US State Department plays down changes as a ’routine‘ update after Taipei welcomes ’positive and friendly‘ wording.

The United States Department of State has dropped wording stating that Washington does not support independence for Taiwan.

The State Department website‘s latest “fact sheet” about Taiwan, a self-governing island claimed by China, does not include the phrase “we do not support Taiwan independence,” which was previously featured on the page.

The fact sheet, which was updated on Thursday, also modifies a passage about Taiwan‘s inclusion in international organisations, by dropping references to “where statehood is not a requirement”, and adds that Taiwan‘s dispute with China should be resolved “free from coercion, in a manner acceptable to the people on both sides of the Strait”.

The Cook Islands says it has signed a deal to expand relations with China, stressing that the accord does not impinge on ties with former colonial power New Zealand.

Prime minister Mark Brown said he signed an “action plan for the comprehensive strategic partnership” with Chinese premier Li Qiang in the northern city of Harbin during a five-day state visit to China last week.

He promised to publish the accord, after New Zealand expressed concern about a lack of transparency over the trip and complained it had not been properly consulted.

China will always be Latin America's "trustworthy" friend and partner, its foreign minister told his Bolivian counterpart, as Beijing looks to improve its foothold in a region historically under the U.S. sphere of influence.

"Latin America is the home of the Latin American people, and is not any country's 'backyard,'" Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a meeting at the United Nations on Tuesday, according to a statement from his ministry.

China wants to "continuously elevate the China-Bolivia strategic partnership", Wang told Bolivia's Foreign minister Celinda Sosa.

Bolivia, which established diplomatic ties with Beijing in 1985, is among many countries in South America that have bonded economically with China through debt and investment.

You can‘t make this up. Initially the Montreal police accused me of harassing an anti-Palestinian media personality because I posted about Israel‘s genocide. Now they are charging me for harassing the police for writing about the charges levelled against me.

At 9:30 AM tomorrow the Montreal police are set to arrest me. Today an officer told me they will detain me overnight or until I‘m brought before a judge.

On Tuesday police investigator Crivello said they were charging me at the behest of anti-Palestinian activist Dahlia Kurtz. The police officer said I had described Kurtz as a “genocide” supporter and “fascist” on Twitter, which is true.

When: March 21 (Friday), 4:00pm Pacific/7:00pm Eastern
Where: Location: SFU Harbour Centre HC 7000 [register here for in-person] or virtual [register here for virtual] 

Description: Join us for an important discussion on the case of Dr. Anming Hu, a respected scientist who was wrongfully targeted under the previous Trump administration’s China Initiative. Dr. Hu’s case highlights critical issues of racial profiling, academic freedom, and the growing surveillance of scholars in North America.

This event will feature insights into Dr. Anming Hu’s case and experience, the broader implications for researchers of Chinese origin, and the fight for justice in academia in North America. We will also discuss what universities, scholars, and policymakers can do to protect academic integrity and prevent future injustices.

Featured speaker: Dr. Anming Hu, University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Discussants: Dr. Jane Wang, University of British Columbia & Dr. Jie Yang, Simon Fraser University

Moderator: Dr. Xinying Hu, Simon Fraser University

Sponsored by: The Labour Studies Program, Simon Fraser University
The SFU Morgan Centre for Labour Research
The Canadian Association of University Teachers
Canada-China Focus

Supported by: Stop Anti-Asian Hate Crimes Advocacy Group

Premiers descend on Washington to combat tariffs with a message on China as IPD assesses provincial trade relationships with both economies.

This week's edition of IPD's Canada-China Brief covers Canadian premiers‘ China messaging on their mission to Washington, D.C. and offers a deep dive into the data on provincial economic ties with China and the U.S.

Margaret Cornish, Advisor, Institute for Peace & Diplomacy:

 For Canadian Premiers to play the so-called "anti-China card" in Washington is both naive and shortsighted. It demonstrates lack of attention to our own long-term interests as well as lack of strategic and negotiating sophistication. Canada is now acclimatizing itself to a transforming world order — one in which we are no longer the favoured neighbour of the world hegemon but rather trying to get along with two great powers. It is taking us time to adapt to this change in relative power. President Trump is forcing Canadians to realize we need access to multiple export markets. Given the complementarity of our economies, this certainly includes China which already our number two largest trading partner. There is no requirement to "like" one's trading partners; that is naive. China is quite aware of our predicament as neighbour and ally to the U.S. What they expect is respect and will penalize any country that offers gratuitous offence.

 The World Trade Organization said on Wednesday that discussions on trade tensions were "constructive", after China accused the US of imposing "tariff shocks" that could upend the global trading system.

China condemned tariffs launched or threatened by U.S. President Donald Trump at a World Trade Organization meeting on Tuesday. Washington dismissed China's comments as hypocritical.

Trump has announced sweeping 10% tariffs on all Chinese imports, prompting Beijing to respond with retaliatory tariffs and to file a WTO dispute against Washington in what could be an early test of Trump's stance towards the institution.

The majority of the six countries that participated in the talks on trade turbulence, put on the agenda by China, raised concern about mounting tensions, but also called for restraint, said WTO spokesperson Ismaila Dieng in a press conference in Geneva on Wednesday.

The U.S. Postal Service has agreed to resume accepting shipments from China, less than 12 hours after announcing it would stop doing so.

"Effective February 5, 2025, the Postal Service will continue accepting all international inbound mail and packages from China and Hong Kong Posts," it said in an updated statement Wednesday morning. "The USPS and Customs and Border Protection are working closely together to implement an efficient collection mechanism for the new China tariffs to ensure the least disruption to package delivery."

Dear Professor or Instructor, 

This is a reminder that the nomination deadline for the 2025 Dr. Edgar Wickberg Academic Prizes is February 28, 2025.

Named after Professor Edgar Wickberg (1927 - 2008), UBC Professor Emeritus and Founding President of CCHSBC, two awards are available to current post-secondary students in British Columbia who have demonstrated promise of research achievement in the history of the Chinese in BC. These prizes will recognize exceptional work that was completed in the 2024 calendar year. We are proud to offer the following prizes:
Undergraduate Prize: $1000
Graduate Prize: $1000

Detailed information on the prize, including Rules and Regulations, can be found here.

Dear Professor or Instructor, 

This is a reminder that the nomination deadline for the 2025 Dr. Edgar Wickberg Academic Prizes is February 28, 2025.

Named after Professor Edgar Wickberg (1927 - 2008), UBC Professor Emeritus and Founding President of CCHSBC, two awards are available to current post-secondary students in British Columbia who have demonstrated promise of research achievement in the history of the Chinese in BC. These prizes will recognize exceptional work that was completed in the 2024 calendar year. We are proud to offer the following prizes:
Undergraduate Prize: $1000
Graduate Prize: $1000

Detailed information on the prize, including Rules and Regulations, can be found here.

Published: February 12, 2025
Written by: Aljazeera Staff

The United States and United Kingdom have refused to sign an Artificial Intelligence Action Summit declaration calling for policies “ensuring AI is open, inclusive, transparent, ethical, safe, secure and trustworthy”.

The summit in Paris on Monday and Tuesday brought together representatives from more than 100 countries to discuss how to reach a consensus on guiding the development of AI.

In March 2023, China’s tech giant Baidu unveiled its answer to ChatGPT, a platform called Ernie Bot, which suffered from early stumbles as the AI race heated up.

But at the end of January, the Chinese startup DeepSeek sent shockwaves through the global tech sector with the release of its AI chatbot model, whose capabilities rival the creations of Google and OpenAI.

DeepSeek-R1’s creator says its model was developed using less advanced and fewer computer chips than employed by the US tech giants.

China has begun recruiting for a planetary defence force after risk assessments determined that an asteroid could conceivably hit Earth in 2032.

Job ads posted online by China’s State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (SASTIND) this week, sought young loyal graduates focused on aerospace engineering, international cooperation and asteroid detection.

The recruitment drive comes amid increasing focus on an asteroid with a low – but growing – likelihood of hitting earth in seven years. The 2024 YR4 asteroid is at the top of the European and US space agencies’ risk lists, and last week analysts increased their probability assessment of it hitting Earth from 1.3% to 2.2%. The UN’s Space Mission Planning Advisory Group, comprising countries with space programs including China, have been meeting regularly to discuss a response.

Developing countries are calling on the rich world to defy the US president, Donald Trump, and bridge the global chasm over climate action, before the goal of limiting global temperatures to safe levels is irretrievably lost.

Diplomats from the developing world are rallying to support Brazil, which will host a crucial climate summit in November, after last year’s talks in Azerbaijan ended in disappointment and acrimony.

The stance taken by China, which with more than 30% of global emissions is the world’s biggest source of greenhouse gases by some distance, will be crucial. China has a target of peaking emissions by 2030, and reaching net zero by 2060. This is “highly insufficient” and would lead to a world more than 3C hotter than preindustrial levels, according to Climate Action Tracker. With rapidly increasing power generation from renewable sources, and a burgeoning electric vehicle market, the country could do much better.

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