A senior Pentagon official on Tuesday said US-China military communication was “stronger than it has been in years”, marking a rare bright spot in the broader strategic rivalry between the world’s two most powerful countries. “Under the leadership of Secretary [Pete] Hegseth, we are actively repairing a once broken military-to-military channel and making clear, steady progress,” said Alvaro Smith, deputy assistant defence secretary for China, Taiwan and Mongolia. He made the remarks during a...
The four American troops killed during renewed fighting between the US and Iran in recent weeks are no longer listed as part of the Iran war death toll in the Pentagon’s official casualty count but have been placed in a new, separate category. It is raising questions about properly counting the impact to US service members as the Trump administration has escalated strikes on Iran in a bid to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, while providing little indication of how it intends to wind down a conflict...
The Pentagon has added Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University to a list of foreign institutions deemed a threat to US national security, extending Washington’s research-security crackdown to two of China’s most prestigious civilian universities. The updated list identifies 88 institutions in mainland China and bars US Department of Defence-funded researchers from collaborating with them, or using their equipment, under restrictions taking effect in the 2026 financial year. The...
US scrutiny of Chinese technology has expanded to a new frontier, as lawmakers in Washington advance defence legislation prohibiting the military from deploying Chinese-made humanoid robots. The US House of Representatives has passed the National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA), an annual military policy bill that incorporates provisions restricting the use of foreign autonomous systems over national security and data privacy concerns. Under Section 163 of the draft bill, the Pentagon would be...
The US must rapidly replenish its stockpiles of weapons as the war on Iran rages on.
The hearing was disrupted by protests and a shouting match as Hegseth testified at a pivotal time in the war.
The Pentagon has blocked the public release of a congressionally mandated annual report on the costly and controversial F-35 fighter jet programme for the first time in more than 20 years. The non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) said Defence Department officials concluded its yearly assessment of the US$1.6 trillion programme contained Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI) – which meant none of the report could be released to the public. The report has offered a key window...
The US government published a fourth instalment of unresolved cases, promising to release more files on a rolling basis.
We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump thinks he is playing hardball. But China is playing Trump: analysts As the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump fades in the rear-view mirror, marked by anaemic deliverables, poor transparency and missed opportunities, analysts and former US...