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Xi and Trump will meet this week. Here’s the exclusive info you need to know

We have put together stories from our exclusive coverage of Xi and Trump’s upcoming meeting in the US. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China, US may unveil measures to boost military ties when Xi visits Washington China and the United States are discussing possible announcements to strengthen military-to-military ties during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to Washington, multiple sources familiar with the discussions told the South...

September 21, 2026

Industry

Communist Party sets October plenum date as Xi prepares for Trump summit

The Communist Party has set a date for its most important political gathering this autumn, the news coming shortly before Beijing confirmed Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US. The fifth plenary session of the party’s 20th Central Committee will be held from October 26 to October 29, according to official news agency Xinhua on Monday. The meeting of political elites is likely to be the most important gathering ahead of next autumn’s national party congress, a five-yearly event...

September 21, 2026

Industry

China tests first practical submarine solar power plant at 10-metre depth in the open sea

In a breakthrough that could power the future of underwater operations, Chinese scientists have built and tested the world’s first submarine solar farm, successfully operating a perovskite-based photovoltaic system at a depth of 10 metres (33 feet) in the open sea. The submerged array charged batteries and powered an LED panel, proving that solar energy can be harvested even in the dim, blue-green twilight of the ocean. The achievement by a team from Yunnan University was published on September...

September 21, 2026

Industry

Pacific island states are trapped in Cold War 2.0

Geopolitically, it’s like a feudal hierarchy: small island nations as vassals, Australia and New Zealand as local lords and the US as king Finally, this month, a PIF statement that “registered concern on the recent intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test” was issued. China was not named, and Nauru disassociated itself. Kiribati previously said singling out China was unfair when the US regularly tested such missiles near the Marshall Islands. In March, the US launched a Minuteman III ICBM from California, landing near the Marshall Islands 6,700km away; it followed a similar test in November last year. The US has test-fired at least 15 ballistic missiles into the Pacific since 2021.

September 20, 2026

Industry

Low pay, job insecurity for China’s trainee doctors a turn-off for young talent

A sharp drop in the number of candidates for clinical medicine has highlighted the challenges of pursuing a medical career Huang Qiaoyuan has just a year to go before she completes her undergraduate medical training in southern China, but she is thinking of quitting the field and going into consulting. She also thought it would be a financially secure choice in a country where the career has carried high prestige. “I truly believed that medicine was a skill-based career that would protect me from unemployment,” she said.

September 20, 2026

Industry

Middle powers don’t have to wait for a Trump-Xi-Putin summit

The prospect of United States, Chinese and Russian leaders meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Shenzhen this November has revived the Yalta analogy. Talk of a Trump-Xi-Putin summit – echoing the 1945 meeting that reshaped the world – surfaced during the first Trump term, and speculation returned last year with the 80th anniversary of the second world war. No such meeting occurred. However, Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the two presidents back-to-back in...

September 20, 2026

Industry

Reporter’s note: two Delhis, one weekend – when the world came to dinner

The Indian capital was prepared for the 18th Brics summit like a house before company, if at times the cost of its finery fell unevenly I grew up in Delhi. Not Lutyens’ Delhi, that quieter, greener stretch of tree-lined avenues and high-walled colonial bungalows where the VIPs live. But close enough to know that two cities share one name. One Delhi is generally messy. Rubbish piled into small mountains by the roadside. No footpaths to walk on. Narrow streets marked as one way, with every kind of traffic coming at you from every direction, and then simply stuck. And the dust. Not a film on the windowsill, but something you breathe. It hangs in the heat, gets into your throat, burns your eyes and sets off the sneezing before breakfast. The other is the Delhi that gets dressed when the world comes to dinner.

September 20, 2026

Industry

Is Africa becoming a ‘testing ground’ for Chinese power projection?

Six Chinese J-16 fighter jets arrived in Egypt last month for a joint exercise in what was the aircraft’s first known deployment in Africa. In Egyptian airspace, Chinese pilots had the rare chance to train against the Rafale, an advanced French-built fighter. The 6,000km (3,700-mile) deployment was completed in about nine hours with aerial refuelling, and tested China’s ability to move and support a combat-capable air package far from home. Analysts say the exercise reflects a decades-long...

September 19, 2026

Industry

How will Beijing receive the most senior Taiwan official at Apec events this year?

Hung Sun-han will be the first cabinet-level official under William Lai Ching-te to travel to mainland China Hung will be the most senior Taiwanese official to visit the mainland for Apec events this year. The island’s vice-minister of economic affairs, Lai Chien-hsin, took part in the energy ministerial meeting in Beijing last week and then chief trade negotiator Yang Jen-ni participated in a trade ministers’ meeting in Suzhou in May. While Hung’s visit is being closely watched for signs of a possible thaw in a prolonged cross-strait stand-off, analysts have cautioned against interpreting it as an icebreaking trip or a resumption of official exchanges between Taipei and Beijing.

September 19, 2026

Industry

Trump says Xi state dinner is ‘a very tough ticket’ as business guest list takes shape

US President Donald Trump said on Friday that he had turned away friends hoping to attend next week’s state dinner for Chinese President Xi Jinping, as reports emerged that executives from some of China’s biggest companies could join the visit. “This is a very tough ticket for me,” Trump told reporters. “I’ve told a lot of very good friends of mine, you just can’t come.” The president said the White House had room for “about 125 or so people”, although thousands would like to attend. He lamented...

September 18, 2026

Industry

Word to the wise on organising a Chinese leader’s US visit

Ex-senior US intelligence official Dennis Wilder reflects on his experience of Hu Jintao’s 2006 White House visit ahead of Xi-Trump meeting Let me begin by wishing those planning Chinese President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US on September 24 the best of luck, something I didn’t have in 2006, when president George W. Bush invited president Hu Jintao to the White House. After you read this, you may wonder how I was able to keep my job. All I can say is, Bush was a very forgiving boss. This story begins in January 2006. I had just been elevated from China director to acting special assistant to the president and senior director for Asian affairs on the National Security Council. My predecessor Michael Green had returned to his position as a professor at Georgetown University. To say I was wet behind the ears is an understatement. As 2006 began, Beijing was pressing for a state visit by Hu to Washington. Bush had made a highly successful visit to China just two months earlier as part of a four-nation Asian tour. China was playing a key role as host of the six-party talks on North Korea and not standing in the way of the war on terrorism.

September 18, 2026

Industry

Trump claims US Greenland security deal, China reportedly among adversaries being kept out

US president says Washington will expand its military presence on the island; sources report the restrictions include China In a Truth Social post, Trump described the arrangement as giving the US “permanent control over security, and all other needs” in Greenland. He said no US adversary could establish a base, maintain a military presence, or make sensitive investments there without Washington’s express written approval. The US would immediately begin developing a large military presence on the island, Trump said, adding that Washington would work with Greenlanders on its development and construction. He said the agreement had no end date and would come at no cost to US taxpayers.

September 18, 2026