South China Morning Post - Diplomacy & Defence

The Pentagon’s newly expanded blacklist of Chinese military-linked companies has tested the fragile stability reached at last month’s summit, highlighting that intense competition persists despite recent efforts to ease bilateral tensions. On Monday, the US Defence Department released its updated Section 1260H list as required by American law, expanding the roster to 188 entitie...

The post-summit detente between Washington and Beijing has moved from diplomatic language to institutional design. Less than three weeks after the summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump, the US Trade Representative (USTR) asked companies to identify “non-sensitive” Chinese goods that might qualify for tariff relief under a new US-China Board of Trade. ...

If the Democrats win control of Congress in America’s midterm elections it could bring “renewed volatility” to relations with China, a veteran Chinese diplomat has warned. “The results [of the 2026 midterms] … are likely to have a profound impact on the stability of China-US relations,” said Bian Qingzu, former secretary general of the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship...

The European Commission has declared its trade and economic relationship with China “unsustainable”, pointing to a daily trade deficit of €1 billion (US$1.16 billion) and Chinese manufacturing overcapacity that puts millions of jobs across various sectors at risk. However, a clear-eyed analysis reveals this premise to be entirely flawed. The narrative spun by Brussels is a despe...

The US Court of International Trade is pressing the Trump administration to speed up tariff refunds of billions of dollars to thousands of importers, following a partial roll-out after the US Supreme Court struck down its global tariffs in February. “The time has come to refund all the duties,” said Judge Richard Eaton on Tuesday, adding that the delay is leading to a “growing i...