The Chinese sports brand taking on Nike and Adidas
Now one of the biggest sportswear firms, Anta’s rise follows a playbook adopted by many Chinese giants.
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Volkswagen turns to AI agents for Chinese cars in race to close tech gap
Volkswagen Group announced plans to equip new cars for China with AI “agents” starting in the second half of this year. This strategy aims to help Volkswagen compete with fast-growing Chinese automakers in areas like electrification and digital features.
At an event in Beijing, the company revealed that its vehicles will utilize a China-specific electronic architecture to offer “onboard AI agents,” allowing for intuitive, human-like interaction while ensuring personal data protection. These AI agents can perform complex tasks, such as finding top-rated restaurants, making reservations, driving to the location, and organizing parking.
Volkswagen is shifting its image in China, aiming to be seen as a leader in electric and intelligent vehicles rather than just a traditional manufacturer. The company plans to introduce over 20 new electrified vehicles, totaling 50 new models by 2030, as part of its “largest ever electric mobility offensive. “
CEO Oliver Blume emphasized that their initiatives signal Volkswagen’s return to the market. The collaboration with Horizon Robotics aims to make this AI technology accessible across the mass market.
With information from Reuters
Exclusive: EU-based chemical producers ask Commission to probe Chinese group over deal in the UK
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A coalition of EU-based chemical producers of titanium dioxide – a strategic chemical used in green energy and aerospace – has lodged a complaint with the Commission alleging unfair foreign subsidies against leading Chinese producer LB Group, which is seeking to acquire a UK plant of British competitor Venator, Euronews has learned.
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The move follows the European Commission’s decision in January 2025 to impose anti-dumping duties on LB Group, a trade defence measure targeting low-priced imports into the EU.
Acquiring a production plant in the UK would allow the Chinese group to export its products to the European market duty-free under the EU-UK trade agreement, circumventing EU anti-dumping tariffs.
The EU chemical sector is under pressure from growing competition from Chinese rivals, which are flooding the market with overcapacity.
The alliance behind the complaint against LB Group includes several companies producing in the EU — US-based Tronox and Kronos, Czech Precheza and Slovenian Cinkarna — collectively accounting for about 90% of EU titanium dioxide production.
Enforcing the Foreign Subsidies Regulation outside the EU
Sources said the complaint was filed in December 2025, urging the European Commission to investigate the Chinese company over alleged unfair foreign subsidies used to finance the acquisition of Venator’s plant.
The EU’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, adopted in 2022, allows the Commission to investigate non-EU companies to assess whether they benefit from distortive foreign subsidies to make acquisitions in the EU or take part in public procurement.
The tool was initially designed with China in mind, reflecting concerns over excessive state subsidies support for Chinese companies acquiring strategic EU assets or infrastructure. However, the regulation has not yet been applied outside the EU.
The plant targeted by LB Group is located in Greatham in northeast England, which left the EU in 2020 after Brexit. The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority is currently reviewing the deal and is expected to issue a decision in May.
If the European Commission opens an investigation under the Foreign Subsidies Regulation, it could set a precedent and send a strong signal globally.
The move would come as the EU chemical industry loses market share in Europe.
According to Cefic, which represents the sector in Brussels, the bloc has lost around 9% of its production capacity since 2022, resulting in the loss of 20,000 direct jobs.
Chinese response to Israel’s implementation of the Gaza playbook to wipe out towns in southern Lebanon
China has taken a firm stance against the Israeli escalation in Lebanon, strongly warning against the region becoming a second Gaza and considering the events a blatant violation of Lebanese sovereignty and international law. The most prominent features of the Chinese response up to April 2026 to this Israeli military escalation in southern Lebanon included condemning the targeting of civilians and emphasizing the protection of Lebanese sovereignty while rejecting Israeli violations aimed at destroying the infrastructure of southern Lebanon. The Chinese Foreign Ministry condemned the extensive Israeli raids targeting towns in southern Lebanon, stressing that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security are a red line that must not be crossed. China also emphasized the protection of Lebanese civilians, with Beijing unequivocally affirming that the protection of civilians and civilian objects in armed conflicts is a legal obligation and expressing its shock at the scale of casualties and destruction inflicted on southern villages and towns.
China’s position is based on a comprehensive vision linking the stability of southern Lebanon to a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Beijing believes that addressing the root causes of the conflict is the only way to prevent its spread throughout the Middle East. While condemning the destruction of Lebanese infrastructure and civilian areas, China’s Foreign Ministry denounced the Israeli airstrikes that killed hundreds of civilians and destroyed civilian infrastructure and property. Beijing categorically rejects any actions that lead to the destruction of infrastructure, considering them a violation of international law. China has consistently emphasized that Lebanon’s sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity are a red line that must not be crossed. Beijing has also declared its opposition to the Israeli ground incursion into southern Lebanon, warning that such actions exacerbate regional tensions. China has called for diplomatic solutions, urging all parties, especially Israel, to exercise maximum restraint and return to the path of political and diplomatic settlement, asserting that continued violence will not bring security to any party. China condemned the attacks targeting UNIFIL peacekeeping forces in southern Lebanon, stressing the need to ensure the safety of UN peacekeepers.
In this context, China deliberately directed veiled criticism at Washington regarding Israeli violations in southern Lebanon. China believes that the failure to contain the escalation in southern Lebanon is partly due to the military and political support provided to Israel by external powers, a clear reference to the United States, which hinders efforts to de-escalate the situation. Simultaneously, China warned of a second Gaza in southern Lebanon. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi explicitly cautioned against a repeat of the Gaza tragedy in Lebanon, emphasizing that violence cannot replace right and justice. China is pressing in international forums, particularly the Security Council, for an immediate and permanent cessation of Israeli hostilities, warning against the region sliding into a full-scale war. This stance reflects China’s desire to bolster its role as a peacemaker in the Middle East and to rival American influence by adhering to political solutions and international law.
Here, China sharply criticized the American role in the Israeli war against southern Lebanon and its recent escalation in April 2026, arguing that Washington contributes to undermining regional stability through its military and political support for Israel. Beijing considered the military operations supported or participated in by the United States to be a flagrant violation of international law and the principles of national sovereignty. While warning against the militarization of the region, China criticized the expansion of the American military presence, describing it as irresponsible and warning that such steps exacerbate tensions rather than de-escalate them. Beijing believes that Washington’s approach to the international order reflects the values of the law of the jungle and fuels chaos and instability in the Middle East. While criticizing the US for its double standards, China, through its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning, condemned the continued Israeli strikes on towns and villages in southern Lebanon despite ongoing efforts to de-escalate the situation. She emphasized that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security must not be violated.
China called on Israel to immediately withdraw from southern Lebanon, warning against a repeat of the Gaza scenario. Chinese President Xi Jinping issued direct warnings demanding the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from southern Lebanon, cautioning that continued military operations could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe similar to what occurred in the Gaza Strip. He also called for an end to the Israeli escalation in southern Lebanon. China maintains that violence does not solve problems but rather exacerbates crises, urging maximum restraint to de-escalate the volatile regional situation. Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the immediate withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanese territory, asserting that their current military presence violates Lebanon’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. President Xi explicitly warned against allowing southern Lebanon to become another Gaza, pointing to the risk of a widespread humanitarian catastrophe and the destruction of civilian infrastructure.
To halt the cycle of violence and armed conflict in southern Lebanon, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed a four-point peace initiative to bolster stability in the Middle East. This initiative includes a call for a multilateral peace conference under the auspices of the United Nations, the re-establishment of the border along the Blue Line between southern Lebanon and Israel, and a reaffirmation of China’s rejection of any violation of Lebanese sovereignty. The Chinese Foreign Ministry has repeatedly emphasized, most notably on April 9, 2026, that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security are a (red line) that must not be crossed. These Chinese moves position Beijing as an active diplomatic alternative in the region at a time of escalating international tensions between major powers and ongoing regional conflicts. China has begun diplomatic efforts by proposing several peace initiatives to halt the cycle of armed conflict in southern Lebanon. The most prominent of these is the call for a multilateral peace conference. Beijing proposed hosting an international peace conference aimed at stabilizing the region and reinforcing the border along the Blue Line separating Israel and Lebanon, under the auspices of the United Nations. China holds Israel fully responsible, considering the ongoing fighting in Gaza to be the root cause of the instability in the Middle East. Therefore, China called on the international community, particularly the major powers, to play a constructive role in achieving a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire in southern Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. China has also supported the UNIFIL peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, strongly condemning any attacks on UNIFIL forces as violations of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. Here, China used its influence in the UN Security Council and international forums to emphasize that any military operations outside the framework of the United Nations violate its Charter. It described the Israeli strikes on towns and villages in southern Lebanon as unauthorized actions.
Based on the preceding analysis, we understand the accuracy of China’s linking of the tensions in southern Lebanon to the war in Gaza. China called for restraint to prevent the conflict from spreading regionally, based on its principles of supporting sovereign states like Lebanon and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. China also called for a return to the diplomatic track to halt the cycle of violent armed conflict in southern Lebanon perpetrated by Israel. China condemned the extensive Israeli strikes, stressing that Lebanon’s sovereignty and security must not be violated. It emphasized the need to protect Lebanese civilians and civilian infrastructure during Israeli military operations and called for de-escalation and immediate steps to calm the situation and prevent further escalation of the conflict in southern Lebanon.
Trump Downplays Chinese Concerns Over Iran War’s Impact On Its Oil Supplies
Despite Beijing’s rising anger over the war in Iran, a country upon which it relies heavily for oil, U.S. President Donald Trump insisted his relationship with his Chinese counterpart remains strong. However, in a post on his social media network, Trump also dismissed Chinese concerns that its energy situation is becoming more precarious as the result of strangulation of the Strait of Hormuz and U.S. blockade of Iranian ports.
All this comes as Trump has been telling media outlets that he believes the war could soon end. We’ll talk more about that later in this story.
“China is very happy that I am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz,” the American leader proclaimed on Truth Social, even as the flow of oil from the Middle East has been drastically reduced by the war. “I am doing it for them, also – And the World. This situation will never happen again. They have agreed not to send weapons to Iran.”
“President Xi will give me a big, fat, hug when I get there in a few weeks,” he added. “We are working together smartly, and very well! Doesn’t that beat fighting??? BUT REMEMBER, we are very good at fighting, if we have to – far better than anyone else!!!”
In a pre-taped interview that aired Wednesday morning, Trump told Fox News that the war hasn’t soured his relationship with Xi, who has expressed frustration with American actions in the Middle East.
“I don’t think it does,” Trump told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo. “He’s somebody that needs oil. We don’t. He’s somebody I get along with very well. He just wrote me a beautiful letter…He responded to a letter that I wrote because I had heard that China is giving weapons to – I mean, you’re seeing it all over the place – to Iran…I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that, and he wrote me a letter saying that essentially he’s not doing that.”
Trump was referring to reports that U.S. intelligence determined Beijing was providing military support to Tehran.
Before his Truth Social Post and the Fox interview aired, Financial Times reported that Iran “secretly acquired a Chinese spy satellite that gave the Islamic republic a powerful new capability to target US military bases across the Middle East during the recent war.”
“Leaked Iranian military documents show the satellite, known as TEE-01B, was acquired by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force in late 2024 after it was launched into space from China,” according to the outlet. “Time-stamped coordinate lists, satellite imagery and orbital analysis show that Iranian military commanders later tasked the satellite to monitor key US military sites. The images were taken in March before and after drone and missile strikes on those locations.”
As we have previously reported, Iranian strikes on U.S. military facilities killed U.S. troops and caused damage to bases and equipment. However, it should be noted that Iran has also beenreceiving Chinese commercial satellite imagery and Russia is likely providing it as well. At the same time, U.S. commercial satellite companies like VANTOR and Planet Labs are now refraining from sharing imageryof the Middle East and elsewhere at the Pentagon’s behest.
Meanwhile, China continues to push back against accusations that it is helping Iran and repeated previous assertions that it will respond should Trump go through with his threat to impose a 50% tariff.
“Media reports accusing China of providing military support to Iran are purely fabricated,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian stated on X. “If the U.S. goes ahead with tariff hikes on China on the basis of these accusations, China will respond with countermeasures.”
Lin did not offer details about those countermeasures.
Regardless, Iran’s use of commercial space imagery to strike U.S. and allied targets “will force the Pentagon to adjust, the head of U.S. Space Command said,” according to Defense One.
“We have to recognize that the rest of the world can now see the entire planet transparently and almost 24/7 and so we have to be able to operate in that environment successfully,” Gen. Stephen Whiting, the head of U.S. Space Command told reporters Tuesday during the Space Symposium conference.
UPDATES
UPDATE: 2:24 PM EDT –
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt denied the U.S. requested an extention to the ceasefire.
She also thanked Pakistan for its help in the negotiations.
Trump, as we noted earlier, is saying that he believes the war could soon be concluded.
“I think it’s close to over,” Trump posited. “I mean, I view it as very close to over. You know what? If I pulled up stakes right now, it would take them 20 years to rebuild that country. And we’re not finished. We’ll see what happens. I think they want to make a deal very badly.”
Trump also told Sky News that the end of the war may be nigh.
When asked by Sky whether a deal could happen before King Charles visits the U.S. at the end of the month, Trump said: “It’s possible. Very possible. They’re beaten up pretty bad.”
U.S. and Iranian negotiators made progress in talks on Tuesday, moving closer to a framework agreement to end the war, two U.S. officials said, Axios reported on Wednesday.
“U.S. officials and sources familiar with the mediation cautioned that a deal is not guaranteed, given the substantial differences between the two sides,” the news outlet noted.
“Let’s wait and see if we can get a deal. We are hopeful and accordingly trying to push with both sides,” a Pakistani official told Axios.
In another step toward potential future negotiations, Pakistan’s Army Chief of Staff Asim Munir arrived in Tehran today for talks.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Spokesman, Esmail Baghaei, said that during the visit, “the views of both sides are likely to be discussed in detail.”
Baghaei, however, said Iran would not capitulate.
“If a negotiation is based on one side imposing conditions on the other, that is not negotiation; it is dictation and imposition, and you know that the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Iranian nation will never accept such imposition,” he stated.
In an X post, CENTCOM on Wednesday said that during “the first 48 hours of the U.S. blockade on ships entering and exiting Iranian ports, no vessels have made it past U.S. forces. Additionally, 9 vessels have complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around and return toward an Iranian port or coastal area.”
Late Tuesday night, Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of CENTCOM, took to X to announce that the “blockade of Iranian ports has been fully implemented as U.S. forces maintain maritime superiority in the Middle East.”
“An estimated 90% of Iran’s economy is fueled by international trade by sea,” Cooper noted. “In less than 36 hours since the blockade was implemented, U.S. forces have completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea.”
Senior IRGC commander Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi claimed the Islamic Republic would consider it a prelude to the breach of the ceasefire if “the aggressive and terrorist America” continues the blockade.
Abdollahi “threatened that the powerful Iranian armed forces would not allow any export and import to keep going in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Red Sea region, in the face of the US maritime aggression,” the official Iranian IRNA news agency stated on Wednesday.
His comments suggested that the Houthi rebels of Yemen, an Iranian proxy, could resume their attacks on Red Sea shipping, something we previously examined as a possibility.
Meanwhile, the Malta-flagged VLCC Agios Fanourios I became the first crude carrier to head west through the Strait of Hormuz since the US blockade on Iran’s ports came into force, according to MarineTraffic.
Though another round of peace talks between the U.S. and Iran is being discussed, the Pentagon continues to pour resources into the Middle East, something we have been reporting about for weeks.
“The forces moving into the region include about 6,000 troops aboard the aircraft carrier USS George H.W. Bush and several warships escorting it, said current and former officials,” according to The Washington Post, citing anonymous officials. “About 4,200 others with the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and its embarked Marine Corps task force, the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, are expected to arrive near the end of the month.”
During the pause in fighting, Iran appears to be using the time to reopen entrances to underground missile cities damaged during the war, according to CNN. The network published footage showing engineering equipment at the Tabriz South missile base and the Khomein missile bases.
The network also noted that, according to U.S. intelligence estimates, about half of the Iranian missile launchers remained intact after a month of fighting, and that many of these launchers could have been buried in underground storage facilities as a result of strikes on the entrances.
A day after negotiations took place in Washington between the U.S., Israel and Lebanon, Hezbollah issued a veiled threat to Beirut. Considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Israel, Hezbollah was not a party to the talks.
“The Lebanese authorities must reconsider their actions and return to the embrace of the people,” said Hezbollah MP Hassan Fadlallah in a statement. “The authorities withdrew the army from the south, leaving it vulnerable to occupation and giving the enemy [Israel] free rein.”
Meanwhile, Israel is continuing to bombard Hezbollah.
“In the past 24 hours, the IDF struck over 200 Hezbollah terror infrastructure sites in southern Lebanon,” it claimed. “Among the targets struck: terrorists, military structures, approximately 20 launchers, including those recently used to fire towards the State of Israel.”
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com
EU cracks down on Chinese goods bypassing tariffs via Belt and Road Initiative
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The European Commission on Wednesday imposed anti-dumping duties on glass fibre —a key input for the EU’s renewable industry— produced by Chinese companies operating in Egypt, Bahrain and Thailand.
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The move confirms the EU’s push to curb Chinese imports entering the bloc via Belt and Road routes to sidestep tariffs on products officially labelled “made in China.”
Brussels seeks to shield its market from a surge of low-cost imports from the Asian giant, targeting goods it considers heavily subsidized or sold in the EU below production cost in China.
The tariffs on glass fibre from the three countries will range from 11% to 25.4% of the product’s value.
“The investigation confirms the existence of unfair practice, which is an important signal,” Ludovic Piraux, President of Glass Fibre Europe, said.
But he added that the measures adopted “remain insufficient to fully address the predatory strategies pursued through these investments in third countries.”
Job losses loom
China has invested $1 trillion through the Belt and Road initiative – a large-scale infrastructure programme which replaced the former silk road initiative and is aimed at strengthening connectivity, trade and communication across Eurasia, Latin America and Africa. The programme spans more than 150 countries, supporting infrastructure, transport, raw materials extraction and the relocation of industries and state-owned enterprises abroad.
As early as 2010, following an industry complaint, the Commission imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese glass fibre imports. In the years that followed, Chinese producers established factories in Bahrain and Egypt, from which exports to the EU resumed.
By 2024, glass fibre imports from those countries, along with Thailand, accounted for 24% of the EU market. Egyptian imports alone reached 18%, with Glass Fibre Europe warning the situation could worsen.
This is not the first time the Commission has targeted Chinese products made in third countries under Belt and Road arrangements. It has previously imposed measures on aluminium foil from Thailand and glass fibre produced in Türkiye.
European glass fibre manufacturers have been pushing for action for more than a decade, alongside unions seeking to protect jobs in the sector.
The complaint which lead to Wednesday’s anti-dumping duties was first reported by Euronews in January 2025.
The industry directly employs more than 4,500 workers in the EU and says it supports hundreds of thousands of indirect jobs along the value chain.
Judith Kirton-Darling, General secretary of industriAll Europe, warned that “in the longer term”, the situation could worsen if the EU does not take “a stronger” stance on Chinese dumping.
“It is more than likely that we will face plant closures in Europe which will fundamentally undermine our industry,” she said.
Ecuador to acccept Chinese hydroelectric plant despite concerns
Minister of Electricity and Renewable Energy Carlos Perez (C) visits the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric power plant during a tour for journalists in El Chaco, Ecuador, in June 2018. The government at the time was preparing to hire a specialized company check the plant for safety issues, File Photo by Jose Jacome/EPA
April 14 (UPI) — Ecuador’s government will formally accept the Coca Codo Sinclair hydroelectric plant this week, nearly a decade after technical disputes first delayed final delivery of the Chinese-built facility.
The handover follows resolution of an international arbitration dispute with Sinohydro, a subsidiary of PowerChina, over structural defects at the plant.
Ecuadorian Environment and Energy Minister Ines Manzano said the transfer will proceed under guaranteed conditions, allowing immediate operation and maintenance of the infrastructure.
Since the plant began partial operations in 2016, Ecuador and the Chinese contractor remained locked in a legal dispute over major structural flaws that prevented final acceptance of the project.
A 2018 report by Ecuador’s comptroller identified more than 7,600 cracks in the plant’s eight water distributors — key components that channel water to the turbines, local newspaper La Hora reported.
Subsequent technical reports and audits raised that figure to more than 17,000 cracks, fueling concerns over material quality, welding processes and possible design flaws.
The comptroller’s office warned the defects pose serious risks, including possible flooding of the powerhouse, total shutdown of the plant and danger to workers.
After Sinohydro declined to undertake permanent repairs, Ecuador took the dispute to the International Chamber of Commerce’s arbitration court.
The dispute was resolved through a financial and operational agreement under which Ecuador will receive $400 million in compensation. The government will next sign an operation and maintenance contract with PowerChina requiring the company to repair damage and replace defective water distributors, local newspaper El Comercio reported.
Separate from the structural issues, the facility also faces a broader environmental threat from regressive erosion of the Coca River, a geological process that has altered the surrounding area since the plant entered service.
The erosion has advanced toward the plant’s water intake structures, prompting the government to carry out emergency work that includes construction of permeable dams to slow the river’s force and retain sediment at a cost of $19 million.
The Coca Codo Sinclair plant is Ecuador’s largest and most strategic power generation facility.
With installed capacity of 1,500 megawatts, it supplies about 30% of Ecuador’s electricity demand on average and can account for more than half of the country’s hydropower generation during peak operations.
According to Infobae, the Coca Codo Sinclair case has become a symbol for analysts citing problems in Chinese-financed infrastructure projects across Latin America.
The plant was built with loans from the Export-Import Bank of China during the administration of Rafael Correa and has been at the center of investigations into alleged corruption tied to its contracting.
Founder of Chinese property giant Evergrande admits theft, fraud, bribery
Hui Ka Yan, the founder and former chair of troubled Chinese property giant, Evergrande Group, pleaded guilty to a slew of charges on Tuesday in a showcase trial in the southern province of Guangdong. File photo by Wu Hong/EPA
April 14 (UPI) — The founder and former chairman of Chinese property giant China Evergrande Group pleaded guilty Tuesday to a slew of charges, including embezzlement, securities fraud and corporate graft at a trial in the southern city of Shenzhen.
Hui Ka Yan admitted “illegally absorbing public deposits” where buyers’ down payments on apartments off-plan were used to fund hundreds of other projects in the case in which Evergrande Real Estate Group also faced a similar set of charges, the Intermediate People’s Court of Shenzhen said in a statement online.
Evergrande took in millions of dollars from buyers that, instead of being used to complete the properties they were purchasing, were diverted to new developments, the court heard.
Hui also admitted fundraising fraud, illegal issuance of loans and unauthorized disclosure of “important information” during the high-profile two-day trial, which was attended by deputies from the National People’s Congress, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference of which he was once a standing committee member, and investors.
The court statement said China Evergrande Group and Evergrande Real Estate Group were also indicted on charges of illegally collecting public deposits, fundraising fraud, illegal issuance of loans and fraudulent issuance of securities.
The downfall of the business tycoon, once Asia’s richest with a net worth of more than $42 billion, began in 2021 when the property empire he founded 25 years earlier collapsed after a massive Chinese property bubble burst, leaving 1,300 half-finished Evergrande developments financed with $300 billion of debt.
Hui was placed under house arrest in September 2023, prompting the suspension of trading in Evergrande shares by market regulators across the border in Hong Kong, only a month after trading had resumed following a 17-month suspension.
The company was also the subject of a winding-up petition in a Hong Kong court brought by creditors and had sought protection from being made bankrupt in the United States in a New York court the previous month.
Hong Kong regulators initially suspended Evergrande for failing to issue financial results for two years. When it did report in July 2023, it said it had lost $81.1 billion total in 2021 and 2022, mostly through payments to suppliers and lenders, as it battled to finish thousands of housing projects across 280 Chinese cities.
In January 2024, after repeated reprieves to allow it time to come up with a viable plan to restructure liabilities that had by then grown to at least $325 billion, the court in Hong Kong placed Evergrande into liquidation.
Hui was handed a $6.5 million fine in March 2024 for Evergrande, stating in its results that revenue was $78 billion more than it actually was and was handed a lifetime ban from participating in China’s capital market.
The final blow came in August 2025 with the delisting by regulators of Evergrande shares from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, almost 16 years to the day after it was the most oversubscribed IPO of 2009 with a valuation in excess of $50 billion.
The ban was imposed after an 18-month deadline for Evergrande stock to resume trading passed the previous month, with the company opting not to appeal the decision.
Hui had led a 15-year drive to grow Evergrande into one of China’s largest businesses, spending billions expanding into tourism and recreation, healthcare, finance, EV manufacturing and infrastructure, entertainment and agribusiness.
In 2020, it began work on a new $1.7 billion, 100,000-seat stadium for Guangzhou FC, the soccer club it had purchased 10 years earlier.
However, the company’s growth was delivered through massive borrowing, much of it highly leveraged, with the result that six years on the stadium, like many of Evergrande’s projects, it remains incomplete after it was seized by the government in November 2021.
Children race to push colored eggs across the grass during the annual Easter Egg Roll event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington on April 21, 2025. Easter this year takes place on April 5. Photo by Samuel Corum/UPI | License Photo
Fake Australian, Chinese and Brazilian police stations: BBC goes inside a seized scam compound
Almost nothing was known about the Royal Hill casino until the Thai military took control of it in December.
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Rapper J. Cole signs with Chinese professional basketball team
Hip-hop star J. Cole is taking his basketball dreams overseas — again.
When ESPN reported Wednesday that the two-time Grammy winner has signed to play for the Nanjing Monkey Kings in the Chinese Basketball Assn., it might have sounded like an April Fool’s Day prank.
But it’s no joke. Cole’s longtime manager and business partner Ibrahim Hamad reposted the ESPN report on X and wrote that basketball “is still Life for my boy, even at 41.”
Videos and photos posted on social media, some of which were reposted by Hamad, show Cole at a Monkey Kings game wearing team gear and warming up with the other players. The “Work Out” rapper reportedly did not play in the game. One video shows Cole autographing an album for an excited fan.
Cole posted a video to the Chinese social media site Douyin saying he was in China and “excited” to be there.
Born Jermaine Lamarr Cole, the multiplatinum artist played basketball at Terry Sanford High in North Carolina and tried out for the hoops team at St. John’s as a walk-on while attending the university on an academic scholarship. Throughout his music career, Cole has incorporated basketball images and references into his lyrics, performances and cover art.
This will be Cole’s third stint as a professional basketball player. In 2021, the 6-foot-3 guard played three games for Rwanda’s Patriots Basketball Club of the Basketball Africa League, averaging 1.7 points and 1.7 rebounds in about 15 minutes a game.
The following year, he played five games for the Scarborough Shooting Stars of the Canadian Elite Basketball League, averaging 2.4 points and less than one rebound and assist in about 10 minutes a game.
On a recent episode of “Talk with Flee,” Cole spoke with fellow rapper Cam’ron about his lifelong “love and passion for basketball” even though he’s never been the best player on the court at any given time. He said playing professionally overseas has been “like me trying to scratch a last itch.”
“Like, yo, let me see if I could do this,” Cole said. “Could I train and be able to go play professional? Because these teams and these leagues are looking at it like, you know what, he not a—. He could come be on the court, and he could give our league some publicity.”
Cole mentioned the upcoming opportunity to play for Nanjing.
“I’m looking at the clock like, boy, I’m getting older. Like, this might be my last shot,” Cole, whose “The Fall-Off” album dropped Feb. 6 and tour starts July 10, said. “So I’m going to keep my word to them and show up and play in a couple games, although I know I’m not in the best of shape because of the album. But I’m going to go out there and have fun with it.”
Chinese GP: The conflict which shows up F1’s best and worst sides
F1’s bosses are caught in the middle of this debate, recognising the superficial appeal of the back-and-forth racing, but concerned about what the new cars are doing to the sport they grew up loving because they were attracted by its essence as the ultimate test of driver and machine.
Andrea Stella, team principal of world champions McLaren, said: “In qualifying, there’s some aspects of driving that could be counterintuitive.
“Like, occasionally there are comments from our drivers that once they make a mistake, actually save some energy, you go faster overall in a sector, because the energy you saved with the delay on the throttle because you had a problem is going to reward you at the end of the straight.”
Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff said: “From an entertainment perspective, I believe that what we’ve seen today between Ferrari and McLaren was good racing. Many overtakes.
“We were all part of Formula 1 where there was no overtake, literally. Sometimes we’re too nostalgic about the good old years.
“But I think the product is good in itself. We saw quite some racing in the midfield also. And that is, I think, the positive.
“Now, from a driver’s standpoint, when it comes to the qualifying lap, that is different. Clearly, lift and coast in the qualifying, I’m sure for someone like Max, who is a full-attack guy, it’s difficult to cope and digest.
“Qualifying flat-out would be nice. But when you look at the fans and the excitement that is there, live, the cheering when there’s overtakes and also on social media, the younger fans, the vast majority, through all the demographics, like the sport at the moment.
“So, yes, we can always look at how we’re improving it. But at the moment, all the indicators and all the data say people love it. And I spoke with Stefano (Domenicali, the F1 president). He says that, too.”
The cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia Grands Prix gives the sport a little more breathing space to consider all this.
There is a meeting of team bosses with F1 and governing body the FIA this week, and another race in Japan in two weeks’ time before a five-week break before the next Grand Prix in Miami at the beginning of May.
A number of ideas to reduce the degree to which the purity of the driving experience has been polluted are already in the mix, such as removing a lower limit for energy recovery currently in force in a certain phase of the straights. And others may yet emerge.
Stella says: “Do we want to be faithful to the DNA of racing in a traditional sense? Do we accept that this counterintuitive situation belongs to the business or not? This is a high-level philosophical question.”
Australian man convicted of selling info to possible Chinese spies
March 13 (UPI) — An Australian businessman was found guilty Friday of selling information to two people believed to be Chinese spies.
Alexander Csergo, 59, was convicted of reckless foreign interference in a Sydney court after compiling reports for two people he knew as Ken and Evelyn in Shanghai between 2021 and 2023. He faces up to 15 years in prison.
The prosecution alleged that Csergo believed they worked for Chinese intelligence agency the Ministry of State Security and acted recklessly about knowing if it would support Chinese intelligence.
His defense team argued he had only given them information that was publicly available and he included made-up quotes from people he pretended to have interviewed, including former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
Csergo ran a business in Shanghai and was first approached by a woman on LinkedIn who said she was working for a think tank. She introduced him to Ken and Evelyn and said they had businesses in Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
Their meetings, in which he exchanged reports for cash, happened in empty cafes and restaurants, prosecutors said.
Ken and Evelyn gave Csergo a “shopping list” of subjects they wanted reports on. After he returned to Australia in 2023, officials searched his Bondi home and found the list, but Csergo said he never used that list.
Ken and Evelyn asked for reports about lithium mining, the German government, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue and AUKUS, a trilateral security partnership between Australia, Britain and the United States. The Quad alliance is a non-military partnership between the United States, India, Japan and Australia.
Csergo’s defense attorney, Iain Todd, argued that there is no evidence he provided anyone with any national secrets.
The prosecution said the biggest value to Ken and Evelyn were Csergo’s contacts, but Todd said Csergo had no real contacts.
“He never spoke to interviewees. He lied about that,” Todd said. “He never gave access to anyone because there was no one to give access to.”
Some of the information in the report on lithium mining was labeled “gibberish” by experts.
Prosecutors said he exchanged about 2,800 WeChat messages with Ken and developed a collegial relationship with him.
Chinese GP qualifying: Antonelli takes pole after Russell issues
Antonelli’s new record – he is 19 years and 212 days old – beat the previous held by Sebastian Vettel, who was 21 years and 72 days old when he took pole at the 2008 Italian Grand Prix.
Antonelli said he was “very happy” but accepted that he might well not have taken pole had Russell had a problem-free qualifying.
He said: “George had an issue, so probably could have been a different story but happy to be on pole for the first time.”
Russell described his second place as “damage limitation” after a litany of problems through qualifying.
The championship leader said: “It was a crazy session. Front wing broke at the end of Q2. The team weren’t sure it had broken but I was sure it had. Then got stranded on track and just made it back out in time. It was more a case of just getting a lap done.
“P2 is better than I was expecting when I started the lap with no battery and tyre temperature. Really happy to be here because I could have been down in 10th.”
In the first session, Leclerc became the first driver to beat Russell in a competitive session this year with a time just under 0.1secs quicker than the Briton.
Then in the second session, Russell ended up third fastest behind Antonelli and Leclerc after he suffered a broken front wing flap.
Heading out for the final session with a new wing, Russell’s car stopped on track on his out lap as the gearbox refused to change gear.
Antonelli drove past his team-mate as he set the fastest time on his first flying lap, 0.3secs quicker than Leclerc.
After frantic work in the garage, Mercedes managed to fix Russell’s car by applying a series of default procedures such as switching the car off and on again and swapping out the steering wheel.
He got just out in time to set a lap but his rushed preparation meant the car was not in its optimum condition as he went for a time.
However, Antonelli had his own problems on his final run – he suffered the same front wing problem has Russell had done in Q2.
Hamilton, who tussled with Russell for the lead in the opening laps of the sprint race earlier on Saturday, was 0.351secs off pole and said he had hopes of challenging the Mercedes again in the grand prix.
“It was a really tough qualifying,” Hamilton said. “A bit harder with the wind. It is so gusty today. So challenging.
“Really happy and grateful to be up here with these guys. Engineers did some great work over the break and managed to get a little closer to these guys.
“It’s still going to be a challenge but I am sure we’re going to have some fun. Learned a lot in the sprint race and our goal is to break the gap to these guys somehow.”
The McLarens were just over 0.1secs behind the Ferraris and Norris said: “We’re happy we’re close to them, gives us a good shot at tomorrow.”
But Verstappen was downcast to be nearly a second off the pace in the Red Bull.
“We change a lot on the car, and it makes zero difference,” the four-time world champion said.
“The whole weekend we’ve been off. The car is completely undriveable. I cannot even put a bit of a reference in. Every lap is like survival.”
Bodies of Chinese tourists missing in Australia found in submerged car
March 12 (UPI) — Police divers in Australia’s Greater Sunshine Coast region on Thursday recovered the bodies of two missing Chinese backpackers after they were found dead inside their SUV vehicle beneath floodwaters.
The 26-year-old man and 23-year-old woman were found near Kilkivan, 100 miles northwest of Brisbane, after a major search operation by police and the State Emergency Service using helicopters and drones when the pair failed to arrive at their destination.
“Dive squad officers from the state dive unit arrived and retrieved two deceased persons from a car that had been washed off the road at Kilkivan. The formal identification process is still underway but it is believed that the two, as reported, are a 26-year-old male and a 23-year-old female who are international tourists,” said Queensland Police Minister Dan Purdie.
Purdie said their families had been notified and authorities were working with the Chinese Consulate in Brisbane.
Bundaberg Police Chief Inspector Grantley Marcus said the pair were driving from Brisbane to Mundubbera, where they were due to begin jobs picking fruit.
“They didn’t arrive and a friend of theirs from Australia contacted police on Tuesday and reported them as missing.”
Marcus said the families of the deceased were en route to Australia and pledged police would do everything they could to assist them when they arrived.
The couple was named by 7News as Yuchen Guo, 23, from Shandong Province in eastern China, and Qingwei Qiu, 26, from Fujian Province in the southeast of the country.
Extreme rainfall has seen large areas of Queensland hit with severe flooding in recent days, with some river levels still rising. Parts of the state recorded their highest three-day rainfall totals Sunday through Tuesday.
Glen Hartwig, mayor of nearby Gympie, said the deaths of the pair were “an absolute tragedy” and called for more to be done to make tourists aware of the danger from flooding.
“These people have come to Australia to see our beautiful country and tragically they’ve ended up losing their lives. We warn people about biosecurity when they come into the country, but I also think we need to warn them about the dangers of floodwaters,” he said.
“We’re very grateful that they chose to come and see our country and we’re so sorry for their loss and the pain that [family members] are now feeling,” added Hartwig.
Founder of the Women’s Tennis Association and tennis great Billie Jean King (C) smiles with representatives after speaking during an annual Women’s History Month event in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Title IX in Statuary Hall at the U.S .Capitol in Washington on March 9, 2022. Women’s History Month is celebrated every March. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo
Serbian MiG-29 Appears Armed With Chinese Supersonic Standoff Missiles
In a surprising development, Serbia has emerged as an operator of the Chinese-made CM-400 air-launched supersonic standoff missile. The weapon has been integrated into Serbia’s Soviet-era MiG-29 Fulcrums, which have undergone various upgrades. As it stands, the Balkan state, which has had a turbulent recent history, likely fields a missile capability otherwise unmatched in Europe (outside of Russia, at least).
A photo recently emerged showing a Serbian Air Force and Air Defense MiG-29 carrying a pair of CM-400 missiles on its inboard underwing hardpoints.
There had also been previous clues that Serbia might be poised to introduce a powerful new weapon of some kind.
According to Belgrade-based defense journalist Petar Vojinović, the chief of the General Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces, Gen. Milan Mojsilović, stated last month that “in the air component, we have weapons of a similar maximum range and lethality [to the PULS rocket artillery system].”
Mojsilović was referencing the Israeli-made PULS (Precise and Universal Launching System) since this has been recently introduced by the Serbian Army. You can read more about this ground-launched artillery rocket here.
Furthermore, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić recently alluded to recently introduced military capabilities, stating: “…people couldn’t dream about everything we have, everything we are acquiring, they couldn’t dream.”
As for the CM-400, this weapon was developed and is manufactured by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), apparently primarily for export. So far, it is not known to be in Chinese military service.
Unveiled in 2012, the CM-400 has a length of around 17 feet, a diameter of 16 inches, and weighs roughly 2,000 pounds. This includes one of two types of warheads, either a high-explosive charge weighing 330 pounds or an armor-piercing warhead weighing 440 pounds.
The CM-400 is a supersonic weapon, and CASIC claims it can reach a speed of Mach 4.5 in the terminal phase of flight. It has often been described as a hypersonic missile, but this is likely not the case: Mach 5 is typically considered to be the boundary between high-supersonic and hypersonic speed.
Nevertheless, it is clearly a very fast missile.
The missile’s range remains unclear, with varying accounts of this aspect of its performance.
At the very least, it is reported to have a range of 155 miles, while some sources claim it can hit targets at a range of 186 miles or even 250 miles.
The CM-400 has also been described as a quasi-ballistic missile, though this is also probably not entirely accurate.
Generally speaking, a quasi-ballistic missile is capable of being used on a depressed trajectory. This makes the missile more capable of significant maneuvering in flight, presenting greater challenges even for opponents with more robust missile defense capabilities.
In the case of the CM-400, the missile reportedly flies on a relatively high ballistic trajectory, powered by its solid rocket motor. It then careens toward its target at a steep angle of descent. While it may also be able to maneuver dynamically during its terminal attack phase, to attack moving ships, it doesn’t fly on a depressed trajectory, as far as we know.
In terms of target sets, the missile has been widely described as an anti-ship missile, specifically even as a ‘carrier-killer’. In fact, the basic weapon can also be configured as an anti-radiation missile, and it is presumed to also have the capability to attack non-emitting ground targets.
Depending on the different targets, the CM-400 can have different seeker heads fitted. All of the versions have an inertial guidance system with Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) correction. For the terminal phase, it relies on an infrared/optoelectronic seeker for attacking naval targets, or a passive radar seeker to take out electromagnetic emitters. The circular error probable (CEP) for the anti-radiation version is claimed to be 16-33, reduced to 16 feet or less for the anti-ship version.
Previously, the only confirmed export operator of the CM-400 was Pakistan, which uses it on its JF-17 Thunder multirole fighters. Pakistani officials claimed that the missile saw successful combat use against Indian S-400 air defense systems during the conflict between the countries in May last year. However, this remains unconfirmed.
In Serbian service, the CM-400 is carried by the MiG-29 fighter. These aircraft were first acquired by the then Yugoslavia in the 1980s. Survivors of Operation Allied Force in 1999 were later supplemented by secondhand MiG-29s from Russian and Belarusian stocks. The aircraft have also been moderately upgraded and are now known as MiG-29SM+. Fourteen examples are currently in active Serbian service.
The long-term plan for the Serbian MiG-29s is somewhat unclear, since the country ordered 12 Dassault Rafale multirole fighters, in a deal that you can read more about here.
For the time being, however, in the CM-400, Serbia looks to have secured a capability that is very likely unique in the wider region.
With its combination of very high speed, long range, and ‘fire and forget’ guidance, the missile is ideal for deep standoff strikes. It is optimized for striking hardened strategic targets, day and night, and in all weather.
Thanks to CATIC’s Standalone Weapon Fire Control System (SWFCS), also designated as WZHK-1 by China, the CM-400 (and other Chinese missiles) areis designed to allow foreign models of aircraft to operate Chinese missiles and bombs.
Speaking to Janes during the exhibition, a CATIC official said that the system is designed to equip a range of Chinese air-launched weapons and can be installed on existing weapon hardpoints.
“The system gives air forces around the world the ability to easily integrate Chinese-made weapons with their aircraft without requiring them to make software or hardware changes to the host aircraft,” a CATIC official told Janes about the SWFCS back in 2024.
“The [SWFCS] uses a wireless data system that connects to a tablet in the cockpit that can be worn by the pilot. The tablet acts as a portable wireless controller that the pilot can use to launch the missiles,” the official added. Similar tablet-based soluiions have also been used by Ukraine to rapidly integrate Western weapons on Soviet-era jets, as you can read about here.
The same SWFCS interface is also being used to carry another Chinese air-to-ground weapon, the LS-6 precision-guided munition. This is a 1,100-pound-class weapon that combines a general-purpose bomb with a strap-on upgrade package to provide range extension and precision strike capabilities.
Meanwhile, weapons in the CM-400 class are a response to the growing threat posed by ground-based air defense systems, which are pushing combat aircraft ever further from the targets they are assigned to destroy.
With its very high maximum speed, the CM-400 is also well suited to attacking time-sensitive targets, which could also include mobile air defense systems or mobile ballistic missiles, provided their coordinates can be established in the required timeframe.
For Serbia, the new missile would appear to offer a relatively easy way to expand its air-launched, precision standoff strike capability. With a high degree of flexibility, fast reaction time, and the ability to penetrate most enemy air defenses, it is a notably hard-hitting weapon for what is otherwise a fairly modest air force.
It is also interesting that Serbia is looking to China to fulfil its missile needs, rather than Russia.
While Belgrade and Moscow have traditionally had good relations, acquiring Russian arms has become far harder since the West imposed sanctions in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Even before this, however, there were signs that Serbia was looking to move away from Russia as its main arms supplier. As such, it has increasingly moved into a more Western-oriented orbit, with acquisitions from Airbus, for example, but it is also buying weapons from China and Israel.
At the same time, the Serbian military is increasingly switching to more NATO-style doctrine, as well as equipment, including exercises alongside the U.S. Air Force, as you can read about here.
Bearing in mind the fact that it can be integrated on non-Chinese platforms, it will be interesting to see if other nations also adopt the CM-400.
Contact the author: thomas@thewarzone.com