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President Trump’s simultaneous threat of force and offer of talks toward Iran reflects deliberate brinkmanship intended to maximize U.S. leverage. Tehran remains resistant on core issues such as ballistic missiles and regional influence, and a military campaign would carry heavy regional and global costs that complicate any claimed benefits for China.
Alibaba is investing RMB 3 billion in a Spring Festival campaign that stitches its Qianwen AI into commerce and local services to serve as an action-capable assistant. The move contrasts with Tencent’s cash-driven social push and ByteDance’s entertainment-focused AI experiences, and could determine which platform secures the mainstream AI entry point in China.
Ningxia has redesigned veteran assistance from ad hoc charity into a coordinated, multi‑agency welfare system that pairs caseworkers with needy veterans, uses dynamic ledgers, and mobilises social organisations. The programme reports thousands assisted and measurable exits from poverty, while raising questions about financing and scalability beyond small autonomous regions.
African public figures have criticised remarks by Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and Tokyo’s perceived tilt toward military expansion as threats to the post‑World War II international order. Their comments highlight wider anxieties about remilitarization, colonial nostalgia, and possible ramifications for regional stability around Taiwan and East Asia.
The U.S. ambassador to Greece said President Trump plans an official visit to Athens, a move that signals renewed American attention to the eastern Mediterranean. The announcement, made at a first-lady documentary premiere, carries strategic weight amid regional maritime disputes and growing U.S. energy and defence interests. Key questions remain over timing and whether the trip will include other regional players such as Israel, Cyprus or Turkey.
Boeing said it is no longer actively pursuing construction of F‑15EX fighters for Indonesia, casting doubt on a 2023 agreement for 24 jets that required U.S. government approval. The development signals friction between commercial plans and political clearance processes, with implications for Indonesia’s procurement choices and U.S. influence in the Indo‑Pacific.
China’s leading tech firms have poured 45 billion yuan into Spring Festival promotions that tie cash rewards to usage of AI assistants, aiming to convert holiday curiosity into habitual use. The campaign marks a strategic shift from traffic grabs to direct competition for the status of ‘AI super‑entry,’ but its long‑term success will depend on retention and differentiated product value.
Shenzhen posted 2025 GDP of 3.873 trillion yuan, growing 5.5% and nearing the 4-trillion threshold, powered by advanced manufacturing, exports and world-leading R&D intensity. Guangdong province, by contrast, grew 3.9%, weighed down by sluggish industrial recovery and a sharp fall in fixed-asset investment, exposing the province’s reliance on Shenzhen and Guangzhou as growth engines.
Shanghai has begun buying second‑hand flats to convert into guaranteed rental housing for new urban residents, youth and graduates, piloting the scheme in Pudong, Jing’an and Xuhui. Backed by China Construction Bank, the programme aims to speed up delivery of affordable units using existing stock, bolster market liquidity and address urban rental shortages while posing valuation and governance challenges.
China has issued three implementing measures to clarify how businesses deduct input VAT, treat high‑value long‑term assets and manage VAT prepayments, along with transitional filing changes. The rules reduce legal ambiguity but require firms to adjust accounting systems and cash‑flow planning, with construction, real estate and oil & gas particularly affected.
A rapid reversal in precious-metals markets has cooled the retail scramble for physical gold in China, with major banks reporting renewed inventory after weeks of sell-outs. The correction was triggered by a drop in fears over Fed independence following a high-profile nomination, prompting a dollar rebound and sending volatile price signals through both futures and retail channels.
China saw a sharp increase in marriage registrations in 2025—driven by a removal of hukou limits in a revised Marriage Registration Ordinance and auspicious lunar‑calendar timing. Analysts warn the rise is probably a temporary rebound and that deeper economic constraints will determine longer‑term marriage and fertility trends.
Guotou-UBS’s silver LOF plunged 31.5% in a single day after the manager revalued domestic Shanghai silver futures positions by reference to international prices, creating a rush of limit-down selling and exposing a socially-driven retail arbitrage bubble. The fund — China’s only public vehicle tracking silver futures — faces possible further limit-down sessions as investors try to escape a crowded position.
Tencent distributed RMB 1 billion in red envelopes to promote its AI app Yuanbao ahead of the 2026 Lunar New Year, briefly overloading servers and generating broad, short‑term engagement. The campaign bought reach inside Tencent’s vast social graph, but turning festive trials into lasting AI habits will depend on product depth, day‑to‑day usefulness and sustained infrastructure investment.
A historic surge and collapse in gold and silver prices at the end of January exposed fragile market mechanics and left many Chinese retail investors—particularly Gen‑Z—caught in volatile trades around Guotou Silver LOF (161226). The shock combined stretched valuations, elevated implied volatility, regulatory curbs and a hawkish shift in U.S. monetary policy to produce a rapid deleveraging in precious metals.
A panic sell‑off pushed spot gold down roughly 10% intraday to about $4,400/oz, marking a more than 20% decline from recent highs after markets repriced US monetary policy following the nomination of former Fed governor Warsh. While short‑term volatility and technical damage argue against immediate bottom‑fishing, long‑term structural drivers such as central‑bank buying, physical demand and questions about dollar dominance keep a multi‑year bullish case alive.
Zhongke Huiling has signed a three‑party agreement with Guangda Tongchuang and Delos to co‑develop lightweight structural and exterior materials for its CASBOT Lingbao humanoid robots, pairing materials R&D with manufacturing capacity to accelerate engineered, scalable delivery. The move highlights materials as a critical enabler of commercial humanoids but does not remove remaining technical and market hurdles.
SpaceX has acquired Elon Musk’s xAI and, via an internal memo, framed the move as the first step toward hosting large AI systems in orbit powered by solar energy. The plan leverages SpaceX’s Starlink constellation and launch capabilities to propose a new, space‑based infrastructure for AI, but faces major technical, environmental and regulatory hurdles.
Zeekr said parts of its forthcoming 8X model's information leaked ahead of schedule, disrupting the planned release rhythm and prompting the company to reassert the importance of orderly product launches. The episode highlights how leaks can distort marketing, dealer and competitive dynamics in China's cutthroat EV market.
A Shenzhen market survey finds consumer CPU prices largely unchanged while server CPUs show fragmented pricing moves tied to AI demand and model-specific tightness. Traders are shifting attention to memory amid dramatic DRAM and NAND price increases, and analysts expect continued structural divergence between consumer stability and server-side episodic volatility.
