the 15th Dalai Lama isn’t just a religious matter anymore. It’s become one of the bigger geopolitical issues in Asia, tangled up with legitimacy, cultural survival, sovereignty and the future direction of Tibetan Buddhism.

The Dalai Lama: A Journey Through Tibet, Exile, and Global Peace Advocacy

China’s Ethnic Unity Law extends legal reach to Taiwan, diaspora

Taiwan’s government and overseas ethnic groups have raised concerns after China implemented the Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress this month, warning it forces Taiwanese people to accept Beijing’s political framework and threatens minority communities well beyond China’s borders.

Passed by the National People’s Congress on March 12, the law took effect on July 1. On July 2, Cho Jung-tai, premier of Taiwan’s Executive Yuan, warned that Beijing has built an expanding network of laws with extraterritorial reach, including the Anti-Secession Law, the Counter-Espionage Law, and the Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law, aimed at forcing Taiwanese people to accept Beijing’s political framework.

Cho said the Ethnic Unity Law extends that network farther. He announced the Executive Yuan would set up a cross-agency platform to counter transnational repression while expanding cooperation with allied democracies.

US-China moon race could turn into a lunar land grab

Sixty years ago, the United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in a race to the moon, which the US won. The 21st-century lunar contest, with China stepping in for the Soviet Union, has many similarities but also key differences.

The Apollo astronauts planted the stars and stripes in lunar soil, bounced – and drove – around, set up experiments and collected scientifically valuable rock samples. Ultimately, however, there was no real plan to stay.The new moon race is different: space agencies are targeting the south pole of the moon due to its deposits of water ice. This water can be used for life support on a lunar base. It can also be turned into rocket fuel, splitting it into the hydrogen and oxygen used by space vehicles, making it a valuable resource.

But ice deposits are not evenly distributed and suitable spots for establishing human outposts are finite. This could spark competition to bag the best spots. So will the US-China lunar contest turn into a land grab?