The Beijing summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump marked a turning point in how Washington and Beijing manage their rivalry. In April 2001, then US president George W. Bush declared that the United States would do âwhatever it took to help Taiwan defend herselfâ. Five months later, after the September 11 terror attacks, Washington began emphasising pragmatic cooperation with Beijing.
PM Mark Carney is trying to build a new relationship between Canada and the US. Canada has increased the number of such vessels in recent years. China regards Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of the "No. 1" position. Most countries, including the US and Canada, do not recognise Taiwan as an independent state.
Yuan Gujie is the new deputy director of Beijingâs liaison office in Hong Kong. Her posting carries a clear agenda to promote deeper integration between Hong Kong and other Greater Bay Area cities. Hong Kong's development model needs overhauling. The answer may lie in establishing a special economic zone.
All 22 members of the National Science Foundation's board were dismissed by President Trump on 24 April. Ro Khanna (DâCA) and Haley Stevens (D-MI) wrote to acting NSF Director Brian Stone to ask him to explain the dismissal. They also want an analysis of how China and the United States stack up scientifically that was written by the board but never officially issued.
There are warning signals in the local bond market. British government bonds with a term of 30 years are yielding higher than they were last in 1998. Japanese investors sold off around $ 30 billion in US government bonds in the first quarter of 2026. China is one of the major economies with the lowest yields for ten-year government bonds.
President Xi Jinping is heading to North Korea on Monday. It will be Xi's first foreign trip of the year and comes less than a month after he hosted back-to-back meetings with US President Donald Trump and Russiaâs Vladimir Putin in Beijing. China considers renewed economic engagement crucial to reasserting its influence over North Korea in the face of Pyongyang's increasing closeness to Moscow. Beijing and Pyongyang are cautiously rebuilding their relationship after it came under strain.
Neither India nor China sees a permanent militarised frontier as serving their long-term interests. The effort at rapprochement is not being driven by trust, but by necessity. The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a sacred Hindu pilgrimage, has resumed after a five-year hiatus. Direct flights between India and China have also been restored. The two sides reaffirmed their commitment to maintaining peace along the Line of Actual Control.
The Nasdaq Composite fell 4.18% on Friday. The iShares Semiconductor ETF dropped 10%. Broadcom lost nearly 8%. AMD, Intel, Micron Technology, and Marvell Technology posted steep losses. Capital rotated into more defensive areas of the market. Consumer staples and healthcare stocks outperformed.
Xi Jinping and Kim Jong Un will meet in Pyongyang on Monday. It's the first time Xi has been to Pyongyang since 2019. The two men met in Beijing last year to mark 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War. China will be watching Russia's influence over North Korea closely. Beijing wants to reassert its influence over Pyongyang.