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Cross-border travel is dropping sharply, as per surveys, which is impacting tourism revenue and triggering ad campaign adjustments.

But while Beijing braces for impact, India’s strategy is more of wait and watch. Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently showered warm words for Trump. Speaking on a podcast with Lex Fridman, Modi described Trump as «far more prepared» for his second term, crediting him with a clear roadmap and strategic steps to achieve his goals. However, Modi's praise comes amid looming reciprocal tariff threats and the fact that Trump has time and again called out India to be among the nations that charge the US the highest tariffs. While Trump has praised Modi often, he has called India a tariff abuser. In the February meeting, Trump and Modi discussed trade issues and the nations are working on a trade deal. Trump, nonetheless, wants actions from India that should be beneficial for his land, including India buying more oil from the US. Trump's close ally Elon Musk meanwhile also seems to be getting some advantage in India these days. While Tesla is about to enter India, telecom operators Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel also signed deals with Starlink.

Issues related to bilateral interest will be discussed in the meeting between Yunus and Xi, Alam said. Dhaka wants to take its relations with Beijing to a new height aiming to turn Bangladesh into a manufacturing hub, he said. «They (China) think that this would be the most important visit by the Bangladeshi leader,» Alam added. «On March 27, Yunus will address the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) conference focusing on the changing role of Asia in the world,» he said.

China's economy showed a modest pickup for the first two months of the year, according to data published Monday by the National Bureau of Statistics, as Beijing reiterated its plan to bolster domestic consumption.

China's State Council unveiled on Sunday a 'special action plan' to boost domestic consumption, featuring measures including raising residents' income and setting up a childcare subsidy scheme. The plan comes as levels of consumer demand have suffered various setbacks in recent years, due to factors like COVID-19 disruptions and a long property slump, chilling the propensity of households to spend and adding to deflationary trends. Expanding domestic demand It was issued to all regions and departments to «vigorously boost consumption, expand domestic demand in all directions, improve consumption capacity by increasing income and reducing burdens,» a report from the Council said. The plan comes a week after Chinese Premier Li Qiang's work report to the National People's Congress which focused on boosting household spending to cushion the impact of weak external demand. Pressure has been building on Chinese officials for consumer-focused stimulus measures to fend off deflationary pressures and reduce reliance on exports and investment.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. URUMQI, China—About a decade ago, some Western companies answered Beijing’s calls to invest in Xinjiang, an underdeveloped region in the country’s remote west. Some were drawn by the natural resources there.

Baidu released a new artificial intelligence reasoning model Sunday and made its AI chatbot services free to consumers as ferocious competition grips the sector. Technology companies in China have been scrambling to release improved AI platforms since start-up DeepSeek shocked its rivals with its open source and highly cost-efficient model in January. In a post on WeChat, Baidu announced the launch of its latest X1 reasoning model — which the company claims performs similarly to DeepSeek's but for lower cost — and a new foundation model, Ernie 4.5.

Xi Jinping has declined an invitation to visit Brussels for an summit to mark the 50th anniversary of EU-China diplomatic ties, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. Beijing told EU officials that Premier Li Qiang would meet the presidents of the European Council and Commission instead of Xi, the FT said, citing two people familiar with the matter whom it did not identify. The Chinese premier usually attends the summit when it is held in Brussels, while the president hosts it in Beijing, but the EU wants Xi to attend to commemorate half a century of relations between Beijing and the bloc, the newspaper said. Tensions between Brussels and Beijing have grown since Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with the EU accusing China of backing the Kremlin, the FT said. Last year, the European Union also imposed tariffs on Chinese electric vehicle imports. «Informal discussions are ongoing, both about setting the date for the EU-China summit this year and the level of representation,» an EU official told the newspaper, while the Chinese ministry was quoted as saying it did not have any information to provide on the matter.

China though it has not got the sensational public attention the AI model received. China’s biotech research is redrawing the global map. The axis of innovation is tilting from the West to Beijing. Scores of small biotech startups, which have sprung up across China over the last decade, are coming up with medical breakthroughs. Impressed by the speed of drug research and new treatment modalities, global pharmaceutical companies are throwing princely sums to buy leads, which have the potential to be drugs. There is a big lesson or two here for India, which has been prioritising generics over innovation. The quiet change in China is stark. Barely two decades ago, it was looked down as a big factory for low-cost production of chemicals and raw materials for the pharmaceutical industry. Now savvy and young scientists, trained in the US and Europe, are regrouping in their home turf. Popularly referred to as sea turtles (which return from the sea to the beach to lay eggs), they come back with their knowledge of science and business. This disruption has become an existential risk for the centuries-old, entrenched American and European pharmaceutical industries.

Baloch Liberation Army's hijacking of the Jaffar Express could intensify the growing mistrust between China's policy circles and Pakistan's security apparatus, as Beijing remains increasingly concerned over its vast investments in Balochistan. Chinese officials continue to voice concerns over the deteriorating security situation in the region, despite Pakistan's deployment of the Special Security Division (SSD) — a 15,000-strong force dedicated to protecting Chinese personnel involved in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). However, there are deepening doubts within China about Pakistan's ability to ensure security in the volatile province. In 2017, China proposed establishing joint security ventures with private security firms to protect Chinese nationals in Pakistan.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. SINGAPORE—In 2002, with China’s shipyards producing just 8% of global commercial tonnage, then-Premier Zhu Rongji challenged his nation. “China," he said, “can hope to become the world’s No.

vocational courses and provide training on artificial intelligence applications to help students find jobs as the world’s second biggest economy confronts a record number of graduates this year. Universities are required to help students become more employable by establishing vocational training centers and collaborating with enterprises to offer 1,000 micro majors and 1,000 vocational training courses, according to a notice from the Ministry of Education. The institutions should also solicit employment and education projects in the field of AI and carry out specialised training on AI applications, the ministry added.

A statement by ministers meeting in Canada mirrored a February Japan-U.S. statement in condemning «coercion» toward Taiwan, language that heartened Taipei in its increasingly tense standoffs with Beijing. Compared to a G7 foreign ministers' statement in November, the statement added members' concerns over China's nuclear buildup, although it omitted references to their concerns about Beijing's human rights abuses in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong. Also missing were references stressing the desire for «constructive and stable relations with China» and recognizing the «importance of direct and candid engagement to express concerns and manage differences.» The statement dropped past reassurances, recently stated in November, that there is «no change in the basic position of the G7 members on Taiwan, including stated One-China policies,» as well as that the G7 is «not decoupling or turning inwards» and recognizing the importance of China in global trade.

BEIJING — Chinese videostreaming platform iQiyi announced Thursday it plans later this year to open its first full-fledged theme park in China based on characters from its own shows.

U.S. President Donald Trump threw a curve ball at China by linking the fentanyl issue to his tariffs on imports

«In the current situation, we believe that all parties should maintain calm and restraint to avoid escalating the Iran nuclear situation, or even walking towards confrontation and conflict,» foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular briefing. Beijing will host Russia and Iran for trilateral talks on Tehran's nuclear programme on Friday. The meeting will be attended by China's Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi. The United States withdrew from a landmark deal that had imposed curbs on Iran's nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief during President Donald Trump's first term, which ended in 2021.

William Lai Ching-te said Thursday tougher measures are needed to counter stepped-up Chinese infiltration, spying and other efforts to weaken the island's defences. Lai cited a range of recent incidents involving China that fall into a «gray area» of psychological warfare short of open armed conflict. Beijing's efforts to «subvert, obtain secrets, lure members of the armed forces and influence public opinion to lose confidence in our national defence require that we step up our legal safeguards to prevent and detect such incidents,» Lai said at a news conference. Lai's Democratic Progressive Party favours the island's continued de-facto independence from Beijing. China has refused almost all official contact with the DPP since Lai's predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen, was elected eight years ago. China regularly sends ships and planes into airspace and waters near the island in an effort to intimidate its 23 million people and wear down its armed forces and morale. Taiwan's government recently expelled the Chinese wife of a Taiwanese citizen after the woman repeatedly posted short clips on Chinese social media saying China would conquer Taiwan in half an hour and praising the Chinese leadership.

Panama Canal but has not offered specifics about how he would do so. Here is an explanation of the history and laws governing the critical waterway. Why is the Panama Canal important? The Panama Canal, located at the narrowest part of the isthmus between North and South America, is one of the most strategically important waterways in the world. Last year, the canal logged 11,240 crossings totaling more than 235.5 million tons of cargo. Over two-thirds of all cargo passing through the canal today originates from, or is destined for, the U.S. If the Panama Canal were blocked or unavailable, ships would need to make the long voyage around the southern tip of South America to cross between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, writes in a new book that he intends to be reincarnated outside China and called on the Tibetan people to reject any successor chosen by Beijing.

BEIJING — Mainland Chinese investors are piling into the Hong Kong stock market at record volumes as its tech-heavy Hang Seng Index trades around three-year highs.

Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Even though policymakers in Beijing may be putting up a sanguine show, not all is well with China’s economy. Its latest official data reveals that prices in China fell 0.7% from a year earlier in February, marking the first time in more than a year that the economy is in the grip of deflation.