China's manufacturers have become formidable global competitors. They have outflanked Germany's carmakers, stolen a march on South Korean shipbuilders and narrowed the gap with American chip designers. World leaders are scrambling to limit the threat to domestic industries and avoid risky dependencies. EU ministers will meet to consider more forceful countermeasures.

There is a "growing pattern of transnational repression" linked to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), according to the report from the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). The report outlines a series of policy recommendations intended to strengthen legal protections and improve coordination among democratic governments. The report’s release coincided with renewed bipartisan efforts in Congress to address the issue.

China has issued sweeping new rules that increase control over the overseas transfer of domestic technology and give the government authority to retaliate against governments that restrict Chinese investments. EU commissioners meet to discuss the need for a more robust and coherent response to trade and investment from China. China's trade surplus with the EU widened slightly in May, though exports to the bloc slowed. China Southern Power Grid saw a record electricity load of 259 gigawatts in late May. China is seeing more frequent and severe weather.

Xi's visit to Pyongyang confirms that the PRC has given up talking about North Korea denuclearization. The US and Japan are publicly at least not accepting the nuclearization of North Korea. The readout from the just concluded U.S.-Japan Extended Deterrence Dialogue said that both delegations discussed China’s dramatic and opaque nuclear weapons buildup.

Former US Treasury secretary Henry Paulson urges Washington and Beijing to manage their escalating strategic competition to prevent it spiralling into conflict. Paulson was speaking at a lunch in Beijing hosted by the Centre for China and Globalisation on Wednesday. He was treasury secretary from 2006 to 2009.

Xi Jinping has steered China’s economy away from a preoccupation with property to high-tech manufacturing and other “new productive forces” since 2021. Are the new forces big enough to fill the gap left by the old? It's size that matters in economics.

Xi Jinping visited North Korea on June 8-9. It was Xi's first overseas trip this year. The readout of the summit focused on the political, economic and cultural aspects. North Korea’s coverage of the visit focused on restoring and advancing bilateral ties.

MSCI All Country Asia-Pacific Index dropped about 0.4% on Thursday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.7%, while the mainland CSI 300 Index dropped 0.6%. Brent crude, the global benchmark, climbed above US$95 a barrel before easing. The US attacked sites in multiple Iranian cities in a second day of air strikes. Iran hit targets in Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan in reply. SpaceX's record US$75 billion IPO on Friday is a further drag on markets. Chinese investors are turning to local alternatives instead.