Image: Lynn Greyling, Detailed Face, Clay Warrior Replica (Publicdomainpictures.net)
While the world was paying attention to Chinese troops’ participation in Russia’s Victory Day parade held at the Red Square on May 9, a new set of rules authorizing China’s military courts to exclusively handle more cases seems to have gone unnoticed. As the impact of these new rules is likely to be substantial, they should be better understood.Read more
Image: Dawn Hudson, Vintage Trade Poster (Publicdomainpictures.net)
Hainan, China’s island province located at the country’s southernmost point, appears to be a much-needed haven for companies struggling to survive the current tariff war. In 2020, the Chinese leadership released a large-scale plan to turn the entire province into a free trade port. Endowed with lower tax rates and other preferential treatments such as exemptions from certain legal restrictions, Hainan, which has a land area of only 33,920 square kilometers, may play a role commensurate with its special status to help China weather the tariff storm.Read more
Image: Piotr Siedlecki, Rays of Vegetables (Publicdomainpictures.net)
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison’s struggle to transform agriculture with AI applications through his venture Sensei Farms may prompt one to wonder whether his vision to “improve human nutrition while preserving the world’s natural resources” can be realized. Chinese leaders share a similar vision. They feel compelled to turn this idea into reality because of the formidable challenge posed by the need to feed the country’s 1.4 billion people with the limited arable land available. To overcome this challenge, the Chinese leadership has set ambitious goals to develop agriculture utilizing AI and has designated Zhejiang Province—home to DeepSeek and a few other key AI companies—to lead the endeavor.Read more
Image: Mohamed Mahmoud Hassan, Got Talent, Skill, Assessment (Publicdomainpictures.net)
The sudden emergence of DeepSeek has awakened the world to China’s high-tech capabilities. In the coming years, the country is expected to continue strengthening its efforts to increase such capabilities and nurture the development of its high-tech industries. To this end, China needs to ensure a continuous supply of high-tech talent and a strong demand for high-tech products from its population, which includes segments with limited digital and scientific literacy that may have the opposite effect, i.e., weakening such demand. To address these needs, China recently introduced certain measures.Read more
Image: George Hodan, Cardiogram Pulse Trace (Publicdomainpictures.net)
The World Health Organization has projected that, compared with 2018, nearly 360 million more people in China will enjoy improvements in health and wellbeing in 2025. To meet this target, among others, and to prepare for health care challenges arising from significant demographic changes occurring in China, the Chinese leadership has introduced various measures, including allowing the establishment of wholly foreign-owned hospitals in nine localities. These measures are welcome. However, a major problem lies in whether China is ready to amend legal rules to reduce the legal risks associated with medical practice as potential criminal consequences are likely to deter foreign medical professionals from practicing in China.Read more
Image: Reddy Dendoktoor, New Year, 2025, Greeting Card (Publicdomainpictures.net)
A review of China’s key developments in 2024 reveals that the “BRICS” and “technology” were two central themes behind this year’s headlines, as the country focuses on strengthening its ability to withstand growing challenges from the West. How will these developments evolve in 2025? Where will they lead China? The answer is not yet clear. What is clear, however, is that certain of the remarkable successes China has achieved this past year, such as its exploration of the Moon, will likely embolden the nation to make choices in 2025 that will cause it to diverge further from the West. Policymakers in the West should ponder whether their actions are serving to push China away and towards adversaries of greater concern.Read more
Image: O Sulvia, Futuristic Space Ship (Publicdomainpictures.net)
In July, immediately after China successfully retrieved lunar samples from the far side of the Moon, Dr. Mei Gechlik, Founder and CEO of SINOTALKS®, encouraged China to invite scientists from different countries, including the United States, to study these samples. According to Reuters, a few U.S. universities are now contributing their efforts to make such U.S.-China joint studies possible. Will this potential U.S.-China space collaboration open a door for Elon Musk to leverage his connections with Beijing and President-elect Donald Trump to create win-win opportunities for U.S. investment in China’s space-related industries? What types of space-related investments will likely survive rigorous regulatory reviews in China and the United States? The way in which China’s “wish list” for space-related investments evolves over the coming months, along with corresponding U.S. reactions, will help answer these questions.Read more
Image: Victoria Borodinova, Planet, Solar System, Comet, Space, Sky (Publicdomainpictures.net)
The U.S.-China race to set a standard lunar time has captured global attention. Standardizing lunar time is, however, only the first step. The real race lies in whether any time set by the United States or China can be applied effectively to space operations from which other countries can benefit. If other countries see results, this will ensure their sustained endorsement of the lunar time used in the operations benefiting them. Only with such solid support will the endorsed lunar time become the prevailing standard. China recently rolled out a three-stage plan to apply its timing system to a series of lunar operations. With its space ambitions, the expanding BRICS may be able to help China bring its three-stage plan to fruition and share the fruits of such success. When this happens, China’s lunar time has a good chance to prevail.Read more
Images: Linnaea Mallette, Graduation Cap;
Dawn Hudson, Silver Map (Publicdomainpictures.net)
President XI Jinping recently outlined ten partnership actions for China and Africa to jointly take in the next three years. Focusing on advancing modernization, these actions will likely motivate young Africans to pursue education in China to acquire related knowledge and skills and to build strong China-Africa networks. Trends revealed by a recent study suggest that furthering education in China may produce additional results for young Africans: their interactions with growing East Asian student communities in China will also prepare them well to become effective intermediaries between Africa and East Asia, as the latter actively seeks to tap into Africa’s tremendous potential.Read more
Image: Gerd Altmann, Hurry Up (Publicdomainpictures.net)
China’s impressive performance during the 2024 Summer Olympics has heightened many overseas Chinese’s interest in their own Chinese roots. This will likely boost their fascination with opportunities emerging from China, whose economy the IMF predicts will grow 5% in 2024. Beijing should, therefore, be motivated to step up its efforts to effectively engage overseas Chinese, who have been perceived by Beijing as important bridges connecting China with the rest of the world. Coincidentally, the Supreme People’s Court’s new initiative regarding the ascertainment of foreign laws can help engage overseas Chinese effectively.Read more
Images: Jean Beaufort, Travel Poster;
Yinan Chen, Hong Kong City Buildings (Publicdomainpictures.net)
In early July, a new Hong Kong law extended nearly 400 land leases in the formerly British-governed city for another 50 years, making the leases go beyond June 30, 2047—the critical date marking the potential expiry of the Beijing-approved governance system operating in the city since its handover to China in 1997. More leases are expected to be extended in the same manner. If the extension of these leases—which has broad implications—is handled well, Beijing will be able to significantly contribute to the prosperity and stability of not only Hong Kong, but also Asia.Read more
Images: Gerd Altmann, Colorful India;
Peter Griffin, Afternoon Lunch (Publicdomainpictures.net)
A key lesson from the failure of Prime Minister Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (“BJP”) to secure a majority in the lower house of India’s parliament and to sustain its popularity in traditionally pro-BJP states is the pressing need to solve the issue of economic inequality in India. Mr. Modi faces mounting pressure to deliver during his third term as India’s Prime Minister a strong economic performance to those who have not yet benefited from India’s progress. Similar challenges are being faced by Chinese leaders, who are rolling out new measures aimed at supporting the “accelerated rise” of Central China. Given India’s growing competition with China, how China plans to accomplish this goal should be of significant interest to India and its allies.Read more
Image: Irina Pechkareva, A Space with the Moon (Publicdomainpictures.net)
China’s ongoing mission to collect rocks and soil from the far side of the Moon marks another milestone in the country’s space exploration despite its exclusion from U.S. space projects. This accomplishment should make U.S. policymakers ponder whether adopting a similar exclusionary approach will help or hurt the United States’s efforts to secure the lead in the U.S.-China AI race. More importantly, the potential catastrophic consequences of AI manipulation demand a better approach that focuses on generating benefits at a global level, rather than devolving into a simple win-lose race between two international powers.Read more
Image: Svetlana Tikhonova, Bukhara, Uzbekistan (Publicdomainpictures.net)
The recent establishment of the Secretariat for the China-Central Asia Mechanism represents a key step taken by China as well as Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, to “comprehensively promote [their] cooperation”. China has expressed its wish to “bring more benefits to the people” of the five Central Asian nations. This wish is especially welcome amidst the world’s growing concerns that poverty and social marginalization might have contributed to the rise of terrorist activities in Central Asia. How can China turn this wish into reality? A recent survey showing Southeast Asians’ unprecedented level of support for China provides some useful lessons for reference.Read more
Image: Victoria Borodinova, Chess, Chess Board, Chess Club (Publicdomainpictures.net)
In his State of the Union Address, President Joe Biden asserted that he “want[s] competition with China, not conflict”. With less than eight months before the next U.S. presidential election, President Biden needs to show that he deserves another presidential term to, among other tasks, solidify the country’s leadership in two critical areas: (1) the development and application of advanced technologies, and (2) the establishment of strong ties with foreign countries that are strategically important to the United States. Two recent developments are putting President Biden’s “no-conflict competition” with China to the test.Read more
Image: Sergey Golopolosov, Moscow Kremlin At Night (Publicdomainpictures.net)
Russia began its one-year BRICS presidency on January 1 and quickly convened a meeting, at which “increasing the proportion of national currencies in mutual settlements” was identified as an important task for the BRICS. Russia’s interest in reducing the world’s reliance on the U.S. dollar is widely known. Will the country succeed in accomplishing this goal during its BRICS presidency? The answer, as explained in this issue of SinoExpress™, depends on whether Russia will be able to leverage the support of existing BRICS members to attract a large number of countries to join the organization.Read more
Images: Alix Lee, Liberty Plaza CKS Memorial;
Gerd Altmann, Robot (Publicdomainpictures.net)
This issue of SinoExpress™, a monthly newsletter of SINOTALKS®, covers how Taiwan’s third party, i.e., the Taiwan People’s Party, has secured from last Saturday’s election an influential position that may empower its leader, KO Wen-je, to have important dialogues with Beijing. The issue also highlights little known U.S.-China high-tech collaborations, which evoke optimism that the two countries may be able to accomplish more together in 2024.Read more
Images: Jean Beaufort, Oil Pump Jack;
Joshua Kim, Father and Daughters on Hanoi Street;
Circe Denyer, Computer Chip Technology Hardware;
Axelle B, Smartphone (Publicdomainpictures.net)
This issue of SinoExpress™, a monthly newsletter of SINOTALKS®, covers how Guyana’s economic and diplomatic might will likely cause China to become more involved in helping settle the Venezuela-Guyana dispute, why a pioneering move recently taken by Singapore could benefit China and Vietnam, what criticisms Germany’s subsidies for its semiconductor industry have drawn, and what Foxconn’s recent expansion plan in India really means.Read more
Images: Linnaea Mallette, Windmill Farm;
Tom Ffiske, Woman On Grass With VR Headset;
Jônatas Ferreira Jona F, Panama Canal;
Mark Yang, Singapore Sea Lion and Skyline (Publicdomainpictures.net)
This issue of SinoExpress™, a monthly newsletter of SINOTALKS®, covers why California is well-placed to reap benefits brought by the Biden-Xi meeting, how the Metaverse brings China and Meta closer, what challenges the Panama and Suez Canals present to trade, and Singapore’s insights about Asia.Read more
Images: Ken Kistler, Sun and Young Corn Stalks;
chiplanay X, Muslim Mosque Eid Ramadan Faith;
Alix Lee, Liberty Plaza Gate;
icon0 com, Panda In ChiangMai Zoo, Thailand (Publicdomainpictures.net)
This issue of SinoExpress™, a monthly newsletter of SINOTALKS®, covers China’s preparation for global conflicts, the launch of 5.5G networks in the Middle East, a new poll in Taiwan, and the impact of panda diplomacy on strengthening China’s relations with South Korea and Japan.Read more
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