Jerome Powell, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, told congressional lawmakers Wednesday that the central bank has been focused on getting US inflation back down to 2 percent. Powell's determination soothes the sting of high inflation, but poses a more serious problem - sharp Fed rate rises.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said at a Senate hearing on Wednesday that US tariffs imposed by the former Trump administration on Chinese goods are "a significant piece of leverage" in the US-China trade relationship and "a trade negotiator never walks away from leverage," Reuters reported on Thursday.

At a White House press briefing on Tuesday, John Kirby, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communication, suggested that China's purchase of Russian oil is "another example of a growing collaboration between China and Russia with respect to Ukraine." However, when asked about India's purchase of Russian energy, he replied, "There are sovereign decisions," while stressing that India is a "very key strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific region."

In considering Australia's own interests, Australia's new leader should maintain strategic sobriety and inject new momentum to revive cooled bilateral ties. Bilateral relations have showed some signs of thawing after Albanese took office. The improvement of relations could be attributed to joint efforts of both sides. However, there are still difficulties ahead. If the new Australian government can reverse course and bring Australia's trade relationship with China back to normalcy, many Australian makers and traders will restore their confidence in the Chinese market.

American businesses in China say they fear the US' so-called "Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act" (UFLPA) that went into effect on Tuesday will interrupt shipments and raise their costs, as it is "next to impossible" for US importers to prove negative to the law's "rebuttable presumption" of "forced labor," according to The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday.

Hyper-inflation is embroiling nearly all major economies in the world, the US and Europe in particular, which is spreading and exacerbating around the globe now. The immensely loose and at the same time highly irresponsible financial policy adopted by many central banks is the direct cause of the current spell of voracious inflation, which has seriously eroded our livelihood.

The Netherlands on Monday lifted a cap on electricity generation from coal-fired plants following an increasingly serious energy crisis in Europe. And, Germany, to save natural gas, also moved to restart the dirty coal-fired generators.

A US legislation banning imports from Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region took effect on Tuesday. The ban takes a "rebuttable presumption" that all goods from Xinjiang were made using forced labor, and goods from Xinjiang can be imported to the US only if companies can prove that their supply chains are free of the involvement of forced labor. This is a serious escalation in the US' campaign to contain China that calls for serious countermeasures.

While the Biden administration is still debating whether it should remove arbitrary tariffs on Chinese goods to curb soaring inflation, or continue to use tariffs as a weapon to coerce China, politicians from both parties in Washington claim the US should remove only some tariffs, not all, as the politicians are "gravely concerned" about the complete removal of tariffs on Chinese imports, the Voice of America (VOA) reported on Tuesday.

US lawmakers are reportedly to soon introduce legislation to funnel more money to the so-called "Indo-Pacific" region to help "counter China", the Financial Times (FT) reported on Sunday.

With the 14th BRICS Summit to be held on Thursday, a number of officials and experts have recently voiced their expectations for the BRICS mechanism to play a greater role in promoting fairness and security in the global financial and trade order.

China has been making great contributions to the accessibility and affordability of vaccines in developing economies. What Western media outlets should do is to stop smearing China and to supervise whether the US government will fulfill its promise on patent waiver.

The precaution measures China's regulators had made have largely strengthened the country's ability to resist risks when faced with the current risks posed by the US interest rate hikes on global financial markets. The slump in cryptocurrencies shows the necessity to strengthen financial supervision in the long run.

For years, the West has been seeking out ways to respond to the growing influence of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and the subject is expected to be raised again at the upcoming Group of Seven (G7) summit, which is scheduled to be held from June 26 to 28 in Germany.

Loath to see a thriving Asia, politicians in Washington are determined to destabilize and divide the region, in order to cut short the development of many Asian countries.

China's holdings of US Treasury bonds shrank in April to their lowest level since June 2010, new data revealed on Wednesday. The US economy is headed for a sharp downturn, and its sovereign debt is losing its appeal to investors. The rate hike by the Federal Reserve on Wednesday will probably speed up this process.

A range of major economic data for May released on Wednesday are sufficient to show the Chinese economy is recovering from the worst COVID flare-ups in two years after measures aimed at curbing coronavirus' spread have eased up as the epidemic have been largely brought under control.

In face of record-high gas prices in the US and skyrocketing inflation, radical anti-China politicians in Washington have come up with another "brilliant" idea: ban US' oil exports to China.

Building a clean economy will lead to more advanced scientific and technological developments, facilitating the growth of strategic emerging industries. Developing countries, including China and India, have common ground upon which they can expand economic cooperation.

The global food shortage has become the focus of international community lately. At the WTO ministerial meeting this week, WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala urged governments to stop food export restrictions to help ease an impending food crisis. But the question remains: Who is to blame for the food shortage? The creators of the crisis should rightly take the main responsibility for solving it.

China's Taiwan island and Lithuania staged a political farce during the crucial ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO). Authorities from the Chinese island and the small European country reportedly held "bilateral talks" on sidelines of the WTO meeting to jointly resist the Chinese mainland's economic "coercion," according to Western media reports.

If the US wants to contain its runaway inflation wildfire, which reached 8.6 percent in May and is set to go even higher, the Federal Reserve should act decisively and even more bravely to raise the federal funds rate by at least 75 basis points on Wednesday.

The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects are always in the crosshairs deliberately targeted by the West and its like-minded international financial institutions especially the IMF.

Given Australia's current economic doldrums, it may be understandable the new prime minister's eagerness to remove obstacles to economic and trade ties with China, but that doesn't mean Australia can put the cart before the horse.

Australian businesses that have long been complaining about the disruption on bilateral trade caused by the anti-China policies of former Australian administration, praised the recent positive signs in Canberra's relations with Beijing after new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, was sworn in office, Australian media outlet Australian Financial Review reported on Monday.

China has overtaken the US as the "foreign power" having the biggest positive influence in Africa in the eyes of young Africans, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing a survey conducted by the Ichikowitz Family Foundation.

While the Chinese economy is facing difficulties and challenges due to recent COVID-19 outbreaks and a complicated international environment, it hasn't hindered its efforts to pursue high-quality development. Regrettably, some Western media outlets have been busy hyping up China's economic fall, while turning a blind eye to the profound transformation of the world's second-largest economy, which explains why they always misjudge China.

In the past, an important reason for the long-term low inflation in the US was that in the context of globalization, emerging markets continued to export commodities at lower price levels. Today, the US pursues unilateralism, arbitrarily "cutting off supply" and "decoupling," seriously undermining the global supply chain and dragging the global economic growth.

Food security and vaccine equity will be on the top of the agenda for trade ministers from World Trade Organization (WTO) members as they gather in Geneva for the 12th Ministerial Conference (MC12), which begins Sunday. Whether WTO members can reach consensus at the meeting could signal whether the spirit of rational multilateral cooperation in the international economic and trade arena can return, even though US-based trade hegemony has no shortage of supporters in the West.

Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese has been sworn in as the new prime minister of Australia, who is described by Australian voters as a man of "a different character" while his predecessor Scott Morrison had prided himself as being the "anti-China errand boy of the US government".

The biggest problem with the plan is that it is difficult to provide Latin American countries with practical benefits. It seems the initiative is driven more by geopolitical considerations rather than economic factors.

There is every reason to believe that with the introduction of more favorable and support measures for foreign companies to resume production and promote recovery, foreign companies will usher in an even greater opportunity for rapid growth in the Chinese market. Foreign companies should shield themselves from the noise of Western badmouthing targeting China's market and actively seize the opportunity of China's economic recovery.

China's major commodities imports were generally characterized by declined volume and a sharp price increases in the first five months of this year, according to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs on Thursday.

Lithuania may expect its anti-China rhetoric to become a stepping stone to the Asia-Pacific trade bloc, but we believe the CEEC will not be willing to play along and act as cannon fodder in Lithuania's attempt to flatter the US.

India's central bank on Wednesday raised its key interest rate by 50 basis points to 4.90 percent, the second hike in over a month. The move came just one day after Australia's central bank on Tuesday increased interest rates by the most in 22 years.

Against the backdrop of the US is trying every means to recklessly stop ASML from shipping any of its most cutting edge lithography systems to China, the company's increasing investment in the market fully demonstrates that no matter how reluctant the US to see, global giants in the semiconductor sector like ASML are seeing business expansion in China, the world's largest consumer of semiconductors.

The Biden administration on Monday announced a two-year tariff exemption for solar panels from four Southeast Asian nations, a development that came after industrial complaints that the high cost of solar panels have caused a freezing of solar projects in the US.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Sunday once again urged the US Congress to pass the CHIPS for America Act which aims to help strengthen the US position in semiconductor research, development and manufacturing. The administration of US President Joe Biden has repeatedly demonstrated its determination to restore US semiconductor manufacturing, but the months-delayed CHIPS Act makes Biden's ambition sound like little more than lip service. This may disappoint US allies who hope to steal a free ride on US economic development, especially Japan.

Any attempt to push Latin America in the direction of a new Cold War is doomed to fail. This is because China and Latin America countries have greatly deepened their economic and trade cooperation over the years, which cannot be reversed by a summit or other political means.

Economists often describe a recession as a decline in GDP for two consecutive quarters. After the economy shrank at an annual rate of 1.5 percent in the first quarter, the most important job for the Biden administration's economic team should be to help the US out of this economic downturn. However, turning a blind eye to constructive criticism seems to run contrary to this goal.

It would be short-sighted if India allows false accusations and a hostile sentiment toward Chinese companies to take roots and actually implement measures that harm the interests of Chinese companies. It will eventually ruin the momentum of India's digital economy and hinder its own digital progress.

China's stock markets have more certainty in terms of growth potential. It is undeniable that the recent flare-ups have caused some shocks to economic activities, but it did not hurt the fundamentals of the Chinese economy.

Price hikes have outpaced the coronavirus pandemic as the most discussed kitchen table topic in the US. Inflation is a regressive tax which disproportionately pummels low income groups and retirees. A deposit of $10,000 in 2021 is now worth only about $9,300, and next year it could be worth less than $9,000 - crystallizing example of the erosive effect of inflation.

The British chambers of commerce in China on Tuesday launched the British Business in China: Position Paper 2022. While pointing out the areas of opportunity for bilateral cooperation, the report is full of unnecessary excessive concerns over the business environment. The paper claims "uncertainty is denting business confidence and eroding China's position as attractive destination."

As Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi continues a remarkable eight-country tour throughout the South Pacific, Western officials and media outlets have spared no efforts in coming up with different narratives to smear and disrupt what should be normal official exchanges between sovereign states. The latest line of attack apparently accepted by almost all major Western media outlets is that the trip has failed to achieve its goals.

Former Australian defense minister Peter Dutton, who is now the newly elected Liberal Party leader, appears to be carrying the torch of defeated former Prime Minister Scott Morrison's approach of unreasonable hostility and provocation against China, as he recently reiterated that China is the "biggest issue" facing Australia.

EU leaders on Monday agreed "in principle" to embargo 90 percent of Russian oil imports to the bloc by the end of this year, Reuters reported. While the move is sufficient to demonstrate the EU's resolve to wean itself off energy supplies from Russia, the market may be more concerned about how high the embargo will push oil prices and what are the potential consequences to the world economic order.

China's vehicle industry, especially the NEV sector, is a window to observe China's economy which will realize a strong recovery soon. Musk, as a businessman, understands China's economy better than American politicians and his observations is the best rebuttal to Western slandering against China's economy.

It is not surprising that some Indian media outlets are adopting an overly optimistic outlook for economic ties between India and the US, after some reports showed the US has surpassed China to become India's top trading partner in 2021-22. However, those media outlets may have deliberately overlooked a fact: The faster-than-expected widening in the US' trade deficit with India, a hidden danger to the bilateral ties and to India.

As two Chinese megacities - Beijing and Shanghai - are emerging from the shadow of China's worst COVID-19 outbreak since 2020 and bringing normalcy to social and economic activities, it is repellent to see some US media outlets continue to play up the risks of the dynamic zero-COVID strategy to global supply chains.

Thanks to the strict enforcement of prevention and control protocols, the coronavirus epidemic in Shanghai and Beijing, two megacities in China, has finally abated, with epidemiologists and health officials from both cities feeling upbeat, announcing over the weekend that they are on the cusp of winning another arduous battle against the virus.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said China had offered “a few hundred million dollars” in financial support to the debt-ridden country to help alleviate its shortage of essential consumer items, the Financial Times reported on Friday.

China has outpaced Japan to become the most important partner of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), as viewed by the residents of ASEAN countries, several Japan media outlets reported, citing a government opinion poll released on Wednesday.

China's State Council, the cabinet, on Wednesday held an unprecedented national video teleconference on stabilizing the economy, which was reportedly attended by over 100,000 officials of various levels. The meeting, coming at a time when the Chinese economy is facing significant downward pressure, sent an unmistakable signal that keeping the economy from falling out of a reasonable growth range has become a top priority for the government.

As an economic official within the German government, Habeck should not hurry to be involved with the US-led smearing campaign against Xinjiang. His remarks on the groundless accusation of "human rights violations" and "forced labor" have politicized economic and trade issues, bringing unnecessary risks on Germany's economic and trade ties with China.

The CPEC has been a flagship project of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and benefits local people through the improvement of local infrastructure. China will never leave the CPEC project unfinished. No matter what difficulties we encounter, we should be confident in the future of our two countries' closer cooperation.

In fact, Australia's hostility toward China has always been in the shadow of the US' geopolitical games. For a long time, the US has shown a strong willingness to politicize trade activities, which inevitably affected Australia, contributing to the latter's trade difficulties with China.

It's ridiculous for the Western media to play up the "China threat theory" by always telling lies and spewing disinformation. Won't it be better if those media could persuade the US and Australia to bolster their own economic engagement with Pacific countries?

US President Joe Biden announced on Monday that its Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) will start with 12 founding members – Australia, Brunei, India, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.

During his visit in Japan, US President Joe Biden on Monday rolled out the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), the economic pillar of US' Indo-Pacific strategy and an important tool for the US to conduct geoeconomic competition against China.

Australia is one of the largest beneficiaries of the Chinese economic miracle, but it feels uneasy about China's rise. There is no denying that Australia's economic relationship with China is complicated. It will be a test of Albanese's wisdom to see if the new government can leverage Australia's economy with a more rational and constructive relationship with China.

If the West's sanctions and other moves eventually lead to mass hunger, the West will become the biggest violator of human rights and history will hold them accountable. With developing countries rejecting to be tied to the Western chariot, a new wave of anti-Western sentiment could be expected around the world.

US and European sanctions failed to push Russia to compromise and undermine its economy and currency and also caused a great spillover impact on global food and energy supply chains. As Russia has gain ground in the game against Western countries with a stronger ruble, the status of the dollar is further threatened. The US is seeing its sanctions on Russia biting back on its own currency and economy.

Given Vietnam's robust economic performance in recent days, some Western public opinion claimed that as China's global supply chain status is facing shocks by the epidemic situation, Southeast Asian countries, represented by Vietnam, will play catch-up or even replace it.

The US is notorious for fomenting chaos and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries through various means for its own self-interests and ideological purposes, bringing devastation and even bloodshed to many countries and regions around the world.

Reduction of mortgage rates sends a clear & loud signal that the policymakers will not tolerate a free fall of China's economy and are pushing for effective policy easing to refuel property sector.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said recently that it "would not be legal now" for the US to seize Russian government assets to pay for Ukraine reconstruction. However, Yellen's words are, perhaps, not the end of an eye-catching controversy about whether to seize Russian assets; it could be the beginning of a new discussion about how to legally seize those assets.

US President Joe Biden on Wednesday invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) to boost production of infant formula. As the world's largest economy deals with a baby formula shortage crisis, the question remaining is whether the obscure wartime law can ease the anxiety of new parents who struggle to find enough formula to feed their babies.

US President Joe Biden is scheduled to visit South Korea and Japan from May 20 to 24. One focus of his first trip to Asia since he took office is to push for the so-called Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), which is expected to be formally launched during his visit to Japan.

A spokesperson for the Chinese Mission to the EU urged Brussels “not to gamble on this issue, and abide by the one-China principle,” noting firm opposition against any form of official interactions or any discussion and signing of an agreement with implications of sovereignty and of an official nature between countries or organizations and the Taiwan region.

Guterres called on all governments to “act together, urgently and with solidarity” to end the impending crisis linked to food shortage and growing insecurity.

Just like all the hypes that greatly exaggerate the impact of China's epidemic prevention policy on China's economy, the brain drain theory described normal fluctuations in immigration enquiries as a trend that could undermine China's technology competitiveness, and blamed it on the dynamic zero-COVID policy. Such an alarmist attitude may attract wide attention, but it seriously distorts the facts.

Britain's annual inflation rate surged in April to a 40-year high, escalating the country's cost-of-living crisis. The 9-percent rise in the consumer price index (CPI) outstripped the 7-percent increase posted in March and well ahead of the 6.2-percent seen in February.

It is hard for South Korea to say no to the US' so-called semiconductor cooperation plan because it doesn't want to end up being marginalized within the US' industrial alliances. But that doesn't mean South Korea could ignore the risks of its semiconductor supply chains being hijacked by the US' geopolitical games.

The US has always used the provision of COVID-19 vaccines as a means to coerce other countries to join its anti-China alliance, and now its new trick is to exclude China from the international vaccine cooperation.

Once the CBPR mechanism becomes a global standard for cross-border data flow and data privacy protection, it can be expected that some developing countries will undoubtedly face serious challenges and even potential safety hazards in terms of digital trade.

Some European entrepreneurs may want to ditch China, but this does not represent the whole picture as there are also foreign investors that continue to bet on an economic recovery under the dynamic zero-COVID policy.

With the US kicking off a drastic tightening cycle by raising its benchmark interest rate, Southeast Asian countries appear to have again faced a new wave of economic turbulence that is sweeping through their economies, stock markets and currencies.

The global economic landscape is undergoing major changes. The growth rates of traditional major economies seem to decelerate, while emerging market economies, especially China and India, rise rapidly. In 2000, China's share of global GDP was 6.9 percent, and in 2018, it accounted for 16.8 percent.

SWIFT sanctions are a double-edged sword, which hits Russia, but also hurts Western countries that have trade relations with Russia. The sanctions against Russia have been implemented for two months, and the impact has been far less than Western countries expected.

The Ukraine crisis and particularly the West's sweeping economic sanctions imposed on Russia, are producing cascading negative effects across the global economy. The West just wants to shift the blame to the developing economies, including India.

Opinion: Washington wants to pull ASEAN countries into its Indo-Pacific strategy to contain China, but Southeast Asia is not a chess piece like Ukraine, to be used and played by the US.

Certainly, under the current toxic political environment in Washington filled with raging anti-China hostility, ending the tariff war means Biden will be crucified by his political opponents, particularly Trump and his former lieutenants who are looking to run for president in 2024. However, doing nothing about the runaway inflation that hurts American voters would also hit Biden and his Democrats in the upcoming midterm elections and the presidential election in 2024. The biggest difference between the two options is that lifting the tariffs would actually benefit American voters directly. So, Biden really has no better option other than to end the tariff war and deal with the political blowback head on. At least that way, he would actually be fighting for Americans as he claims to be.

As China strives to find the most effective way to save the most lives at the least cost, it's hard to assess the cost at the moment, but what is certain is that we will have to pay more, if China chooses to "lie flat" against the virus as many countries have done.

The Biden administration is eyeing a new way to “stop foreign adversaries like China accessing Americans' personal data” by granting related powers to the Department of Justice, Reuters reported, citing anonymous sources.

Japanese parliament on Wednesday passed an economic security bill. The legislation, which will be implemented in stages from 2023, is "primarily aimed at warding off risks from China," according to the Japan Times.

Canberra needs to stop trying to sabotage normal cooperation deal between China and the Solomon Islands, or it will be rejected and discarded by regional countries as an unwelcome troublemaker.

Several Western media outlets have in recent weeks published articles playing up the impact of China's dynamic zero-COVID policy on the global economy, with some suggesting that strict anti-epidemic measures may intensify global inflation. However, this concern is overblown.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that he was considering eliminating some of the tariffs imposed on Chinese imports, in a bid to help tame decades-high inflation in the US.

The 28th EU-Japan summit is scheduled to be held on Thursday in Tokyo, during which the two sides will reportedly establish a blueprint for wide-ranging cooperation from trade, to technology and supply chains, with cutting their dependence on China high on the agenda.

Citing a corporate source responsible for negotiating exports, Lithuanian media outlet Delfi said the country's grain exports are now being refused by the local authorities of China's Taiwan island, citing "specific quality requirements."

Yoon Suk-yeol was sworn as South Korea's new president on Tuesday. Since observers generally expect Yoon to face a difficult balancing act between China and the US, how the transition of power in South Korea will affect China-South Korea relations has become the focus of attention in the Asia-Pacific region.

Amid the fermenting economic crisis unfolding in Sri Lanka, certain Western media and other forces have been scouring topics that could be used to stir up regional instability, including an influence wrestling contest between China and India in the South Asian island country.

By acquiring Twitter, Musk will almost certainly build up his personal prestige within cyberspace including attracting a growing number of fans on a global scale, which could be easily translated to streams of business revenues.

Chinese official data showed on Monday that China's imports from India plummeted in April, due in part to China's efforts to curb its worst COVID-19 outbreak since 2020 that dampened domestic demand. But, there is more to be concerned about other than the COVID-19 epidemic when it comes to China-India trade.

Like the tariffs disputes launched by the US, cutting ties between China and the US in the tech industry is not effective and will benefit no one. Rather, it will dampen the innovation prospects of US tech startups.

It seems that a gradual embargo on Russian oil has become the focus of the latest round of US-led economic sanctions against Russia, which may lead to further volatility throughout the world economy.

Now, "systemic rival" is becoming a popular term in the Western political discourse to describe China's rise and impact.

Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp has come under intense regulatory pressure in the Indian market, which may raise concerns over Chinese companies' development in India.

From an economic and population perspective, it is unlikely for Vietnam to absorb a significant share of manufacturing from China.