Chinese liner Sea Legend Shipping launched the first direct container service between China and northern Europe via the Arctic over the weekend - takes just 18 days to reach Europe

Several interesting quotes in Antonio Costa's interview with Le Grand Continent On the EU-US tariff deal: Costa: "I would like to emphasize two points. First, the negotiations with the United States were not just about trade...

A temporary closure of Polish-Belarusian border, citing a military exercise, is turning into a shutdown of rail freight between China-EU. Warsaw closed its border with Belarus on Friday to "better monitor the large-scale Russian-Belarusian exercise."

VDL Q&A with several EU newspapers: Trump has called on the EU to impose 100% tariffs on India and China. How should the EU respond? VDL: The EU will make its own decisions. This request is linked to the President's desire to increase pressure on Russia

Europe emerges from shadows at Taiwan’s largest defence show "In an arms market long dominated by US, Europe raised its profile at Taiwan’s largest defence show as countries take tentative steps to help Taiwan deal with an increasingly aggressive China"

CATL is ready to assist European battery makers and contribute to building up a regional industry hub as the Chinese giant bets on strong growth in the continent’s EV market.

Reform are now coming after people with permanent residency. It'll be citizens next. No one is safe from authoritarian governments.

Serbia showcased both of its Chinese-made air defence missile systems at a military parade held in its capital city on Saturday, highlighting the two countries’ friendship amid ongoing regional tensions in Europe.

What if Putin and Xi live forever? - on.ft.com/4nLguKQ via @FT

Same day btw

Breaking: Von der Leyen says the EU will target "petrochemical companies in third countries, including China", who are buying Russian oil . "We are now going after these who fuel Russia's war in purchasing oil in breach of sanctions"

NEW: Could the EU dust off its trade bazooka to take on China? Europe weighs its options A serious discussion is underway in the commission about using the anti-coercion instrument against China - my report.

Good one from @fbermingham.bsky.social: “Throughout 2025, the bloc has found itself caught in the crossfire, flanked by hostile powers who are firing at will while the EU fumbles for its pistol.” www.scmp.com/news/china/d...

Interesting new figures from an EU Chamber in China survey: - Mofcom approved just 19 out of 141 European applications from rare earth licenses (13.5%) - 121 still pending, the same number deemed "urgent" - 7 instances of production stoppages in August, 46 expected in September

Great news that there's a new rare earth magnets plant in Europe! Maybe not the most strategic move for it to be located just across the river from Russia... "Europe’s EV Makers Line Up at Estonia Rare-Earth Magnet Site"

China is "open" to discussions about admitting new members to the G20, the spokesman for the Chinese MFA said on Thursday in response to a question regarding reports about a declaration on Poland made by Wang Yi during his visit to Poland

📚Fun fact: in 1999, I wrote my sinological 👩‍🎓 M.A. thesis on “Taiwanese evaluations of the German unification process in light of Cross-Strait relation: a potential model?” Never would’ve guessed that this topic would make an appearance again, in such a way…from China 🫣

Not sure this idea will enthuse Taipei... Beijing could incentivise Taiwan to unite with China by learning from German policies adopted after the fall of the Berlin Wall, a Chinese government adviser told a security forum on Wednesday.

Huawei Technologies unveiled hardware that it said could deliver world-class computing power without using Nvidia’s advanced chips, in a breakthrough that could potentially free the supply chokehold that constrains China’s aspirations in AI

China’s urban youth unemployment rate rose last month to the highest level since the data set was adjusted in 2023, as career prospects for young people have weakened amid an economic slowdown.

China's deputy commerce minister in Helsinki

Anyone know what the MOFCOM spox is referring to here? Seems quite a strange complaint... EU should not 'unjustly' label Chinese cars as simply good value for money, China says

New: The first official meeting between the European Parliament and China’s National People’s Congress for seven years is slated for October 16, confirming a continued thaw in relations between the two chambers.

Pyongyang on the Plains. Oklahoma targets teachers for insufficient mourning of Charlie Kirk.

Commission proposes suspension of trade concessions with Israel and sanctions on extremist ministers of the Israeli government and violent settlers ec.europa.eu/commission/p... ec.europa.eu/commission/p...

This is such a slippery slope. Talk about turkeys voting for Christmas

China and the United States are in the “final stage” of negotiations for a state visit to Beijing by US President Donald Trump, with bulk purchases of American goods a critical part of the deliverables, the South China Morning Post has learned.

Here's a visual guide to how EU biz concerns in China have been growing over the years, based on the number of recommendations in the chamber's annual report: 2021/2022 930 2022/2023 967 2023/2024 1,058 2024/2025 1,043 2025/2026 1,141

Slightly ironic (and self-defeating) given Beijing's claims to be the guardian of the multilateral order... "China is delaying the settlement of annual dues it owes to the UN later and later each year, exacerbating a funding crisis at the global body."

1,141 demands from the EU Chamber of Commerce in China in its annual report, which it wants Beijing to consider in 5-year plan Calls out rare earth export controls, overcapacity / involution, dual circulation as problems facing EU biz in China www.europeanchamber....

Chinese diplomatic flurry in Europe over the last week, most of it outside Brussels. - Wang Yi in Austria, Slovenia, Poland - Deputy commerce minister Li Jing in Bulgaria - CCP disciplinary chief Li Xi in Greece and Belarus - Retired climate czar Xie Zhenhua in Brussels

Crypto and banks was the combination that got Beijing's goat in the last sanctions package. Will be interesting to see if China's lobbying efforts have deterred Brussels from going back down that route on this one...

Germany's Vacuumschmelze (VAC), one of the few rare earth magnet producers outside China, aims to expand output at a new U.S. plant with Washington's support - in contrast to tepid backing for similar plans in Europe, its CEO said.

Player or playground? Europe sidelined again as US, China cut deals on its soil While the Europeans were not at the table in Madrid, there is a sense that they were once again on the menu - my report

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration would not impose additional tariffs on Chinese goods to halt China's purchases of Russian oil unless European countries hit China and India with steep duties of their own.

China's supposedly retired climate czar Xie Zhenhua spotted chewing the fat in Brasserie Berlaymont with colleagues following talks with Teresa Ribera in the European Commission

Draghi's speech with some home truths - critical of EU sluggishness and clear on the threats posed by the US and China Draghi: The foundations of Europe’s growth—expanding world trade and high-value exports— have weakened further.

In Chinese readout of Wang Yi - Sikorski meeting, Wang is asking Poland to gang up against Trump "The abuse of tariffs violates international trade rules and harms the legitimate interests of all countries. China and Europe should jointly resist and oppose this."

VDL speech to mark the first anniversary of the Draghi report, drills into China dependencies VDL: "In this last year, we have seen export controls from China bring production lines in Europe to a halt."

Player or playground? Europe sidelined again as US, China cut deals on its soil While the Europeans were not at the table in Madrid, there is a sense that they were once again on the menu - my report

Xi Jinping lashed out at price wars / involution again in Qiushi “Outdated production capacity should be phased out in an orderly manner, and policies should address the ‘involution’ issue in both online and offline businesses.”

China's former veteran climate envoy Xie Zhenhua is in Brussels today to meet Teresa Ribera "to resuscitate flailing international climate negotiations ahead of the COP30 summit in Brazil"

The EU has no intention of giving in to Trump's ultimatum regarding the cessation of purchases of Russian hydrocarbons and the imposition of tariffs on China as leverage to end the war in Ukraine. At least, not in the 19th package of sanctions. open.substack.com/pub/lamatina...

We're well past the point where if it were a foreign country, US media correspondents would be reporting on it in a way that would get them detained and/or expelled by the regime. This makes it sounds like it's infrastructure week.

Very well written piece "For me, at least, Ukraine and Israel are now on different sides of the moral ledger."

Trump declared the fourth round of high-stakes trade negotiations with Beijing had wrapped up “VERY WELL” in Madrid, producing a deal involving a “certain company”, which appears to be TikTok. www.scmp.com/news/china/d...

Of all the things that are hard to fathom about this war, this is really not one of them...

Last week, the French government announced an extra €1,000 bonus for EVs with batteries made in Europe. Another data point that “buy European” is picking up some real traction this fall. www.ecologie.gouv.fr/presse/augme...

Huge news! Prosecutors have dropped charges against two British men, including a former parliamentary researcher, who had been accused of spying for China. Christopher Cash, 30, and Christopher Berry, 33, had previously denied the charges under the Official Secrets Act.

China mulls converting coal-fired power plants to nuclear facilities Targeting its overwhelming coal power capacity – enough to run the entire United States – China is investigating plans to convert retiring coal-fired plants into nuclear power stations.