Crypto News: China tightens the screws on Taiwan

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It was no secret that China mistrusts Taiwan's new president, Lai Ching-te. This week showed just how much it despises him.

China held major military exercises yesterday around the democratic archipelago of 23 million people for the second time since Lai took office in May. It only did so twice during the entire eight-year rule of his predecessor, Tsai Ing-wen.

Beijing sent a record number of warplanes across a dividing line in the strait separating Taiwan from the mainland that the US drew in the 1950s to keep the peace. It sailed an aircraft carrier off the main island's coast and, for the first time, sent ships from its Coast Guard on patrol there. Taiwan also reported a surge in cyberattacks.

China was probably always going to hold military drills around Taiwan at some point this year, but it chose to time them right after Lai gave a speech in which he said he'd stand up to challenges from Taipei's giant neighbor.

Beijing was peeved that Lai used that address to say he'd work to "resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty." He also said neither side was "subordinate to each other."

Those kinds of comments are anathema to China, which says it sees no room to compromise on its claim over Taiwan, home to some of the world's biggest and most advanced chipmakers.

The issue is a major point of contention with Washington, which has long supported the Taiwanese militarily, economically and politically despite ending its mutual defense treaty when it recognized Beijing in the late 1970s.

More dramatic examples of Beijing's anger with Lai may come soon. After the drills had ended, the world's biggest military by number of troops pledged to flex its muscles whenever it is "provoked."

As a spokesman for China's Defense Ministry put it: Those in Taiwan pushing for independence need to "understand that a sharp sword hangs high over their heads."— Philip Glamann

Lai during a military exercise in July. Photographer: I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg

North Korea detonated bombs on its territory and blew up sections of a road network once used to connect the southern part of the peninsula with the north, underscoring its rising belligerance after it accused Seoul of flying drones over Pyongyang. South Korea's military later fired off warning shots in the area south of the Military Demarcation Line.

WATCH: A video provided by South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff shows North Korea destroying some northern parts of inter-Korean roads.

Israel said it's weighing US misgivings over its planned counter-strike on Iran, after a report suggested Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may spare Tehran's nuclear and energy facilities to limit potential escalation. The issue is the latest strain in ties with President Joe Biden's administration, which has failed to secure a truce in Israel's conflicts with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hezbollah in Lebanon.

The US government is discussing capping sales of advanced artificial intelligence chips made by the likes of Nvidia and AMD to specific countries, limiting their AI capabilities on national security grounds, sources say. While the deliberations are at an early stage, officials are focused on Persian Gulf countries that have a growing appetite for AI data centers and the money to fund them.

Tensions between Canada and India escalated after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused diplomats sent by New Delhi of backing a pattern of criminal harassment and violence against Canadians. Ottawa expelled six officials yesterday after it said India refused to waive their immunity for questioning over incidents targeting Canada's South Asian community, particularly Sikhs. India rebuked Canada and expelled six of its senior envoys.

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer attempted to draw a line under a rocky first three months in power by declaring that economic growth and wealth creation are the cornerstones of his Labour government. Starmer used a high-profile investment summit in London yesterday to amplify a business-friendly message while seeking to allay concerns over the government's tax and spending plans going into this month's budget.

China has begun enforcing a long-overlooked tax on overseas investment gains by the country's ultra-rich, sources say, underscoring a growing urgency to boost government revenue as land sales tumble and growth slows.

In the course of just one year, the Greek government has mostly sold its vast stakes in the banking sector, a microcosm of moves across Europe as policymakers seek to put the financial crisis which gripped the region over a decade ago behind them.

Italian authorities are shipping the first group of asylum seekers to Albania as part of a controversial agreement to vet new arrivals at processing hubs that it controls in the Balkan country, a model other governments are studying ahead of this week's European Union summit.

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump's effort to court voters at a sweltering town hall in the Philadelphia suburbs came to a premature end after multiple audience members fainted.

Although China and the US remain adversaries and acrimony over disputes regarding Taiwan, the South China Sea and TikTok has not dissipated, relations have improved enough for giant pandas to again take up residence at Washington's National Zoo.

Nearly a year after the government in Beijing took back the previous pair, a three-year-old male and female, Bao Li and Qing Bao, left China's Sichuan region yesterday bound for the US.

A giant panda at the National Zoo in Washington in 2023. Photographer: Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post/Getty Images

The trip marks the culmination of an agreement signed in April. The bears' predecessors departed last November despite US efforts to negotiate an agreement to keep them in the nation's capital.

That led to speculation that frayed relations were behind the move. Both sides denied a political motive, though China, which lends out the bears to zoos around the world, has long used "Panda Diplomacy" to reward friends.

One thing to watch today: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York's gauge of state factory activity is expected to show business conditions worsened in October.

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The Netherlands retained its title as the top pension system in an annual international index, which warned that too many people are retiring without enough guidance on how to make their savings last. Iceland, Denmark and Israel rounded out the top four, according to this year's Mercer CFA Institute Global Pension Index. They're the only countries of the 48 assessed to receive an overall grade of A.

NASA launched a $5.2 billion mission to Jupiter's frozen moon Europa yesterday, a major step to determine if the conditions to host life are present there. The Europa Clipper spacecraft won't be landing, but will perform roughly 50 flybys over four years. While scientists have long focused such efforts on Mars, which is more similar to Earth, NASA is aiming for Europa because of a massive ocean believed to be underneath its icy crust.

WATCH: NASA is sending a probe to Jupiter's moon Europa. Source: Bloomberg

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