What happened? On 08-09 October 2026, China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and European Commission Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič met in Beijing for the second meeting of the China-EU Trade and Investment Consultation. The discussion primarily centred around trade and market...
From 24-26 September, China’s President Xi Jinping began his much-anticipated state visit to Washington, marking the third summit between President Xi and President Donald Trump within the year, preceding meetings taking place in Busan and Beijing. As per most Western media reports, especially...
Open-weight AI models are machine learning systems available for download and allow users to run them on their own infrastructure. They come with trained parameters - numerical ‘weights’ that encode what the model has learned. These weights determine how the model processes a prompt and generates...
On 15 August 2026, marking the 81st anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II, Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi visited the Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo, while Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi sent a ritual offering. In response, China’s foreign ministry condemned the visits,...
The second quarter of 2026 saw a more robust and proactive diplomatic posture than the first quarter; Beijing mostly focused on mending relations with Europe and reducing its engagement in Middle Eastern crises. To control bilateral tensions and strengthen its strategic interests in the South China Sea...
The second quarter in East Asia was marked by strategic competition and economic rebalancing, culminating in significant bilateral visits. Inadvertently, Cross-Strait relations remain the focal point of all tensions and of regional stability. 1. US President Donald Trump’s State Visit...
On 07 July, the China Economic Update (July 2026), titled "Rebalancing Growth" was released by the World Bank in relation to macroeconomic events until June 2026. According to the report, although China continued to demonstrate resilient growth during the first quarter due to high-tech investment...
During 17-20 July, the 2026 World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC) alongside the High-Level Meeting on Global AI Governance, took place at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center. This marked the ninth edition of the conference, with the first WAIC being held in 2018. The overarching...
In June, China's C909 regional jet completed ten years of commercial operation. What began in 2016 as a single aircraft with a single carrier now accounts for 70 per cent of China's regional jet fleet. It also anchors a four-aircraft family through which Beijing aims to end its dependence on...