We chatted earlier today about what the Iran war means for China’s relations with the countries of the Persian Gulf and Middle East, including the following:

• An overview of China’s relationships in the Gulf

• Iran’s place in Chinese foreign policy: it’s complicated

• The 2023 Saudi-Iran normalization brokered by China

• Washington and Beijing both want a non-nuclear Iran and an open Strait of Hormuz, but they have incompatible views on how to get there.

• Why China won’t help Trump in the Strait

• The erosion of U.S. sanctions and China’s alternative payment systems like China’s CIPS

• Discussion in China about the American use of AI for targeting and the Iranian attacks on AWS infrastructure

• The wild card we didn’t discuss in detail: Israel

• Expectations for the Trump-Xi summit

• Who to watch: special envoy Zhái Jùn 翟隽

Thanks to everyone who joined the live session, and there should be another one next week barring airline chaos—I am flying to New Zealand tomorrow. Please email me if you have any topics you’re especially interested in.

Indulgent reader, my emails continue to belie the name China Week, but I have a few things lined up that should ensure a steady stream of newsletters from now on. Let me know if you want a refund for missed weeks. For today I have a recap of the recent China news, and some links to stuff I’e done elsewhere.

I’ll be doing a live interview on Substack at 8pm New York Time / 8am Beijing time on April 1 with on China and the Middle East and the Iran war. Please join us if you’re online at the time. I’ll also publish the recording. Jesse is the author of the recent piece U.S.–China Aligned on Ends, Divided on Means in the Iran War, and the Coffee in the Desert newsletter.

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Above is a lightly edited recording of the conversation. Today we’re mostly going to be talking about how Latin American countries are dealing with the shock of Trumpism as it pertains to their relations with China. My takeaways:

On China in Latin America

Despite Trump’s desire and military capacity to dominate Latin America, China will continue to invest in the region with unabated enthusiasm in every sector that is open to it. Parsifal commented:

It’s a juggernaut that is coming and we’re just starting to see the presence of Chinese companies. I’m not talking about just solar panels. I’m talking about electrical infrastructure. I’m talking about smart cities. I’m talking about fintech. I’m talking about telecommunications.

The reaction from Latin America to Trump’s Venezuela operation

The response has been rather quiet, with very few countries strongly criticizing the U.S. In fact, some of these countries have security, migration, and drug trafficking concerns that align with the Trump regime’s.

Venezuelans, both those loyal to the Chavista regime and its discontents, are surprisingly positive about the new possibilities open to Venezuela after the U.S. capture of Maduro.

Indulgent reader: this newsletter should perhaps change its name to The China Quarterly. If you’re paying subscriber, please let me know if you’d like a refund, or a two free months of what comes next at The China Week.

I took time off for the holidays. And then my plan to come roaring back was interrupted by an ice-storm which took out power for ten days at my home near Nashville. But the enforced electricity-poor vacation gave me plenty of time to think about the purpose of The China Week, and what value I can bring to a world of graphomania, of a million newsletters and podcasts. There are so many excellent independent journalists, writers, podcasters, and filmmakers. And so very much mediocre slop. We drown in bot puke and human-generated content.

My conclusion is that no one needs a general summary of the week’s China news: you can tailor one to your specific interests using a search engine or chatbot. So, instead, I am going to send you one thing…

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I’ve stretched the definition of “weekly” in The China Week this time, but I’ll keep writing the newsletter for the duration of the holiday season. I am still playing with the format for this newsletter, and this week is a little different again: there’s a brief essay at the top, and I’ve combined the recommended links and news summaries in one section. I love feedback and have thick skin, so email me if you have anything to say by replying to this or to jeremy -at- goldkorn.net.

Last week I published a China-related episode of my Rhyming Chaos podcast: The end of a Mongolian-language newspaper, an interview with journalist Soyonbo Borjgin on growing up in Hohhot, and his “re-education” after protests against the suppression of Mongolian language.

If you’re not subscribed, please click the button below, and if you like what I’m doing and want to encourage me to do more, please take out a paid subscription.

—Jeremy Goldkorn

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Please take out a paid subscription to access the full archive. If you’re a paying subscriber and would like a print copy of this issue, please email your address to jeremy@goldkorn.net.

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In this week’s edition:

• ‘How Israel’s embassy lost China’

• A surprise call from Xi Jinping pleases Trump

• China brainrot, from creator schlock to AI propaganda

• Recommended reading and listening

• Important China news from the last week or so

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This week’s focus

A season of unease over China in the U.K.

China-U.S. relations have been temporarily stabilized by the meeting between Xi Jinping and Donald Trump in South Korea on October 30. But in the United Kingdom, nobody seems to quite know how to approach Beijing.

The “golden era” of China-U.K. relations promised in 2015 by then prime minister David Cameron never worked out. The following five occupants of 10 Downing Street, including current prime minister Keir Starmer, have all dithered between welcoming Chinese money and fearing its influence, its espionage, and its manufacturing dominance.

In the last few weeks, three issues have clearly demonstrated the British government’s lack of a vision for relations with China:

The gigantic n…

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A man without a plan and a man with a plan

Underwhelming Trump-Xi meeting

October 30—Donald Trump met with Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea for a highly anticipated meeting that was supposed to result in a trade agreement. Trump told reporters flying with him back to Washington: “On a scale from zero to 10, with 10 being the best, I would say the meeting was a 12.”

Xi Jinping did not seem to enjoy the encounter as much, judging from his pained facial expression and silence as Trump babbled on during a pre-meeting press event. And all the meeting actually achieved was to pause recently threatened U.S. tariffs and delay the implementation of China’s new export controls on rare earths. It’s just back to the status quo of a few months ago. Trump himself did not use the word deal about the results of the meeting, saying on his Truth Social platform that he and Xi “agr…

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Controlling the means of production

Rare leverage

This week has been full of bluster coming from Washington, D.C., and justified concern around the world about China’s new export control rules on rare earths, which are key to global manufacturing of cars, electronics, and military hardware.

China’s rare earths leverage appears to be driving the Trump administration to distraction. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent called China’s senior negotiator Lǐ Chénggāng 李成钢 “unhinged,” and suggested without evidence that he may have “gone rogue.” Trump threatened a bajillion percent tariffs (OK, the number was 100%) but then softened—again—and talked—again—about meeting Xi Jinping and making a deal.

Which the U.S. is going to have to do: There is no short-term alternative supplier for rare earths. Other countries such as Australia could make up some of the shortfall, and the U.S. will now re-start its dormant rare earths mining and refinin…

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But here’s the thing: No one seems to have seen the text of any actual agreement on divestiture. And if I were making decisions in Beijing about TikTok, I would just keep stringing Trump along, exacting concessions, without committing to anything in black and white.

It’s very clear who really, really wants a TikTok deal, and it’s not anyone in China.

Which does not mean that some kind of China-U.S. trade deal is not coming. All the signs are there, judging by recent media stories, for example that the Chinese premier has signaled “a desire for stable U.S. relations,” and that U.S. and Chinese officials have agreed“to step up communications ahead of possible Trump-Xi summit.”

Update: The well-informed people at research firm Trivium believe the terms of the deal are already clear and that it will go ahead, (and that the terms “very much tilts in Beijing’s favor”).

—Jeremy Goldkorn

This is The China Week, a succinct summary and analysis of news from the People’s Republic Please take out a paying subscription to receive all full newsletters and access to the archive.

The ‘policy is correct, scientific, and effective’

Xi Jinping’s victory tour of Xinjiang

Xi Jinping and a group of senior Communist Party leaders visited Xinjiang from September 23 to 24 to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

Xi was greeted at the airport of the provincial capital Ürümqi like an emperor by hundreds of dancers, musicians, and colorfully clothed people singing “Welcome, welcome, warmly welcome!” (Watch the video to get a sense of the spectacle.) This was a stark contrast to Xi’s reception on April 30, 2014, the final day of a four day visit to Xinjiang, when a bomb-and-knife attack killed 3 people, and injured 79 others in Ürümqi.

That attack was one of a spate of violent incidents in 2013 and 2014 blamed on Uyghur separatists. The attacks were the justification for Beijing’s subsequent campaign of mass detention and forced cultural assimilation of Uyghurs. Xi’s visit this week was a declaration that the campaign is seen in Beijing as a success, and that there is no intention to back down. As the People’s Daily put it “Xi: Xinjiang policy is correct, scientific, and effective.”

The Chinese Communist Part took over Xinjiang in 1949 and ruled it as a province. On October 1, 1955, it became the XUAR, following a Soviet model of granting nominal self-rule to minorities as a strategy to fulfill nationalist aspirations of minority groups while preventing real separatism. In recent years, Beijing has de-emphasized the notion of autonomy in favor of “forging a strong sense of Chinese national community.” Under this notion, Uyghur and other minority languages and religious practices are discouraged; what’s left is ethnic clothing, dancing, and music that is often used for propaganda.

See also:

• New Xinjiang White Paper; Xi: Xinjiang policy is correct, scientific and effective / Tracking People’s Daily

• Xi declares success in Chinese region at center of rights-abuse claims / Wall Street Journal

• Xi to lead ceremony on 70 years of Uyghur subjugation: Timeline of major visits and meetings on Uyghur issues / Uyghur Times

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Art for money’s sake goes wrong

PR disaster for artist Cai Guoqiang and Arc’teryx

Contemporary artist Cài Guóqiáng 蔡国强 is best known for his use of gunpowder to create both artworks and fireworks displays. Although he has lived mostly in Japan and the U.S. since the 1980s, he was warmly welcomed by China’s establishment when he was chosen to design the fireworks shows for then opening and closing of the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

That naturally led to a variety of commercial opportunities, including a recent project sponsored by the outdoor apparel brand Arc’teryx, in which Cai set off fireworks on a Himalayan mountain in Tibet. (Arc’teryx is a Canadian subsidiary of Chinese sports conglomerate Anta.)

But there has been a loud consumer backlash against the stunt over environmental and cultural concerns. Internet users “began calling for a boycott of Arc’teryx, arguing that setting off fireworks in such a fragile alpine ecosystem risked disturbing wildlife, damaging slow-growing vegetation, and polluting the high-altitude environment,” according to research firm Baiguan, which notes that “many also criticized the spectacle as disrespectful to local traditions, which hold mountains as sacred and discourage loud disturbances.”

“Is this what contemporary art should be?” asks Tibetan writer Woeser: “What we see is arrogance masquerading as creativity, a display of vanity that treats Tibet’s mountains and rivers as props.”

On a different topic, but from the same part of the world:

• The daring caper of a faithful Tibetan who outfoxed China / Wall Street Journal

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In Memoriam Jerome A. Cohen

Jerome Cohen, a widely-loved and respected lawyer and law professor has died at the age of 95.

I last spoke to Jerome for this Sinica podcast on the Hong Kong protests and 2019 extradition bill. It was taped in front of a live audience October 2019, a few months before COVID hit. After the recording, my co-host Kaiser and I went out for a short walk through Manhattan and a fine Chinese dinner with Jerome and his wife. A lovely evening.

Obituaries and eulogies:

• Jerome Cohen, the first American to practice law in China, dies at 95 / Wall Street Journal
  “An expert on China—and a sometime critic—Cohen defended companies and dissidents”

• Xǔ Zhāngrùn 許章潤 mourns Jerome Cohen / China Heritage

• In memoriam: Jerome A. Cohen (1930-2025) / NYU Law

There will be many more memories of Jerome published in the coming days, including at ChinaFile.

Peaceful coexistence or law of the jungle?

Xiangshan Security Forum

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after trade talks last weekend in Madrid, Spain that details of a TikTok deal with China “will be confirmed in a Friday call” between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

That call happened this morning, September 19 Washington D.C. time. A few hours later, Trump posted to his personal social network that “the call was a very good one, we will be speaking again by phone, appreciate the TikTok approval” (italics mine).

But the Chinese readout of the call shows no such thing. This is all the document says about TikTok:

On the TikTok issue, Xi stated that China’s position was clear: the Chinese government respects the will of the businesses, …

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A flurry of diplomacy, and a possible TikTok deal?

Donald Trump yet again suspended the ban on TikTok, and there is a China-U.S. deal for TikTok afoot, but the only thing it seems everyone agrees on is that there is a “framework” for it:

“A framework deal” was reached between China and the U.S. for the ownership of TikTok, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said after trade talks last weekend in Madrid, in Spain. Bessent also “expressed confidence” that a trade deal with China is near, and said that details of the TikTok deal “will be confirmed in a Friday call” between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping.

At a press conference in Madrid, Wáng Jìngtāo 王京涛, Deputy Director of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission, said the deal included “licensing the algorithm and other intellectual property rights, and that TikTok owner ByteDance would “entrust the operation of TikTok’s U.S. user data and content security.”

Bloomberg reported that “TikTok’s U.S. operations would be acquired by a consortium that includes Oracle, Andreessen Horowitz and private equity firm Silver Lake Management,” citing “people familiar with the matter.”

In his Interconnected newsletter, investor Kevin Xu wrote that the deal could represent “the contours of a roadmap and path, however murky and fickle, for other Chinese technologies to flow to the U.S. without too much political headache.”

Beijing has commitment issues

The Chinese language report in the Communist Party newspaper, the People’s Daily, is perhaps the least committal of the reports: “The two sides…reached a basic framework consensus on properly resolving TikTok-related issues through cooperation, reducing investment barriers, and encouraging relevant economic and trade cooperation. The two sides will consult on the relevant outcome documents and carry out their respective domestic approval procedures.”

And therein lies the rub: The official Chinese language is extremely vague. No doubt the negotiating Chinese officials know Trump could change his mind at any time for any reason, and they are sick of being jerked around.

Soy bean snub and other irritants

There are also many other issues the U.S. and China are far away from working out that could affect a TikTok deal:

• “China’s snub of U.S. soybeans is a crisis for American farmers,” according to the New York Times.

• “China’s internet regulator has banned the country’s biggest technology companies from buying Nvidia’s artificial intelligence chips, as Beijing steps up efforts to boost its domestic industry and compete with the U.S.” said the Financial Times. This comes after the U.S. relaxed restrictions on Nvidia chip sales to China.

• “Beijing still isn’t giving foreign companies access to critically needed rare earths,” according to the European Chamber of Commerce in China, cited by CNBC.

• Astronomical reciprocal tariffs of 145% are set to take effect in November. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC that he expects further talks to happen before then.

That’s far from a complete list of irritants, but even that is a lot of stuff to work out.

A spate of U.S.-China talks

However, judging by the recent flurry of diplomacy, some kind of deal or meeting or agreement looks to be in the works, even if it does not happen this week:

• U.S. “Secretary of War” Pete Hegseth held a video call with Chinese Defense Minister Admiral Dǒng Jūn 董军, their first direct talks since Hegseth took office.

• “Hours later,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wáng Yì 王毅 and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had a phone call.

• The Chinese embassy in the U.S. has confirmed “that a bipartisan group of lawmakers from the U.S. House of Representatives will visit the country later this month for the first time in over six years,” led by Representative Adam Smith, ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee.

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Other news that has caught my eye

AI and returnee tech talents

“Why one of the world’s most brilliant AI scientists left the U.S. for China” is the subtitle of an excellent profile of Song-Chun Zhu (朱松纯 Zhū Sōngchún) by Chang Che.

Alex Kot, whom the South China Morning Post called “Singapore’s leading AI scientist… who has been with Nanyang Technological University in Singapore for more than 30 years” has moved to Shenzhen MSU-BIT University, a Chinese-Russian cooperative university.

Sū Fēi 苏菲, a veteran Intel chip architect has left the U.S. to take up a professorship at his alma mater, the engineering powerhouse of Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The Locknet, exported

“A trove of internal documents leaked from a little-known Chinese company has pulled back the curtain on how digital censorship tools are being marketed and exported globally,” reported WIRED.

For a comprehensive examination of China’s Great FireWall and its entire Internet censorship apparatus, see The Locknet: How China controls its internet and why it matters, by Jessica Batke and Laura Edelson on ChinaFile.

Arctic shipping route

A seasonal shipping line named Arctic Express and run by Haijie Shipping Company has begun transporting freight from China north across the Arctic to European ports, cutting travel time and avoiding the risks of Houthi attacks near the Suez Canal.

How rock-and-Roll Saved a Remote Chinese School

In a mountainside village in Guizhou province, a teacher’s music lessons turned ‘left-behind’ children into viral stars, reviving a dying school and offering students a path out of poverty

‘China ditching the dollar’

“Officials believe that the yuan has finally come of age,” says the Economist, as “Donald Trump’s erratic trade policy, gaping fiscal deficits and threats to the independence of America’s Federal Reserve risk badly hurting the dollar,” and “foreign investors are piling in” to the yuan, as are “many governments looking for dollar alternatives.”

Interesting links, fun stuff, jobs

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You can watch the parade live right now on CGTN’s Youtube channel.

The China Week will go out tomorrow with concise analysis of the parade and the Shanghai Cooperation meeting in Tianjin over the weekend of bonhomie with Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin, and Narendra Modi.

In the meantime, here are some screenshots from CCTV and CGTN’s early coverage of the September 3 military parade:

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China’s chip stocks soar after “real DeepSeek moment”

Chinese markets at 10-year highs

“China's stock market is on a tear supported by state money and big institutions,” and the “benchmark Shanghai Composite Index is up by a quarter since April and at 10-year highs,” reported Reuters, although this is “stark contrast to China's economy which remains mired in a property crisis, weak consumption and a deflationary spiral.”

AI chip stocks soar

Another factor boosting share prices is what investor and tech analyst Kevin Xu called “the real DeepSeek moment.” This refers to a statement from Chinese AI firm DeepSeek that its new model is “designed for the next generation of domestically produced chips to be released soon.” Semiconductor and “computing power stocks surged across the board,” reported Phoenix News, adding that “the market reaction wasn't simply hype, but rather a recognition of the potential for domestic chips to truly reach the forefront of the global computing power market.”

As Chinese investors piled into domestic chip stocks, U.S. Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi introduced the No Advanced Chips for the CCP Act of 2025 to Congress, and his colleague John Moolenaar wrote a letter to Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick begging him to implement an “export control policy must aim to maintain an overwhelming and ever-widening gap in AI compute between China and the U.S.”

China’s still got a long way to go to catch up to leading global semiconductor technology, but the direction is clear, and it makes U.S. attempts to cut China off from advanced tech seem increasingly futile. Beijing is also leaning into AI: The State Council this week “set targets for the adoption of AI-powered devices across various industries—aiming for over 70% by 2027 and over 90% by 2030.”

Related:

• China’s chipmakers are seeking to triple the country’s total output of artificial intelligence processors next year / Financial Times

• Chinese AI chipmaker Cambricon posts record profit as Beijing pushes pivot from Nvidia / Financial Times

• Meet Cambricon: How 2 ‘genius brothers’ created China’s potential rival to Nvidia / SCMP

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Global South solidarity with China and Russia

Putin and Modi to attend SCO summit

Chinese state media webpages are currently dominated by propaganda about two upcoming events:

The largest ever summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization

From August 31 to September 1, Xi Jinping will host Vladimir Putin and Narendra Modi, among “more than 20 foreign leaders and 10 heads of international organizations” at the annual summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional security grouping with ten full members and more than 20 other observers and partners.

Reuters said the event will be “a powerful show of Global South solidarity in the age of Donald Trump while also helping sanctions-hit Russia pull off another diplomatic coup.” Beijing’s support for Moscow was also on display on August 26, when Xi Jinping met the chairman of the Russian parliament's lower house and called the China-Russia relationship “unparalleled in terms of stability, maturity and strategic significance among major-country relations.”

Military parade to mark end of war against Japan

On September 3, there will be a military parade to mark what state media call “the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).”

Expect to see new weapons and military tech and enough goose stepping soldiers to make Donald Trump cry with envy. But some senior military men will be missing: as Bloomberg reported: Xi Jinping “has ousted almost a fifth of the generals whom he personally appointed while running the country.”

China consolidates rare earth dominance

Trump trade war update

Rare earths

On August 25, Donald Trump said China has to “give” the U.S. rare earth magnets, “they don’t give us magnets, then we have to charge them 200% tariffs or something.” But his shrill tone is not matched by his actions, which seem to indicate that he would do almost anything to make some kind of deal with China that he can brag about.

Meanwhile, Beijing is establishing a “rare earth product flow record system” which research firm Trivium said “will sharpen Beijing’s ability to steer economic planning and maximize the bite of export controls.”

Airplanes

Trump also threatened to cut off airplane parts, saying “200 of their planes were unable to fly because we were not giving them Boeing parts purposely because they weren’t giving us magnets.” This might be true in the short term, but as with chips, the leverage will not last long: This week also brought news that Zhōu Míng 周明, “renowned as the mastermind behind key industrial software used in planes such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A380, has left his leadership role at U.S.-based global engineering giant Altair to return to China.”

Chinese students

On August 25, while meeting South Korean President Lee Jae-myung at the White House, Trump said “I hear so many stories about we’re not going to allow their [Chinese] students…to come in. We’re going to allow their students to come in. It’s very important, 600,000 students.”

The state-owned China Daily was not impressed, commenting that the “welcome would be welcomed if sincere.”

One country, one system

Another blow against the press in Hong Kong

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This week’s newsletter is going out on early Friday morning Beijing time. I usually send it between Tuesday and Thursday: Do you have a preference for a day? Do you care if the newsletter comes at exactly the same time each week? If you have thoughts, please let me know by replying to this email (or writing to jeremy@99words.com).

Two recommendations this week:

• Has Trump gone soft on China—a ChinaFile Conversation that I worked on.

• China watching in Chinese—A guide to Chinese-language analysis of Chinese politics by the Asia Society’s Shengyu Wang (now added to our guide on how to stay informed about China)

—Jeremy Goldkorn

Continental moves

China embraces India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Xi in Tibet

On August 6, U.S. President Donald Trump said he would double tariffs on India to 50%, allegedly* to penalize Delhi for purchasing Russian oil. On August 18, Chinese Foreign Minister Wáng Yì 王毅 arrived in New Delhi for a short visit, during which he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar—for only the second time since 2020 when deadly clashes in the Galwan valley in Ladakh, a disputed Himalayan border region, led to a complete breakdown of ties between the countries.

Official statements from both Beijing and Delhi have been positive, and included sunny statements about bilateral trade. In the Chinese readout of the meeting, Wang Yi calls India a “major power.” As Manoj Kewalramani notes, “It’s not customary for the Chinese side to refer to India as a ‘major power,’ a designation usually “held specifically for the U.S., Russia, and Europe.”

Wang Yi also confirmed that Modi will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Tianjin from August 31 to September 1, which Vladimir Putin will probably join.

The takeaway: “Chinese readouts signal a cautious thaw,” say state-affiliated commenters Fred Gao and Gao Xirui. And as the U.S. retreats from its global role and engages in erratic acts of hostility such as the new tariffs on India, we can expect China’s relationship with many other countries ti improve.

Other news from the neighborhood:

• After leaving India, Wang Yi traveled to Kabul to attend for the Sixth Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Dialogue between Afghanistan, China, and Pakistan. He also met Afghan Prime Minister Muhammad Hasan Akhund. Wang said “Beijing was keen on exploring and mining minerals in Afghanistan and wanted Kabul to formally join its Belt and Road Initiative,” per Reuters.

• Israeli media is reporting that Tehran is looking to China to rebuild its missile capabilities after the Twelve-Day War and U.S. bombing of nuclear facilities, but Beijing has “not confirmed it would replenish the Iranian arsenal.”

• North of the Indian border, Xi Jinping and a large delegation visited Lhasa. The entire front page of the Party’s People’s Daily newspaper today is about the visit and the on the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Tibet Autonomous Region to consolidate Chinese rule. As the Wall Street Journal put it: “Xi reminds Tibet that Beijing is in charge.”

*Why would anyone believe that Trump’s new tariffs on India are about stopping Delhi from buying Russian oil? Trump has never led any punitive action against Putin, but he has been pushing around brown and black people—publicly—for sport since the 1970s.

Update: According to an August 30 New York Times report, Trump imposed the tariffs on India because he was enraged that Modi did not give him credit for “solving]” the decades-long military conflict between India and Pakistan.

U.S.-China trade and tech wars

Beijing doesn’t want your lousy chips

Rare earths: China “is telling companies they cannot go out and build huge inventories in rare earths, or they will face shortages”, reported the Financial Times. (“China dominates the production of rare earths, processing about 90% of the world’s supply and making 94% of permanent magnets. It has weaponized that control over the vital industry in the trade war with the U.S.”)

Chips: “ Nvidia is developing a new artificial intelligence chip for China based on its latest Blackwell architecture that will be more powerful than the H20 model it is currently allowed to sell there,” reported Reuters. But Beijing is not that excited: after last week asking Chinese companies to avoid purchasing Nvidia chips, this week state news agency Xinhua warned that the “United States’ practice of installing location trackers in chip shipments at risk of diversion to China reflects the ‘instincts of a surveillance empire.’”

The robots still have a way to go

The robot Olympics in Beijing

The first World Humanoid Robot Games took place in Beijing from August 15 to 17, with 280 teams from 16 countries playing sports and displaying their skills at menial labor.

It’s clear that robots are not yet ready to take all of our jobs: “stop-start hotel bellhops and a maid that missed the trash bin” are among the examples of robot fails noted by the Wall Street Journal. Contenders from Hangzhou’s Unitree Robotics seem to have performed best in the sport competitions. The Baiguan newsletter has compiled an illustrated review of the “best moments” from the event.

Making China great again

China creates new visa to attract scientists

As the Trump administration continues its attacks on science and on universities, China’s State Council has announced that young science and technology professionals would be able to apply for “young talent” K visas from October 1. The new visa will probably have an upper age limit of 40 or 45.

The endless scroll comes to TV

More short video on broadcast TV

China's broadcast authorities have relaxed rules on the censorship and regulation of TV dramas, apparently to encourage TV stations to more effectively compete with online video platforms.

The policies bode well for “drama content producers and long video platforms given likely more diversified content supply, shorter regulatory review time, and potentially more monetization potential,” according to financial analysts cited by the Wall Street Journal. This also “reflects the anxiety of a mobile and short-video dominated media environment,” says China consumer analyst Jiang Yaling.

High speed rail in Africa

China to fund Nigerian bullet train

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