Day: February 18, 2025

The U.S., China and Russia are taking part in Indonesian military drills that are non-combative and serve to boost humanitarian response cooperation.

China Update provides the most up to date political, economic, and geopolitical news and analysis on China. Videos are based on hundreds of articles, think tank reports, government statements and other resources in English and Chinese. China Update is fully independent and I make the videos.

Representatives from the Philippines and China quarreled Sunday over the South China Sea during a roundtable discussion at the 61st Munich Security Conference. Speaking at the “Making Waves: Maritime Tensions in the Indo-Pacific” roundtable, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo asserted the Philippines remains steadfast in defending the rules-based international order and the rule of law, in particular the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Former Chinese vice-foreign minister Fu Ying, U.S. Senator Christopher Coons, Singapore Minister for Defense Ng Eng Hen completed the panel.

The Cessna Caravan turbo-prop plane of the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, defied the Chinese navy’s order for it to leave and continued its routine patrol over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines. The plane was carrying an Associated Press journalist and other invited foreign media representatives, who witnessed the tense 30-minute standoff.

Taiwan is seeking to acquire a massive new weapons package from the U.S. worth US$10 billion to boost its military capabilities and show the new Trump administration its commitment to self-defense. Taiwan’s legislature fails to reach a consensus at a tense meeting to clarify parts of its controversial new central budget before passing it on to the Cabinet for approval. And European leaders meet in Paris for an emergency summit on the war in Ukraine after being excluded from talks between the U.S. and Russia. Plus: Authorities investigate the crash of a Delta Air Lines flight that flipped over when landing at a Toronto airport, injuring at least 18. Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with tech industry leaders, signaling a possible end to its crackdown on tech companies. A deadly explosion at a Taichung department store may have been caused by illegal renovation work, and investigations into the blast continue.

As Donald Trump’s first weeks in office steal international headlines, is China quietly making diplomatic gains in Asia amid the region’s uncertainty about the return of a transactional US president? In his summit with the new Thai leader, Xi Jinping was reported by China’s CCTV as saying China and Thailand should deepen trust in each other to counter growing global uncertainties. Meanwhile Brunei and China agreed that the world has entered “a new period of uncertainty and transformation” as they announced oil and gas joint development in “mutually agreed areas” of the South China Sea.

This is absolutely crazy. Right now, there might not be any other asset in the world that’s being snapped up like gold—by central banks, global investors, businesses, and regular people all at the same time. And the key here is, they’re all going after physical gold. This could be the biggest scramble for real gold we’ve ever seen. And with this frenzy, global gold prices just keep climbing, hitting new record highs almost every day.