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BUSINESSSep 18AM Markets Need to Know: F-35 sale, China tariffs, and moreThis article covers key morning market insights, including topics such as F-35 sales and China tariffs. These issues indicate significant geopolitical and economic factors impacting global markets.Seeking Alpha Tech
MILITARYSep 18Could mystery Shanghai vessel be a mothership for China’s underwater drones?An unusual vessel taking shape at a Shanghai shipyard has been assessed as a possible mothership for China’s large uncrewed submarines – a capability that, if confirmed, could enable Beijing to operate the drones far from its own coast for sustained periods. Open-source naval analyst H.I. Sutton said satellite imagery of the roughly 200-metre (656-foot) hull at Hudong-Zhonghua showed a large internal hangar and an opening at the stern that appeared designed to launch and recover...South China Morning Post
POLITICSSep 18Xi-Trump summit, China AI at Brics, Asian GamesChinese President Xi Jinping will travel to the US for a summit next week, which is likely to include talks about artificial intelligence (AI), tariffs and a potential trade-war truce extension. Final details will be firmed up in New York on Sunday at a meeting between US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Trade Representative Jamieson Greer and Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng, the Financial Times reported, citing an unidentified US official. Bessent has said that talks are scheduled for this...South China Morning Post
DISASTERSep 18North Korea’s nuclear tests awaken fault lines pointing to huge volcano at China borderSouth China Morning Post
BUSINESSSep 18China’s Fuel Exports Surge as Global Diesel Shortage DeepensChina's fuel exports are increasing significantly amidst a worsening global diesel shortage. This impacts international energy markets and supply chains, highlighting China's role in addressing or influencing global energy deficits.Yahoo Finance
SCI & TECHSep 18How China plans to ‘firmly rank at the global forefront’ with 25% of first-in-class drugsChina has set its sights on becoming a global biomedicine powerhouse by 2030, targeting key technological breakthroughs and at least a quarter of the world’s first-in-class drugs market under a new five-year plan for the sector. By the end of the decade, China would “firmly rank at the global forefront” in biopharmaceutical research and development and applications, with its “core competitiveness” and international influence making a significant leap, authorities said on Friday. The biomedical...South China Morning Post
SCI & TECHSep 18China’s CXMT eyes flash-memory push amid global shortage - reportA report indicates that China's CXMT is looking to increase its focus on flash-memory production. This comes amidst a reported global shortage of the component.Seeking Alpha Tech
BUSINESSSep 18From US Fed rates to China’s global export share: 4 figures shaping marketsThe US Federal Reserve raised its benchmark interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point this week, followed by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Japan, while the 10-year US Treasury yield fell back below 5 per cent. Here are some of the figures that have drawn the most market attention this week. Fed raises interest rates for first time since 2023 The US Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously on Thursday to raise rates by 25 basis points to a target range of 3.75 to...South China Morning Post
WORLDSep 18China launches Pinglu Canal; Hong Kong unveils first 5-year plan: SCMP’s 7 highlightsWe have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China launches Pinglu Canal, slashing transit time to Southeast Asia China officially opened its landmark Pinglu Canal to navigation on Wednesday, creating a new maritime gateway for the country’s southwestern hinterland and providing...South China Morning Post
BUSINESSSep 18Is China Loosening It's Grip On LFP Technology Controls?CATL, the world's biggest battery maker is betting big on sodium-ion. China is taxing lithium-ion at home. Neither of those things means China is about to allow the hand over its most valuable battery know-how just yet. China's export controls on lithium iron phosphate (LFP) technology come with an expiry date, but don't expect that dater to arrive anytime soon. CATL itself expects sodium-ion batteries to eventually claim 30-40% of the market it currently serves with LFP, and multiple industry forecasts now put sodium-ion's share of new stationary storage and entry-level EV cells above 60% by 2028. Solid-state cells are creeping toward small-scale vehicle production around 2027. If LFP is a maturing, soon-to-be-secondary chemistry, why would Beijing keep guarding manufacturing know-how for it as tightly as it guards its genuine frontier technology? The reporting on what China has actually done with these controls over the past year suggests the opposite conclusion: Beijing is managing LFP's decline on its own terms, not giving up on it. What actually got relaxed — and why The controls are not one policy but a layered stack, and it matters which layer moved. In July 2023 and again in July 2025, China required export licenses for LFP cathode preparation technology, tightening the July 2025 round to cover fourth-generation LFP cathode know-how specifically — the newest, most cost-competitive version of the chemistry. On October 9, 2025, Beijing added a far broader dual-use package: licenses for lithium-ion batteries above 300 Wh/kg, high-density LFP cathode materials, nickel-cobalt precursor materials, and the equipment used to manufacture all of it. Three weeks later, at the Trump-Xi summit in Busan, the third-generation LFP restriction was dropped as part of the broader trade truce. In November 2025, China went further and suspended the entire October 9 package — batteries, materials, equipment — through November 10, 2026. On the surface, that looks like exactly the relaxation the sodium-ion logic would predict. Look closer, though, and the fourth-generation LFP cathode technology license, arguably the piece that matters most, since it determines whether CATL's own European gigafactories can run best-in-class chemistry or stay capped on third-generation output was not part of that suspension. As of the most recent tracking, it remains in force. What eased was the newer, broader package tied to an active trade negotiation; what stayed was the older, narrower control tied to who gets to build competitive LFP capacity outside China. A tax policy that tells the real story The clearer signal of Beijing's actual thinking arrived in July 2026, and it has nothing to do with export licenses. China's finance ministry announced a domestic consumption tax on lithium-ion batteries — 2% from September 1, 2026, rising to 4% from September 2027, while explicitly exempting sodium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries and fuel cells through the end of 2028. Next generation PV cells got a parallel treatment: perovskite, tandem and gallium arsenide cells exempted, conventional silicon cells taxed from 2027. If China genuinely viewed LFP as a depreciating strategic asset, easing its export controls would be the coherent move to pair with that tax. Instead, Beijing is doing the opposite in each direction at once: discouraging lithium-ion production at home through price signals, while keeping its most advanced LFP manufacturing technology licensed and therefore controllable, for export. It clearly wants to milk LFP for all it's worth for now, on its own schedule, while quietly redirecting domestic capital toward the chemistries it wants to dominate next. What it means for India For India, on the LFP side, projects like the Tata-owned Agratas's cell manufacturing build-out in Gujarat remain dependent, directly or indirectly, on technology and equipment where China's fourth-generation licensing regime still applies — meaning Indian LFP capacity is likely to stay at least one generation behind China's own production for as long as that control holds, trade-truce headlines notwithstanding. On the sodium-ion side, the tax exemption is arguably the more consequential fact for India's own bets, including Reliance's Faradion. It signals Chinese capital and manufacturing capacity rotating toward sodium-ion faster than the export-control conversation alone would suggest, not because Beijing is loosening its hold on battery technology, but because it has already decided where the next hold needs to be built. India's storage sector should plan for Chinese competition in sodium-ion arriving on a shorter timeline than LFP's own history would suggest, not a longer one. That is, if we get there in due course at all.saurenergy · india
POLITICSSep 18Russia and China veto US-backed resolution to monitor Iran nuclear sanctionsThe proposal, which the United States had drafted to extend the UN expert panel’s mandate for a year was defeated by a vote of 11-2, with Somalia and Pakistan abstaining because of the Russian and Chinese vetoes.EuroNews [en]
BUSINESSSep 18Can the new Pinglu Canal become China’s ‘Yangtze of the southwest’?The opening of China’s first new river-to-sea canal since 1949 – which will boost trade links with Southeast Asia – could transform the economy of the country’s landlocked southwestern interior in ways comparable to the Yangtze’s role in Shanghai’s rise, according to its operator. The 134.2km (83.4 mile) Pinglu Canal, which opened on Wednesday, links a major tributary of the Pearl River in the southern Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region with the Gulf of Tonkin, known as the Beibu Gulf in China,...South China Morning Post
SCI & TECHSep 18China’s ‘future Elon Musk’ solves daily problems with AI; vocabulary method draws 20 million viewsA 13-year-old boy from eastern China has garnered significant attention online for his ability to leverage artificial intelligence and programming to solve everyday challenges. Yang Xizhe, a junior secondary school student from Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, stands at an impressive 1.9 metres tall and has amassed a following of over 500,000 on mainland social media platforms. Growing up in a city celebrated for its vibrant technology ecosystem, he identifies as an “AI native.” Yang believes that...South China Morning Post
CONFLICTSep 18Filipino fishers count the cost of South China Sea disputeFor fishermen like Joey Marabe in the Philippine province of Zambales, the geopolitical contest playing out in the South China Sea can be measured in dwindling catches and shrinking incomes, as the presence of Chinese vessels around a contested shoal increasingly limits where they can work. “It’s a huge drop. Before, a lot of us who could go out to Scarborough Shoal used to bring home around 15,000 pesos (US$238) a week, a comfortable amount for our families,” said Marabe, a resident of Masinloc...South China Morning Post
BUSINESSSep 18China publicly names officials in ‘unprecedented’ hidden-debt crackdown. Can it work?A recently issued official circular has put China’s long-running problem with hidden local government debt back in the spotlight. Earlier this month, the Ministry of Finance (MoF) and the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) jointly outlined six typical cases spanning six provinces where local authorities had fallen short of targets to resolve unrecorded liabilities. “For hidden-debt penalty announcements, it is unprecedented to have the CCDI alongside the MoF,” said Qiao Yide,...South China Morning Post
POLITICSSep 18Chinese Foreign Minister highlights stability of China-US ties to Rubio before Xi's tripThe Chinese diplomatic chief emphasizes stable and constructive progress in relations with the US, ahead of Xi Jinping's visit to Washington. Both countries seek to manage differences and strengthen communication, amidst preparations for a possible summit between Xi and Trump.Clarín
SCI & TECHSep 17China has gained pace in the space race by recovering rockets – but can it relaunch one?As technological developments augur an era of renewed space exploration, China is aiming to become a major player. In the second part of this two-part series, Wency Chen and Ben Jiang examine the country’s strategy and progress on reusable rockets – a field where the US has a tremendous lead. US commercial space firm SpaceX has been eager to tout its deployment of reusable first-stage rocket boosters, claiming to have flown more than 600 missions with the cost-cutting launch components. Despite...South China Morning Post
POLITICSSep 17US families ramp up efforts for loved ones’ release from China ahead of Xi’s visitChen Youlin, a Chinese-American scientist, travelled back to China in October 2024 for a month-long holiday, including to celebrate his mother’s 80th birthday. As he prepared to leave, authorities arrested him at the airport in Beijing. For more than 670 days, his wife, Rong Yufang, and other family members have not been able to see or speak with him. “Sometimes I realise I can no longer clearly remember the sound of his voice, and that breaks my heart,” Rong told the South China Morning Post....South China Morning Post
POLITICSSep 17Russia and China veto U.S. proposal for U.N. experts to keep monitoring sanctions on IranRussia and China vetoed a United Nations resolution Thursday that would have authorized U.N. experts to keep monitoring sanctions that were reimposed against Iran last year over its…Japan Today
DISASTERSep 17What the China-Nepal floods teach us about crisis communicationThe Himalayan disaster that tore through the China-Nepal border last month was a human calamity before it became a media story. A torrent of ice, rock, mud and debris swept through valleys, destroying key infrastructure, severing roads and communications, and leaving families desperate for news. In Gyirong county in the Tibet autonomous region, the disaster hit a major border crossing and created a rescue environment as physically difficult as any imaginable. The human toll extends beyond the...South China Morning Post
POLITICSSep 17US Senator Shaheen: China Will Feel Impact Of Russia SanctionsJeanne Shaheen, the senior senator from New Hampshire, spoke to RFE/RL shortly after the passage of sanctions legislation intended to target Russia’s energy revenues. Shaheen said the sanctions will force other countries, notably China, to wean themselves off of Russian oil and gas.RFE/RL
BUSINESSSep 17US trade chief pressed Brazil to review Anglo American nickel sale to ChinaUS Trade Representative (USTR) Jamieson Greer asked Brazil to review the sale of Anglo American’s nickel mines to a Chinese state-controlled miner in exchange for tariff relief, two people familiar with the negotiations told the South China Morning Post. Washington made the request during talks to lift the 50 per cent tariffs US President Donald Trump imposed on Brazilian goods last year. First reported by Brazilian newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo and CNN Brazil on Thursday, the proposal would...South China Morning Post
POLITICSSep 17Russia, China veto UN mandate to monitor Iran sanctionsAl Jazeera [en]
BUSINESSSep 17Why have China’s oil prices reached a record high?Why have China's oil prices reached a record high?Al Jazeera [en]
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