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A Chinese commentary warns that investments in Venezuela, Panama and Cambodia face seizure amid geopolitical pressure and host‑country shifts, and explicitly calls for military measures to guard overseas assets. The piece underscores broader debates in China about protecting global economic interests in an increasingly contested international order and highlights the strategic trade-offs of militarising economic diplomacy.

In Jiangxi’s Ganzhou region, the PLA’s military sub‑district has paired with 19 villages since 2021 to deliver infrastructure, education and agricultural support. Public “smile walls” of photographs dramatise tangible gains — higher incomes, new elderly care and improved schooling — while signalling the Party‑Army partnership behind China’s rural revitalization strategy. The initiative is practical and popular locally but also raises questions about the long‑term balance between military involvement and civilian governance in sustaining rural development.

Slovak MEP Luboš Blaha accused the United States of imperialist behavior over recent comments on Greenland and a reported military move in Venezuela, declaring NATO moribund and calling for greater EU autonomy. His remarks reflect and may intensify an ongoing European debate over strategic independence, economic resilience and how to respond to perceived U.S. unilateralism.

Photographs released during the opening of China’s spring-travel period show People’s Armed Police deployed across major stations and airports, performing both security and public-service roles. The highly visible presence is meant to ensure safe travel during Chunyun while signalling the state’s capacity to manage large-scale population movements.

President Trump described the 1846–48 US‑Mexico War as a “legendary victory” in a White House statement marking its 178th anniversary, linking the historic conquest to his border policies. Mexican leaders and diplomats condemned the comments as insulting and potentially threatening, raising concerns that triumphalist rhetoric could strain essential bilateral cooperation on migration, drugs and trade.

After an extraordinary two‑day sell‑off that pushed spot gold below $4,500, international prices rebounded sharply and reclaimed the $5,000/oz mark by Feb 4. The swings were driven by a blend of speculative liquidation, margin‑related forced selling, shifts in US policy expectations and changes in dollar and Treasury yields, while Chinese retail demand showed both frantic selling and buying.

In 2025 several northern Chinese provinces recorded notable economic gains as Shandong crossed the 10 trillion yuan threshold and Henan and Hebei posted strong growth driven by industrial upgrading, large projects and logistics. The rebound reflects policy‑led modernization of heavy industry, concentrated investment in strategic clusters and improving export and transport links, but innovation shortfalls and reliance on big projects pose questions about sustainability.

Beijing’s latest No.1 document renewed efforts to rein in excessive rural bride prices and for the first time called for cross‑provincial coordination, even as state media celebrated mass participation in winter sports and officials moved to revive cross‑strait tourism. Markets were volatile: gold jewellery prices surged, bitcoin hit a 15‑month low amid AI‑related software fears, and regulators forced WeChat to block widely shared promotional links that were disrupting user experience.

China’s 2026 No.1 central document places farmer income growth at the centre of rural policy, combining price supports, crop subsidies, insurance and county‑level industrial promotion to stabilize returns and boost livelihoods. The plan also prioritizes migrant worker employment protections and vocational training, while reaffirming Party leadership and governance reforms to manage implementation.

Hardline Japanese rhetoric framing Taiwan as an “existential” security concern has reignited debate over Tokyo’s military role and constitutional limits. The language reflects both electoral tactics and substantive policy shifts — higher defence spending, island missile deployments and moves to enshrine the Self-Defense Forces — that raise regional tensions and the risk of miscalculation with China.

With the election days away, Sanae Takaichi’s surge in the polls has elevated constitutional revision and the formal enshrinement of the Self‑Defense Forces into central campaign issues. A parliamentary supermajority would make amendment feasible, with wide implications for domestic politics and regional security, drawing sharp responses from China and Russia.

China’s military released a spring-themed poster campaign marking the start of the training season, using cultural imagery to signal renewed training tempo and to reinforce domestic narratives of military strengthening. The move is largely symbolic but consistent with a broader pattern of public messaging that normalizes sustained readiness and modernization.

Yunnan province has implemented a ten‑point veterans welfare and services program that pairs targeted financial products, dedicated job channels and expanded welfare benefits. Officials report strong results: high public satisfaction, thousands of veterans placed in employment or public posts, and billions of yuan in entrepreneurship loans aimed at smoothing the transition from military to civilian life.

China’s growth‑oriented ChiNext fell 1.74% at the mid‑day break as heavy trading and rapid sector rotation produced sharp divergences. Coal, space photovoltaic, aviation, real‑estate and hydrogen concepts surged in pockets while precious metals and AI application stocks sold off, leaving market breadth weak despite elevated turnover of RMB 1.62 trillion.

President Trump’s White House statement calling the U.S. victory in the 19th‑century Mexican‑American War a "legendary" triumph provoked anger in Mexico and revived painful historical memories. Mexican leaders and analysts described the rhetoric as insulting and potentially threatening, complicating cooperation on migration, security and trade even if immediate policy shifts are unlikely.

Saif al‑Islam Gaddafi was killed in an attack in Zintan on 3 February, a development reported by Xinhua. His death removes a contentious political figure whose presence had both complicated accountability and offered a potential—if problematic—avenue for reintegrating elements of the old regime into Libya’s fractured politics, and it raises the risk of renewed militia violence and wider destabilization.

Turkey’s Competition Authority has opened a new probe into Google, alleging that financial incentives and contractual clauses tied to Android effectively preserve Google’s pre‑installation and default positions for search and browsers. The inquiry examines anti‑forking provisions and developer verification rules to assess whether Google’s revised contracts perpetuate anti‑competitive effects despite earlier enforcement actions.

China has issued 88 mandatory national standards targeting vehicle safety, tightening requirements for EV batteries and introducing compulsory rules for automatic emergency braking and in-vehicle emergency calls. The reforms aim to raise safety baselines as the country’s auto production and NEV market expand, but will raise compliance costs and influence who can compete in China’s rapidly evolving EV and autonomous-driving sectors.

China has launched an AI and virtual-production laboratory in Zhejiang to domesticise key film technologies, incubate pilot projects and set industry standards. The effort reflects a broader push for technological self-reliance and could lower costs, reshape labour in the film sector and create export opportunities, while raising governance and ethical challenges.

Meng Zhongjie, president of Shanghai International Studies University and a Shanghai people's congress deputy, urged humanities scholars to prepare high-quality corpora and actively collaborate with AI as part of a broader disciplinary transformation. His call highlights both an opportunity to shape Chinese-language AI and a tension between instrumental collaboration and preservation of critical scholarship.