Giant civilian ferry that has participated in multiple PLA Navy military drills is heading to Xiamen, only 3km from Taiwan-controlled Kinmen, where Chinese coast guard recently began entering prohibited waters.

Happening as Taiwan prepares to inaugurate a new president next Mon.

my lil moment on the perils for Australian security futures that stems from our self-censorship in intellectual discourse 👇🏻

The Commercial Space Industry Technology Alliance has been formed in China by universities, rocket makers and semiconductor companies in a bid to develop one of the key sectors deemed “a new growth engine” by Beijing. scmp.com/tech/tech-tren…

Opposition parties issued a press release Wednesday morning, alleging that employees of Serbian state-owned companies were instructed to skip work and join the sizable crowd welcoming Xi.

politico.eu/article/xi-jin…

WATCH: Taiwan's Coast Guard releases video of 5 Chinese CG ships and 7 other vessels operating near Kinmen.

Part of the fleet was operating in Taiwan's restricted waters, just 4nm SW of Liaoluo Bay.

Source: Taiwan Coast Guard Administration

🚨 New video: Fleet of at least 12 Chinese ships (5 Coast Guard & 7 other vessels) operating within Taiwan’s restricted waters — & coming as close as 4 nautical miles to its territory.

This is the most number of ships within Kinmen’s waters on record.

2 weeks after China's military restructuring, China's former Minister of Defense Wei Fenghe, who hasn't been seen since August 2023, reappeared last night.

CCTV's broadcast showed his name listed among other former state councilors sending flowers to a former leader's funeral./1

Evan Medeiros exposes weaknesses in arguments about China as a peaking power and warns of the risks of basing policy on concepts that lack understanding of Beijing’s self-perception of its own situation. foreignaffairs.com/china/delusion…

My latest article in Security Studies, where I contend that China & Russia are deeply aligned and moving toward an even closer relationship. However, their military cooperation primarily aims to support China's challenge of US hegemony in Asia.
Read here: doi.org/10.1080/096364…

SCMP: ‘On Tuesday morning, EU officials entered the premises of the Dutch and Polish subsidiaries of a Chinese company involved in the manufacture of surveillance equipment, sources familiar with events said.…they accessed the ICT system and staff phones’ scmp.com/news/china/art…

NEW: G7 Foreign Minister's statement on Ukraine.

Critical of China's support of Russia.

'China should ensure that this support stops.'

gov.uk/government/new…

Also no mention of Taiwan, no mention of U.K.-China audit (which they have pledged to launch in first 100 days), and no mention that Lammy has previously said China is committing genocide in Xinjiang.

Lammy levels a series of criticisms against successive Conservative Government approaches to China.

Yet he fails to produce any policy evidence that “Progressive Realism” will be different.

The “three c’s” approach is not meaningfully different from Protect, Align, Engage.

Big!

TSMC has agreed to increase its U.S. investment by more than 60% to over $65 billion and produce the world’s most advanced 2-nanometer chips on American soil…also build a previously unannounced third chip plant…that will be operational by 2030.

asia.nikkei.com/Business/Tech/…

Is Europe battle-ready? I discussed this question with ⁦Gideon Rachman⁩ for his excellent podcast. You can listen here 👇 ⁦⁦IISS News⁩ on.ft.com/4cB9USk

🚨 Job Opportunity: Department of State's China House is hiring a Foreign Affairs Officer (GS-13) focused on PRC economic policy and foreign policy toward Western Europe.

Open to the public & great opportunity to enter the U.S. civil service. Apply today:
usajobs.gov/job/783646600

🚨We're hiring! 🚨 Come join the team at IISS-Asia here in Singapore as a Senior Fellow for Nuclear Arms Control, Non-Proliferation and Disarmament.

Deadline 16 April 2024. More details👇

iiss.org/en/careers/job…

China said to fall short of matching US advances in AI owing to ‘many challenges in theory and technologies’
Many Chinese-developed AI models have been built on Meta Platforms’ Llama system, according to a presentation made to Chinese Premier Li Qiang

scmp.com/tech/big-tech/…

US private funds struggle to cash out from China on.ft.com/4ab3mYw