Day: September 29, 2025

A recent report from Taiwan’s first civilian-run war game highlights the sparse troop presence in the east and warns that the east coast’s natural strategic advantage is gradually diminishing.

After a slight dip in outbound investment in China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2020-2022, leading Washington think tanks declared that the program had been a failure. But the program had merely shifted, to different regions, and to investments higher up the value chain. In the first half of 2025, Chinese BRI investments are again at record levels, and are diversified across manufacturing, high technology, energy, mining, and transportation. Cumulatively, China has invested over $1.3 trillion into developing economies in the past twelve years. Those investments have profound impacts for global trade and diplomacy, and conferred on China deep and enduring advantages.Closing scene, MacauResources and links:Bloomberg, China Pours Exports Into Africa Faster Than Anywhere Elsehttps://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl…China Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Investment Report 2025 H1https://blogs.griffith.edu.au/asiains…Tightening the Belt or End of the Road? China’s BRI at 10https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2024/02/…

TikTok’s U.S. spinoff was hailed as a win — but it’s actually a $14 billion Trojan Horse.Washington thinks it “saved” TikTok, but ByteDance kept the real power: the algorithm.This video exposes how ByteDance tricked the U.S., why the algorithm still answers to Beijing, and how this deal puts America’s data and democracy at risk.Watch to the end to see why India’s bold TikTok ban was the smarter move — and what America must do before it’s too late.#TikTok #ByteDance #TrojanHorse #NationalSecurity #USChina

In today’s show: Lutnick: Washington May Demand Half of Taiwan’s Chip Production Moved to US Taiwan Coast Guard Drives Two Chinese Research Vessels From Northern Waters Taiwan’s Domestically Built Submarine Presses Ahead With Trials Despite Advisor’s Exit Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung To Highlight Taiwan’s Tech Role at Warsaw Security Forum Recovery Efforts Continue in Hard-Hit Regions Following Typhoon Ragasa Xi Aims To Tie Trade Deal to Taiwan Policy in Talks With Trump, WSJ Reports Taiwan Bags One Gold, Two Silvers at Major International Badminton Competition

A classified US intelligence report seen by the ABC has revealed China is modifying its commercial ferry fleet in preparation for a potential invasion of Taiwan.Five Eyes observations have noted that more than 70 vessels are being fortified and strengthened to carry armoured vehicles. The report prepared for the Pentagon has identified these ferries as possible military targets in a conflict with China. ANU Security College’s David Andrews says the ferries would likely be used in the second phase of an operation to invade Taiwan. Beijing claims self-governed Taiwan as part of its territory and sees any effort to reclaim it as an attempt at reunification.

On September 23, during the 80th United Nations General Assembly held at the UN headquarters in New York, China’s Premier acknowledged that China would no longer seek “special and differential treatment for developing countries” in current and future WTO negotiations.This marks the 24th anniversary since China joined the WTO. For years, Western countries, including the United States, have pushed China to give up this privilege, citing its economic growth that no longer matches the criteria for such treatment. The Chinese government itself has even referred to China as the world’s second-largest economy.

A new report by the Wall Street Journal says China is leveraging Trump’s pursuit of a trade deal to press the US into explicitly opposing Taiwan independence.