US tech curbs ‘incentivise' China, Trump-Xi talks may ‘happen soon': SCMP daily highlights

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A senior member of US President Donald Trump's economic team said on Sunday that Trump may speak with China's President Xi Jinping 'very soon', adding that any such call could help break the impasse in trade talks between the world's two biggest economies.
US law professor Angela Zhang says regulating AI is 'like buying insurance' and precautions must be taken, especially by pioneers in the field.
Adding aerial refuelling to pilot training is seen as a significant step for China's air force. Photo: Xinhua
China's air force has introduced aerial refuelling to its pilot training programme as the People's Liberation Army tries to step up combat readiness and long-range capabilities.

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South China Morning Post

an hour ago

• South China Morning Post

How Huawei's silicon strategy defies US sanctions to advance China's AI ambitions

Advertisement Huawei's advanced AI chip initiative, however, suddenly faced a major obstacle a year later in August 2020, when the US Commerce Department tightened restrictions by barring the sale of semiconductor products and services – sourced from anywhere with US technology – to the company and its affiliates without a requisite licence. As a result, Huawei supplier Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co , the world's largest and most advanced contract chipmaker, ceased doing business with the Chinese firm and its integrated circuit (IC) design unit HiSilicon to comply with US curbs. At the time, the prognosis appeared dire for Huawei, according to some analysts. 'If enough companies comply globally, Huawei's ability to generate workarounds will be severely undercut, putting its continued existence as a viable commercial entity in doubt ,' said Paul Trolio of New York-based political risk consultancy Eurasia Group. Fast-forward to 2025, and Huawei has remained resilient in the face of US sanctions Huawei Technologies' Ascend 910 processor. Photo: Handout Jensen Huang , founder and CEO of AI chip giant Nvidia , has been the most prominent industry leader to recognise the resurgence of Huawei in the IC sector.

HKFP

3 hours ago

• HKFP

Taiwan pursues homegrown Chinese spies as Beijing intensifies espionage

Taiwan is vetting hundreds of thousands of military service members, public school teachers and civil servants in a bid to root out potential homegrown Chinese sympathisers, as Beijing intensifies espionage on the island. Alarm is growing in Taiwan over the extent of China's infiltration on the self-ruled island, which Beijing claims is part of its territory and has threatened to seize by force. Prosecutors last week charged four recently expelled members of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party — including a former staffer in President Lai Ching-te's office — for sharing state secrets with Beijing. While Taipei and Beijing have spied on each other for decades, analysts warn the threat to Taiwan is more serious given the risk of a Chinese attack. The main targets of Chinese infiltration have been retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology. Lai, an outspoken defender of Taiwan's sovereignty and loathed by Beijing, has branded China a 'foreign hostile force' and sought to raise public awareness about Chinese actions he says threaten national security. After a sharp rise in the number of people prosecuted for spying for China in recent years, the government is trying to identify people within its own departments, military and public schools with a possible allegiance to Beijing. Anyone on the public service payroll found with Chinese residence or other identification cards risks losing their Taiwanese household registration, effectively their citizenship. 'The reason we started to survey (for Chinese IDs) is because China uses this way to coerce Taiwanese people, to penetrate our system, especially the public service,' DPP lawmaker Wang Ting-yu told AFP. 'The threat is getting worse and worse and we have to deal with that.' 'Cleanse the population' In the first round held recently, 371,203 people, or nearly all of those surveyed, signed statements declaring they did not hold any Chinese ID documents prohibited by Taiwanese law. Two people admitted having Chinese ID cards and 75 having residence permits, which were annulled, Taiwan's top policy body on China, the Mainland Affairs Council, said. The second round of vetting is underway, but the government has said the general public will not be targeted. Concern over Taiwanese people holding Chinese ID documents flared after a YouTube video last year alleged there were tens of thousands of cases. A senior Taiwanese security official said recently China was issuing ID papers to a growing number of people from Taiwan, but it was 'difficult to estimate' how many or track down offenders without Beijing's cooperation. 'The idea is to define Taiwanese citizens as Chinese citizens under their legal framework,' the official said. Legal scholar Su Yen-tu said there were limits on the government's 'investigatory power' to find out who held Chinese ID cards in Taiwan. If Taiwanese people did not voluntarily disclose the information, 'there's not much the government can do,' said Su, a research professor at Academia Sinica. Collecting records was still 'potentially useful', Jamestown Foundation president Peter Mattis told AFP, particularly if someone under investigation in the future is found to have lied about their documents. Taiwan has also asked around 10,000 Chinese spouses and their China-born children for proof they have given up their Chinese household registration, a decades-old requirement under Taiwanese law. 'It's a fight every day' The notices sparked criticism that the government was being heavyhanded, but Wang said stricter enforcement was needed because some 'new immigrants' from China had spied for Beijing and interfered in Taiwan's elections. 'I personally feel that it's a bit disturbing for the people,' said Li I-ching, a 23-year-old graduate student in Taipei, who was born in China to a Chinese mother and a Taiwanese father. Like many others, Li has to obtain evidence from China that she no longer holds permanent residence status. The Beijing-friendly main opposition Kuomintang party (KMT) has accused the government of conducting 'loyalty' tests. 'At a time when our country is facing so many difficulties… the government is only thinking about how to cleanse the population,' said KMT lawmaker Chen Yu-jen. The dispute between Taiwan and China dates back to 1949 when Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces lost the Chinese civil war to Mao Zedong's communist fighters and fled to the island. China has vowed to annex Taiwan and in recent years has ramped up its military pressure on the island. Taiwan says China also uses disinformation, cyberattacks and espionage to weaken its defences. 'It's a fight every day for the Taiwanese against this sort of stuff,' said Mark Harrison, a senior lecturer in Chinese studies at the University of Tasmania. 'I think their democracy has tremendous integrity, but it does have to be defended, and when you defend something, it certainly generates a lot of discourse, a lot of debate.'

South China Morning Post

3 hours ago

• South China Morning Post

Thailand-Cambodia border clash tests China's neighbourhood diplomacy

A deadly border skirmish between Thailand and Cambodia late last month has put China's neighbourhood diplomacy to the test as Beijing seeks to maintain stability in a region crucial to its strategic interests. Analysts said China would probably monitor the Thailand-Cambodia border dispute closely while avoiding direct mediation. They added that Beijing might work with Asean to prevent future direct confrontations between troops along a 4.6 sq km (1.78-square-mile) stretch of disputed land. Thai and Cambodian officials met for the first time last weekend following an exchange of fire between troops that left one Cambodian soldier dead. But tensions remain high over the clash on May 28 in an area known as the Emerald Triangle – where Cambodia, Thailand and Laos meet. Both sides claim to have acted in self-defence and quickly withdrew their soldiers to prevent further confrontation. But the brief skirmish has shed light on deep-rooted border disputes in the Indochina peninsula, which lies alongside China and is considered a crucial trade gateway for Beijing to Southeast Asia and beyond. It was also the second armed conflict in China's neighbourhood within a month. In early May, nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan exchanged missile and air strikes in a four-day conflict. It followed a deadly attack on tourists in Indian-administered Kashmir on April 22 that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militant groups. While analysts agreed that the risk of a wider escalation between Cambodia and Thailand was low, they said the recent confrontation might cast a shadow over China's neighbourhood diplomacy – a priority for Beijing's foreign policy as it looks to foster closer regional ties to offset pressure from its rivalry with the United States. 'Both Cambodia and Thailand are friendly neighbours to China, and nothing concerning China's surroundings is a small matter,' said Qian Feng, a senior research fellow with Taihe Institute, a Beijing-based think tank.