The Washington Post, Jan. 22, 2018  

China and U.S. tensions continue over the dominance of the South China Sea as both nations increase their presence through ships. Despite focusing on cooperating with China in matters concerning North Korea, President Trump has started to show a tougher crackdown on the question of ownership in the area. The Philippines, a long-time ally of the U.S. and the previous owner of Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, has also started to shift its attitude about reclaiming dominance. President Rodrigo Duterte claims that “the freedom of navigation operation near Scarborough Shoal … was ‘America’s problem.’” (Posted by Angela Xiao) 

TIME, Jan. 22, 2018

Prominent Chinese hip-hop artists have been banned from appearing on national television and other types of media as the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television of the People’s Republic of China (SAPPRFT) issued a list of rules which outlined the beliefs of the People’s Republic in regards to hip-hop. The rules state that “actors” who follow these subcultures are not “moral” or “noble.” Instead, are supporting “tasteless, vulgar and obscene” acts and beliefs. Many Chinese netizens have expressed their disapproval and claims that the actions of the government are going “back to ancient times.” (Posted by Angela Xiao) 

QUARTZ, Jan. 22, 2018 

China and America are continuing their race to see who will become the fastest nation to succeed in digitizing consumer shopping experiences. Amazon has the lead with its Amazon Go grocery store in Seattle that uses cutting-edge AI programs to help quicken the checkout experience. However, China has the edge with more shops opening at a faster pace. BingoBox already has more than 200 locations. It labels items with RFID tags and allows customers to pay with WeChat. These Chinese startups have also gained the support of the government. According to ITJuzi, the third quarter of 2017 accumulated “1 billion yuan [$156 million USD] in funding.” (Posted by Angela Xiao) 

Vanity Fair, Jan. 22, 2018  

Members of the National Security Council are expressing concerns about Kushner’s ties to China, further heightened by a recent article published by the Wall Street Journal on Wendi Deng Murdoch, the Kushners’ family friend. Officials are worried Kushner’s social and business ties to China may influence the decisions of the Trump Administration and leak confidential information to Chinese officials. Kushner has repeatedly failed to provide a detailed outline of all his foreign ties. After briefing on his meetings, a former senior official said, “... you think your background [will] allow you … to outsmart the Chinese ambassador? … He was acting with naivete.” (Posted by Angela Xiao) 

Vox, Jan. 22, 2018  

Before his election, President Trump made promises to crack down on China’s “rape” of the American economy. Last Wednesday, Trump told Reuters that he may fulfill his promises by punishing China with tariffs on solar panels, steel and/or aluminum. If Trump does crack down on trade relations, there may be serious retaliation from China. There may be a disturbance on agricultural relations and U.S. companies looking for opportunities in China, and more importantly, may help strengthen China’s relations with North Korea. This may cause China to economically support North Korea’s nuclear program and put American citizens in jeopardy. (Posted by Angela Xiao) 

Forbes, Jan. 25, 2018  

Traditionally, it was inevitable that Chinese students would stay in America after graduation even though they are appreciated by Chinese companies back home. However, the current situation seems to be inverted. In 2016, over half of the study-abroad students went back to China. There are two main reasons: firstly, large economy growth is happening in China, especially in the tech industry; secondly, the so-called “bamboo ceiling,” which makes it hard for Chinese students to get promotions in the tech industry, is driving students to go back China. Beside attracting Chinese students, China is also expecting to get more foreign students to study and work in China by reforming its visa program. (Posted by Jiayi Guan) 

CNN, Jan. 24, 2018  

Pirated songs and videos were so prevalent and easily accessible in China years ago. However, recently, this situation has improved. Chinese people are more likely to pay for intellectual properties. One of the most important reasons for this is the spread of online payment applications like WeChat Pay and Alipay that create an  easy way to pay for streaming videos and songs online. Beside this fact, big, local Chinese tech companies still hold a monopoly over the market for streaming videos and songs, striking deals with foreign media companies like Universal Music Group to get into the market. These dominated companies also buy mainstream popular shows from these companies to retain their membership rates. (Posted by Jiayi Guan) 

TIME, Jan. 25, 2018  

Senate investigators say that Chinese drugmakers are making use of weak U.S. postal censorship to export opioids to the U.S., which has to lead to an increasing death rate due to drug overdoses. The postal shipments from China to America have increased a lot recently because of e-commerce, while only one-third of the total 300 million packages are formally recorded on the Internet system. Chinese drugmakers exploit this system flaw to sell some of the most dangerous opioids like fentanyl to the U.S. and get payment commonly as Bitcoin. Spokesman of the U.S. Postal Service said that they were making progress in seizing opioids and recording packages online. (Posted by Jiayi Guan) 

Forbes, Jan. 25, 2018

President Trump decided to put a punitive 30% tariff on solar panel imports which are mostly made by Chinese manufacturers. According to this activity and his answer “but if it there is, there is” when asked about a trade war, he may trigger a formal trade war between the two countries. Before this decision, President Trump had made two policies against China: one is about punishing intellectual property theft, and the other is about national security threats Chinese steel and aluminum import have posed to America. However, a trade war may bring America many unintended consequences and threaten economic growth. It’s unlikely that a war will ultimately be started. (Posted by Jiayi Guan) 

CNBC, Jan. 24, 2018  

China Poly Group, a state-owned conglomerate, is going to enter the American market and continue its expansion into the U.S. sector while at the same time promoting Chinese culture. According to the chairman of the Chinese enterprise, bearing the laws of the land, the company is always welcomed by any country’s government. Besides making profit, the cultural business company wants to gain experiences and technology from their U.S. partners by communicating culture exchanges. On the broader context, at the 19th Communist Party Congress, President Xi appealed to the country to increase its soft cultural power. Ever since then, Belt and Road Initiative and Confucius Institutes have become powerful tools to show China’s quick developments among years and influences on global culture. (Posted by Jiayi Guan)