Far East Watch

Takeaways from China’s National People’s Congress Meeting– warontherocks.com

pgnewser March 18, 2026 0

Blurb:

From March 5 to 12, China held its annual Two Sessions — the National People’s Congress meeting and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. These gatherings provide yearly insights into China’s economic and political priorities and plans. Additionally, this year, the government presented its 15th Five-Year Plan, laying out key policies to 2030. We asked four experts to offer their key takeaways from the National People’s Congress.

Ling ChenWilliam L. Clayton Associate Professor at the School of Advanced International Studies, Johns Hopkins UniversityA key takeaway from China’s most recent National People’s Congress is that Beijing is trying to respond to its economic slowdown by pursuing two goals that sit uneasily together. On the one hand, the government emphasized the need to boost domestic demand and household consumption, acknowledging that weak consumer confidence and spending have become major drags on growth.

MIKE CONAWAY: As China’s Espionage Threat Widens, America Must Lock Down Its Own House– dailycaller.com

pgnewser March 13, 2026 0

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British Prime Minister Keir Starmer stands a respectable 5’8”, but during his recent visit to China he was — as the kids say — “mogged.”

Soldiers of the People’s Republic’s honor guard, all more than six feet tall, towered over him on both sides.

The optics were hard to miss. The empire that once humiliated China into opening its ports and surrendering Hong Kong now approached Beijing like Oliver Twist asking for more gruel.

China passes new ethnic minority law, prioritise use of Mandarin language – Reuters

pgnewser March 12, 2026 0

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China passes new ethnic minority law, prioritise use of Mandarin language  Reuters
from news.google.com

China passed a law on a “shared” national identity among the country’s 55 ethnic ‌minority groups on Thursday, a move critics say will further erode the identity of people who are not majority Han Chinese and risk making anyone challenging that “unity” a separatist punishable by law.
Called “Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress”, the ethnic minority law aims to forge national unity and advance the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation with the ​Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at its core, a draft copy of the law showed.

South Korea opposed to U.S. deploying air defense systems in the country to Middle East– www.cnbc.com

pgnewser March 10, 2026 0

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GYEONGJU, SOUTH KOREA – NOVEMBER 1: South Korean President Lee Jae-myung speaks during an international press conference after the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit was concluded, in Gyeongju, South Korea, on November 1, 2025.

Anadolu | Anadolu | Getty Images

South Korea is opposed to the U.S. moving air defense assets out of the country, but it is not in a position to make demands, President Lee Jae Myung said Tuesday.

Lee briefed the cabinet that “The USFK may dispatch some air defense systems abroad in accordance with its own military needs. While we have expressed opposition, the reality is that we cannot fully push through our position.”

OpenClaw sparks boom as Chinese firms race into the AI agent era– technode.com

pgnewser March 10, 2026 0

Blurb:

The open-source AI agent framework OpenClaw has recently gone viral worldwide, drawing significant attention from the tech industry. By enabling AI to move beyond generating content to actually executing tasks, the framework is widely seen as a key step toward the AI agent era. A growing number of Chinese technology companies are actively exploring similar approaches and rolling out related products.

Moonshot AI was among the first to launch Kimi Claw, a native integration with OpenClaw. The product emphasizes zero-code deployment and one-click setup, while also offering free computing power subsidies for OpenClaw calls, lowering the barrier for users. The move has attracted a large influx of users and helped accelerate the company’s overseas expansion, with the number of paying international users surging and overseas revenue surpassing domestic revenue for the first time.

Iran war could disrupt supply of semiconductor materials, South Korea warns – National– globalnews.ca

pgnewser March 5, 2026 0

Blurb:

The U.S.-Israel war with Iran could disrupt supplies of key semiconductor manufacturing materials, a South Korean ruling party lawmaker said on Thursday, as the conflict in the Middle East entered its sixth day.

South Korea’s chip industry, which supplies around two-thirds of global memory chips, is also concerned that a prolonged conflict in Iran will lead to higher energy costs and prices, Kim Young-bae said after meeting with executives from companies such as Samsung Electronics 005930.KS and trade groups.

South Korea defense stocks soar with heavyweight Hanwha Aerospace surging 25%– www.cnbc.com

pgnewser March 3, 2026 0

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A Cheongung missile launcher is displayed during the Seoul International Aerospace and Defense Exhibition (ADEX 2025) at Seoul Air Base in Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, on October 17, 2025.

South Korean defense stocks saw massive gains on Tuesday after the country’s markets returned from a public holiday, as the Iran war fuels interest in defense names globally.

Heavyweight Hanwha Aerospace, which is South Korea’s largest defense manufacturer, saw shares surge nearly 25%, before paring gains to about 13%, while Korea Aerospace Industries gained more than 12%, but cut those to 2.4%.

Shares in air defense systems maker LIG Nex1 soared 25%, while electronic warfare systems manufacturer Victek and anti-aircraft missile components’ maker Firstec saw shares rise more than 20% and 15%, respectively.

PLA in peril: Xi Jinping’s purge cripples China’s military, sparks fears of combat vulnerability– timesofindia.indiatimes.com

pgnewser February 26, 2026 0

Blurb:

China’s ongoing military corruption purges have created serious deficiencies in the command structure of its armed forces and are likely to have affected the readiness of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), according to a leading defence research centre.The purges, led by the Chinese president Xi Jinping, which have spanned the supreme central military commission, theatre commands, weapons procurement, development programmes, and defence academia, are expected to be incomplete, said London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) this week, according to Reuters.