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When Donald Trump arrives in Shenzhen for the November Apec summit, he will face a Chinese leader even more confident than the one who left Washington this week after a state visit heavy on pageantry but light on concrete deliverables. Experts attributed this confidence to three key factors – a newly upgraded bilateral framework seeking a “constructive relationship of strategic stability based on respect, fairness and reciprocity”, the warmer tone during Xi’s three-day visit, and – crucially –...

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The Brics-founded New Development Bank could help launch a fund by the end of the year to guarantee cheap loans for poor families in Africa and Latin America, Brazil’s social development minister said. The scheme would be the Shanghai-based lender’s first financial commitment to Brazil’s global anti-hunger alliance, an initiative sidelined by Washington’s presidency of the G20 this year. Wellington Dias told the South China Morning Post on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in...

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Over a private tea session in the White House’s Red Room to mark the end of Xi Jinping’s state visit, US President Donald Trump struck a relaxed tone, marvelling across the table at how fast the Chinese leader had made the trip to America. “It’s a very fast plane … the fastest plane,” Trump said, in footage captured after the White House TV press pool resumed coverage following a court ruling that restored access to outlets previously banned by the US president. “[It was due to] its route,” Xi...

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The new US-Denmark-Greenland security agreement could narrow China’s room to engage in the Arctic – particularly in resource-rich Greenland – and potentially push Beijing closer to Russia, Chinese experts on the matter said. According to observers, the deal – signed on Tuesday – could have the broader effect of accelerating the securitisation of the Arctic and making Western Arctic states more cautious about cooperation with China. But it would be unlikely to significantly disrupt China’s...

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Just a month after Saudi Arabia signed a regional mutual defence deal with Pakistan and Turkey, attacks by Yemen’s Houthis against the kingdom’s energy infrastructure and military sites are testing the pact’s limits. At a hastily convened meeting of the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement in Riyadh on Friday, military chiefs of the three parties reaffirmed their commitment to collective defence, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The agency said the talks focused on “intelligence cooperation,...

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First ladies Peng Liyuan and Melania Trump opened a new front in US-China exchanges this week, with their unusually frequent and spontaneous interactions putting a more personal face on ties during the presidential summit in Washington. The pair charted a parallel path of soft power diplomacy – sharing conversations, cultural outings and moments of apparent warmth during a visit otherwise shadowed by trade tensions, and artificial intelligence and other strategic issues. According to US-China...

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Taiwan’s transfer of a former coastguard vessel to the Philippines has triggered a dual controversy – raising concerns over the interests of Taiwanese fishermen and prompting strong criticism from Beijing. The matter centres on a 61-metre (200-foot) retired cutter handed over to the Philippine Coast Guard through a non-governmental organisation on Monday, as Taipei and Manila expand practical maritime cooperation despite the absence of formal diplomatic ties. Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office...

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China and the United States have agreed to establish a bilateral communication channel for “super intelligence” incidents, according to the White House. In a statement about the deliverables of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington, the US said the next meeting of the newly formed US-China Super Intelligence (SI) Dialogue would take place by November. China’s Ministry of Commerce confirmed on Thursday that its senior trade negotiators had held their first talks with the US on...

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We have put together stories from our coverage of Peng Liyuan during the Xi-Trump summit. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. China’s first lady Peng Liyuan projects glamour and soft power on world stage China’s first lady Peng Liyuan is again stepping into the international limelight as she travels to Washington with President Xi Jinping this week.
2. Peng Liyuan and Melania Trump renew acquaintance as Xi arrives in US Chinese first lady Peng Liyuan...

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Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is reportedly trying to arrange a phone call with Donald Trump following the US president’s nostalgic invocation of the alliance with China during World War II, references that sent shock waves through Tokyo. Trump made the references as he welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to the White House on Thursday for his first state visit to Washington in over a decade. Both Trump and Xi repeatedly invoked their nations’ wartime alliance against Japan in their...

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Offshore wind farms can reduce the coverage of shore-based radar systems and create areas where targets become harder to detect, according to a new study. The researchers found that at a range of 5km (3 miles), effective radar coverage fell by 6.9 per cent while blind spots increased by 14.9 per cent. The research, published online last month in the peer-reviewed Chinese journal Radio Engineering, was conducted by Professor Liu Zunnian and his team from Qingdao Technological University and the...

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During their three-day summit that ended on Friday, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping worked overtime to underscore their increasingly close relationship even as the meeting produced few concrete deliverables. But the fact that the two economic and military giants are talking – and pledging to talk some more – suggests some period of relative stability ahead, certainly relative to last year’s all-out trade war, chest-thumping and market turmoil, said analysts, companies...

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