Pentagon has added Alibaba, BYD, Baidu and dozens of other Chinese companies to its list of entities it says are linked to China’s military. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung has ruled out expanding military ties with Japan any time soon. Thai shrimp farmers have warned they face being driven out of business after Malaysia banned imports of five shrimp species. A Hong Kong school dismissed its principal after he was filmed swearing at security guards in Singapore. A Chinese man bought a new-build 34th-floor flat in a building with 32 floors.

Beijing cancelled two high-level meetings with the EU in the Chinese capital this month, including a ministerial-level digital dialogue and a visit by a senior EU diplomat. Guo Mingxu, head of the Europe Economic Project at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, argued that Brussels was blaming China for its own failures. China’s Ministry of Commerce warned it would take effective measures to safeguard its own interests if new restrictions went ahead.

Dr. Tomer Fadlon is a research fellow in the economics and national security research field and the Israel-China policy center at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv. He analyzes the top three trends in China-Israel trade and investment relations. Israel's strategy of maintaining close ties with both the U.S. and China is at risk as the great power competition (GPC) heats up.

Workers’ Daily published a four-part series on AI and workers’ rights. The series concluded with an editorial in the Thursday paper. I have posted translations of all four parts (1,2,3,4) and the editorial.

95% of overseas companies expect to maintain or increase their cross-border yuan settlements over the coming year, according to Bank of China. Beijing steps up efforts to promote the yuan’s international use through bilateral currency-swap agreements, expanded cross- border payment infrastructure and deeper offshore liquidity pools.

John Lee Ka-chiu visited Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan as part of his mission to China's Belt and Road Initiative. Central Asia's five economies became the inadvertent beneficiaries of China's need to quell the turmoil in Xinjiang. Central Asian states have also been inadvertently beneficiaries of many of the ill winds that have tormented the global economy in recent years.

Chinese regulators are stepping up public enforcement against the nation’s corporate giants. On Thursday, the Beijing branch of the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) announced it had summoned representatives from Alibaba, Taobao, Tmall, JD.com, Pinduoduo, Douyin and RedNote. The same day, the SAMR and China's cyberspace watchdog summoned seven travel platforms, including Ctrip, Qunar and Meituan, over “irregular practices” regarding ticketing services.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping returned to Beijing this week after his first visit to Pyongyang in seven years. Analysts say the visit underscored a more complicated reality fraught with tension, including Beijing's concern over North Korea's growing closeness with Russia and its desire to reaffirm China's strategic relevance.