China is holding the West to ransom over rare earths
China’s naked weaponisation of rare earths brings to mind Mao Zedong’s ‘four pests’ campaign, the old tyrant’s fanatical effort to…
Trump and Xi’s South Korean meeting changed little
Donald Trump says his meeting with Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea today was…
Did Jonathan Powell torpedo the China espionage trial?
The antics of Keir Starmer and his top security adviser over the collapsed China espionage case bring to mind the…
What China’s show of force means for the new world order
Today’s vast military parade in Beijing is the climax of three days of political theatre orchestrated by President Xi Jinping,…
How China fools the West
The mimic octopus is a remarkable creature. It is the world’s master at shapeshifting. It is able to transform its…
Xi’s purge is expanding
Of all those who have been purged by President Xi Jinping, disappearing into the communist party’s vast network of black…
Can ‘China Studies’ still be trusted?
It is generally agreed that Britain needs to improve its China capabilities. That a greater understanding of Chinese culture, history…
Is China cooking the books on its economy?
A Western financial analyst based in Shanghai once described China’s economic statistics to me as ‘one of greatest works of…
Why is China rushing to grow its nuclear arsenal?
China is growing its nuclear arsenal at a faster pace than any other country on the planet, according to new…
Has Ursula von der Leyen seen the light on China?
Coming from an American politician, the accusations would have been unsurprising. Beijing is unwilling to ‘live within the constraints of…
What the next phase of Trump’s trade war with China looks like
For clues as to where US policy towards Beijing goes next, look beyond Donald Trump’s chaotic and erratic tariffs and…
Xi has no right to be ‘guest of honour’ at Putin’s Victory Day
The presence of Chinese president Xi Jinping as ‘guest of honour’ at Vladimir Putin’s Victory Day military parade in Moscow…
How China bought Britain
Somewhere in the bowels of the Foreign Office, civil servants are still working on the government’s ‘China audit’. The report…
China smells victory in its tariff war with Trump
It was an extraordinary statement, given all the bluster that had gone before it. Tariffs on Chinese goods will ‘come…
What is Xi Jinping planning?
Shanghai port is the busiest in the world. Activity there is closely monitored by financial analysts distrustful of official statistics…
Can China win the trade war against the US?
China hit back on Wednesday with an additional 50 per cent tariff on US imports, matching the extra levy imposed overnight…
China won’t win its ‘fight to the end’ against Trump
China has accused Washington of ‘blackmail’ and said it will ‘fight to the end’ after Donald Trump threatened overnight to…
Why Vladimir Putin is afraid of sea cucumbers
Vladivostok, the ‘ruler of the East’, is preparing to celebrate the 165th anniversary of its founding. City Day, as they…
China is not the West’s environmental ally
In the fight against climate change, China loves to present itself as the world’s White Knight. Armed with wind turbines…
Trump’s support for Taiwan has infuriated Beijing
They were only six words on a website, but they helped maintain Beijing’s fiction that Taiwan is part of its…
Trump’s tariff war with China is just getting started
Over the weekend, Donald Trump described his sweeping 10 per cent tariffs against Chinese goods as an ‘opening salvo’. Within…
Labour’s kowtowing to China will cost Britain
When the security services accessed the mobile phone of Yang Tengbo, the alleged Chinese spy who became a confidant and…
What is the point of Rachel Reeves’s visit to Beijing?
The Chinese communist party claims to know a thing or two about humiliation – the ‘century of humiliation’ at the…
China’s hacking frenzy has reached the US Treasury
When Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves visits Beijing in January on a mission to improve ‘economic and financial cooperation’…
How to avoid another Chinese spy scandal
As the fallout continues from the latest China spy scandal, it is hard not to conclude that Labour’s policy on…
