China
Tokyo refuses to kowtow to China’s latest round of anti-Japanese bullying
China has once more escalated a minor diplomatic skirmish with Japan, by urging its citizens to avoid travelling to the country and hauling in Tokyo’s ambassador over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks about Taiwan.
China deploys an army of humanoid robots to car factories
It looks exactly like a scene out of the Hollywood movie iRobot, depicting the Isacc Asimov classic sci-fi novel: a warehouse filled with gleaming white robots standing in a precise military grid, moving in unison when ordered.
COMMENT: Trump was “sent by heaven”, Russia is a “God-given” neighbour, says Kazakhstan’s president. What's cooking?
With White House and Kremlin visits in the space of six days, pressure was on Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to pull off a masterclass in multi-vector foreign policy.
China’s emissions growth flat as emissions peak arrives
China’s carbon dioxide emissions remained flat in the third quarter of 2025 compared to a year earlier, extending a trend of stabilisation that began in March 2024.
China unveils world’s first thorium-powered container ship
China has launched the world’s first container ship powered by a thorium molten salt reactor (TMSR), marking a potential milestone in nuclear maritime propulsion and low-emission shipping technologies.
UNDP warns climate change will slash crop yields in low-income countries
A new United Nations dataset shows median national crop yields will decline by around 25-30% by the end of the century under very high emissions scenario.
EU accession policy fails to address Chinese engagement in Balkans
ECFR report warns the EU does not have a clear strategy for managing candidate countries’ engagement with China.
COP30: China holds back on Brazil forest fund
China has decided not to provide funding at this stage to Brazil’s new rainforest protection mechanism, citing the principle that wealthier nations should take the lead in climate finance.
COP30: Climate negotiators forge ahead despite loss of US delegation
Brazilian President Lula has urged nations to step up efforts as Trump withdrew from the Paris Agreement for the second time, leaving 195 countries to tackle climate change.
COMMENT: Japan and Europe come together in support of Taiwan
Over the past week, two moves in East Asia and Europe clearly signal that the handling of the Taiwan question is entering a new phase - one in which neither Tokyo nor Brussels is prepared to abide by a Beijing-centric diplomatic equilibrium.
China’s green capital powers Indonesia’s 100-GW solar ambition
Indonesia’s vision to build 100 GW of solar energy is gathering real momentum, fuelled by growing Chinese investment under the Belt and Road Initiative.
PANNIER: Booming breadbasket Kazakhstan now shipping grain to three continents
Drought-stricken countries such as Iran thankful Kazakhs are enjoying bumper crops. Improving cargo routes helping to push up shipments.
Georgian prime minister deepens ties with China as relations with West worsen
Political and economic ties have expanded rapidly since 2023, reflecting the ruling Georgian Dream party's growing pivot toward Beijing.
COP30: Brazil's $125bn forest initiative draws support from dozens of nations
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has unveiled a global facility to protect tropical forests, securing commitments worth several billion dollars from both wealthy and developing nations at the COP30 climate summit.
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World leaders gather in Brazil for climate summit amid waning political will
COP30 opens in Belém with Trump's absence looming large and UN chief warning of 'moral failure' on 1.5°C target
South Korean lawmaker sparks outcry over country insult bill
The plan responds to a rise in public demonstrations and online posts containing derogatory language aimed at certain countries, particularly China.
Will Trump’s Central Asia summit in Washington help break the Chinese chokehold on rare earths?
“Rare earths”. As Donald Trump on November 6 hosts Central Asia’s five presidents in Washington, DC, observers can forgive themselves if they quickly lose count of the number of times these buzzwords are uttered.
Indonesia faces fiscal dilemma over $7.27bn high-speed rail debt
The operator, PT Kereta Cepat Indonesia - China, now faces mounting pressure to service both principal and interest payments.
Emerging Asia overtakes the UK per-capita benchmark
For the first time since the Industrial Revolution, the major emerging economies including China, India and Indonesia have seen GDP as a percentage of the UK’s GDP increase as the leading BRICS countries start to overtake the Developed Markets.
The US now sees China as an equal - it is time for Western media to wake up and do the same
China was long filed under “too foreign, too dangerous, too different” in many Western newsrooms. Not anymore. Beijing is now impossible to ignore as American leaders have realised. Western media outlets need to wake up to this reality too.