News

Three-day operation comes after Taiwan president Tsai Ing-wen met with Kevin McCarthy in California
China launched military drills around Taiwan on Saturday, in what it called a “stern warning” to the self-ruled island’s government following a meeting between its president and the US House speaker.
The move sparked condemnation from Taipei and calls for restraint from Washington, which said it was “monitoring Beijing’s actions closely”.

In a country with over 100 journalists in jail, The Best is Yet to Come, based on a real-life journalist, Han Fudong, has been an unlikely success
Fired from jobs, barred from schools, rejected romantically – for years carriers of hepatitis B in China faced a litany of humiliations, large and small. In 1992 it was estimated that about 10% of the population tested positive for the hepatitis B antigen. Yet for the next decade they were systematically barred from participating in all walks of life. That fuelled an industry in fraudulent medical reports, which is where Han Dong, the star of the film The Best is Yet to Come, starts his investigation.
The story is loosely based on the real-life Han Fudong, a journalist who went on to become chief reporter of the Southern Metropolis Daily, a newspaper that was once known for its hard-hitting investigations. Han’s work eventually led to companies being banned from screening employees for the virus or to fire carriers. At that time there were more than 120 million people living with the disease in China.

Visits comes two days after Middle Eastern powers met in China to restore relations
A Saudi delegation arrived in Tehran on Saturday to discuss reopening diplomatic missions with Iran after seven years.
The visit comes two days after the unprecedented meeting between Iran and Saudi Arabia’s heads of diplomacy in China after the two countries agreed to restore diplomatic ties last month.

The Biden administration says there is “convergence.” But trans-Atlantic leaders adopt different strategies on security and trade issues — including on Ukraine and Taiwan.

Will technological advantages be enough for China to replace the US as the world’s AI superpower?
The Bible maintains that “the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong”, but, as Damon Runyon used to say, “that is the way to bet”. As a species, we take the same view, which is why we are obsessed with “races”. Political journalism, for example, is mostly horserace coverage – runners and riders, favourites, outsiders, each-way bets, etc. And when we get into geopolitics and international relations we find a field obsessed with arms “races”.
In recent times, a new kind of weaponry – loosely called “AI” – has entered the race. In 2021, we belatedly discovered how worried the US government was about it. A was convened under the chairmanship of Eric Schmidt, the former chair of Google. In its report, issued in March of that year, the : that China could soon replace the US as the world’s “AI superpower”; that AI systems will be used (surprise, surprise!) in the “pursuit of power”; and that “AI will not stay in the domain of superpowers or the realm of science fiction”. It also urged President Biden to reject calls for a global ban on highly controversial AI-powered autonomous weapons, saying that China and Russia were unlikely to keep to any treaty they signed.

Allies don’t always see things the same way, as Emmanuel Macron’s cozy visit to Xi Jinping made abundantly clear.

The rebukes came after overseas researchers discovered sequences that had not been previously shared.

Richard Foss The Chinese takeout container with its stylized pagoda on the side has been a symbol of fast food since shortly after that term was invented in the 1950’s. Some people have an ...

Taiwan’s president visited the United States this past week and met with the House speaker, angering Beijing, which had threatened consequences.

Taiwan’s president visited the United States this past week and met with the House speaker, angering Beijing, which had threatened consequences.

Russia’s war in Ukraine figured little in statements after meetings between President Emmanuel Macron of France and China’s leader, Xi Jinping.