China's new data security law takes effect from Wednesday – the latest effort to tighten oversight of the country's mammoth tech sector.The broadly worded law seeks to tighten the leash on China's tech giants and what they do with information from their hundreds of millions of users. It also comes as fears grow over data security with government departments becoming increasingly dependent on cloud storage services.Beijing has also flagged national security concerns as

Chinese pupils returned to school Wednesday with new textbooks peppered with "Xi Jinping thought", as the Communist Party aims to extend his personality cult to children as young as seven and rear a new generation of patriots.The education ministry has said it will incorporate Xi's vaguely defined political ideology into the national curriculum, from primary schools to graduate programmes, at the start of the new school year on Wednesday.Primary school teachers must "plant

In the second quarter of 2021, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 7.9 percent year on year. That was a relatively strong performance, especially given the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy. But, for China, it represents a disappointment: a Caixin survey of economists showed the median estimate for the second quarter was 8.2 percent growth. Chinese economists broadly agree that China’s potential growth rate is six percent.

President Joe Biden said Friday that China was withholding "critical information" on the origins of COVID-19 after the United States (US) intelligence community said it did not believe the virus was a bioweapon – but remained split on whether it escaped from a lab.The US, however, does not believe Chinese officials had foreknowledge of the virus before the initial outbreak of the pandemic that has now claimed 4.5 million lives, according to the unclassified summary of an eagerly awa

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its partner countries in the Asia-Pacific are increasingly concerned about the challenges that an assertive China could pose to global security. Based on the report ‘NATO 2030: United for a New Era’ dated November 2020, these challenges are multi-domain. A political strategy is there but so are the hurdles.

Vice President Kamala Harris launched a new broadside against China as she ended her Southeast Asian tour in Hanoi Thursday, warning the United States (US) would continue to push back against Beijing's claims in disputed Asian waters.The comments came on the final day of a regional trip in which Washington has sought to reset relations in Asia after the turbulent Donald Trump years and stress its commitment to Southeast Asian allies.During the trip, Harris had already accused Beijing twi

Faced with a worrying demographic crisis of its own making, China is encouraging couples to have more children.There's just one problem: women aren't too keen on the idea.For more than 35 years, the ruling Communist Party strictly enforced a one-child policy, as the country tried to address overpopulation and alleviate poverty.

Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday the United States (US) would find new ways to "raise the pressure on Beijing", accusing China of bullying in hotly disputed Asian waters for the second time in two days.Harris made the comments as she began a visit to Vietnam to stress US commitment to Asia, a trip that critics have slammed as tone-deaf given the parallels with the superpower's evacuations from Saigon and Kabul.During a meeting with Vietnam President Nguyen Xuan Phuc,

China's overtures to the Taliban indicate a bid to extract maximum benefit from the dramatic collapse of the United States (US) project in Afghanistan.But Beijing will remain watchful of the hardliners now running the show in Kabul, especially as Afghanistan borders China's eastern Xinjiang province, home to the Muslim-majority Uyghurs, analysts say.Around a fortnight before the Islamists seized power in a lightning offensive that stunned the world, Foreign Minister Wang Yi hosted a

In the year 2034, the United States (US) and China become embroiled in a series of military conflicts that escalate into a devastating tactical nuclear war. Other countries – including Russia, Iran, and India – get involved. Suddenly, the world is on the verge of World War III. This is the scenario described in 2034: A Novel of the Next World War, an engrossing work of speculative fiction by NATO’s former supreme commander, Admiral James Stavridis, and Elliot Ackerman.