China’s overseas vehicle shipments are set to grow at a clip this year, bolstered by surging sales in markets like Southeast Asia and the Middle East, as the country’s heft in manufacturing electric cars goes from strength to strength.

Struggling US-China ties, a human rights shock and a student in big trouble: these are the highlights from the SCMP’s overseas correspondents from April 2024.

Four out of five people who responded to the poll say their opinion of mainland China is unfavourable, about the same as last year.

With new tariffs being imposed by Mexico on most Chinese imports, observers and analysts disagree on whether stricter measures are being considered – but most say pressure from the US is at play.

A highly placed scholar is encouraging China to offload more of its holdings in Treasuries as overseas assets become a riskier proposition thanks to erratic geopolitical shifts.

Chinese researchers detail how technology has transformed the region’s textile industry and led to record surge in exports.

China-US ties are more stable but still at risk if ‘red lines’ are crossed, China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said before US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday.

But American treasury secretary says the policy option is something Washington ‘would be prepared to use if necessary’.

Intellectual property protection infringements along with technology transfer, counterfeiting and other concerns cited.

The plan would next be submitted to the relevant ministries in each of the 21 member economies of Apec before appearing on the agenda of the Apec Leaders’ summit in Lima in the week of November 10.

Trade, Ukraine among topics on the agenda, with Blinken expected to pressure China to urge its firms to stop supplying dual-use goods to Russia or face more punitive measures.

Stunted economic growth on mainland and Sino-American political challenges weighed on 2023 decline led by agricultural and semiconductor shipments.

Report on possible sanctions on Chinese banks draws sharp rebuttal from Foreign Ministry, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken heads for talks with Chinese leaders.

Washington has ‘seriously harmed’ Chinese interests with moves to suppress the country’s economy and trade, foreign ministry official says.

Foreign buyers have returned to China’s largest trade exhibition, drawn by the array of new energy vehicles and other green products on offer at the Canton Fair.

Meetings with Foreign Minister Wang Yi expected to cover unfair trade practices and industrial overcapacity in ‘productive and constructive’ trip.

China has revealed hefty penalties on imports from the US of an acid used as a preservative as trade relations between the two countries appear likely to return to an outwardly acrimonious track.

The US’ proposed tripling of tariffs on Chinese steel imports would be the first move in a tit-for-tat struggle that would expand the bilateral trade war, analysts said – and fuel grumblings over industrial overcapacity.

‘I’m not looking for a fight with China but competition, fair competition,’ the president tells cheering steelworkers in Pennsylvania.

Biden administration ‘taking a serious look’ at existing tools to deal effectively with Beijing’s policies causing ‘dependencies and vulnerabilities’.