Chinese

• India has loosened investment rules to encourage Chinese Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), signaling a potential thaw in bilateral relations. • Experts like Ivan Lidarev of the National University of Singapore argue the move is insufficient, citing continued ambiguity and severe limits on Chinese ownership. • The shift is driven by India's need for Chinese technology and capital to achieve industrial growth goals, particularly within the electric vehicle sector.

• Rising operational costs for proprietary AI models are driving investors and developers toward open-source alternatives to reduce dependencies on expensive closed systems. • Chinese firms are currently leading this movement, leveraging open-source frameworks to rapidly scale their AI capabilities and challenge Western dominance. • A "rebel alliance" of startups is emerging across the AI stack, focusing on creating accessible, transparent, and cost-effective infrastructure for enterprises.

• Chinese AI startup DeepSeek has achieved a valuation exceeding $50 billion following the conclusion of its first funding round. • The massive valuation reflects the company's rapid growth and increasing competitiveness within the global artificial intelligence market. • This financial milestone provides DeepSeek with significant capital to scale its operations and challenge established AI leaders.

• Microsoft is reportedly considering the adoption of the Chinese AI startup DeepSeek's latest model to reduce operational costs for its enterprise artificial intelligence services. • This potential move is expected to trigger a clash with the U.S. government due to ongoing national security concerns and trade restrictions regarding Chinese technology. • Separately, South Korean President Lee has urged Donald Trump to lead a peaceful resolution to the North Korean issue, to which Trump responded that he would make efforts.

Brian Gu says he sees Chinese car firms competing on quality rather than launching price war as at homeMotorists in the UK and EU should not expect a sharp drop in the cost of electric vehicles despite increased competition among Chinese manufacturers, one of the country’s biggest electric carmakers has said.Brian Gu, the vice-chair of the manufacturer Xpeng, said that Chinese carmakers could compete on quality to win customers in the EU and UK, rather than unleashing a brutal price war as they have in China. Continue reading...

• Hong Kong businesses have surpassed the global average in AI spending, focusing primarily on creating safe testing environments for the technology. • In contrast, mainland Chinese firms are aggressively integrating AI directly into their workforces to reshape daily operational workflows. • The findings come from the latest research conducted by DLA Piper, highlighting a strategic divergence in how different regions approach AI deployment.

• Meta is separating from the Chinese AI startup Manus, terminating all internal access and data sharing following a divestiture order from Beijing based on national security grounds. • Manus co-founders are currently seeking approximately $1 billion from external investors to buy back the startup from Meta. • This strategic move aims to establish a Chinese joint venture and pave the way for a future public listing in Hong Kong, following a trend of AI IPOs from firms like MiniMax and Zhipu.

Other western acts have attempted to crack country’s music scene since singer’s breakout success in 2018One week after announcing she was “cancer free”, the British pop star Jessie J did what any recovering patient would do and travelled thousands of miles around the world to perform for an audience of more than a billion people.On 29 May, the singer-songwriter, whose real name is Jessica Cornish, belted out a stage-rattling rendition of Frank Sinatra’s My Way on the stage of Singer, a hugely popular Chinese singing competition similar to The Voice. She also performed her new song, California, briefly adapting the lyrics to change California to Changsha, the Chinese city where Singer is hosted. Continue reading...

Ministry says on WeChat that animals fitted with sensors by foreign agencies are ‘collecting sensitive marine data’China’s ministry of state security has claimed that foreign espionage and intelligence agencies are using innovative new methods to monitor the country’s waters, including deploying “spy” animals fitted with sensors.In a post on the Chinese platform WeChat on Friday, the ministry warned that an “invisible secret war” was quietly playing out in the seas around China as foreign agencies were collecting sensitive data “through a variety of new spying devices” to produce underwater maps that pose a “serious threat to our national security”. Continue reading...

• Chinese investors are increasingly using digital assets and synthetic instruments to gain exposure to high-profile U.S. tech IPOs. • These maneuvers allow traders to bypass traditional regulatory hurdles and capital controls to invest in lucrative Western technology markets. • The trend underscores the high demand for U.S. growth assets among Chinese traders, despite the significant financial and legal risks involved.

Apple Peiqing Ni targeted by account portraying her as promiscuous drug addict after posting about Tiananmen SquareA high-profile Chinese activist in the UK who was inundated with deepfake posts on X portraying her as a sexually promiscuous drug addict was told that the abuse did not breach the rules of Elon Musk’s platform.Apple Peiqing Ni, the 27-year-old founder of the UK-based China Dissent Network, had been advised by UK police to complain to the US-headquartered platform after she was targeted by what she believes is a pro-regime bot. Continue reading...

• Data from the API routing platform OpenRouter reveals that Chinese-developed language models now account for approximately 61% of token consumption among the top 10 models. • This shift indicates that thousands of American AI startups are quietly migrating their traffic away from US-based models in favor of Chinese alternatives. • The trend is significant as it suggests Chinese LLMs are becoming more competitive in performance or cost, potentially challenging the dominance of Silicon Valley AI firms.

• Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike reported on Tuesday that China-linked hackers have become the primary espionage threat to technology companies over the last year. • The surge in targeting is attributed to the rapid increase in global investment and development of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. • A spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington rejected these claims as "vilification and smears," asserting that China opposes hacking and operates according to the law.

• The Indian U-18 men’s hockey team secured a dominant 13-1 victory over Chinese Taipei during their final Pool A match of the U-18 Asia Cup 2026. • A standout performance by Ashish Tani Purti, who scored a hat-trick, led the clinical offensive display in Kakamigahara, Japan, on Wednesday. • This decisive win ensures India's progression to the semifinals of the tournament.

Registrations are up 7% in May, with battery electric vehicles recording the fastest growth and Tesla jumping 45%British car sales rose in May to their strongest level for the month since before the Covid pandemic, driven in part by strong growth from the Chinese manufacturers BYD and Chery.Car registrations rose 7% to 160,662 during the month, according to figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), a lobby group. Continue reading...

• Indian shuttler Ayush Shetty secured a stunning victory over China's Weng Hongyang during the Round of 32 at the BWF Super 1000 Indonesia Open. • The match took place on Wednesday, June 3, 2026, at the Istora Gelora Bung Karno stadium in Jakarta. • Shetty managed to flip the momentum of the match to defeat his opponent, marking a significant upset in the early stages of the tournament.

Advertisements for non-existent jobs aim to draw in people with access to classified or sensitive informationChinese spies are targeting UK government and military staff on job websites including LinkedIn to try to get access to classified or sensitive information, MI5 has warned.A bulletin has been released by the Five Eyes powers – the UK, US, Australia, Canada and New Zealand – highlighting an “aggressive” online recruitment strategy where spies for Beijing military intelligence pose as workers acting on behalf of private businesses or thinktanks.Security clearance holders, especially those who specialise in defence, foreign affairs and security and intelligence.Military personnel, including those stationed in the Indo-Pacific region, who have knowledge of regional capabilities and general activities.People with either indirect or peripheral access to government information, including academics, journalists, freelance writers, thinktank employees, or anyone with links to the defence, security, policy and economic sectors. Continue reading...

• Indian smartphone brand Ai+ issued a public statement asserting that "trust must be earned every single day" following a controversial tech investigation. • The company claimed it is "learning and evolving" and has implemented improvements, though it failed to directly address allegations regarding rebranded hardware and Chinese-linked apps. • The response comes amid growing scrutiny over the brand's manufacturing claims, privacy practices, and reports that it sent legal notices to content creators.

Hong Qi, who orchestrated protest against Communist government, claims interpreter on 101 call launched political tiradeA Chinese dissident who orchestrated an anti-government protest in China after fleeing to the UK has claimed that a “pro-regime” interpreter used by a British police force berated him when he sought help.Hong Qi, who made headlines last year after using a mobile phone while in the UK to remotely project anti-regime slogans on to a building in his home city, Chongqing, contacted police after discovering that his bank accounts had been frozen. Continue reading...

• Chinese AI models, specifically DeepSeek, are currently leading in traffic on OpenRouter, a popular platform used by global developers to access various LLMs. • The trend highlights a shift where open-weight models from China are performing competitively, though they introduce significant data privacy and security risks. • Several nations, including the U.S., South Korea, Italy, Australia, and Taiwan, have already implemented regulatory bans on using DeepSeek on government devices.

Concerns among commissioners in bloc that surge in imports could lead to decline similar to that of US rust belt townsEU commissioners will meet on Friday for crunch talks aimed at imposing new restrictions on imports from China amid growing concern that Beijing is fuelling conditions for US-style rust belt towns in Europe.The surge in imports of everything from electric cars to key components in machines, medical devices and food stuffs has been dubbed China Shock 2.0, potentially mirroring the experience in the US 25 years ago when Beijing joined the World Trade Organization. Continue reading...

When an Inner Mongolia farmer sought two herders to tend his 3,000 sheep, he was swamped with applicants including graduates, factory labourers and white-collar workersA Chinese farm owner’s recruitment drive for shepherds has ended in success after his job advert seeking people to work on his Inner Mongolia ranch went viral, drawing the attention of city dwellers struggling to find work and highlighting growing strains in China’s labour market.Zuo Xiaoyong posted an advert on Chinese social media in late April seeking two shepherds, preferably a couple, to take 3,000 sheep out to graze on a 2,000ha pasture in the summer. The shepherds would also undertake indoor feeding and cleaning during the winter when temperatures can drop below -30C at his ranch roughly 300km from Xilinhot city, near the Mongolian border. Continue reading...

• Governments and enterprises in Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America are increasingly adopting low-cost Chinese AI servers over US-dominated alternatives. • This shift is driven by severe budget constraints and a strategic desire to avoid over-dependence on a single global superpower. • The trend signifies a major reshaping of the global AI infrastructure map, challenging the market dominance of US tech ecosystems in emerging economies.

Everlane CEO confirms sale in letter to employees and says it will stay true to ‘sustainability’ commitmentsEverlane, the retailer that bucked the fast-fashion industry by promising affordable ethically sourced and sustainable clothing, is being acquired by the king of fast-fashion, China’s Shein.A letter to Everlane employees from CEO Alfred Chang confirming the deal was obtained by the Associated Press on Friday. Continue reading...

• The European Union is preparing a targeted trade clampdown against China to protect flagging domestic industries from what officials describe as a "Chinese steamroller." • Brussels is developing a standalone package of measures that can be deployed on a case-by-case basis, rather than implementing broad "Buy European" criteria. • This strategic shift is designed to secure essential backing from Germany, which has historically resisted blanket protectionist policies that could disrupt its trade relations.

• Yáng Shuāng-zǐ’s novel *Taiwan Travelogue*, translated by Lin King, has won the International Booker Prize, marking the first time a work originally written in Mandarin Chinese has received the honor. • The novel is described as a "double feat" for successfully blending elements of a romance with an incisive postcolonial critique. • Yáng highlighted the work's focus on the complex legacy of the Japanese empire, noting that Taiwanese perspectives on colonial history are often a conflicted mix of nostalgia and distaste.

ASX-listed company announced in February it would lay off almost 30% of its 7,000-strong workforce across 40 countriesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastWiseTech has begun informing staff that they will lose their jobs as part of redundancies the company has said is due to artificial intelligence advancements – although an email to staff in China omitted the word “AI” after a court case against another company in the country.Staff at WiseTech have been waiting almost three months to be told if they are among the 2,000 people the logistics software company is to cut due to advances in AI. The Australian Stock Exchange-listed company announced in late February it would lay off almost 30% of its 7,000-strong workforce across 40 countries. Continue reading...

• Inner Mongolia Nongxin, a Women’s Chinese Basketball Association side, was banned for three years on Wednesday and stripped of its 2023-24 runners-up finish after a match-fixing investigation. • The CBA said former general manager Guo Jiajie and player Zou Qijia were banned for life, while head coach Yang Zan and rival Shanxi executive Ma Jun received three-year suspensions effective May 20, 2026. • Court documents cited by the league said the officials sought “illegitimate benefits” and were involved in “attempted bribery of non-state functionaries,” underscoring the scale of the scandal.