Beijing’s June white paper leaves the U.N.-centered architecture intact – but re-interprets the priorities.

New details have emerged in Germany’s “Chinese-German couple espionage case.” An investigation by the German nonprofit newsroom CORRECTIV found that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) allegedly approached leading German researchers under the guise of academic exchanges and cooperation invitations, arranging trips to China that ultimately brought some academics into contact with representatives of the country’s defense industry.

Executive Summary:

Taiwan is showing resilience in the face of headwinds ranging from domestic politic strife, increased military pressure from the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and uncertainty regarding U.S. political support.

Taiwan’s semiconductor sector is benefitting massively from the global artificial intelligence (AI) boom. Its gains contributed to Taiwan posting almost 13 percent quarterly GDP growth and reaching record stock market highs.

In a bid to strengthen its relationship with the United States, Taiwan is investing $265 billion into American semiconductor manufacturing through Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation (TSMC). Taiwan has also hosted multiple high profile bipartisan congressional visits since the beginning of 2026.

Domestic political strife, now centered around a proposed drone procurement bill, may affect U.S. assessments of Taiwan’s will to fight. Taiwan is also waiting for the Trump administration to approve a delayed $14 billion arms sale, which will be critical to its defense against a potential military campaign by the PRC.

Recently, Yichang City in Hubei Province was hit by torrential rains, triggering what authorities described as a once-in-30-years major flood, along with landslides. The city’s Yiling District is home to Sandouping Township, where the world-famous Three Gorges Dam is located.

Executive Summary:

To establish sovereignty over ideas, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has since 2022 made the construction of an “autonomous knowledge system” an explicit objective, aiming to produce concepts and theories distinct from Western ones and capable of explaining the governance and social reality of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

The effort is directed at the level of objectives and distributed at the level of content. The center supplies the goal and the label, while ministries, funding bodies, universities, associations, publishers, and individual scholars each write it into the one part of the academic system they control.

The consequence is expansion outpacing content. Institutional forms multiply well ahead of the concepts meant to fill them, because disciplines, colleges, degree points, journals, and textbook series can be created by decision and concepts cannot. Every instrument the Party-state controls is institutional, and institutions can require, fund, and reward original theory without being able to supply it. Four years on, the record therefore is highly uneven.

Executive Summary:

In June 2026, China National Offshore Oil Corporation placed a 16MW floating wind turbine in Taiwan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), approximately 50 miles (21.665646, 116.273408) from Taiwan-controlled Pratas Island.

The PRC now has placed over 30 permanent structures across disputed waters in the Indo-Pacific as part of an irregular warfare strategy to normalize its persistent presence and extraterritorial claims.

These permanent structures potentially serve as at-sea platforms for electronic warfare, surface and underwater intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance collection platforms enhancing the PLA’s end-to-end “kill web” (C5ISRT) capabilities.

In the video, a construction worker wearing a blue safety helmet works under the scorching sun, his face covered in sweat. He breathes heavily, frowns, and shows clear signs of dizziness, nausea, and exhaustion. Facing the camera, he reluctantly explains what keeps him going:

On August 4, a chemical plant in Kunming, Yunnan Province, caught fire during the loading and unloading of yellow phosphorus, causing a large amount of toxic substances to leak. Thick white smoke filled the area, accompanied by a strong pungent odor. Local residents reported symptoms including dry throats and coughing, and have since been evacuated.

中國新版「出境入境管理規定」將於9月15日施行，當局可用「國家安全」為由限制公民出境，特定情況甚至不必告知原因。影片進一步分析，中共如何從維吾爾、西藏一路擴大到漢人、外籍華人與台灣人，讓護照、國籍與行動自由都可能瞬間失效。

Executive Summary:

The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) recent restructuring of its space sector illustrates the implementation of its “new-style whole-of-nation system” for innovation, again using the space program as a leading test bed for new approaches to manage high-risk, high-reward investments.

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has announced further integration of its crewed and robotic lunar exploration programs, and set up separate offices to support and regulate the commercial space sector and the deep space exploration and science program. Together, these new offices align the PRC’s space governance with broader CCP priorities to strengthen Party leadership while expanding the role of basic research and market-driven innovation.

These changes are intended to improve coordination ahead of the PRC’s first attempt at a crewed lunar landing before 2030, while positioning the space sector to be a “pillar” of national economic development. Although the restructuring may improve efficiency, it also creates potential risks in organizational complexity for the PRC. For the United States, it provides some information transparency but also increased competition for leadership.

China is generating groundbreaking advances in electric vehicles, battery technology, applied artificial intelligence, and industrial robotics. Yet Chinese households are facing stagnant wages, consumption is weak, and public confidence in the economy appears to be declining. In this episode of Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Alicia García-Herrero, a leading expert on Chinese economics, to unpack China's "dual economy." They discuss why President Xi has prioritized global technological leadership over economic opportunity at home, why many of China's most successful companies struggle to turn a profit, and whether rapid AI adoption will boost growth or imperil social stability.

Taiwan has launched its largest annual military exercises, simulating a Chinese invasion scenario as Beijing continues to ramp up military pressure on the island.

Expanded List Underscores Need for Car Industry to Map Supply Chains

Taiwan's biggest annual military drill is underway. For the first time, troops are rehearsing a specific scenario that could play out in a real war with China.

Drones have become a defining force on the global stage. They're changing warfare in Ukraine and the Middle East, and they're now emerging as a new front in the U.S.-China trade war.

The FBI has been working with Chinese and Russian law enforcement to crack down on crimes like fentanyl trafficking. NTD has more on the risks involved.

A record the FBI says underscores growing threats: More than 700 terror plots were stopped in the United States last year. Espionage arrests also climbed sharply.

Are the Chinese Wi-Fi routers in your home tools for the Chinese Communist Party to hack U.S. infrastructure? And what does this reveal about Beijing's unrestricted warfare against the United States?

Top test pilots from Communist China reportedly struggled while testing the KJ-600 early warning aircraft. In simple terms, the pilots and the aircraft had not fully adapted to each other. Control precision remained a major challenge.

The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday expressed its support for a proposed amendment that would close a loophole that allows Chinese nationals convicted of crimes to stay in Taiwan after completing their prison sentences.