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China begins building nuclear reactor with 52 billion kWh annual output
China has officially begun construction on its first nuclear reactor unit of the year with the pouring of first concrete at the Lufeng Nuclear Power Plant in Guangdong province.
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China says it is ready for 'any type of war' with US
China has warned the US it is ready to fight "any type" of war after hitting back against President Donald Trump's mounting trade tariffs.
The world's top two economies have edged closer to a trade war after Trump slapped more tariffs on all Chinese goods. China quickly retaliated imposing 10-15% tariffs on US farm products.
"If war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we're ready to fight till the end," China's embassy said on X, reposting a line from a government statement on Tuesday.
It is some of the strongest rhetoric so far from China since Trump became president and comes as leaders gathered in Beijing for the annual National People's Congress.
On Wednesday, China's Premier Li Qiang announced that China would again boost its defence spending by 7.2% this year and warned that "changes unseen in a century were unfolding across the world at a faster pace." This increase was expected and matches the figure announced last year.
Leaders in Beijing are trying to send a message to people in China that they are confident the country's economy can grow, even with the threat of a trade war.
China has been keen to portray an image of being a stable, peaceful country in contrast to the US, which Beijing accuses of being embroiled in wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
China may also hope to capitalise on Trump's actions relating to US allies such as Canada and Mexico, which have also been hit by tariffs, and will not want to ramp up the rhetoric too far to scare off potential new global partners.
#China #US #BBC #News
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Dalai Lama says his successor to be born outside China
NEW DELHI — The Dalai Lama’s successor will be born outside China, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism says in a new book, raising the stakes in a dispute with Beijing over control of the Himalayan region he fled more than six decades ago.
Tibetans worldwide want the institution of the Dalai Lama to continue after the 89-year-old’s death, he writes in “Voice for the Voiceless,” which was reviewed by Reuters and is being released on Tuesday.
He had previously said the line of spiritual leaders might end with him.
His book marks the first time the Dalai Lama has specified that his successor would be born in the “free world,” which he describes as outside China. He has previously said only that he could reincarnate outside Tibet, possibly in India where he lives in exile.
“Since the purpose of a reincarnation is to carry on the work of the predecessor, the new Dalai Lama will be born in the free world so that the traditional mission of the Dalai Lama — that is, to be the voice for universal compassion, the spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, and the symbol of Tibet embodying the aspirations of the Tibetan people — will continue,” the Dalai Lama writes.
Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, fled at the age of 23 to India with thousands of other Tibetans in 1959 after a failed uprising against the rule of Mao Zedong’s Communists.
Beijing insists it will choose his successor, but the Dalai Lama has said any successor named by China would not be respected.
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Dow tumbles 800 points as Trump confirms tariffs on Mexico and Canada will start Tuesday
US stocks slid Monday as investors braced for President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico to go into effect by the midnight deadline.
The Dow tumbled 650 points, or 1.48%, to close at 43,191. The Dow fell almost 900 points in afternoon trading before pulling back slightly. The broader S&P 500 fell 1.76% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.64%.
The S&P 500 posted its biggest one-day decline of the year. The Nasdaq is down about 6.5% since since Trump took office on January 20.
“Tomorrow, tariffs — 25% on Canada and 25% on Mexico,” Trump said during a press conference at the White House. “And that’ll start. … What they have to do is build their car plants, frankly, and other things in the United States, in which case they have no tariffs.”
Trump said the two trading partners had “no room” left to negotiate to avoid the levies and that he was using tariffs to “punish” countries that, as he put it, were taking from the US economy without giving enough in return.
“They’re all set. They go into effect tomorrow,” he said.
Trump also signed an executive order on Monday raising tariffs on imports from China to 20%, up from 10%. Trump said the tariffs, aimed at bringing China to the table on curtailing fentanyl entering the United States, will be raised because the communist country has not done enough to stem the flow of illegal drugs.
The VIX, Wall Street’s fear gauge, surged to its highest point this year after Trump’s comments.
“Due to the uncertainty surrounding the tariffs, the stock market has erased the gains from the ‘Trump bump’ following the presidential election and the expected upward pressure on prices is giving investors pause,” said Gustavo Flores-Macias, a professor of government and public policy at Cornell University.
“For investors, 2025 can still be a positive year for stocks, but it may take all year to realize gains. And they may be modest,” said Gina Bolvin, president of Bolvin Wealth Management Group.
“I’m still a bull,” Bolvin said.
The import taxes Trump imposed are significant — the largest in US-China history. The initial tariffs, which went into effect February 4, set in motion tariffs on $1.4 trillion of imported goods. That’s more than triple the $380 billion worth of foreign goods that were hit with tariffs during Trump’s first term, according to estimates from the Tax Foundation.
Before he became president, Trump pledged a 60% tariff on all Chinese goods, so the tariff level could rise still.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said at the press conference about tariffs on Canada and Mexico that global companies can avoid tariffs if they invest into production in the United States, like TSMC, the Taiwanese chipmaker at the White House on Monday to announce a $100 billion US investment.
Trump’s tariffs will raise prices of imported goods, which could boost demand for goods produced in the US, according to analysts at Goldman Sachs. But they also noted that tariffs will have negative effects on some American businesses.
“Tariff increases will also raise production costs for some domestic producers and will likely prompt foreign retaliation against some US exports, both of which could hurt domestic production,” they wrote in a note.
#CNN
#Mexico #Canada #China #US #News
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China vows to ‘fight till the end’ as Trump escalates trade war
China has vowed to “fight till the end” after US President Donald Trump escalated his trade war by doubling tariffs on all Chinese imports to 20%.
Beijing hit back at Trump’s levies by imposing retaliatory tariffs of up to 15% on selected American goods, expanding export controls to a dozen US firms and filing a lawsuit at the World Trade Organization. It also sent a stern warning to the Trump administration: Chinese people will never bow to “hegemony or bullying.”
“Pressure, coercion and threats are not the right ways to engage with China. Trying to exert maximum pressure on China is a miscalculation and a mistake,” Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, told a regular news briefing Tuesday afternoon. “If the US insists on waging a tariff war, trade war, or any other kind of war, China will fight till the end.”
The barrage of retaliatory measures and fiery exchanges came as Chinese leader Xi Jinping is preparing to hold a major political gathering designed to project confidence in his country’s ability to stay the course and weather external headwinds.
As thousands of delegates convene in the Chinese capital for the country’s “two sessions” annual meeting, Xi and his officials are set to use the highly choreographed spectacle to broadcast China as a major power steadily advancing its tech prowess and global rise.
That escalating rivalry between the two powers will be in the spotlight on Wednesday morning in Beijing, when Trump’s first address to Congress will roughly coincide with a state-of-the-union-like speech delivered by China’s No. 2 official Li Qiang at the opening meeting of the National’s People Congress (NPC), which rubber-stamps decisions already made behind closed doors.
There, Li is expected to announce China’s yearly targets for economic growth and military spending — and lay out how Beijing plans to continue its economic growth and transformation into a technological powerhouse in the face of mounting pressure from the United States.
Despite the challenges, analysts aren’t bracing for any major policy surprises or U-turns from the roughly weeklong meetings of both the NPC and the country’s top advisory body. True decision-making power lies with the Chinese Communist Party, whose authority cannot be challenged in the country – and Xi, the party’s most powerful leader in decades.
The increased tariffs — and the threat of more economic and tech controls to come — are casting a long shadow over China’s two sessions, which observers will also be watching for signs on how Beijing will continue to address its rumbling economic difficulties at home.
And signs point to Beijing staying the course on its leader’s strategies to bolster innovation, industry and self-sufficiency to steel itself against frictions ahead: all while projecting that, in China, it’s business as usual.
We must “face difficulties head-on and strengthen confidence” amid growing external challenges, the Communist Party journal Qiushi quoted Xi as saying in an article released Friday that’s meant to set the tone for the gathering.
#CNN
#China #Asia #US #Trump
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Canada is caught in a ‘double trade war’ — and one premier is urging Ottawa to drop its fight against China
OTTAWA — On top of threatened U.S. tariffs, China has brought down another hammer on many Canadian farm and seafood exports, hitting them with a “double trade war” that industry leaders say will slam Canadian producers.
In response, B.C. Premier David Eby called on Ottawa to drop its tariff fight against China, saying Canada got nothing out of trying to align trade policy with the United States last fall ahead of President Donald Trump’s election.
Eby, who stepped up measures against the United States along with Ontario Premier Doug Ford on Monday, said the government of Canada should offer a concession in the trade dispute it has with China.
#TheStar #News
#Canda
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China to raise defense spending by 7.2% in 2025 to ‘firmly safeguard’ national security
China on Wednesday increased its defense spending by 7.2% this year, the same growth rate as in the prior two years, as Beijing seeks to “firmly safeguard” its national security.
In an official government report due to be released in parliament, China proposed a national defense budget of 1.78 trillion yuan ($244.99 billion) for the 2025 fiscal year.
The increased defense budget, well above China’s economic growth target for this year of roughly 5%, comes as Western governments seek to ratchet up military spending to bolster their own security.
The European Union announced Tuesday that it could mobilize as much as 800 billion euros ($841 billion) to shore up support for Ukraine amid Russia’s full-scale invasion. The move followed reports that the U.S. had abruptly paused military aid to Ukraine.
China budgeted a 7.2% increase in defense spending to 1.67 trillion yuan last year, the same growth rate as in the prior year. Beijing had increased spending by 7.1% in 2022 and 6.8% in 2021, according to official data.
When asked on Tuesday about China’s defense spending, Lou Qinjian, spokesperson for the third session of the 14th National People’s Congress, told reporters that “peace needs to be safeguarded with strength.”
That’s according to an official translation of his Mandarin-language remarks.
China’s defense expenditure as share of GDP has been held under 1.5% for many years, Lou said, adding that this rate of spending is lower than the global average.
China remains the world’s second largest military spender behind the U.S. which has set the military budget for 2025 at $850 billion.
Separately, expenditures earmarked for public security this year was raised by 7.3%, the official statement showed, a sharp increase compared with the 1.4% rise last year.
#China #Asia #CNBC #News
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China strikes back at Trump tariffs with 15% levies targeting US farmers
WASHINGTON (AP) — China retaliated against President Donald Trump’s tariffs with an additional 15% tax on key American farm products, including chicken, pork, soybeans and beef.
The escalating trade tensions punished U.S. markets Monday as investors fearful of the damage from from Trump’s trade wars put their money elsewhere.
The Chinese tariffs, announced last week, were a response to Trump’s decision to double the levy on Chinese imports to 20% on March 4. China’s Commerce Ministry had earlier said that goods already in transit would be exempt from the retaliatory tariffs until April 12.
Imposing tariffs on imports is a key part of Trump’s agenda. He believes the import taxes can raise money for the Treasury, protect American industries and pressure foreign countries to do what he wants in a range of issues, including immigration and drug trafficking.
#China #USA #AP #News
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U.S. Army soldiers accused of selling military secrets, including to China
Active-duty soldier Li Tian and former soldier Ruoyu Duan were charged in Oregon with conspiring to commit bribery and the theft of government property. Active-duty soldier Jian Zhao was charged in Washington state for conspiring to obtain and transmit national defense information to an individual not authorized to receive it, and for bribery and theft of government property.
#News #US #Army #CBSNews
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