China

Dozens of activists are on the run from authorities in the China-ruled city after a crackdown on civil liberties.

A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist and a former parliamentarian wanted by the city’s Chinese authorities have been granted asylum in Britain and Australia, more than four years after facing criminal charges over the 2019 antigovernment protests.

Tony Chung, an activist who was imprisoned under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law, and Ted Hui, a former lawmaker facing trial for his role in the mass demonstrations, both announced over the weekend that they have received asylum in Britain and Australia, respectively, where they now live.

They are among dozens of activists on the run from Hong Kong authorities. Civil liberties in the China-ruled city have been greatly eroded since 2020 when Beijing imposed a national security law essentially criminalising dissent.

Penalties can run up to life in prison for endangering national security, treason and insurrection; 20 years for espionage and sabotage; and 14 years for external interference.

Hui, who fled Hong Kong in December 2020, is part of a group of overseas activists for whom police have offered rewards of up to 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,800). The former lawmaker is now working as a lawyer in Adelaide.

The outspoken pro-democracy lawmaker is known for disrupting a legislative session by throwing a rotten plant in the chamber to stop a debate on a bill seeking to make it illegal to insult the Chinese national anthem. He was subsequently fined 52,000 Hong Kong dollars ($6,600) for the act.

He announced on Facebook on Saturday that he and his family have been granted protection visas.

“I express my sincere gratitude to the Government of Australia – both present and former – for recognising our need for asylum and granting us this protection,” Hui wrote. “This decision reflects values of freedom, justice, and compassion that my family will never take for granted.”

He also expressed regret for the exile he has been forced into. “When people around me say ‘congratulations’ to me, although I politely thank them, I can’t help but feel sad in my heart. How to congratulate a political refugee who misses his hometown?” he wrote.

“If it weren’t for political persecution, I would never have thought of living in a foreign land. Immigrants can always return to their home towns to visit relatives at any time; Exiles have no home.”

Chung, who fled to Britain, had advocated for Hong Kong’s independence and was sentenced to almost four years in prison for secession and money laundering in 2020. He was released on a supervision order, during which he travelled to Japan and then to the United Kingdom.

In a post on the social media platform Threads on Sunday, he expressed his excitement at receiving refugee status in Britain along with a five-year residency permit. He said that despite his challenges over the past few years, including persistent mental health problems, he remains committed to his activism.

British and Australian authorities didn’t immediately comment on the activists’ statuses.

Hong Kong’s government did not comment directly on the cases but issued a statement on Saturday condemning “the harbouring of criminals in any form by any country”.

“Any country that harbours Hong Kong criminals in any form shows contempt for the rule of law, grossly disrespects Hong Kong’s legal systems and barbarically interferes in the affairs of Hong Kong,” the statement read.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – When four Chinese vessels joined with Russian ships earlier this month in joint naval drills in the Sea of Japan, few eyebrows were raised.

Moscow and Beijing have been reinforcing their military partnership in recent years as they seek to counterbalance what they see as the United States-led global order.

But what did raise eyebrows among defence analysts and regional governments had occurred several weeks earlier when China sent its aircraft carriers into the Pacific together for the first time.

Maritime expert and former United States Air Force Colonel Ray Powell described the “simultaneous deployment” of China’s two aircraft carriers east of the Philippines as a “historic” moment as the country races to realise Chinese President Xi Jinping’s ambition of having a world-class navy by 2035.

“No nation except the US has operated dual carrier groups at such distances since [World War II],” said Powell, director of SeaLight, a maritime transparency project of the Gordian Knot Center at Stanford University.

“While it will take years for China’s still-nascent carrier capabilities to approach that of America’s, this wasn’t just a training exercise – it was China demonstrating it can now contest and even deny US access to crucial sea lanes,” Powell told Al Jazeera.

China’s state-run news agency Xinhua described the exercise by the aircraft carriers as a “far-sea combat-oriented training”, and the state-affiliated Global Times reported that China was soon poised to enter the “three-aircraft-carrier era”, when its Fujian carrier enters service later this year.

East Asia is a ‘home game’ for China

China currently has two operational aircraft carriers – the Liaoning and Shandong – and the Fujian is undergoing sea trials.

While the Chinese navy operates the world’s largest naval fleet with more than 370 ships compared with the US’s 251 active ships in commission, Beijing still lacks the global logistics network and advanced nuclear submarine technology required of a truly mature blue water force, Powell said.

Beijing’s three aircraft carriers run on diesel compared with Washington’s 11 carriers, all of which are nuclear powered.

But “gaps” in naval capabilities are closing between the US and China.

“[China] fully intends to close these gaps and is applying tremendous resources toward that end, and with its rapidly improving technical prowess and vastly superior shipbuilding capacity, it has demonstrated its potential to get there,” Powell said.

Beijing’s more immediate focus is not directed towards competing with the US globally, Powell added.

Rather, China is focused on changing the balance of power and convincing its allies and adversaries to accept China’s dominance within its chosen sphere of influence in East Asia.

The second option, if ever necessary, is to defeat them.

“East Asia is a ‘home game’ for China – a place where it can augment its small carrier force through its far larger land-based air and rocket forces – including so-called [aircraft] ‘carrier killer’ missile systems that can strike targets up to 4,000km [2,485 miles] away,” Powell said.

Regionally, while the Philippines engages in increasingly frequent high seas confrontations with the Chinese coastguard, it is Japan that is watching China’s naval build-up with concern, experts said.

Japan’s Defence Minister Gen Nakatani said in June – after confirming that China’s two carriers had operated simultaneously in the Pacific for the first time – that Beijing apparently aims “to advance its operational capability of the distant sea and airspace”.

With the US increasingly perceived as becoming more inward-looking under President Donald Trump, Japan is considered a growing force in the contested maritime terrain in the Asia Pacific region amid what Tokyo has called “the most severe and complex security environment since the end of World War II”.

‘Preparation for a more uncertain future’

Even before Trump’s second stint as US president, Japan had embarked on the most pivotal shift in post-World War II military spending.

Tokyo’s defence spending and related costs are expected to total 9.9 trillion yen (about $67bn) for fiscal year 2025, equivalent to 1.8 percent of Japan’s gross domestic product (GDP), and the government has committed to raising spending on defence to 2 percent of GDP by 2027, according to Japanese media reports.

“[Japan’s] naval capacity is growing steadily, not just in support of the US alliance but in quiet preparation for a more uncertain future – perhaps even one in which America withdraws from the Pacific,” said Mike Burke, lecturer at Tokyo-based Meiji University.

Collin Koh, senior fellow at the Singapore-based Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies (IDSS), also said that China’s growing military might, assertiveness and proclivity to resort to coercive behaviour have “aggravated Japan’s threat perception”.

But Japan alone cannot guarantee security in such a regional hotspot as the South China Sea, said Burke.

Instead, Tokyo’s goal is to check Beijing’s growing power through a Japanese presence and building partnerships with other regional players.

This year alone so far, Japan has deployed two naval fleets to “realise” what Japanese officials describe as a free and open Asia Pacific region. The first fleet was deployed from January 4 to May 10 and docked in 12 countries, including Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman.

The second was deployed on April 21 and is ongoing until November, with port calls in some 23 countries, as well as roles in multilateral military exercises.

Japan aims to build trust with other allies, Burke said, noting that Japan has worked on its soft power by funding radar systems, investing in civil infrastructure from ports to rail networks in Southeast Asia, and supporting maritime domain awareness initiatives in the region.

Noriyuki Shikata, Japan’s ambassador to Malaysia, described Tokyo’s approach as a strength at home and reinforcing collaboration abroad with “like-minded countries and others with whom Japan cooperates”, in order to uphold and realise a free and open international order.

“Japan has been strengthening its defence capabilities to the point at which Japan can take the primary responsibility for dealing with invasions against Japan, and disrupt and defeat such threats while obtaining the support of its [US] ally and other security partners,” the ambassador told Al Jazeera.

Zachary Abuza, professor of Southeast Asia studies and security at Washington, DC-based National War College, said the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) is a world-class navy that is focused on building the highest level of capabilities.

Abuza also described Japan’s submarine force as “exceptional”, while it is also building up its capabilities, including more high-end antiship missiles.

“All of these developments should give the Chinese some pause,” Abuza told Al Jazeera in a recent interview.

“That said, they [the Japanese] are nervous about Trump’s commitment to treaty obligations, and you can see the Japan Self-Defence Force is trying to strengthen its strategic autonomy,” he said.

‘Chinese assertiveness could result in an accident’

Geng Shuang, charge d’affaires of China’s permanent mission to the United Nations, said earlier this year that China was committed to working with the “countries concerned” to address conflicting claims in the South China Sea through peaceful dialogue.

He also lambasted the threat posed by the US navy’s freedom of navigation operations in the contested sea.

“The United States, under the banner of freedom of navigation, has frequently sent its military vessels to the South China Sea to flex its muscles and openly stir up confrontation between regional countries,” Geng was quoted as saying by Xinhua.

China claims almost all of the South China Sea, a vast area spanning approximately 3.6 million square kilometres (1.38 million square miles) that is rich in hydrocarbons and one of the world’s major shipping routes.

Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei are claimants to various parts of the sea.

Ralph Cossa, chairman of the Honolulu-based Pacific Forum research institute, said “the challenge to freedom of navigation is a global one”.

But the challenges posed are particularly worrying when it comes to the rival superpowers China and the US.

“I don’t think anyone wants a direct conflict or is looking to start a fight,” Cossa said.

“But I worry that Chinese assertiveness could result in an accident that it would prove difficult for either side to walk away or back down from,” Cossa said.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Institute of Strategic and International Studies’ Asia Pacific Roundtable 2025 summit in Kuala Lumpur earlier this year, Do Thanh Hai, deputy director-general at Vietnam’s East Sea Institute Diplomatic Academy, said no one will emerge unscathed from an incident in the disputed region.

“Any disruption in the South China Sea will affect all,” he told Al Jazeera.

BEIJING — Humanoid robots hip-hop danced, performed martial arts and played keyboard, guitar and drums at the opening ceremony of the first World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing on Thursday evening.

The competition begins Friday with more than 500 humanoid robots in 280 teams from 16 countries, including the U.S., Germany and Japan, competing in sports including soccer, running and boxing. It comes as China has stepped up efforts to develop humanoid robots powered by artificial intelligence.

During the opening ceremony, the robots demonstrated soccer and boxing among other sports, with some cheering and backflipping as if at a real sports day.

One robot soccer player scored a goal after a few tries, causing the goalkeeper to fall to the ground. Another player fell but stood up unassisted.

The robots also modeled fashionable hats and clothes alongside human models. One robot model sadly fell and had to be carried off the stage by two human beings.

Teams from robot companies and Chinese universities including Tsinghua University and Peking University are competing in the games. Three middle schools are also participating.

China’s official newspaper People’s Daily quoted a government officer in Beijing as saying “every robot participates is creating history.”

The event will last three days, concluding on Sunday. Tickets sold to the public range from 180 yuan ($25) to 580 ($80).

Ting writes for the Associated Press. Olivia Zhang contributed to this report from Beijing.

OPEC+, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, has agreed to another large production hike in September.

That’s despite a warning by the International Energy Agency, the extra barrels could tip the market into oversupply later this year.

US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have targeted Russian crude buyers.

But whether those tariffs are imposed depends on the outcome of trade negotiations with India and China.

And even more so on talks over a peace deal in Ukraine between Washington and Moscow.

Can the US and Europe break China’s grip on rare earths?

Plus, why is China’s Labubu toy so popular?

Schools and workplaces close, hundreds of flights cancelled and thousands evacuate as Typhoon Podul nears island.

Thousands of people have evacuated, schools have closed, and hundreds of flights have been cancelled as Typhoon Podul approaches southern Taiwan with wind gusts as strong as 191kph (118 mph).

The mid-strength Typhoon Podul is expected to make landfall later on Wednesday, and was reported to be intensifying as it approached Taiwan’s southeastern city of Taitung, weather officials said.

Podul “is strengthening”, Taiwan’s Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecaster Lin Ting-yi said, with the typhoon on track to hit the sparsely populated Taitung County at about noon local time (04:00 GMT).

After making landfall, the storm is expected to hit Taiwan’s more densely populated western coast before moving into the Taiwan Strait and towards China’s southern province of Fujian later this week.

As much as 600mm (almost 24 inches) of rain has been forecast in southern mountainous areas over the next few days, the CWA said, while nine cities and counties announced the suspension of work and school, including the southern metropolises of Kaohsiung and Tainan.

Taiwan’s government said that more than 5,500 people had been evacuated in advance of the typhoon’s arrival, and all domestic flights – a total of 252 – as well as 129 international routes have been cancelled, the transport ministry said.

Typhoon Podul lashed Orchid Island with gusts of up to 155 kph at around 8 a.m. Wednesday, contributing to a power outage that hit 258 households in the island’s Tungching Village. Winds and rain were also intensifying in Taitung. pic.twitter.com/qaeCwFg9Vu

— Focus Taiwan (CNA English News) (@Focus_Taiwan) August 13, 2025

Taiwan’s two main international carriers, China Airlines and EVA Air, said their cancellations were for routes out of Kaohsiung, with some flights from the island’s main international airport at Taoyuan stopped as well.

In the capital, Taipei, which is home to Taiwan’s financial markets and is being spared the typhoon so far, residents reported clear skies and some sunshine.

Typhoon Danas, which hit Taiwan in early July, killed two people and injured hundreds as the storm dumped more than 500mm (19.6 inches) of rain across the south over a weekend, causing widespread landslides and flooding.

That was followed by torrential rain from July 28 to August 4, with some areas recording more than a year’s worth of rainfall in a single week. The week of bad weather left five people dead, three missing, and 78 injured, a disaster official said previously.

Taiwan is accustomed to frequent tropical storms from July to October, while scientists say human-driven climate change is causing more intense weather patterns.

Singapore – On a weekday afternoon in the heart of the central business district, the BYD showroom on Robinson Road is a picture of futuristic cool.

Inside, sleek electric cars gleam under bright white lights as young professionals drift through the space.

Just a short walk away, diners mingle in a BYD-branded restaurant over craft beer and bar bites in a chic, members’ club-like setting – one of several lifestyle ventures the Chinese electric vehicle giant has rolled out across Singapore.

It is a scene that reflects a larger shift.

Once seen as cheap and functional at best, Chinese brands are fast becoming desirable – even aspirational – among Singapore’s middle class.

Shenzhen-based BYD was by far the top-selling carmaker in the city-state in the first half of 2025.

The EV maker sold almost 4,670 cars – about 20 percent of total vehicle sales – during the period, according to government data, compared with about 3,460 vehicles sold by second-ranked Toyota.

Many other Chinese brands have also made major inroads, from the tea chain Chagee to toymaker Pop Mart and electronics maker Xiaomi, shaping how Singaporeans work, rest and play.

Singapore and Malaysia had the biggest concentration of Chinese food and beverage brands in Southeast Asia last year, according to the research firm Momentum Works, with 32 China-based firms operating 184 outlets in the city-state as of June 2024.

At the same time, Chinese tech firms, including ByteDance, Alibaba Cloud and Tencent, have chosen Singapore for their regional bases.

Healthcare worker Thahirah Silva, 28, said she used to be wary of the “Made in China” label, but shifted her perspective after a visit to the country last year.

“They’re very self-sufficient. They have their own products and don’t need to rely on international brands, and the quality was surprisingly reliable,” Silva told Al Jazeera.

These days, Silva regularly samples Chinese food brands, often after seeing particular dishes or snacks taking off on social media.

Compared with Japanese or Korean brands, she said, Chinese chains are “creative, quick to innovate and set food trends”, though she admits it sometimes feels like they are “taking over” from local brands.

“Somehow, it made me feel there won’t be much difference visiting China, since so many of their brands are already here”, she said.

For younger Singaporeans, the old stigmas around products “made in China” are fading, said Samer Elhajjar, senior lecturer at the marketing department of the National University of Singapore’s (NUS) Business School.

“Many of these brands are now perceived as cool, modern and emotionally in tune with what young consumers want. They feel local and global at the same time,” Elhajjar told Al Jazeera.

“You can walk into a Chagee and feel like you are part of a new kind of aesthetic culture: clean design, soft lighting, calming music. It is not selling a product. It is selling a feeling.”

Moulded by China’s hyper-competitive e-commerce landscape, Chinese companies have been especially adept at rolling out digitally savvy marketing strategies, Elhajjar said.

“These brands are now playing the same emotional game that legacy Western brands have mastered for decades,” he said.

Singapore, where about three-quarters of the population is ethnic Chinese, is an especially attractive testbed for Chinese brands looking to expand overseas, according to analysts.

Doris Ho, who led a brand consultancy in Greater China from 2010 to 2022, said that Chinese brands have been able to succeed in Singapore with a bold, creative approach to innovation that appeals to local sensibilities.

This “new China edge”, Ho said, shows up in BYD features, such as built-in fridges and spacious, fold-flat interiors that can be used for sleeping, and hotpot chain Haidilao’s extravagant hospitality, which sees customers treated to live music performances, shoeshines, hand massages and manicures.

“When they innovate, they don’t follow the same lines you’d expect. It’s their way of looking at something and coming out with a completely surprising answer,” Ho told Al Jazeera.

For Chinese brands, Singapore offers “a sandbox with real stakes” as a compact, ethically diverse and globally-connected market, Elhajjar said.

Because Singapore is seen as sophisticated, efficient and forward-looking, success in the city-state “sends a powerful message”, he said.

The rise of Chinese brands has coincided with Singapore’s growing reliance on China’s economy.

China has been Singapore’s largest trading partner since 2013, with bilateral trade in goods last year reaching $170.2bn.

As Western firms scaled back or paused expansion, Chinese brands moved in, with many effectively propping up Singapore’s property sector and entrenching themselves in the country, said Alan Chong, senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

Singapore’s government has also actively courted Chinese firms amid the uncertainty from US President Donald Trump’s arrival on the geopolitical scene, Chong said.

“You see the positive image of the United States slipping quite consistently,” Chong told Al Jazeera.

“The US has acted in a miserly, resentful sort of way with ongoing trade tariffs, whereas China remains a factory of the world – seen as an economic benefactor – so there will be a swing in terms of looking at China favourably.”

Chong said that Singapore has also become a virtual second home for some middle-class Chinese nationals, many of whom own property in the city-state.

Singaporean universities have also made a concerted effort to attract Chinese students, with some even introducing programmes taught in Mandarin Chinese.

In a report released earlier this year by China’s Ministry of Education and the Beijing-based Center for China and Globalization, Singapore was ranked the second-most popular destination for Chinese students after the United Kingdom.

Some analysts have observed the rise of “born-again Chinese” (BAC) – people of Chinese descent outside China, especially in Singapore and Malaysia, who embrace a strong pro-China identity, despite limited cultural or linguistic ties.

Donald Low, a lecturer at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, has defined so-called BACs as those who adopt an “idealised, romanticised” idea of a China that is “inevitably rising” and “stands heroically against a hegemonic West”.

The success of Chinese brands in Singapore has not been without some pushback.

Some Singapore residents have felt alienated by stores that operate mainly in Mandarin Chinese, Elhajjar said, given that the city-state has one of the world’s largest immigrant populations, as well as large minorities of native-born Malays and Indians.

There have also been concerns raised about homegrown brands being priced out of the market by the arrival of large firms with deep pockets.

Rising rents resulted in the closure of 3,000 F&B businesses in 2024, the highest number since 2005, Channel NewsAsia reported in January.

In a recent white paper, the Singapore Tenants United for Fairness, a cooperative representing more than 700 business owners, called for curbs on “new and foreign players”.

Leong Chan-Hoong, the head of the RSIS Social Cohesion Research programme, cautioned against blaming Chinese enterprises for social tensions or rising rents, describing the inroads made by some brands as part of the natural cycle of a market-driven economy.

“As a global city-state, we are always at the forefront of such transitions,” Leong told Al Jazeera.

Indeed, for many residents in Singapore, the growing presence of Chinese brands is simply an unremarkable part of daily life.

Ly Nguyen, a 29-year-old Vietnamese migrant working in tech sales, said she started collecting Labubu, the globally popular gremlin-like toys created by Pop Mart, after being captivated by their “ugly but fun” aesthetic.

“Labubu represents independent creativity and a newfound confidence in Chinese-designed memorabilia,” Nguyen told Al Jazeera.

For Nguyen, the popularity of Labubu dolls, which have been spotted with celebrities such as Rihanna and BLACKPINK’s Lisa, points to a generational shift in how Chinese cultural exports are viewed.

“The more familiar people become with these brands, the more likely younger generations will have a new, much more favourable perception towards China as a cultural power,” she said.

President Trump struck an unusual deal with Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices that allows the companies to sell certain chips to China in exchange for giving the U.S. government a 15% cut of those sales.

But the unprecedented agreement also has raised concerns from politicians and legal experts over whether the deal is legal and would pose a national security threat.

Questions also linger about exactly how the deal, which was announced Monday, would work because the U.S. Constitution bars taxes on exports, although some experts said Trump could find a workaround.

The U.S. government might receive $3 billion from the revenue split if China’s demand for Nvidia’s H20 chip — which is less powerful than the company’s highest-end artificial intelligence chip — reaches $20 billion, according to a note from Bernstein Research.

“It ties the fate of this chip manufacturer in a very particular way to this administration that is quite rare,” said Julia Powles, a professor and executive director of the UCLA Institute for Technology, Law & Policy.

Trump’s agreement with the world’s most valuable company could put pressure on other tech companies and major exporters to strike similar deals with the U.S. government, but it’s still unclear what the implications will be internationally, she said.

The deal is the latest example of how tech companies are seeking to curry favor with the Trump administration, which has threatened to impose tariffs on semiconductor companies that don’t commit to investing in the United States.

Apple faced potential tariffs as well, but committed to investing $100 billion more in U.S. manufacturing after Trump criticized the company for expanding iPhone production in India.

Trump also placed restrictions in April around the export of certain AI chips, including Nvidia’s H20 and AMD’s MI308, over national security concerns.

He’s called for the resignation of Intel Chief Executive Lip-Bu Tan, who has faced scrutiny over his reported investments in Chinese companies, but changed his tune after meeting the executive this week.

Democratic and Republican lawmakers have criticized the idea that tech companies should split their sales with the U.S. government in exchange for export licenses that allow them to resume chip sales in China.

“Export controls are a frontline defense in protecting our national security, and we should not set a precedent that incentivizes the Government to grant licenses to sell China technology that will enhance its AI capabilities,” Rep. John Moolenaar (R-Mich.), the chair of the House Select Committee on China, said in a statement.

Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, (D-Ill.), a ranking member of that committee, said in a statement that the deal raises questions about its legality and how the funds will be used.

“The administration cannot simultaneously treat semiconductor exports as both a national security threat and a revenue opportunity,” he said. “By putting a price on our security concerns, we signal to China and our allies that American national security principles are negotiable for the right fee.”

The White House didn’t answer questions about the agreement. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that “the legality of it, the mechanics of it, is still being ironed out by the Department of Commerce.”

On Monday, Trump defended the deal with Nvidia, stating that the H20 chips are “obsolete” and less powerful than the company’s more high-end Blackwell chip. At a news conference, Trump said he met with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and initially asked for a 20% revenue split but they came down to 15%.

“We negotiate a little deal,” Trump said. “So he’s selling a essentially old chip.” Trump’s remarks came after a report from the Financial Times over the weekend that Nvidia and AMD would pay 15% of their China chip revenue to the U.S. government. AMD didn’t respond to a request for comment.

An Nvidia spokesperson said in a statement that the company hasn’t shipped H20 chips to China for months but it hopes that easing export restrictions will “let America compete in China and worldwide.”

“America cannot repeat 5G and lose telecommunication leadership. America’s AI tech stack can be the world’s standard if we race.”

For Nvidia, the stakes are high. Huang said in a May interview with Stratechery, a newsletter and podcast, that the Chinese market is about $50 billion a year. Restricting H20 chip sales means that the company is walking away from profits that could be used to compete with China in the race to dominate AI.

Taylar Rajic, an associate fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said she’s skeptical that legal concerns would halt the arrangement because it’s unclear who would sue.

“I can’t identify who would bring that suit forward,” she said. “It wouldn’t be Nvidia because they’re the ones who negotiated this deal.”

Meanwhile, Chinese officials have their own fears that Nvidia’s chips could have location tracking or remote shutdown capabilities, though the company has denied those accusations.

“China obviously has its own concerns and its own national security considerations that it wants to take into account,” Rajic said. “It just depends on whether or not they want to buy it from us too.”

Chinese authorities have summoned domestic companies, including major internet firms Tencent and ByteDance, over their purchases of Nvidia’s H20 chips.

Authorities asked the companies on Tuesday to explain their reasons and expressed concerns over information risks, three people familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency.

The Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) and other agencies also held meetings with Baidu and smaller Chinese tech firms in recent weeks, said one of the two people and a third source.

The Chinese officials asked companies why they needed to buy chips made by Nvidia, a US company, when they could purchase from domestic suppliers, the sources said.

Authorities in China expressed concern that the materials Nvidia has asked companies to submit for review with the US government could contain sensitive information, including client data, one of the sources said.

However, the people, who declined to be identified because the meetings were not public, said the companies have not been ordered to stop buying H20 chips.

Nvidia said on Tuesday that the H20 chip was “not a military product or for government infrastructure”.

“China has ample supply of domestic chips to meet its needs. It won’t and never has relied on American chips for government operations, just like the US government would not rely on chips from China,” the statement said.

Baidu, ByteDance, Tencent and the CAC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Discouraged use

Earlier on Tuesday, Bloomberg News reported that Chinese authorities have urged domestic companies to avoid using Nvidia’s H20 chips, particularly for government-related purposes.

Several companies were issued official notices discouraging the use of the H20, a lower-end chip, mainly for any government or national security-related work by state enterprises or private companies, the report said, citing people familiar with the matter.

In a separate report, The Information reported that ByteDance, Alibaba and Tencent had been ordered by the CAC in the past two weeks to suspend Nvidia chip purchases altogether, citing data security concerns.

The CAC directive was communicated at a meeting the regulator held with more than a dozen Chinese tech firms, shortly after the administration of United States President Donald Trump reversed the export curbs on H20 chips, according to the Information report.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the reports, and Alibaba did not respond to a request for comment. Top contract chipmaker SMIC rose 5 percent on Tuesday on expectations of rising demand for locally-produced chips.

But even without an outright ban, the concerns expressed by Chinese authorities could threaten Nvidia’s recently restored access to the Chinese market as Chinese companies look to keep in step with regulators.

Nvidia designed the H20 specifically for China after export restrictions on its more advanced AI chips took effect in late 2023. The H20 has since been the most sophisticated AI chip Nvidia was allowed to sell in China.

Earlier this year, US authorities effectively banned its sale to China, but reversed the decision in July following an agreement between Nvidia and the Trump administration.

Threat to revenue stream

Last month, China’s cyberspace regulator summoned Nvidia representatives, asking the company to explain whether the H20 posed backdoor security risks that could affect Chinese user data and privacy.

State-controlled media have intensified criticism of Nvidia in recent days. Yuyuan Tantian, affiliated with state broadcaster CCTV, published an article on WeChat over the weekend claiming that H20 chips pose security risks and lack technological advancement and environmental friendliness.

The scrutiny threatens a significant revenue stream for Nvidia, which generated $17bn from sales to China in its fiscal year ended January 26, or 13 percent of total revenue.

China has accelerated work on domestic AI chip alternatives, with companies such as Huawei developing processors that rival the H20’s performance, and Beijing urging the technology sector to become more self-sufficient.

However, US sanctions on advanced chipmaking equipment, including lithography machines essential for chip production, have constrained domestic manufacturers’ ability to boost production.

On Monday, US President Donald Trump suggested that he might allow Nvidia to sell a scaled-down version of its advanced Blackwell chip in China, despite deep-seated fears in Washington that Beijing could harness US AI capabilities to supercharge its military.

China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Tuesday that it hoped the US would act to maintain the stability and smooth operation of the global chip supply chain.

The Trump administration last week confirmed an unprecedented deal with Nvidia and AMD, which agreed to give the US government 15 percent of revenue from sales of some advanced chips in China.

China’s renewed guidance on avoiding chips also affects AI accelerators from AMD, Bloomberg also reported. It was not clear, however, whether any notices from Chinese authorities specifically mentioned AMD’s MI308 chip.

AMD did not respond to a request for comment outside regular business hours.

Published on
12/08/2025 – 19:03 GMT+2

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Evergrande, once China’s second-largest property developer and now the world’s most indebted company, said on Tuesday it will be delisted from the Hong Kong stock exchange on 25 August.

The company, founded in 1996, grew on a wave of debt-fuelled expansion by aggressively borrowing to buy land and build projects. It later diversified into wealth management, electric vehicles, theme parks, bottled water and even a soccer club.

Delisting in Hong Kong

Evergrande was the world’s most heavily indebted real estate developer, with over $300 billion (€257.1bn) owed to banks and bondholders, when the court handed down a liquidation order in January 2024.

The court had ruled that the company had failed to provide a viable restructuring plan for its debts, which fuelled fears about China’s rising debt burden, and trading of its shares has been halted since the ruling.

The Hong Kong stock exchange stipulates that the listing of companies may be cancelled if trading in their securities has remained suspended for 18 months consecutively.

China Evergrande Group received a letter on 8 August from the city’s stock exchange notifying the firm of its decision to cancel the listing as trading had not resumed by 28 July. The last day of the listing will be 22 August and Evergrande will not apply for a review of the decision, the company said in a statement.

“All shareholders, investors and potential investors of the company should note that after the last listing date, whilst the share certificates of the shares will remain valid, the shares will not be listed on, and will not be tradeable on the Stock Exchange,” the statement said.

A trouble-ridden sector

Evergrande is among scores of developers that defaulted on debts after Chinese regulators cracked down on excessive borrowing in the property industry in 2020. Unable to obtain financing, their vast obligations to creditors and customers became unsustainable.

The crackdown also tipped the property industry into crisis, dragging down the world’s second-largest economy and rattling financial systems in and outside China.

Once among the nation’s strongest growth engines, the industry is struggling to exit a prolonged downturn. House prices in China have continued to fall even after the introduction of supportive measures by policymakers.

The Hong Kong court system has been dealing with liquidation petitions against several Chinese property developers, including one of the largest Chinese real estate companies, Country Garden, which is expected to have another hearing in January.

China South City Holdings, a smaller property developer, was also ordered to liquidate on Monday.

Evergrande, founded in the mid-1990s by Hui Ka Yan, also known as Xu Jiayin, had over 90% of its assets on the Chinese mainland, according to the 2024 ruling. The firm was listed in Hong Kong in 2009 as “Evergrande Real Estate Group” and suspended its share trading on 29 January 2024, at 0.16 Hong Kong dollars (€0.017).

The liquidators said they have assumed control of over 100 companies within the group and entities under their direct management control with collective assets valued at $3.5 billion (€2.99bn) as of 29 January 2024. They said an estimate of the amounts that may ultimately be realised from these entities wasn’t available yet.

About $255 million (€218.5m) worth of assets have been sold, the liquidators said, calling the realisation “modest.”

“The liquidators believe that a holistic restructuring will prove out of reach, but they will, of course, explore any credible possibilities in this regard that may present themselves,” they said.

Hui, Evergrande’s founder, was detained in China in September 2023 on suspicion of committing crimes, adding to the company’s woes.

Mattia Debertolis discovered unconscious during an orienteering event in Chengdu on August 8 and died four days later.

Italian orienteering athlete Mattia Debertolis died on Tuesday after being found unresponsive during competition at the World Games in China’s Chengdu, organisers have said.

The 29-year-old was discovered unconscious during an orienteering event on August 8 and died four days later, said a joint statement from World Games organisers and the International Orienteering Federation (IOF).

The World Games is a multisport event held every four years for disciplines not included in the Olympics.

“Despite receiving immediate expert medical care at one of China’s leading medical institutions, he passed away,” the statement said.

It did not provide details on the cause of death.

The event took place in intense heat and humidity, with temperatures above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

Orienteering sees athletes navigate an unmarked course with a map and compass, punching in at designated spots along the route in the quickest time.

Debertolis, from Primiero in eastern Italy, was taking part in the final of the men’s middle-distance, the first medal event of the Games.

The 6km (3.7-mile-) course featured 180 metres (590ft) of ascent and 20 control points that athletes must visit.

Footage from the World Games’ social media accounts showed athletes running through crop fields and villages on a largely rural course.

The winner, Switzerland’s Riccardo Rancan, completed the course in 45 minutes and 22 seconds.

“I needed to acclimatise quickly with hot and humid conditions. I think I managed quite well,” Chinese state media quoted Rancan as saying.

Debertolis was listed as “Did Not Finish” in official results, along with 11 other athletes.

He was ranked 137th in the men’s Orienteering World Rankings and had been competing since 2014, according to the IOF website.

He participated in several World Championships and World Cups as part of the Italian team.

Alongside his training, Debertolis was studying for a PhD at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, where he lived.

President of the Italian Orienteering Federation (FISO), Alfio Giomi, invited the national team to wear black armbands while competing in the World Mountain Bike Orienteering Championships, which begin on Tuesday in Poland.

Debertolis’ family had agreed that “athletes will be able to participate in the competitions in Mattia’s name and memory,” Giomi said in an online statement.

World Games organisers and the IOF were “struck by this tragedy and extend their heartfelt condolences to the family and friends of the athlete and the whole orienteering community”, the joint statement read.

“Our thoughts are with those touched by this event.”

Organisers will “continue to support the family of Mattia Debertolis and the orienteering community in every possible way”, it added.

This is the 12th edition of the World Games, and it runs until August 17, with approximately 4,000 athletes competing in 253 events.

China’s Xi and Brazil’s Lula discuss cooperation amid fallout of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has suggested that China and Brazil set an example of “unity and self-reliance” in the Global South, Chinese state media has reported.

In a phone call on Monday, Xi told Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva that China was ready to work with Brazil to be a model for other countries and build a “more just world and a more sustainable planet”, the state-run Xinhua news agency said.

Xi told Lula that China-Brazil ties were “at their best in history” and the “alignment” of the two countries’ development strategies was making “smooth progress”, Xinhua reported.

“Xi also said that China backs the Brazilian people in defending their national sovereignty and supports Brazil in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests, urging all countries to unite in resolutely fighting against unilateralism and protectionism,” Xinhua said.

Lula’s office said the two leaders agreed on the role of the Group of 20 and BRICS in “defending multilateralism”, discussed efforts to negotiate peace between Russia and Ukraine, and committed to expanding cooperation to sectors such as health, oil and gas, the digital economy and satellites.

“Both presidents also emphasised their willingness to continue identifying new business opportunities between the two economies,” Lula’s office said.

Lula also reiterated the importance of China for the success of the COP30 world climate conference in November in Belem, Brazil, his office said.

The two leaders held the discussion as United States President Donald Trump’s trade salvoes are spurring calls for greater cooperation among emerging economies, including China and Brazil.

In an interview with the Reuters news agency last week, Lula said he planned to contact the leaders of the 10-member BRICS group, which includes India and China, to discuss the possibility of a coordinated response to US tariffs.

Trump last month announced a 50 percent tariff on Brazilian goods, and on Monday he signed an executive order extending a pause on a 145 percent tariff on Chinese goods until November.

China surpassed the US as Brazil’s largest trading partner in 2009, with two-way trade last year reaching $188.17bn.

The US and China have extended their trade truce until 10 November, just hours before a jump in tariffs had been set to take effect.

In a joint statement, the world’s two biggest economies said triple-digit tariffs on each other’s goods announced earlier this year will be suspended for another 90 days.

Talks last month ended with both sides calling the discussions “constructive”. China’s top negotiator said at the time that the two countries would push to preserve the truce, while US officials said they were waiting for final sign-off from US President Donald Trump.

On Monday, Trump signed an executive order to extend the tariff truce.

It means Washington will further delay imposing 145% tariffs on Chinese goods and Beijing will continue its pause on 125% duties on US shipments.

Under the agreement, the US will hold its tariffs on Chinese imports at 30%, while China will keep a 10% tariff on American goods.

The truce extension will give more time for negotiations about “remedying trade imbalances” and “unfair trade practices”, the White House said.

It cited a trade deficit of nearly $300bn (£223bn) with China in 2024 – the largest among any of its trading partner.

The talks will also aim to increase access for US exporters to China and address national security and economic issues, the statement said.

A spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said: “Win-win cooperation between China and the United States is the right path; suppression and containment will lead nowhere.”

In the statement, China also called on the US to lift its “unreasonable” trade restrictions, work together to benefit companies on both sides and maintain the stability of global semiconductor production.

A return of higher duties would have risked further trade turmoil and uncertainty amid worries about the effect of tariffs on prices and the economy.

Trade tensions between the US and China reached fever pitch in April, after Trump unveiled sweeping new tariffs on goods from countries around the world, with China facing some of the highest levies.

Beijing retaliated with tariffs of its own, sparking a tit-for-tat fight that saw tariffs soar into the triple digits and nearly shut down trade between the two countries.

The two sides had agreed to set aside some of those measures in May.

That agreement left Chinese goods entering the US facing an additional 30% tariff compared with the start of the year, with US goods facing a new 10% tariff in China.

The two sides remain in discussions about issues including access to China’s rare earths, its purchases of Russian oil, and US curbs on sales of advanced technology, including chips to China.

Trump recently relaxed some of those export restrictions, allowing firms such as AMD and Nvidia to resume sales of certain chips to firms in China in exchange for sharing 15% of their revenues with the US government.

The US is also pushing for the spin-off of TikTok from its Chinese owner ByteDance, a move that has been opposed by Beijing.

Earlier on Monday in remarks to reporters, Trump did not commit to extending the truce but said dealings had been going “nicely”. A day earlier he called on Beijing to increase its purchases of US soybeans.

Even with the truce, trade flows between the countries have been hit this year, with US government figures showing US imports of Chinese goods in June cut nearly in half compared with June 2024.

In the first six months of the year, the US imported $165bn (£130bn) worth of goods from China, down by about 15% from the same time last year. American exports to China fell roughly 20% year-on-year for the same period.

US President Donald Trump signed an extension just before midnight in Beijing, when a pause on tariffs was set to expire.

United States President Donald Trump has signed an executive order extending the China tariff deadline for another 90 days.

The extension came only hours before midnight in Beijing, when the 90 day pause was set to expire, CNBC reported on Monday, citing a White House official.

The White House did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment.

Earlier on Monday, Trump said he has been “dealing very nicely with China” as Beijing said it was seeking positive outcomes.

If the deadline had passed, duties on Chinese goods would have returned to where they were in April at 145 percent, further fuelling tensions between the world’s two largest trading partners.

While the US and China slapped escalating tariffs on each other’s products this year, reaching prohibitive triple-digit levels and snarling global trade, both countries in May agreed to temporarily lower tariffs at a meeting between negotiators in Geneva, Switzerland.

But the pause comes as negotiations still loom. Asked about the deadline on Monday, Trump said: “We’ll see what happens. They’ve been dealing quite nicely. The relationship is very good with [China’s] President Xi [Jinping] and myself.”

“We hope that the US will work with China to follow the important consensus reached during the phone call between the two heads of state,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian in a statement.

He added that Beijing also hopes Washington will “strive for positive outcomes on the basis of equality, respect and mutual benefit”.

In June, key economic officials convened in London as disagreements emerged and US officials accused their counterparts of violating the pact. Policymakers again met in Stockholm last month.

Even as both countries appeared to be seeking to push back the reinstatement of duties, US trade envoy Jamieson Greer said last month that Trump will have the “final call” on any such extension.

Ongoing negotiations

Kelly Ann Shaw, a senior White House trade official during Trump’s first term and now with Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, said she expected Trump to extend the 90-day “tariff detente” for another 90 days later on Monday.

“It wouldn’t be a Trump-style negotiation if it didn’t go right down to the wire,” she said.

“The whole reason for the 90-day pause in the first place was to lay the groundwork for broader negotiations, and there’s been a lot of noise about everything from soybeans to export controls to excess capacity over the weekend,” she said.

Ryan Majerus, a former US trade official now with the King & Spalding law firm, welcomed the news.

“This will undoubtedly lower anxiety on both sides as talks continue, and as the US and China work toward a framework deal in the fall. I’m certain investment commitments will factor into any potential deal, and the extension gives them more time to try and work through some of the longstanding trade concerns,” he said.

For now, fresh US tariffs on Chinese goods this year stand at 30 percent, while Beijing’s corresponding levy on US products is at 10 percent.

Since returning to the presidency in January, Trump has slapped a 10-percent “reciprocal” tariff on almost all trading partners, aimed at addressing trade practices Washington deemed unfair.

Markets are relatively flat on the news of extension. The Nasdaq is down by 0.07 percent, the S&P 500 is down 0.08 percent. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down by about 0.4 percent at 3:30pm in New York (19:30 GMT).

US President Donald Trump said last week that Intel’s CEO Lip-Bu Tan was ‘highly conflicted’ because of his ties to Chinese firms.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is due to visit the White House after United States President Donald Trump last week called for his removal.

The executive of the tech giant was set to meet the president on Monday, a source familiar with the matter told the Reuters news agency.

Neither Intel nor the White House immediately responded to requests for comment.

Tan is expected to have an extensive conversation with Trump while looking to explain his personal and professional background, according to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which broke the news on Sunday, adding that he could propose ways Intel and the US  government could work together, the paper said.

Tan hopes to win Trump’s approval by showing his commitment to the US and guaranteeing the importance of keeping Intel’s manufacturing capabilities as a national security issue, the WSJ added.

Last week, Trump demanded the immediate resignation of Tan, calling him “highly conflicted” due to his ties to Chinese firms, comments that raised doubts about Tan’s plans to turn around the struggling US chip icon.

It was a rare instance of a US president publicly calling for a CEO’s ouster, and sparked debate among investors.

Tan said he shared the president’s commitment to advancing US national and economic security.

Reuters reported exclusively in April that Tan invested at least $200m in hundreds of Chinese advanced manufacturing and chip firms, some of which were linked to the Chinese military.

Tan, a Malaysian-born Chinese American business executive, was also the CEO of Cadence Design from 2008 through December 2021, during which time the chip design software maker sold products to a Chinese military university believed to be involved in simulating nuclear explosions.

Last month, Cadence agreed to plead guilty and pay more than $140m to resolve the US charges over the sales.

Intel’s stock surged ahead of the meeting. The company, which trades under the ticker INTC, is up more than 7.5 percent for the day as of noon in New York (16:00 GMT).

Aug. 11 (UPI) — President Donald Trump urged China to increase its purchase of American Soybeans fourfold.

“China is worried about its shortage of soybeans. Our great farmers produce the most robust soybeans,” Trump posted on Truth Social late Sunday. “I hope China will quickly quadruple its soybean orders. This is also a way of substantially reducing China’s trade deficit with the USA. Rapid service will be provided. Thank you President XI [Jinping].”

The push comes just as American soybean farmers prepare for harvest, which will boost supplies. China is the largest purchaser of American soybeans, buying about 20% of them from the United States. It bought $12.6 billion in soybeans in 2024.

But U.S. government data show as of late July that China hasn’t booked any cargoes for the upcoming season as tensions flare.

After Trump’s post, soybean futures in Chicago jumped as much as 2.8%, the biggest single-day gain in four months, and traded 2.3% higher as of 5:15 a.m. CDT. Corn and wheat also rose.

A key issue between the two sides is agriculture. China has begun buying crops from South America and others. China agreed to increase purchases of agricultural goods during Trump’s first term but fell short of targets.

A tariff truce between the United States and China will expire Tuesday, but leaders from both countries have met recently to discuss an extension.

Earlier this year, Trump put a 145% tariff on China. China responded with a 125% tariff on American goods. The two sides ultimately agreed to bring those down. Right now, the tariff is set at 55%.

“The move to buy Argentina soybean meal is just a temporary fix,” Hanver Li, chief analyst for China-based Shanghai JC Intelligence Co., told Yahoo Finance. “If the China-U.S. talks go well, it wouldn’t be a long-term trade pattern.”

Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg expect the U.S. Department of Agriculture to boost its outlook for the domestic harvest in a report due Tuesday.

Aug. 11 (UPI) — U.S. chip makers Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices inked an “unprecedented” deal in which they will pay 15% of their sales to China to the U.S. treasury in exchange for export licenses to ship their advanced H20 and MI308 semiconductors.

The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has begun issuing licenses to both companies to supply the AI chips to China, sources and officials told the BBC and the Financial Times on Sunday, after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang met with Trump last week.

The arrangements came two months after Trump reversed an earlier decision banning Nvidia from exporting its H20 chip to China, with the Santa Clara, Calif., firm moving to cut the deal because the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Industry and Security had not issued the expected licenses.

Nvidia developed the H20 chip specifically for the Chinese market after the administration of President Joe Biden imposed sweeping export controls on advanced chips for AI in 2023. Before Trump’s ban, analysts estimated Nvidia would ship 1.5 million H20s this year, worth $23 billion.

AMD, which is also headquartered in Santa Clara, did not immediately comment on the development, but Nvidia said it always adhered to U.S. regulations when it came to exporting and warned of the risk of the U.S. losing its first-mover advantage.

“We follow rules the U.S. government sets for our participation in worldwide markets. While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide.”

Saying the development was without precedent, Forrester Vice President Charlie Dai said it demonstrated very elevated market access costs in a climate of rising tensions in global trade, generating “substantial financial pressure and strategic uncertainty for tech vendors.”

The deal, which takes to a new level Trump’s tactic of using trade restrictions to pressure multinationals to invest in the United States or shift manufacturing there, has attracted criticism from security experts who called the H20, in particular, a “potent accelerator” of Chinese AI that would help its military and erode the United States’ lead in the technology.

“If you have a 15% payment, it doesn’t somehow eliminate the national security issue. You either have a national security problem or you don’t,” said Deborah Elms, trade policy head at the Hinrich Foundation, a think tank.

BIS officials have also raised concerns along with 20 security experts who wrote Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick asking him not to authorize licenses to export the H20.

“Chips optimized for AI inference will not simply power consumer products or factory logistics; they will enable autonomous weapons systems, intelligence surveillance platforms and rapid advances in battlefield decision-making,” the letter said.

Nvidia earlier dismissed the claims regarding China’s military and that the H20 would help Chinese AI to leap forward.

But Liza Tobin, China expert and National Security Council member in the first Trump administration, warned against monetizing the transfer of dual-use technology.

“Being must be gloating to see Washington turn export licenses into revenue streams. What’s next — letting Lockheed Martin sell F-35s to China for a 15% commission,” she told the FT.

Trade experts express concern about reported deal linking exports controls to monetary payments.

Nvidia and AMD have agreed to give the United States government a share of revenues from chip sales in China as part of a deal to secure export licences for their products, US media have reported.

Under the agreement reached with US President Donald Trump’s administration, Nvidia will share 15 percent of revenues from sales of its H20 AI chip, while AMD will pay the same percentage of MI308 chip revenues, multiple outlets reported on Sunday.

The unorthodox agreement, which has no known precedent, comes after the Trump administration last month agreed to reverse a ban on the sale of Nvidia’s H20 chips to China.

The Financial Times, which first reported the news, said the Trump administration had yet to decide how it would use the collected revenues.

AMD did not respond to a request for comment.

Nvidia neither confirmed nor denied the deal, but said it follows US government rules for doing business in overseas markets.

“While we haven’t shipped H20 to China for months, we hope export control rules will let America compete in China and worldwide,” a company spokesperson said.

“America cannot repeat 5G and lose telecommunication leadership. America’s AI tech stack can be the world’s standard if we race.”

Following reports of the deal, which was confirmed by The New York Times, Bloomberg, The Wall Street Journal and the BBC, trade experts expressed concern about the implications of linking controls on sensitive technology to monetary payments.

Christopher Padilla, the former head of the US Commerce Department’s International Trade Administration, called the agreement “astonishing”.

“If the Trump administration is allowing companies to buy their way past export controls imposed to protect US national security, we are in very dangerous waters,” Padilla said in a post on LinkedIn.

“A mix of bribery and blackmail that is certainly unprecedented and possibly illegal.”

Peter Harrell, a nonresident fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the deal set a worrying precedent.

“The Chinese would pay a lot for F35s and advanced US military technology, too,” Harrell said in a post on X.

“Regardless of whether you think Nvidia should be able to sell H20s in China, charging a fee in exchange for relaxing national security export controls is a terrible precedent.”