Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to North Korea may have helped cement China’s “indispensable” role in ensuring regional stability and highlighted its importance to his host’s economy, analysts said. The Chinese president wrapped up his visit on Tuesday afternoon after reaching what he said was a “critical consensus” with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. Xi told a lunch at the Kumsusan State Guest House that he was ready to work with Kim to to “jointly guide China-North Korea relations...

China has given Russia some of the first soil samples collected on the far side of the moon by the Chang’e-6 lunar lander. On June 3, 1.5 grams (0.05 ounces) of lunar soil collected during the mission were handed over to the Planetary Physics Department of the Russian Space Research Institute. “The transfer of the soil samples took place as part of the development of cooperation in space science and lunar exploration between Russia and China,” the institute said. “Researchers will study the...

US President Donald Trump’s administration is holding regular high-level discussions with Britain to secure the long-term future of the strategically important Diego Garcia military base in the Indian Ocean, a US official has told the South China Morning Post. The confirmation comes amid reports that the White House is actively considering buying the Chagos Islands – host to a strategically important joint US-British military facility – amid concerns over China’s expanding naval ambitions in the...

A frenzied fortnight of EU policymaking on China kicked off on Tuesday, amid signs that big member states may be willing to take a tougher stance on trade despite huge pressure from Beijing. Beijing’s commerce vice-minister, Ling Ji, was set to meet with new EU trade director Ditte Juul Jorgensen in Brussels and have talks with Chinese businesses in the Belgian capital before heading to forums in Berlin and Dusseldorf. At the same time, EU diplomats began preparations for next week’s blockbuster...

Debate has erupted in Taiwan’s legislature over a proposed 12-fold increase in funding next year for a defence planning programme with the United States. The proposed rise in spending is for the Joint Force Design (JFD) programme, a bilateral defence planning mechanism used to assess the island’s military requirements, operational concepts and capability gaps. Findings for the JFD, formally known as the Taiwan-US Defence Department Cooperative Assessment Project, help shape force planning,...

The Philippines has accused China of building an artificial structure at the hotly contested Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. Citing aerial monitoring, the National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea, an inter-agency body overseeing Manila’s maritime strategy in the South China Sea, said on Tuesday that a floating platform six metres (19.7 feet) wide and six metres long was located within the shoal. The structure appeared to be an antenna and individuals were seen on board, the task...

The Pentagon added tech giants Alibaba and Baidu and carmaker BYD to a blacklist of Chinese companies with military ties amid widening competition between the world’s two largest economies. Drug maker WuXi AppTec, robot company Unitree and carmaker Nio were among other businesses added to the 1260H list, according to a US Department of Defence notice. Some Chinese companies no longer operating in the United States were removed in the annual update. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post. The...