Kinaforum

torsdag 12. februar 2026

China Releases Security Doctrine Hours After Major Critic Jailed

The Chinese government on Tuesday released a white paper outlining its national‑security framework for Hong Kong, less than a day after a court sentenced Beijing-critic and media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison under the city’s National Security Law.

Lai, 78, a British citizen and founder of the now‑defunct Apple Dailynewspaper, received the longest sentence to date under the 2020 National Security Law. His conviction has drawn criticism from the United States, United Kingdom, and other governments, which say the law has sharply curtailed Hong Kong’s civil liberties and breached Beijing’s commitments under the “one country, two systems” framework.

Beijing and its handpicked government in Hong Kong say the measures were necessary to restore order following the monthslong pro-democracy proteststhat convulsed the special administrative region.

Congress Threatens China With Global Isolation If It Attacks Taiwan

A bill passed by the United States House of Representatives Monday threatens to exclude China's participation in global organizations if it moves against Taiwan.

Taiwan’s government, officially the Republic of China, fled the mainland after losing the civil war to communist forces in 1949 and now functions as a sovereign state. The government in Beijing, the People’s Republic of China, has vowed to bring the island under its control and in recent years has dramatically stepped up its military activities in the Taiwan Strait to pressure Taipei.

Taiwan is a top U.S. trade partner and a key hub in tech supply chains, accounting for roughly 90 percent of advanced semiconductor production. Washington, Taipei’s main source of arms sales, is required to help provide for the island’s defense under the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

Inside China’s push to feed 1.4 billion people without U.S. crops

Over the last few years in China, it’s gotten easier to buy food straight from the farm. Whether it’s boxes of apples or bags of vacuum-sealed corn-on-the-cob, online orders placed through popular e-commerce apps take just a couple of days to arrive in Beijing.

China’s food safety standards are still a work in progress. But what I’ve noticed is that even if the apples from a nearby supermarket taste artificial — the ones I can order from the countryside taste like the ones I ate in the U.S. And I can’t say it’s just as easy to get apples shipped from a New York orchard.

The economics behind this consumer experience boil down to a few key differences at the heart of the U.S.-China trade story. Over the past decade of trade tensions, the U.S. has repeatedly asked China to buy more American agricultural products. But many American farmers have lost sales under the Trump administration’s tariffs.

A year into Trump tariffs, Chinese factories and ports are buzzing with activity

A year after U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs spooked exporters and customers, Chinese factories and ports are buzzing with activity ahead of the Lunar New Year — even pushing freight rates higher.

Chinese factory activity typically surges at the start of the year with manufacturers racing to fulfil orders and ship out goods before the country enters an extended holiday for the Chinese New Year. This year’s pre-holiday rush appears as strong as ever despite Trump tariffs. Renaud Anjoran, founder and CEO of Agilian Technology, a Guangdong-based electronics manufacturer, said his factory was operating at nearly full capacity after a year of stop-start tariff threats: “We are very busy.”

“It’s back to the situation where it’s like tariffs don’t exist. American customers are not thinking of [buying from] other places,” Anjoran said, adding that some clients had to pay additional costs to have goods made and shipped out before the holiday.

US won’t abandon the Philippines in fighting China’s assertiveness at sea, Manila’s envoy says

Manila’s top envoy to Washington expressed confidence Tuesday that the United States will not abandon the Philippines as it fights Beijing’s assertiveness in the disputed South China Sea — even as Donald Trump and Xi Jinping seek more direct talks to resolve differences. Philippine Ambassador to Washington Jose Manuel Romualdez welcomed renewed talks between the U.S. and Chinese leaders, and said Manila should also try to “fine-tune” its relations with Beijing to allow for more trade engagement.

He said, however, that the Philippines will remain steadfast in defending its territorial interests in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims virtually in its entirety.

In blunt warning, the US says Peru could lose its sovereignty to China

The Trump administration on Wednesday expressed concern that China was costing Peru its sovereignty in solidifying control over the South American nation’s critical infrastructure, a blunt warning after a Peruvian court ruling restricted a local regulator’s oversight of a Chinese-built mega port.

The $1.3 billion deepwater port in Chancay, north of Peru’s capital of Lima, has become a symbol of China’s foothold in Latin America and a lightning rod for tensions with Washington.

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs said on social media that it was “concerned about latest reports that Peru could be powerless to oversee Chancay, one of its largest ports, which is under the jurisdiction of predatory Chinese owners.”

US Sanctions Pacific Islands Political Leaders Over China Influence

The U.S. State Department has sanctioned officials from the Pacific Island nations of Palau and the Marshall Islands for corruption amid concerns over Chinese influence.

Palau and the Marshall Islands, along with the Federated States of Micronesia, make up the Freely Associated States, which rely on U.S. security guarantees and economic assistance in exchange for military access to their territory. These nations sit along the so-called second island chain, which the Pentagon considers central to containing Chinese forces in a potential conflict.

U.S. officials worry expanding Chinese infrastructure investments in the South Pacific could weaken long‑standing American advantages in the strategic region.

Death Penalty on the decline in Southeast Asia

From Vietnam to Malaysia and Indonesia, Southeast Asian governments are narrowing the use of the death penalty and edging, often cautiously, toward abolition. At present, eight of the 11 Southeast Asian countries retain the death penalty. Only Cambodia, the Philippines and Timor-Leste have abolished it in law.

But recent years have seen most of the retentionist states abide by de facto moratoriums on executions and pass new legislation so death is no longer the mandatory punishment for certain crimes.

The European Union has made abolition of the death penalty a flagship human-rights goal in its diplomacy, backing UN moratorium resolutions. The bloc is also raising the issue in political dialogues and supporting civil-society advocacy, while acknowledging that progress is uneven and sometimes reversible.

Indian teens roll their eyes at talk of social media ban

Aarav Gupta, 15, a student in Delhi, was scrolling through Instagram when he saw a news alert about the Indian government's plans to consider age-based access to social media platforms.

"How can this even be possible? All my friends plan everything on social media, from birthday parties to football games and even study sessions. This is unfeasible," Gupta later told DW.

"Anyway, it is hard to implement without mandatory legal IDs for every login," he added. "And if it happens, we can easily bypass bans using Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) or fake birthdays."

In Bhopal, 14-year-old Priya Khullar can't imagine life without social media. "I get most of my information here and keep up with trends in fashion and music. It's hard to imagine a law banning platforms like Instagram and YouTube Shorts for anyone under 16," Khullar told DW.

A spiritual guru was jailed for rape and murder. He’s out on parole for the 15th time

With jarring regularity, the gates of an Indian high-security prison swing open for a prominent guru jailed for life for murder, freeing him to preach virtue to the millions of followers he holds in his thrall.

A flashy preacher with rock-star taste, Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was first jailed in 2017 on rape charges and convicted of murder two years later. Yet, he has been freed 15 times on parole, and so far has spent more than 400 days outside prison.

Indian history is filled with charismatic – and often controversial – figures who commanded huge devotion. But Singh’s recurring freedom is seen by many as a grim testament to the enduring power of spiritual influence in the world’s most populous country – a place where, critics say, the scales of justice can be tipped by the vast political reach and capital of these so-called godmen.

China’s Lunar New Year travel rush begins with record 9.5 billion trips expected

Liu Zhiquan was waiting for a 30-plus hour train journey to Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, some 1,242 miles (2,000 kilometers) from Beijing, where he works in construction. He’s one of the hundreds of millions expected to travel to their hometowns as part of the world’s largest movement of humanity, or “chunyun” as it’s called in China, ahead of the Lunar New Year on Feb. 17.

“Things feel worse this year than last. The economy is bad and it’s getting harder to make money,” he said.

Liu chose a slower train to save money: a high-speed train would take just nine hours but costs more than twice as much. Nonetheless, he chose to make the 30-hour journey to be home for the festival, the one time of year workers across the country take breaks and spend time with their loved ones.

US Wins at Panama Canal—But China Eyes More Ports in Americas

Panama’s move to void two longstanding port concessions flanking the Panama Canal was a blow to Hong Kong-based CK Hutchison and a win for U.S. efforts to check Chinese influence in the Western Hemisphere.

Yet as CK Hutchison seeks to sell its majority shares in dozens of other port projects worldwide, China's COSCO—the world's fourth-largest shippingcompany—hopes to fill the void. If the state-owned shipping giant succeeds, security risks for the U.S. could climb at other ports in Latin American and the Caribbean, according to recent analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

China commands the world’s largest export machine and, through COSCO and other state-owned enterprises, holds stakes across a network of global ports that translate into structural influence in key maritime routes. A Newsweekinvestigation previously found associated risks including Beijing's political leverage in host countries or possible dual civilian and military use of infrastructure by the People’s Liberation Army.

She’s one of the world’s most powerful conservative leaders – and she just won again

It was a risky gamble to call a snap election – her career was on the line. But now Japan’s Sanae Takaichi is basking in the strongest majority for a Japanese government in more than 70 years.

Here’s how this unapologetic conservative, who Trump has lavished praise on, pulled it off. In the four months since becoming leader, she had skyrocketed in popularity, galvanized typically-disengaged young voters, and given a fresh new face to the country’s political landscape, which for decades was dominated by older men.

This mass appeal translated to a landslide victory on Sunday, securing Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) a historic two-thirds supermajority in the lower house of parliament – the first time a single party has done so since World War II.

Hong Kong ex-publisher Jimmy Lai’s sentence raises international outcry as China defends it

Monday’s sentencing of Hong Kong democracy advocate and one-time media magnate Jimmy Lai brought an outcry from governments and rights groups. Chinese and Hong Kong authorities defended it, saying it reflected the spirit of the rule of law.

The 78-year-old Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison after being found guilty in December of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and conspiring with others to publish seditious articles. His co-defendants, who entered guilty pleas to the collusion-related charge, received prison terms ranging from six years and three months to 10 years.

Some foreign governments called for the release of Lai, a British citizen. China’s Foreign Ministry maintained that Lai is a Chinese citizen and urged countries to respect its sovereignty.

South Korea is finally having more babies. But can it last?

Excited young couples roam a bustling convention center trying on baby carriers, testing strollers and learning the latest safety features of car seats. This scene in Seoul in January may seem totally contrary to the usual headlines from South Korea, of plummeting birth rates and a looming demographic crisis that also threatens to swallow neighboring Japan and China.

But against all odds, South Korea is finally having more babies. The numbers have been slowly ticking up for over a year – a rare bit of good news for a government that has spent billions of dollars for more than a decade encouraging people to do just that.

Whether it can last, however, is another matter.

In China, consumerism trumps nationalism despite tensions with the U.S. and Japan

In China, consumerism appears to outweigh nationalism regardless of how testy relations have become in recent diplomatic spats with countries like Japan and the United States.

It has been common practice for the ruling Communist Party to whip up nationalist sentiment and deploy propaganda condemning countries deemed to be violating China’s stance on territorial issues as Taiwan and Tibet. At times, Beijing targets companies that make ideological missteps in their maps or advertising.

In the past, friction with Japan and the United States has led to calls for mass boycotts, protests in the streets or even vandalism on embassies or restaurants. These days, pure nationalism appears not to resonate so much with Chinese consumers accustomed to making their own personal consumption choices.

Torbjørn Færøvik: Through the Khyber Pass - Babur and the Birth of the Mughal Dynasty

The gray stone of the narrow Khyber Pass has witnessed many dramas over the centuries. One of them took place 500 years ago – in 1526. That year Babur, a warrior from Central Asia, stormed through the mountain pass with his soldiers. Before him lay the vast Indian subcontinent. Babur knew it offered immense riches.

Could he succeed in conquering it?

Agriculture along the Ganges and the Indus yielded several harvests a year. In the capital, Delhi, the rulers lived in splendor and luxury. Compared with the drier lands of Central Asia, India appeared far more prosperous. In the sixteenth century the subcontinent was a major producer of cotton, silk, indigo, spices, sugar, and precious stones. Indian textiles were exported in enormous quantities to the Middle East, East Africa, and Southeast Asia, and silver flowed in as payment. Historians suggest that India at that time accounted for roughly a quarter of the world’s total production.

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Japan election: Sanae Takaichi set for landslide victory

Japan's nationalist ruling party won a sweeping majority in parliamentary elections on Sunday, projections showed, securing a strong new mandate for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is expected to have won about 300 seats in the lower house of parliament, far exceeding the 233 seats required for a majority, national broadcaster NHK reported, basing projections on exit polls.

Together with its coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party (JIP), the LDP was projected to win 310 seats, NHK said, giving them a two-thirds majority.

"We received [voter] backing for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's responsible, proactive fiscal policies and a strengthening of national defence capabilities," LDP secretary general Shunichi Suzuki told media.

Takaichi dissolved parliament in January and called snap elections, a gamble that she hoped would provide her and her struggling party with a stronger footing in parliament going into the new year.