China's leading position in developing and testing its digital currency, appears to be another source of disgruntlement by politicians in Washington, whose obsession of defending the US dollar hegemony is unlikely to impact China's current momentum to accelerate digital yuan test and deployment.

Canberra has continued to beating around the bush in addressing the current trade frictions with its biggest trading partner, constantly pouring cool water on the hope that it could genuinely reevaluate and rectify its past speeches and deeds that sank its relations with Beijing.

Following a multi-year crackdown campaign, the US is seeking to further escalate its rivalry against China in the technological field. Among a series of recent action plans, the US Senate Commerce Committee is set to hold a hearing on a bipartisan bill, titled the Endless Frontier Act, which is aimed at bolstering US technological research and development, Reuters reported on Thursday.

In an email sent to the media Tuesday evening, the US State Department said that it was looking for a coordinated approach with its so-called partners and allies toward the participation in the upcoming 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. A spokesperson for the department added that the US “certainly [wishes] to discuss” a potential joint boycott with allies, according to Reuters.

The Biden administration appears to gear up for a more localized semiconductor supply chain, adding fuel to the speculation about a high-stake “chip war” between the US and China.

There are some key diplomatic engagements between Europe and India scheduled for this month and later this year. Several senior European officials, including British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, are scheduled to visit India to pursue a so-called Indo-Pacific strategy. The EU is also reportedly aiming to hold a summit with India.

US Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr on Tuesday urged to further ratchet up the US' crackdown campaign on Chinese telecommunication firms Huawei and ZTE, seeking to further bar the firms' equipment from US networks. In making the call, Carr did not simply invoke the old cliché of national security concerns. He actually suggested the move was aimed at “forced labor” in producing electronic devices.

The US on Monday announced the suspension of all diplomatic and trade engagement with Myanmar following recent violent developments in the Asian country. In a statement, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai said that the suspension will remain in effect until “the return of a democratically elected government.”

In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, the newly installed US Trade Representative Katherine Tai indicated that the US doesn't have plans to remove tariffs on Chinese products in the near future, while suggesting tariffs could be “leverage” in potential trade talks.

While some in Australia claim to be seeking talks with China to address bilateral trade tensions, ironically those Australians never stop playing political games by insulting China, drifting such a talk further away.

The US and the EU have agreed to restart a bilateral dialogue on China, Reuters reported on Thursday. With the US attempt to woo allies to form an anti-China front shifting from Asia to Europe, the signals from the EU are both disappointing and regrettable.

With China-US ties strained, some US politicians are now seeking to make Taiwan an issue of contention, a well-practiced move for many in Washington.

India seems to be on verge of breaking the ice in economic and trade exchanges with China, which is a welcome development but necessary caution may be still required in the market.

The prospect of declining iron ore prices may offer an opportunity for Australia to reflect on its structural economic challenges.

If China could achieve annual 5-6 percent economic growth rate in the next 10 years through 2030, it will become the world's largest economy, renowned economist Justin Lin Yifu said at the China Development Forum 2021 over the weekend.

On Thursday local time, the first meeting of the China-US high-level dialogue opened with a head-to-head quarrel in Anchorage, Alaska. That came as a complete surprise for many who were watching the show. A number of media outlets and individuals thought it was bizarre that what they were worried about the most actually happened.

Katherine Tai was confirmed on Wednesday as the new US trade representative in a rare 98-0 Senate vote.

Some Western media outlets will never give up smearing China by creating conspiracy theories, assaulting Chinese overseas investment projects.

Since neighboring Myanmar plunged into a political crisis, China has strictly observed its long-standing diplomatic tradition of noninterference into other countries' internal affairs and advocacy for peaceful resolution of conflicts. However, many Western governments and political activists have been inclined, not only to interfere in the internal affairs of a sovereign country, but also to pressure others into taking their side.

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson is scheduled to visit India in April, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

After several Chinese-invested factories in Yangon of Myanmar were smashed, looted, vandalized or burnt, the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar urged the local government on Sunday to take effective measures to stop violence and punish the perpetrators.

In a recent White House press briefing, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said US officials will mention China's "coercion of Australia" when top diplomats from the two countries gather for their first in-person meeting in the coming week, according to a Reuters report.

The just concluded two sessions of China have passed the proposals for formulating its 14th Five-Year Plan and future targets for 2035, setting tone for the prospect of the world's second largest economy. Among dozens of plans in the proposal version, one has drawn wide attention – forming a hydropower development plan on the lower reach of the Yarlung Zangbo River.

Fresh off a massive nosedive, Tesla's stock price posted its sharpest one-day gain in a year on Wednesday, rising nearly 20 percent and rebounding amid a recent cascade of sell-offs. Behind the slump, potential reasons offered by observers including growing market competition, shortage of auto microchips, and even the turmoil bitcoin market which Tesla recently set foot in.

Facing the worst drought in 56 years, the manufacturing of semiconductors on the island of Taiwan has drawn much attention as a sudden global shortage of microchips even halted production for several global auto giants.

The US and India have seen more frequent exchanges lately, especially when it comes to the stunt of “countering China's rise.” As the world is shifting into post-pandemic era, with global industrial chains seeing adjustment, timely finding a beneficial position for India while avoid choosing sides between China and the US, will be a test for the wisdom of the Modi administration.

China's foreign trade performance came off to a brisk start this year, with its imports and exports surging 32.2 percent in the first two months. Among the resurgence of its exports, the shipments to Australia jumped 57.2 percent year-on-year, and the reasons behind deserve serious reflection by Australian policy-makers who have been ignorantly undermining bilateral relations with its largest trading partner.

After reporting a better-than-expectation 3.1 percent GDP growth for the fourth quarter in 2020, Canberra on Thursday announced a 10-year plan, aiming to boost processing capability of its critical minerals and to enhance its manufacturing industry.

China's annual two sessions, a key event on the country's political calendar, is scheduled to be held on Thursday. As the world remains trapped within the COVID-19 pandemic, how China sets its economic tone for the year has drawn global attention.

Relations between China and Australia have gone through a bleak year in 2020 suffering under Canberra's ill-conceived foreign policy. While Aussie anti-China media outlets and politicians relentlessly smashing bilateral relation, there are people in the country firmly committed to being friends of China even under pressure from inner forces. The friendship under tough times should be lauded, and will be remembered by the Chinese people.

After Chinese mainland recently suspended pineapple imports from Taiwan island due to the detection of pests, rounds of politicized hype have been heated on the island with some netizens even clamoring to ban chip exports to the mainland as a “retaliatory”. Absurd as it is, it's actually the US-led Western countries pulling the string by creating a fancy for Taiwan to overrate the strategic significance of its chip industry.

While Canada's appreciation for India's vaccine cooperation could be seen by some as a sign of the latter's success in the so-called "vaccine diplomacy," it is the South Asian nation's tremendous pharmaceutical capacity that really needs to be recognized for its importance in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.

Australia's largest live-fish exporter, Australian Reef Fish Traders, appears to have lost its market access to China after failing to renew its export license, Australia's ABC News reported on Thursday.

The United States is not a front-runner in creating its own sovereign cryptocurrency, but thanks to the country's enormous financial influence, the world will still be watching closely any new developments by its central bank.

While Facebook has agreed to restore its news service in Australia over the next few days, the incident has the potential to be a landmark in strengthening the resolve of global regulators to tighten their grip on tech giants.

Following a new wave of groundings of Boeing-777 planes, Boeing appears to have a longer and bumpier road to business recovery before the top aircraft maker can stand from the shadow of the 737 MAX crashes.

US President Joe Biden will hold a virtual bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday. As this will mark Biden's first (online) official meeting with a foreign leader since taking office, the event has attracted significant attention and interest from all sides.

Western media reports about a potential Chinese restriction on rare-earth exports seem to have bolstered active market performance of some Australian rare-earth producers over recent days.

With Southeast Asia emerging as a crucial region for so-called "influence" competition between the US and China, whether the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will be leaning toward Beijing or Washington will be closely scrutinized.

The UK House of Commons has planned to vote Tuesday on an amendment to its Trade Bill, of which one revised clause is designed to prohibit UK trade with countries that "commit acts of genocide."

China's anti-epidemic efforts achieved a phased victory in the run-up to China's most important festival, with holiday spending levels set to exceed expectations.

The fact that Australia has once again become the first country that China has warned against studying in for 2021, appears to have dashed hopes of the easing of trade tensions between the two countries, any time soon. Even worse, such a travel advisory warning is sufficient to raise concerns over whether the bilateral ties will continue to sink.

From the perspective of financial professionals, the main reason for foreign investors to buy Chinese bonds is rooted in their bullish view on the Chinese economy.

While US technology giant Apple's supply chain diversification drive may lead to concerns among industry watchers, over whether China will get to lose as the world's top factory floor, Apple's reliance on the Chinese market is unlikely to change in the short to medium term.

The US is embarking on an effort to promote domestic production of rare earths in a bid to break China's grip on previous rare earth supplies, but it is doubtful whether its effort will really make a difference.

Australia's geopolitical interest in Southeast Asia appears to be growing amid its escalating tensions with China.

As a key focus of the UK's trade plan post-Brexit, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) appears to gain rising prestige among major economies around the world, however relevant governments need to be careful to keep it open, transparent, and avoid geopolitical posturing.

Apple seems to have entered a "golden" sales period when it comes to consumer preference in China.

Australia raised concerns about the strategic threats to be posed by a Chinese fishery park project on Daru Island of Papua New Guinea (PNG), but Canberra is expected to gradually accept the fact that China has the ability and right to cooperate with and invest in Pacific island countries.

Since taking over the White House, US President Joe Biden has kept his focus on pressing domestic issues and reversing a slew of actions taken by his predecessor Donald Trump, which is understandable given the confluence of crises the US faces. But less than a week into his presidency, Biden could no longer avoid questions about the mess left by Trump in China-US trade ties.

New Zealand's deepening economic and trade cooperation with China will probably make exporters in neighboring Australia envious. On Tuesday, China's Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and his New Zealand counterpart signed an upgrade to their existing free trade agreement in a sign of expanding economic cooperation when it comes to trade practices.

India's free shipments of millions of doses of COVID-19 vaccine to South Asian countries have drawn growing attention, which is being labeled by some media outlets as "vaccine diplomacy." India itself has been brutally pummeled by the virus, and more than 153,000 Indians have died.

Public skepticism about flying on a Boeing 737 MAX plane is likely to grow after a Canadian airline cancelled a flight due to a technical issue with the aircraft.

By recording low daily COVID-19 cases in recent days, Australia is witnessing growing discussions over a potential travel "bubble," shedding a glimmer of light at the end of tunnel for revival of regional tourism.

While facing strong headwinds from supply chain disruptions due to the coronavirus pandemic and Trump administration' push to decouple, China remained as one of the world's most attractive investment destinations in 2020.

Pressure is mounting on the UK financial service providers as the EU seeks to strengthen its financial standing and promote the euro's role in the world which has long been eclipsed by the predominance of the US dollar.

Index provider FTSE Russell faced strong pushback from some Japanese investors when explaining its plan to add Chinese government bonds to its flagship World Government Bond Index (WGBI) at a recent online meeting, according to Reuters.

Like the world's other COVID-19 vaccines that have been pushed to the front line of the fight against the pandemic at a fervent pace, India's vaccines are actually facing a mix response of doubt and praise.

With ASEAN countries becoming China's largest trading partner in 2020, bilateral trade between China and Vietnam witnessed particularly remarkable growth.

Given a likely 20 percent drop in India's imports from China in 2020, the trade between China and India may have reached a turning point, according to a report published on Nikkei's Chinese website on Wednesday.

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on Monday, outgoing US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer urged President-elect Joe Biden to keep all tariffs imposed on China, even if that considerably raises prices for US businesses and consumers.

Bitcoin has been on a roller coaster ride lately. The leading crypto-currency plunged as much as 21 percent from Sunday to Monday to as low as $32,389. The fall came just days after bitcoin soared 40 percent at the beginning of the new year to reach an all-time high of nearly $42,000.

No matter how bad things get, investors in the US stock market seem to be seeing only good news supporting the crazy upward march.

Australia's trade surplus shrank to A$5 billion ($3.9 billion) in November, down from A$6.6 billion in October, according to figures released on Thursday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Like many pinning hopes of ending the pandemic on vaccines, European countries have also bet their economic recovery on a cure for the virus, which is also why the EU organized the joint procurement program earlier in 2020 to ensure the vaccine availability for all of its member states. Yet, the slow progress underlines that this is actually a test of a country's manufacturing and supply chain strength.

On Tuesday, the onshore yuan rate broke the 6.45 mark and hit 6.4303 against the US dollar, the highest level since June 2018. In the first two trading days of the new year, the currency gained about 1 percent in the onshore market after strengthening 6.26 percent against the dollar in 2020.

While some Indians pin high hopes of ending the country's public health crisis on the COVID-19 vaccine, it may not necessarily be a shot in the arm for India's economy.

Through the joint efforts of all parties led by the government, China has lifted its rural population out of absolute poverty and removed all poverty-stricken counties from the poverty list, accomplishing the target of eradicating extreme poverty by the end of 2020, the Poverty Alleviation Office of the State Council announced last week.

Due to the resurgence of sporadic COVID-19 cases, some Chinese cities and scenic spots announced that they will not arrange festive activities on New Year's Eve.

Political gamesmanship to hurt Australian employment

The UK appears to be turning to the Indo-Pacific region as one of its pivots for post-Brexit economic and trade cooperation, which, however, makes more geopolitical sense than it does from an economic perspective.

With the Chinese economy recovering a long way ahead of most other economies, the continuing flow of capital into China's bond and stock markets is expected to maintain the yuan's appreciation trend into 2021.

Britain and the European Union agreed to a new Brexit trading arrangements on Christmas Eve, CNBC reported. The deal is a Christmas gift not only for the British economy but also for the COVID-19-battered global financial market.

The Canadian government vetoed a bid by China's Shandong Gold Mining Co to acquire the asset of TMAC Resources Inc on national security grounds, the Chinese state-owned company confirmed in a stock exchange filing on Tuesday.

Even as bilateral ties between China and India fell to their lowest point in decades this year, following a deadly border clash on the Himalayas in June, Indian companies and traders are still buying goods from China, according to exporters from Dongguan, one of the world's leading maufacturing hubs in South China's Guangdong Province.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) on Monday confirmed on its website Australia had officially lodged a complaint against China over anti-dumping and anti-subsidy duties imposed on its barley exports.

As a new mutation of the coronavirus in Britain reportedly rages out of control, the country is now facing a bigger health crisis than the no-deal Brexit.

The possibility of imported cold-chain food products causing another moderate wave of COVID-19 outbreak in China is casting a shadow over the upcoming holiday economy.

In a recent interview with Reuters, outgoing US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer sought to defend the US' multi-year trade war with China and even suggested that the incoming Joe Biden administration should keep tariffs on Chinese goods and "hold their feet to the fire" on the China-US phase one trade agreement.

In an attempt to diversify raw materials for steel-making and reduce the industry's over-reliance on iron ore, China has officially issued a set of new national standard for steel scrap recently, the Xinhua News Agency said on Thursday, citing the China Iron and Steel Association.

With the US economic recovery remaining fragile due to a voracious resurgence of the coronavirus pandemic, many central banks around the world continued to dump US Treasury bonds, as they are pessimistic about the US economy's performance in the upcoming months.

The violent attack at Wistron's iPhone plant in southern India resulted in losses of up to NT$200 million ($7.12 million), but major production facilities did not suffer serious damage, the Taiwan-based contract manufacturer said in a statement filed to the Taiwan Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

The Trump administration is obsessed with hyping up the Lancang-Mekong River water resource issues, but fails to realize its position of utter flagrancy and arrogance will only be a burden for regional players.

A seemingly trivial fishery project between China and Papua New Guinea (PNG) may have struck a nerve with some in Australia amid the deteriorating China-Australia relationship.

Impacts of the downward spiral of China-Australia relations on Australian exports are striking in both scope and severity. As the most important part of China-Australia trade, iron ore may be less vulnerable to political shocks compared to other products, but it is not completely immune.

Buttressed by the sustained economic recovery from COVID-19, the Chinese currency, or yuan, has seen a stellar run gaining much value against the world's other currencies in recent months. A steadily rising Chinese currency could also help easing economic and trade frictions between Beijing and incoming Joe Biden administration.

With a free trade agreement between the UK and the EU still up in the air, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson will travel to Brussels for a face-to-face meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in a last-minute attempt to reach a historic trade and security deal, according to media reports.

Recent market attention over whether coal will be the next commodity to be impacted by the precipitating deterioration of China-Australia relations is understandable. Although BIMCO figures indicated that Australia was the best performer among all the major coal exporters to China during the first 10 months of this year with Chinese coal imports from Australia hitting a record high of 77.4 million tons, but it is economically feasible for China to reduce Australian coal imports, significantly.

After completing the first spacecraft rendezvous in lunar orbit, the orbiter-returner of China's Chang'e-5 probe separated from the ascender, waiting for the right time to return to Earth with its lunar samples, the China National Space Administration announced on Sunday.

US President-elect Joe Biden on Wednesday offered the clearest signal of his approach toward the multi-year trade war and overall economic and trade relations with China. In a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times, Biden said that he would not immediately remove tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of Chinese products against WTO rules, and that he would "consult" with US allies to develop a "coherent strategy" against China.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics is scheduled to release trade data for October on Thursday, which may not show a free-fall drop yet as many have concerned amid cascading trade tensions with China.

Hong Kong Disneyland will close on Wednesday as the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government announced new restrictions on public gatherings due to an uptick in COVID-19 cases.

Japan and India will sign an unprecedented memorandum of understanding to support the introduction of Japanese 5G networks, fiber-optic sea cables and other technology in India, the Nikkei reported on Sunday.

With its retail sales hitting a record high of 41.2 trillion yuan ($6.26 trillion) in 2019, China will soon surpass the US as the world's largest retail market for consumer goods, Lian Weiliang, deputy chief of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, said on Sunday.

The norms of upholding broad multilateral cooperation and win-win engagement with China ought to be pursued by the US, as the incoming Joe Biden administration is weighing up its new strategy on how to manage what many pundits define as the most important bilateral relationship in the world.

The Trump administration has imposed new tariffs on Chinese twist-ties, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, in a worrying sign that the US-China economic conflict may be rekindled.

The Indian government has announced on Tuesday its intention to block more Chinese apps, including AliExpress, in a list of 43 on "spurious national security grounds."

The list of Canadian politicians who have joined the campaign to release Huawei executive Meng Wanzhou continues to grow. According to Canadian media reports, two Canadian members of parliament, the New Democratic Party's Niki Ashton and the Green Party's Paul Manly, are set to speak at an online panel discussion calling for the release of Meng on Tuesday.

It seems highly likely that sitting US President Donald Trump will move to inflame trade tensions with China during his final months in office, no matter whose interests he is bent on hurting.

In the wake of the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has inevitably attracted much attention, especially after China expressed an open and positive attitude toward joining CPTPP.