China Archives - WPTF-AM

Dow leaps 1,100 points and S&P 500 rallies 3.3% following a 90-day truce in the US-China trade war

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are leaping after China and the United States announced a 90-day truce in their trade war. The S&P 500 jumped 2.6% Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 951 points, and the Nasdaq composite gained 3.5%. Hopes for an economy less encumbered by tariffs also sent crude oil prices higher. The U.S. dollar strengthened against other currencies, and Treasury yields jumped on expectations the Federal Reserve won’t have to cut interest rates so deeply this year in order to protect the economy. Analysts warned conditions could still quickly change, as has so often happened in President Donald Trump’s trade wars.… Continue Reading

New NC facility part of Toyota’s EV and battery push in China and U.S.

TOKYO (AP) — Toyota is developing and making electric vehicles and EV batteries in China under a new partnership with the Shanghai government. It’s also producing batteries for EVs, hybrids and plug-ins at a new $14 billion facility in North Carolina. Wednesday’s announcements highlight Toyota’s aggressive push in electric cars, a sector where some critics have said it’s fallen behind rivals like Tesla and Byd. Toyota is setting up a company in Jinshan District in southwest Shanghai for that effort, with production of the new Lexus EVs starting in 2027. Toyota’s quarterly profit jumped 61% from the previous year to 2.19 trillion yen, or $14 billion.… Continue Reading

DeepSeek’s new AI chatbot and ChatGPT answer sensitive questions about China differently

HONG KONG (AP) — Chinese tech startup DeepSeek’s new artificial intelligence chatbot has sparked discussions about the competition between China and the U.S. in AI development, with many users flocking to test the rival of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Observers are eager to see whether the Chinese company has matched America’s leading AI companies at a fraction of the cost. The chatbot’s ultimate impact on the AI industry is still unclear, but it appears to censor answers to sensitive topics, a practice commonly seen on China’s internet. For example, when it was asked on Tuesday about Beijing’s bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square in 1989, it said the event was beyond its scope and suggested talking about something else.… Continue Reading

Supreme Court upholds law banning TikTok if it’s not sold by its Chinese parent company

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says he talked with Chinese leader Xi Jinping about TikTok shortly before the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the federal law banning the app beginning Sunday unless it’s sold by its China-based parent company. The court held Friday the risk to national security posed by TikTok’s ties to China overcomes concerns about limiting speech by the app or its 170 million users in the U.S. A sale does not appear imminent. The court’s decision means new users won’t be able to download the app and updates won’t be available, but it won’t disappear from users’ phones. Trump had called on the court to keep the ban on hold until after he takes office Monday.… Continue Reading

Trump names former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be ambassador to China

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump is naming former Sen. David Perdue of Georgia to be his ambassador to China. Trump says that as a former CEO, Perdue will bring “valuable expertise” to the U.S. relationship with China. Perdue pushed Trump’s debunked lies about electoral fraud during his failed bid for Georgia governor. Economic tensions are sure to be a big part of the U.S.-China picture for the new administration. Trump has threatened to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China as soon as he takes office as part of his effort to crack down on illegal immigration and drugs.… Continue Reading

China’s president unveils a megaport in Peru, but locals say they’re being left out

CHANCAY, Peru (AP) — A remote fishing town on the edge of Peru’s coastal desert is the site for a $1.3 billion megaport majority-owned by the Chinese shipping giant Cosco. Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated the port Thursday during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Peru. The development is expected to encompass 15 quays and a large industrial park drawing more than $3.5 billion in investment over a decade. But it has met a skeptical response from impoverished villagers, who say it is depriving them of fishing waters and bringing no economic benefit to locals. Fishermen returning to port with smaller catches complain that they have already lost out.… Continue Reading

Welcome to China’s underground raves, from street techno to quotes from Chairman Mao

CHANGCHUN, China (AP) — By day, Xing Long works in an office for a state-owned company in Changchun, an industrial city in the northeastern rust belt of China. By night, he’s a DJ and underground rave organizer, a side gig that offers an escape from the humdrum of reviewing corporate contracts. For a growing number of Chinese young people, techno dance parties are an escape from the intense pressure and high expectations of the society around them. In recent years, even as space for culture and creativity has been shrinking in China, underground rave culture is growing in hidden corners of the nation’s cities like air raid shelters.… Continue Reading

Trump has promised to ‘save TikTok’. What happens next is less clear

After a tumultuous year filled with anxiety and a legal fight about its future in the U.S., TikTok may have just been thrown a lifeline by the man who was once its biggest foe. President-elect Donald Trump has repeatedly pledged during his most recent campaign to oppose a ban on the short-form video app. For months, TikTok, and its China-based parent company ByteDance, have been embroiled in a legal battle with the U.S. over a federal law that forces them to cut ties or face a ban. If the courts uphold the law, it would fall on Trump’s Justice Department to enforce the statute. Trump could try different things to prevent the app from disappearing, including finding an buyer for it.… Continue Reading

US approves $2 billion in arms sales to Taiwan including advanced missile defense system

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — The United States has approved $2 billion in arms sales to Taiwan, including the delivery for the first time to the island of an advanced surface-to-air missile defense system. The sale has angered China. Taiwan’s presidential office on Saturday thanked Washington for greenlighting the potential arms sales. Under the island’s new president, Lai Ching-te, Taiwan has been stepping up defense measures as China increased its military threats against the island. Beijing last week held war games encircling Taiwan for the second time since Lai took office in May. Beijing claims the self-ruled island as its own territory, to be annexed by force if necessary.… Continue Reading

Pandas arrive in the US. Next stop is the National Zoo

WASHINGTON (AP) — The National Zoo’s long dark panda drought is coming to an end. Eleven months after the zoo sent its three wildly popular pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cub Xiao Qi Ji — back to China, a new pair of bears is set to arrive. A pair of three-year old giant pandas, named Bao Li and Qing Bao, have left a research facility in the southwestern Chinese city of Dujiangyan and will be flown to Washington, according to a statement by the China Wildlife Conservation Association. Pandas have become one of the unofficial symbols of the nation’s capital, dating back to 1972 when Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing were sent as a gift from China following President Richard Nixon’s historic diplomatic visit there.… Continue Reading