Iran's blockade of Strait of Hormuz caused an energy crisis and fears of a global recession. President Trump agreed to a two-week cease-fire between Iran and the U.S. on Tuesday night. China will have paid close attention to Trump's pain threshold. China wants to seize Taiwan, but a blockade would be worse than a war.
The European Commission’s security college was set to meet this coming Monday to debate the challenges posed by Beijing. The topic of the debate has been changed to Iran as Europe looks to contain an energy shock emanating from the crisis in the Gulf. The postponement highlights how competing crises were crowding out China policy, which insiders described as "unfocused".
Cheng Li-wun, the chair of Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), traveled to Beijing at the invitation of Xi Jinping, the CCP’s general secretary and China's top leader. Cheng had expressed her desire for such a meeting multiple times, but the announcement came from the Taiwan Affairs Office, a Chinese government body that manages cross-strait relations. The DPP accused the KMT of stonewalling on arms procurement budgets and blocking negotiations on a Taiwan-U.S. trade agreement as political payment to Beijing in exchange for access to Xi.
Andrew and Bill discuss the tentative ceasefire in Iran and reports that the PRC applied pressure to the Iranians to defuse the tensions. Ma Xingrui's disappearance from public view is met with official confirmation of an investigation. Anthropic's Mythos model clarifies the stakes of the AI race.
Vancouver’s historic Chinatown borders on and blends with one of the bleakest neighbourhoods, Downtown Eastside. The area has become a magnet for drug addicts and homeless people. Local politicians focus on China's political influence among ethnic Chinese in this district and elsewhere in the city.
On February 24, 2026, China placed 20 Japanese companies on its Entity List. This is a significant shift in China’s posture. Beijing has now designated Japan as a country of security concern. China has been building the legal architecture necessary to invoke these security exceptions since around 2021.
The Iran war is reshaping China's strategic map. Latin America offers food, copper, lithium and other strategic inputs that become more valuable in times of war, inflation and industrial strain. China has become central to South America’s trade in agricultural goods, minerals and industrial inputs. Washington is trying to reduce Chinese influence in the western hemisphere.
The war in the Gulf threatens Taiwan's energy supply and chip production. Beijing wants to seize the opportunity while Trump is bogged down in the Middle East. The leader of the opposition Kuomintang, Cheng Li-wun, speaks before her controversial visit to Beijing.
On April 7, Kuomintang (KMTM) Chairperson Cheng Li-wen led a delegation to China and is expected to meet CCP leader Xi Jinping on April 10th. Taiwan's Premier Cho Jung-tai believes political party representatives or individuals with substantial political influence who engage with the Chinese Communist Party in an open manner must be subject to strict oversight.
To Lam, the head of the Communist Party of Vietnam, is planning a visit to China next week to meet with his counterpart Xi Jinping. It will be his first overseas trip since he was elected state president on Tuesday. The trip is likely to involve discussions over security cooperation, telecommunications and railway infrastructure, and energy security.