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China’s domestically developed C909 passenger jet has expanded its regional presence, with two of them beginning commercial operations with Vietnam’s budget airline VietJet on Saturday.

Their debut makes Vietnam the third Southeast Asian country to sign on the planes made by the state-owned Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), after Indonesia and Laos.

According to a statement from Comac on Saturday, the civilian jets have been leased from Chinese regional carrier Chengdu Airlines, and will operate on domestic routes between Vietnamese capital Hanoi and Con Dao Island off southern Vietnam, and between Con Dao Island and business hub Ho Chi Minh City.

News of the VietJet lease came days after Vietnamese regulatory reforms allowing airlines to import aircraft certified by Brazil, Canada, Russia, Britain and China. The government decree, which took effect on April 13, expands a previous policy that restricted imports to aircraft certified by Vietnam, the United States or the European Union.

Comac, which aims to advance China’s goal of technological self-sufficiency, is seen as a potential challenger to the Airbus-Boeing duopoly in the global market. Comac’s narrowbody C919 passenger jet – viewed as a direct competitor to the single-aisle Boeing 737 and Airbus A320 families – is rapidly expanding production and commercial operations, while the widebody C929 is reportedly in the detailed design stage.

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Ecommerce giants Alibaba, JD.com and Pinduoduo are leading Chinese internet groups in launching multibillion-dollar initiatives to help traditional exporters switch to domestic sales, as part of a national campaign to cushion the country’s economy from an escalating trade war with the US.

Alibaba has set up a task force to source goods from exporters in more than 10 provinces across China. Taobao and Tmall, its ecommerce marketplaces, have promised to offer higher commissions and better exposure on their platforms to encourage at least 10,000 exporters to sell 100,000 items. Alibaba’s supermarket chain Freshippo also said it had created special “green channels” for export suppliers to sell their products on its shelves.

As well as the cancelling of the “de minimis” duty exemption on small packages worth less than $800, Chinese sellers face tariffs of 125 per cent on many of the goods they have been shipping to the US, making such sales uneconomical.

Li Chengdong, founder of Beijing-based ecommerce consultancy Haitun, said “political” considerations had driven Chinese tech giants to “voluntarily take on social responsibilities”.

Chinese tech groups have been reined in and reminded of their social responsibilities by Beijing since a government crackdown in 2020. President Xi Jinping met leading entrepreneurs in February, including Alibaba’s Jack Ma, Tencent’s Pony Ma and Meituan’s Wan Xing, in a sign that the sector was back in favour.

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Chinese and Indonesian foreign and defence ministers will meet on Monday for the first “2+2” dialogue of its kind in Beijing.

“That is the first ministerial‑level ‘2+2’ mechanism that China has set up, showing the strategic nature and high level of China‑Indonesia cooperation,” ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

Lin said the discussions would cover political security and defence ties between Beijing and Jakarta, as well as international and regional issues.

The talks reflect China’s renewed efforts to strengthen engagement with Southeast Asia as a bulwark against worsening ties with the United States.

The region is increasingly being seen as a geopolitical chessboard for the China-US rivalry and China appears to be broadening its long-standing foreign policy focus on relations with big powers, particularly Washington, by fostering stronger ties with neighbouring countries.

The Biden administration also sought to upgrade America’s strategic and defence dialogue arrangement with Thailand to the ministerial level and established an economic version of the “2+2” meeting with Japan.

However, since US President Donald Trump took office in January, Washington has not moved forward with new talks under those established mechanisms.

Meanwhile, China and Indonesia agreed in November to hold their first ministerial-level 2+2 dialogue – one of various commitments reached during Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s trip to the Chinese capital.

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China’s imports of US liquefied natural gas have completely stopped for more than 10 weeks, according to shipping data showing how the Sino-American trade war has spread to energy co-operation.

The freeze on US LNG is a repeat of a block on imports that lasted for more than a year during Donald Trump’s first term as president.

But the impact of the stand-off has potentially far-reaching implications, strengthening China’s energy relationship with Russia and raising questions over the huge expansion of multibillion-dollar LNG terminals that is under way in the US and Mexico.

China’s ambassador to Russia said earlier this week that China would probably step up its imports of Russian LNG instead. “I know for sure that there are a lot of buyers. So many buyers are asking the embassy to help establish contacts with Russian suppliers, I think there will definitely be more [imports],” said Zhang Hanhui.

Russia has emerged as the third-largest supplier of LNG to China, behind Australia and Qatar; the two countries have also been negotiating over a new gas pipeline, the Power of Siberia 2.

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The Trump administration on Thursday finalised port fees on Chinese vessels docking in the US, a move that is likely to threaten the global shipping industry and trade.

The decision has prompted Chinese shippers to rush to review the 42-page document released by the United States Trade Representative (USTR). The phased plan targets Chinese-owned, operated and built ships, and fees will be incrementally raised. Initial assessments suggest it could lead to higher fees per port call than an earlier proposal.

The revised plan unveiled on the USTR website offered a 180-day grace period and shields domestic exporters. But it remains stringent for Chinese operators and vessels.

Chinese operators and shipowners have to pay US$50 per net ton for vessels entering US ports from October 14. The fee will increase annually to US$140 by April 2028 and apply regardless of where the vessels are built.

The port fee is lower for Chinese-built vessels – starting at US$18 per net ton or US$120 per container from October 14. This will gradually increase to US$33 per net ton or US$250 per container by April 2028.

Chinese carriers China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO) and Orient Overseas Container Line (OOCL) “will be hit harder than others”, said Lars Jensen, founder and chief executive of container shipping consultancy Vespucci Maritime.

In addition, USTR has proposed up to a 100 per cent tariff on ship-to-shore cranes and cargo handling equipment from China.

Clarksons Research has revised down its forecast for new ship orders in 2025, with a sharp year-on-year decrease of 30 per cent as investors hold back due to concerns over evolving US trade policies.

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Chinese scientists have achieved a milestone in clean energy technology by successfully adding fresh fuel to an operational thorium molten salt reactor, according to state media reports.

It marks the first long-term, stable operation of the technology, putting China at the forefront of a global race to harness thorium – considered a safer and more abundant alternative to uranium – for nuclear power.

The development was announced by the project’s chief scientist, Xu Hongjie, during a closed-door meeting at the Chinese Academy of Sciences on April 8, the official Guangming Daily reported on Friday.

The experimental reactor, located in the Gobi Desert in China’s west, uses molten salt as the fuel carrier and coolant, and thorium – a radioactive element abundant in the Earth’s crust – as the fuel source. The reactor is reportedly designed to sustainably generate 2 megawatts of thermal power.

Some experts see the technology as the next energy revolution and claim that just one thorium-rich mine in Inner Mongolia could – theoretically – meet China’s energy needs for tens of thousands of years, while producing minimal radioactive waste.

A much bigger thorium molten salt reactor is already being built in China and is slated to achieve criticality by 2030. That research reactor is designed to produce 10 megawatts of electricity.

China’s state-owned shipbuilding industry has also unveiled a design for thorium-powered container ships that could potentially achieve emission-free maritime transport.

Meanwhile, US efforts to revive the development of a molten salt reactor remain on paper, despite bipartisan congressional support and Department of Energy initiatives.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Malaysia on Tuesday, April 15 for a highly anticipated state visit. With this move, Xi seeks to promote China as a reliable alternative to an escalating trade war with the United States.

Xi said he was “looking forward to … further deepening the traditional friendship” between China and Malaysia, CCTV, a Chinese state broadcaster, reported. He said he would “have an in-depth exchange of views” in meetings with Anwar and king Sultan Ibrahim, according to CCTV. “With the joint efforts of both sides, this visit will surely achieve fruitful results,” the broadcaster reported him as saying.

He and Anwar will witness the signing of a range of bilateral agreements, according to the Malaysian foreign ministry.

“China will work with Malaysia… to combat the undercurrents of geopolitical and camp-based confrontation, as well as the countercurrents of unilateralism and protectionism,” Xi wrote in an article for Malaysia’s The Star newspaper on Tuesday.

China has remained Malaysia’s largest trading partner for 16 consecutive years, with total trade between the two countries accounting for 16.8% of Malaysia’s global trade last year, according to the Malaysian Foreign Ministry.

Xi’s arrival came hot on the heels of his visit to Vietnam. The two nations said, “they will jointly oppose hegemony and power politics [and] jointly oppose unilateralism in all forms,” in a joint statement published Tuesday in Vietnamese state media after Xi’s visit.

China and Vietnam signed 45 cooperation agreements on Monday, April 14, including on supply chains, artificial intelligence, joint maritime patrols and railway development.

Xi said at a meeting with Vietnam’s top leader To Lam that their countries were “standing at the turning point of history … and should move forward with joined hands.”

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The White House said China is now facing up to a 245 percent tariff on imports to the U.S. "as a result of its retaliatory actions," another escalation in a trade war between the world's two largest economies.

The top potential tariff is higher than the previously stated 145 percent and was referenced in a fact sheet published by the White House late on Tuesday.

It accompanied an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that launched an investigation into the "national security risks posed by U.S. reliance on imported processed critical minerals and their derivative products."

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian was asked about the 245 percent rate at a press briefing on Wednesday. "You can ask the U.S. side for the specific tax rate figures," Lin said, China News Network reported.

"This tariff war was initiated by the United States, and China's necessary countermeasures are to safeguard its legitimate rights and interests and international fairness and justice, which are completely reasonable and lawful."

Trump imposed a 10 percent tariff on imports from all countries. He has temporarily paused additional "reciprocal" rates set individually for each country depending on the trade barriers faced by the U.S. to allow time for negotiations on new deals.

The exception to that pause is China, which is facing increasingly higher tariffs from the U.S. and has responded in kind, among other countermeasures.

This week, China imposed more export controls on rare earths, which include materials used in high-tech products, aerospace manufacturing, and the defense sector.

Despite the eye-watering tariffs and tough rhetoric, both the U.S. and China have said they are open to talks on trade, though further tit-for-tat retaliation is likely in this conflict between two great powers.

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Malaysia stands with China on trade, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has said as the Southeast Asian nation hosts Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“We stand with the Chinese government, for the well-being of our people and for our national economic interests, as well as the overall development and stability of our country,” Anwar told state-run Chinese broadcaster CGTN on Wednesday.

Xi, who is on a week-long three-nation tour of Southeast Asia, was greeted by a 21-gun salute as he arrived at the national palace on Wednesday morning for an audience with Malaysia’s King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar, accompanied by Prime Minister Anwar.

Later, the countries are expected to sign deals aimed at opening up more trade for key Malaysian exports such as palm oil and durian, increasing the influx of Chinese tourists and students to Southeast Asia and sharing Chinese know-how in sectors such as renewable energy.

In return, analysts warn that China is likely to expect Malaysia and its Southeast Asian neighbours to back it as the region’s leading power – an alignment that could provoke a reaction from Washington, leading to unpredictable consequences.

Anwar, however, refuted this argument. “We should not and do not need to be constrained by any side. So far, we refuse to succumb to such pressure,” he said.

“Our attitude is that we cooperate with those who treat us well. I must emphasise that although China is a major power with a strong economy and formidable military strength, we have never felt any sense of trouble or pressure from it.”

The visit is timely as Malaysia and its neighbours face having their decades of growth stunted by Donald Trump’s tariffs.

The US president has threatened to impose a blanket 24 per cent tariff on Malaysian exports, affecting everything from electric heaters and lamps to furniture.

Xi’s visit, which was planned months in advance, comes as China assumes the role of the defender of global free trade after Trump’s tariffs threatened to cut access to the US market.

China’s giant economy has become a potential lifeline for Southeast Asian economies now fearing the gut punch of US tariffs.

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China’s President Xi Jinping has arrived in Malaysia as part of a Southeast Asian tour which is seen as delivering a personal message that Beijing is a more reliable trading partner than the United States amid a bruising trade war with Washington.

Xi’s three-country tour and his “message” that Beijing is Southeast Asia’s better friend than the truculent administration of US President Donald Trump comes as many countries in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc are unhappy with their treatment after the US imposed huge tariffs on countries around the world.

“This is a very significant visit. You can read many things into it,” said Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, a former Malaysian ambassador to the US and minister of legal affairs.

“Under PM Anwar, Malaysia is getting very much closer [to China]. It’s a good thing,” he added, noting that “in the long run”, Washington’s “influence will be reduced”.

Washington hit Malaysia with a 24 percent trade tariff, accusing it of imposing a 47 percent tariff on US imports, a rate that Malaysian officials rejected.

Xi’s visit to Malaysia is in part an effort to “reinforce” the view that China can “offer to bypass America”, said James Chin, professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia, via a different international order such as BRICS – the 10-country intergovernmental organisation comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China, among others.

“Basically, this is all architectured to build a new international order… Trump has given China the excuse to push harder amongst countries around the world, especially developing countries,” Chin said.

Of the three countries Xi chose to visit this week, analysts said Malaysia is deemed to be the most important for China, given its sizeable 32 million population, its developing high-tech base and its current chairmanship of ASEAN. China is also Malaysia’s largest trading partner since 2009, and in 2024, China-Malaysia trade reached $212bn.

“China hopes to jack up trade with Malaysia, which will make up for the expected downgrading of exports to the US,” said Willy Wo-Lap Lam, a senior China analyst with the US-based Jamestown Foundation and author of the book, From Confucius to Xi Jinping.

“Politically, Malaysia has a lot of influence among all 10 ASEAN states,” Lam said. “Including how countries that have territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea should respond to Beijing’s aggressive tactics in bolstering its hold over.”

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Chinese electric vehicle (EV) maker Xpeng has ramped up development of its own artificial intelligence (AI) chip to power its semi-autonomous cars, with a first mass production model to be fitted with the Turing chip from as early as this quarter.

The chip, which is claimed to be more powerful than Nvidia’s Drive Orin X, would be used in all its production models as the EV maker promoted its cutting-edge technologies, CEO He Xiaopeng said in an interview. The chip could also power flying cars and robots being developed by its affiliated companies, he added.

Level of intelligence has become the new battleground for carmakers to overcome cutthroat competition in China. Xpeng’s Turing chip, designed for level 4 (L4) autonomous driving capabilities, was three times more powerful in computing power than Nvidia’s Drive Orin X installed in its existing smart vehicles, the CEO said in August.

At present, Xpeng’s cars such as the P7 sedan and G6 SUV can navigate their way automatically on mainland China’s highways and streets, but drivers are required to be fully alert with their hands on the wheel. They are deemed as semi-autonomous and categorised as L2+ vehicles.

L3 is considered a “hands-off” system, but still requires drivers to be responsible for safety and ready to take over, while L4 would allow drivers to take their eyes off the road in designated areas, according to standards set by US-based SAE International.

Tesla is the front runner in mainland China’s premium EV market segment. Xpeng, Shanghai-based Nio and Beijing-headquartered Li Auto are viewed as China’s best responses to the market leader.

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China and Vietnam signed dozens of cooperation agreements during a state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping, as he aimed to strengthen ties in Southeast Asia on his first overseas trip of the year.

Vietnam is seeking to further strengthen cooperation with China in security, transport and securing preferential loans as well as technology transfers from China, VTV said. Hanoi also expects more balanced trade with its neighbor, it said.

Xi landed in Vietnam days after Donald Trump raised tariffs on China but gave everyone else — including Vietnam, which is negotiating over its 46% rate — a 90-day pause.

His regional tour, which will also see him visit Malaysia and Cambodia, highlights the tricky position Southeast Asian nations face. They’ve become key routes for Chinese exports to reach the US since Trump’s tariff hikes on Beijing in his first term.

Vietnam’s economy is heavily reliant on Chinese parts and raw materials, and the two sides are working to develop infrastructure to connect them more closely. China is Vietnam’s largest bilateral trade partner, with commerce totaling over $205 billion last year, and is a major market for Vietnam’s agricultural products from fruit to seafood, cashew nuts and coffee.

Vietnam’s government has vowed to speed up the progress of three railway projects connecting the two countries. This includes the $8.4 billion cross-border railway that will link the northern border city of Lao Cai to Hanoi and Haiphong port city.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that aviation cooperation between Comac and Vietnamese partners has produced “increasingly positive outcomes,” after meeting the company’s chairman on Monday, according to a post on the government website.

Xi said at the meeting that China welcomes more trade with Vietnam and seeks increased cooperation in manufacturing and supply chains, as well technology including AI and semiconductor sectors, VTV said.

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