12 h. ago Can Trump’s gut instinct win over Xi Jinping at Apec summit?

US President Donald Trump is expected to approach his coming summit with Xi Jinping by relying on personal chemistry and his “gut”, but his ability to charm the Chinese leader will be limited at best, analysts and former government officials in Washington said on Tuesday. The first meeting in six years between the heads of the world’s two largest economies is expected to take place shortly before the October 31-November 1 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea. Among the topics...

Politics

12 h. ago Can Donald Trump’s gut instinct win over Xi Jinping at Apec summit?

US President Donald Trump is expected to approach his coming summit with Xi Jinping by relying on personal chemistry and his “gut”, but his ability to charm the Chinese leader will be limited at best, analysts and former government officials in Washington said on Tuesday. The first meeting in six years between the heads of the world’s two largest economies is expected to take place shortly before the October 31-November 1 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea. Among the topics...

Politics

43 h. ago China’s rare earth magnet exports to US plunge 29% as tensions simmer

The decline in China’s exports of rare earth magnets to the United States accelerated in September – a period predating Beijing’s expansion of controls over the flow of the critical minerals – an indication the prized items remain a major battleground in the ongoing trade war between the world’s two largest economies. China’s total exports to the US of the permanent magnets – essential components in manufacturing for several hi-tech industries, including electric vehicles and defence – reached...

Events

45 h. ago China’s soybean imports surge as orders to US hit zero and American farmers fret

China imported no soybeans from the United States in September, but total imports remained at high levels amid a recent escalation in the US-China trade war, the latest Chinese customs data showed. Last month, the world’s largest food buyer purchased 12.8 million tonnes of soybeans – a crop heavily reliant on imports for its livestock industry – with a notable surge from Argentina during a brief suspension of export taxes, according to the detailed customs data released on Monday. The absence of...

Events

55 h. ago ‘An impossible dream’? South Korea wants to be among top 4 defence exporters

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said on Monday that the country would devote a “larger-than-expected budget” in defence and aerospace research until 2030 as it sought to build the world’s fourth-largest defence industry. Lee was speaking at South Korea’s largest-ever arms fair, the Seoul International Aerospace & Defence Exhibition 2025, where companies showed off new unmanned and artificial intelligence-enhanced weapons from howitzers to suicide drones in pursuit of more global defence...

Politics

3 d. ago China, India and Brazil set to steer global climate change agenda at Cop30

As the West falters in its commitment to fighting climate change, analysts expect emerging economies led by China, India and Brazil to seize the initiative at next month’s UN climate summit. The Cop30 conference, from November 10 to 21 in the Brazilian city of Belem, comes as the United States under Donald Trump remains largely disengaged from climate challenges following his successive orders to withdraw the world’s largest economy from the 2015 Paris Agreement, while Europe’s attention appears...

Politics

4 d. ago US threats to decouple from China only expose its own vulnerability

Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. After Beijing announced sweeping export controls last week on rare earths and other critical minerals, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent went ballistic. “Maybe there is some Leninist business model where hurting your customers is a good idea, but they are the largest supplier to the world,” he said. Someone from Beijing might have retorted that Washington has been running on some fascist business model whereby it is upending the entire global trade...

Events

4 d. ago Chinese team aims to test powerful chip on world’s largest optical telescope

Chinese researchers have developed an optical chip the size of a fingernail that can analyse light in real time with a precision once possible only with bulky laboratory instruments. They hope to test it using the largest optical telescope on Earth. The breakthrough could enable an unprecedented level of visual intelligence in machines ranging from drones and robots to medical scanners and telescopes, according to Fang Lu and her team at Tsinghua University. In a paper published this week by the...

Politics

5 d. ago Apple’s iPhone Air sells out in China after CEO Tim Cook’s visit

Apple’s iPhone Air sold out within minutes of its launch in China on Friday, underscoring the device’s popularity among Chinese consumers despite competition from Android devices. The strong sales followed CEO Tim Cook’s visit this week to promote the product in the world’s largest smartphone market amid ongoing geopolitical tensions between China and the US. As chairman of an advisory body at Tsinghua University’s management school, Cook also met Vice-Premier He Lifeng on Thursday. Pre-sales...

Society

5 d. ago Microsoft wants users talking to Windows 11 with new AI features

Microsoft is trying to get people to talk to their computers, betting that voice and artificial intelligence software is powerful enough to make such interactions as effective as a keyboard or mouse. The world’s largest software maker on Thursday introduced a set of updates to its Windows operating system, including the ability to summon Microsoft’s Copilot assistant by saying, “Hey, Copilot.” In addition to a mouse and keyboard, voice “will now become the third input mechanism”, Yusuf Mehdi,...

Politics

5 d. ago World’s Largest Muslim Country Agrees Fighter Jet Deal With China

World’s Largest Muslim Country Agrees Fighter Jet Deal With China  Newsweek

Politics

5 d. ago Alibaba banks on AI to boost Singles’ Day sales on Taobao, Tmall

Alibaba Group Holding is taking advantage of artificial intelligence to turn its online marketplace into a “comprehensive consumption platform”, as the e-commerce giant regains momentum in an extremely competitive market. The company kicked off its annual Singles’ Day event – the world’s largest shopping festival – on Wednesday, riding on the back of strong growth in online shopping and on-demand delivery. Taobao and Tmall, Alibaba’s two domestic e-commerce platforms, are offering 50 billion...

Economics

6 d. ago Hong Kong’s tourism recovery to accelerate as Royal Caribbean increases sailings

Royal Caribbean International, the world’s largest cruise company by passenger numbers, will increase its sailings to and from Hong Kong from the current 12 to 16 next season, marking further recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic as the city experienced strong growth in international visitors during the first nine months of this year. In an interview with the Post on Wednesday, Kevin Fung, managing director of the cruise company’s Hong Kong operations, said mega vessel Spectrum of the Seas would...

Politics

6 d. ago Apple CEO Tim Cook pledges increased investment in China in meeting with MIIT

Apple CEO Tim Cook on Wednesday committed the US tech company to increased investment in China, even as trade tensions intensify between the world’s two largest economies. Cook made the pledge in a meeting with Li Lecheng, who heads the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), in Beijing after the US executive spent two days in Shanghai during his second visit to China this year. The two sides “exchanged views on the development of Apple’s business in China and strengthening...

Economics

7 d. ago China gears up to build giant South China Sea lab in hunt for ghost particles

Chinese researchers have tested a submersible vehicle designed to help them build one of the world’s largest neutrino observatories in the South China Sea – a facility that will study the ghostly subatomic particles that stream through the cosmos with barely a trace. The Subsea Precision Instrument Deployer with Elastic Releasing (Spider) uncoiled a 700 metre (2,300ft) string of 20 sensor balls at a depth of about 1,700 metres (5,580ft), according to the team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s...

Politics

7 d. ago China Merchants Bank’s Hong Kong unit issues tokens on BNB Chain

A Hong Kong subsidiary of China Merchants Bank has tokenised a US-dollar money market fund on BNB Chain – the blockchain developed by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance – as the city’s real-world asset (RWA) drive continues to attract Chinese financial institutions. CMB International Asset Management Limited partnered with BNB Chain to tokenise its CMB International USD Money Market Fund, issuing two tokens that would be available to accredited investors, the companies said on...

Politics

7 d. ago CMB’s Hong Kong arm tokenises US$3.5 billion money market fund on BNB Chain

A Hong Kong subsidiary of China Merchants Bank has tokenised a US$3.5 billion money market fund on BNB Chain – the blockchain developed by the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance – as the city’s real-world asset (RWA) drive continues to attract Chinese financial institutions. CMB International Asset Management Limited partnered with BNB Chain to tokenise its CMB International USD Money Market Fund, issuing two tokens that would be available to accredited investors, the companies...

Economics

7 d. ago Indonesia aims to export shrimp to US again after radiation scare

Indonesia has said that its shrimp shipments to the US can continue following stricter rules in response to a radiation scare, as business executives call for a global campaign to restore the reputation of the product and diversify the local industry’s markets apart from the world’s largest economy. The Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry in Jakarta said on Saturday that exports to the US, the biggest buyer of Indonesia’s shrimps, could resume for companies based on Java island and Lampung...

Politics

7 d. ago Chinese economic data shows fight against deflationary pressures not yet won

China’s consumer prices fell again in September as demand remained weak in the world’s second-largest economy, while a slight narrowing of the fall in factory-gate prices gave a hint that Beijing’s efforts to curb involution – cutthroat intra-industry competition that pushes prices lower – could be making ground. The national consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, fell 0.3 per cent year on year last month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on...

Economics

7 d. ago Nuclear ‘bribery’ backlash in Japan over restart plan for world’s largest plant

Japan’s largest power company is reportedly dangling a 100 billion yen (US$654 million) payout for locals to restart its long-dormant Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in a move critics have called “bribery”. The unprecedented financial support package, originally reported by the Nikkei business newspaper, reflects Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (Tepco) mounting desperation to revive the world’s largest nuclear site more than a decade after the Fukushima disaster, according to analysts. A...

Events