News Analysis Financial messaging and international payments leader SWIFT has set up a joint venture with the People’s Bank of China’s (PBoC) digital currency arm to create a product to comply with China’s local laws, legitimize China’s digital yuan to an extent, and remove some risk of the yuan being cut off from the SWIFT […]

The regime in Beijing might have access to raw audio data from mainland Chinese users of the U.S.-based audio app Clubhouse, according to a recent analysis by researchers at the Stanford Internet Observatory. The Stanford researchers speculated that the regime could potentially punish Clubhouse users in China for their speech on the app, given the […]

An Australian entrepreneur has unveiled an ambitious countrywide, fibre-optic network that could open significant commercial opportunities and make Australia a hub for international undersea networks traversing the troubled Indo-Pacific region. HyperOne is a AU$1.5 billion hyperscale, national fibre network that will stretch more than 20,000 kilometres across Australia, and achieve speeds of 10,000 terabits per […]

On the eve of President Joe Biden’s inauguration, the Hong Kong stock market soared as Chinese money poured in. On Jan. 19, the daily trading volume of Hong Kong stocks exceeded 300 billion Hong Kong dollars ($38.7 billion). On Jan. 21, the Hang Seng Index, which tracks the Hong Kong stock market, rose by more […]

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole called on the federal government to “finally stand up to China” after Beijing announced Thursday it was banning the BBC World News from airing in China. “Today, Communist China banned BBC World News. This comes as no surprise when we saw a record 17 foreign journalists expelled from China early last […]

Hong Kong’s publicly funded broadcaster RTHK said on Friday it was suspending the relay of BBC radio programming, one day after the Chinese regime banned BBC World News from airing in the country. In a statement, RTHK said: “As the National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) announced that BBC World News was not allowed to […]

BERLIN—Vodafone Germany has had to stop distributing China’s state-owned CGTN television on its cable services as a result of a media dispute between Britain and China. The unit of British telecom group Vodafone said on Feb. 12 that it hoped to restore CGTN to its services, but that it currently didn’t have a valid license […]

Thousands around the world expressed well wishes and greetings to Mr. Li Hongzhi, founder of the spiritual practice Falun Gong, to mark the start of a new Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 12 this year. It has long been a tradition for the Chinese to send new year greetings to their loved ones […]

Chinese telecom giant Huawei has started legal action in the UK seeking access to internal documents of British-based bank HSBC, in a bid to prevent the extradition of its senior executive Meng Wanzhou from Canada to the United States. Meng, 48, was arrested by Canadian police on a U.S. warrant in December 2018 while on […]

The European Union condemned the Chinese regime’s human rights record during a recent meeting, while the latter tried to court more trade and investment with central and eastern European countries. Around the same time, France sent a warship and submarine to the South China Sea for a “freedom of navigation” patrol, to Beijing’s ire. Some […]

Xiaomi, the world’s third-largest cell phone maker and China’s second-largest, denied its connections to the military after it was blacklisted by the Trump administration as a military-owned company controlled by the CCP, but a closer look at the background and connections of its founder and CEO, Lei Jun, led to the discovery of a huge […]

WASHINGTON—President Joe Biden has promised that he would elevate diplomacy and seek a more coordinated approach with U.S. allies to address trade challenges posed by China. His strategy to unite friendly nations to pressure Beijing, however, faces a rift as partners such as Germany and France have already signaled that they’re not on the same […]

President Joe Biden said his first phone call with Chinese leader Xi Jinping lasted two hours, during which the two had a “good conversation.” The two sides’ official statements about the call, which took place on Feb. 10, highlighted the leaders’ contrasting positions. The White House readout said Biden expressed “fundamental concerns” about Beijing’s “coercive […]

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said she hadn’t spoken to President Joe Biden about the Dallas Mavericks’ decision to ditch the national anthem, but believes he supports this kind of protest at sporting events. A reporter asked the White House spokeswoman Wednesday about the president’s opinion on Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who recently came […]

Some of President Joe Biden’s executive orders are misguided, as they will ultimately benefit the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), China expert Gordon Chang said. “Although he [Biden] talks about extreme competition with China, although he talks about holding China accountable, we have seen in those executive orders a flood of measures that Beijing just absolutely […]

President Joe Biden spoke to Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Feb. 10 about China’s unfair economic practices, the crackdown in Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and assertive actions in the Indo-Pacific region, including toward Taiwan. Biden and Xi have had a long relationship dating back years. But Wednesday marked the first time Biden […]

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stated the United States will work with allies to hold the Chinese regime accountable. But at the same time, the Biden administration seeks to cooperate with the Chinese leadership in areas like the pandemic and climate change. But does this really make sense? In this episode, we sit […]

The Biden administration, despite calling China the “most serious competitor” to the United States, is in fact unwilling to confront Beijing, according to author and former Naval intelligence officer Jack Posobiec, who has substantial experience living and working under communist rule in China. “What you’re seeing now is an administration in the United States that […]

For years, the Chinese regime has been able to rely on a powerful bloc to represent its interests in Washington: corporate America. That’s according to Clyde Prestowitz, author of the book “The World Turned Upside Down: America, China, and The Struggle for Global Leadership.” And he wants it to end. Prestowitz, who was a trade […]

Commentary Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently warned that if the Biden administration gets America’s China policy wrong, we will find ourselves living in a very “different world.” It’s a chilling yet accurate formulation that Americans can’t afford to ignore. China is out to change the world in ways hostile to American interests and […]

Chinese state-run media Xinhua published a series of four commentaries in which it called on the new U.S. administration to “lead the U.S.-China relationship back on track” after years of what one article called “casting poison” onto bilateral relations. “Treating China as a major strategic competitor or even a rival is a historical, directional, and […]

LISBON/DHAKA—Clothes retailers in Europe and America sit on excess inventory and cut back on spring orders. Sourcing agents face late payments. Garment factories in Bangladesh are on the rack. The global apparel industry, reeling from a punishing 2020, is seeing its hopes of recovery punctured by a new wave of COVID-19 lockdowns and patchy national […]

HONG KONG—Hong Kong’s top court denied bail on Tuesday to media tycoon and Beijing critic Jimmy Lai, the most high-profile person to be charged under the city’s national security law. Lai had been in custody since Dec. 3, except when he was released on bail for about a week late last year. He was granted […]

Companies raised $546 billion from new bond and share issues in January, as a flood of central bank money-printing and recovering stock markets brought record numbers of new listings, special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC) deals, and share sales, Refinitiv data showed on Feb. 3. The numbers included $106.15 billion in initial public offerings (IPOs), SPACs, and […]

An international coalition of lawmakers has written to HSBC Holdings Chairman Mark Tucker, calling on the bank to unfreeze Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Ted Hui’s accounts. In a letter, the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, a group of legislators from countries including Britain, Australia, Japan, and the United States, criticized the bank for its freezing of […]

U.S.-based audio app Clubhouse appears to have been blocked in mainland China after users had flocked in recent weeks to the platform for uncensored discussions. An increasing number of Chinese users have gravitated to the invitation-only app, seeing it as a rare forum to express their opinions—as it doesn’t record the conversations and thus provides […]

Commentary During a top-level meeting in Beijing in mid-January, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told officials that “time and momentum” are on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)’s side. But Xi seems overly optimistic. Since he came to power, the CCP’s “time and momentum” has been declining and China has even fallen back to the time of […]

Commentary After the Chinese regime implemented the national security law in Hong Kong, the situation in Hong Kong has deteriorated drastically. With mass arrests of pro-democracy activists and the frequent deployment of his trusted officials to Hong Kong, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has shown his determination to transform Hong Kong into a place akin to […]

Australian journalist Cheng Lei was formally arrested in China on Feb. 5 on suspicion of illegally supplying state secrets overseas, after being detained for six months without charge. Cheng, 49, was a news anchor for CGTN, the international arm of the Chinese regime’s state broadcaster, CCTV, before being detained in Beijing in August 2020 amid testy relations […]

The Chinese regime is aggressively targeting exiles and dissident communities abroad, as it extends its ability to persecute its citizens anywhere in the world, a new report warns. Kidnappings, assaults, and threats are just some of the tactics used by Beijing to repress overseas-based critics, and religious and ethnic minorities, in a campaign described by […]