A Call for a “Coalition of the Willing” to Salvage the Global Trading System
French international trade expert and president of export promotion think tank Alain Bentéjac published a signed column in Le Monde on Friday, calling for a “coalition of the willing” to defend the international trading system against the twin pressures of American unilateralism and Chinese dominance.
Bentéjac draws on Canadian Prime Minister Carney’s speech at Davos this year, where Carney proposed a coalition of middle powers as the only viable counterweight to great-power hegemony — an idea modeled on the coalition supporting Ukraine against Russian aggression. Bentéjac argues that international trade urgently needs the same approach.
In his view, the current trade crisis stems from the fact that the two dominant players in the global system — the United States and China — have each, in their own way, stepped outside the multilateral framework. The U.S. has long undermined the WTO’s dispute settlement mechanism, and under President Trump, tariffs have become a pure instrument of coercion, used to threaten allies who oppose his positions on Greenland or peace initiatives, and even Canada if it reaches any agreement with China. Bentéjac finds this strategically contradictory: if China is America’s chief systemic rival, why alienate potential allies like the EU rather than building a united front?
China, meanwhile, benefits from Western divisions. While publicly professing respect for WTO rules, Chinese exports continue to flood global markets. In 2025, China’s trade surplus hit a record $1.2 trillion. Its share of global exports has grown from 4 percent when it joined the WTO in 2001 to roughly 20 percent today. In 2024, China filed 1.8 million patent applications, compared to 501,000 for the United States and just 135,000 for Germany — a sign that China’s industrial rise now reflects genuine innovation, not merely subsidies and dumping.
Bentéjac concludes that conventional trade defense tools are no longer sufficient. The EU, as the world’s largest trading power, must take the lead in forming a coalition of countries still committed to shared rules, and work to rewrite the framework for a new era of globalization.
Source: Radio France International, February 21, 2026
https://rfi.my/CSkg
South Korea Falls Further Behind China in Core Technology Race
South Korea’s technological gap with China has widened across key strategic sectors, according to a new government assessment, with Beijing now surpassing Seoul even in the one field where South Korea had previously held a clear advantage.
The findings come from a 2024 Technology Level Assessment report submitted by South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT to the National Science and Technology Advisory Council. The evaluation covered 136 core technologies across 11 fields, drawing on quantitative analysis of papers and patents from the U.S., EU, China, Japan, and South Korea, as well as qualitative surveys from 1,180 experts.
Using the United States as the global benchmark at 100 percent, the overall technology levels were ranked as follows: the EU at 93.8 percent, China at 86.8 percent, Japan at 86.2 percent, and South Korea at 82.8 percent. In terms of the time gap with the U.S., South Korea trails by 2.8 years and China by 2.1 years — meaning China now leads South Korea by 0.7 years, up from a 0.2-year gap when China first overtook South Korea in 2022.
The divergence is even sharper in the 50 national strategic technologies. South Korea’s gap with the U.S. narrowed by 0.4 years since 2022 to 2.6 years, but China closed its gap by a faster 0.8 years, now trailing the U.S. by just 1.4 years.
Perhaps most striking is the reversal in secondary batteries — rechargeable cells used in electric vehicles and electronics. South Korea had led China by 0.9 years in 2022, but by 2024, China has taken first place, with South Korea now falling 0.2 years behind. In semiconductors and displays, another South Korean stronghold, China has also edged ahead, with a technology level of 91.5 percent versus South Korea’s 91.2 percent.
Source: Yonhap News Agency, February 22, 2026
https://cn.yna.co.kr/view/ACK20260222000300881
China’s Commercial Street Rents Continue to Slide in 2025
Rents on China’s major commercial streets fell for another year in 2025, with declines accelerating compared to the previous year, according to new data released by the China Index Academy.
The report, which tracked 100 major commercial streets across 15 key cities, showed rents dropped 0.81 percent year-on-year in 2025 — a steeper decline than the 0.42 percent fall recorded in 2024, widening the gap by 0.39 percentage points. In the second half of 2025 alone, average rents on these streets stood at RMB 24.05 yuan per square meter per day (approximately USD $3.29), down 0.47 percent from the first half of the year, with the pace of decline also quickening.
The China Index Academy identified three main reasons behind the sustained downturn. First, growth in restaurant and dining revenues has slowed significantly, putting pressure on rents since the food and beverage sector has long been a cornerstone of commercial street activity. Second, large, experience-oriented shopping malls have drawn foot traffic away from traditional street-front retail areas. Third, many commercial streets have deliberately cut rents to retain tenants and maintain occupancy rates — a strategy of trading price for volume.
By comparison, major shopping malls fared somewhat better. Their average daily rent was RMB 26.99 yuan per square meter per day (approximately USD $3.70) in 2025, falling only 0.34 percent year-on-year — less than half the rate of decline seen on commercial streets — suggesting that malls are proving more resilient.
The report noted that a small number of landmark commercial streets in prime urban locations, as well as those with strong cultural or tourism appeal, have held up better, benefiting from relatively stable foot traffic and consumer spending power.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), February 23, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202602230260.aspx
China’s Robot Showcase at Spring Festival Gala Impresses Viewers but Highlights Industry’s Commercial Struggles
Robots took center stage at this year’s China Central Television (CCTV) Spring Festival Gala, performing martial arts, participating in comedy sketches, and dancing alongside human performers. In one standout segment “Martial Bot,” robotic masters sparred with human performers, executing backflips and nunchaku routines that demonstrated impressive balance and force control. While the spectacle thrilled audiences and buoyed investor sentiment in robot-related stocks, industry analysts say the display masked deeper structural problems facing the sector.
According to financial media outlets Caijing and Lanjing Technology, each of the four participating robotics companies — Unitree Robotics, Galaxy General, Magic Atom, and Songyan Power — invested close to 100 million yuan (approximately $13.7 million USD) for the appearance. Despite the massive national exposure, analysts argue the return on investment is nearly impossible to quantify, as humanoid robots remain largely confined to what they describe as the “laboratory” of technology, capital, and commerce.
Tech platform Huxiu noted that the gala amounted to a “high-cost attention competition,” and that the industry’s real challenges are cash flow, scalable validation, and customer trust. Research conducted at the end of last year found that most embodied AI manufacturers are already struggling with insufficient orders, with real market demand unable to absorb projected 2025 production capacity.
According to IDC data cited by the Wu Xiaobo Channel, global humanoid robot shipments stand at just 13,000 to 18,000 units. Unitree founder Wang Xingxing predicted “tens of thousands” of units could roll off production lines in 2026 — a negligible figure relative to China’s 1.4 billion potential consumers.
Analysts draw a sobering comparison to China’s electric vehicle industry, which took roughly 30 years from its 1992 designation as a national priority to achieving a 35% market penetration rate in 2023. Robots, they suggest, face a similarly long road — and are unlikely to leap from their first steps directly into a sprint.
Source: Central News Agency (Taiwan), February 19, 2026
https://www.cna.com.tw/news/acn/202602190157.aspx
Japanese Firms in China Signal Waning Confidence Amid Economic Uncertainty
The Japan Chamber of Commerce and Industry in China released its 8th member enterprise survey on February 10 in Beijing, covering 1,427 Japanese-invested companies operating in China between July and December 2025 across manufacturing, services, and other sectors. The findings paint a cautious picture of Japanese business sentiment in China.
Only 1% of surveyed companies said China’s economy had “improved,” while nearly half believed it was “deteriorating or will continue to deteriorate” — a proportion largely unchanged since the first survey three years ago. Just 17% of companies planned to increase investment in China, while over 40% said they would reduce or entirely halt investment. Most firms opted to maintain existing operations while cutting costs, and some were evaluating a phased exit from the Chinese market.
Key pressures cited included falling product prices, rising labor costs, weak domestic demand, geopolitical instability, and institutional uncertainties around customs and tax enforcement. Some firms also flagged concerns about policy transparency, regulatory consistency, and personnel safety.
Industry observers noted the broader implications. A Jiangsu-based business association member said that shrinking Japanese investment would affect supply chain stability, particularly in technology cooperation and order reliability. A Zhejiang investment consultant emphasized that Japanese firms collectively maintain a presence worth hundreds of billions of dollars (~$100+ billion USD) in China, and their potential withdrawal could deprive numerous Chinese upstream and downstream firms of critical orders.
A Shenzhen-based executive pointed to deepening sector ties — in automotive, electronics, precision manufacturing, chemicals, and retail — noting that while some factories like Canon’s Zhongshan plant have closed and Sony has scaled back certain operations, these represent business-line adjustments rather than full exits.
A Shandong scholar linked the conservative investment trend to rising geopolitical friction, including Japan’s stance on Taiwan and shifting U.S.-China relations, along with a broader multinational trend of diversifying production to Southeast Asia and India. He concluded that future foreign investment flows into China will hinge on improvements in market access, policy stability, and the overall business environment.
Source: Radio Free Asia, February 20, 2026
https://www.rfa.org/mandarin/shangye/jingji/2026/02/20/china-japan-investment-withdrawal/
China’s Nuclear Submarine Buildup: Numbers Growing, but Strategic Value Uncertain
A recent report by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) reveals that China has significantly accelerated its nuclear submarine production over the past five years, with its annual launch numbers surpassing those of the United States for the first time. However, analysts caution that whether this rapid expansion translates into genuine operational and strategic advantage depends largely on China’s ability to break through the First Island Chain and conduct quiet, reliable, large-scale operations across the broader Pacific.
According to the IISS report, China is expanding its Bohai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry facility in Huludao and increasing submarine construction to reinforce its emerging nuclear triad. The number of submarines launched between 2021 and 2025 exceeded the total from the previous decade, including the seventh and eighth Jin-class (Type 094) nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) identified via commercial satellite imagery. Construction of the Type 093B nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs), equipped with vertical launch systems, is also accelerating, with satellite imagery suggesting up to nine have been launched since 2022 — a production rate of roughly two per year.
While China’s submarine design and quality still lags behind the United States and Europe, the sheer and growing number of vessels presents an increasingly serious challenge. SSBN patrols remain largely confined to the South China Sea, though China is extending its strike range by introducing the longer-range JL-3 missile. The next-generation Type 096 submarine is expected to enter production before 2030, underscoring China’s strategic push to strengthen sea-based nuclear deterrence.
As of January 2026, the U.S. leads globally with 71 nuclear submarines, while China ranks second with 32. Yet the fundamental geographic challenge remains: to reach open Pacific waters, Chinese submarines must transit sensor-dense chokepoints such as the Miyako Strait and Luzon Strait. Whether China’s stealth technology and command-and-control systems are advanced enough for that task remains an open question.
Source: Deutsche Welle, February 20, 2026
https://p.dw.com/p/59838
China’s Arctic Ambitions and Western Concerns
China has been steadily expanding its Arctic presence over the past three decades. The country acquired its first icebreaker, the Xuelong, in the early 1990s, established a research station in the Svalbard archipelago in 2004, and recently showcased a concept design for a nuclear-powered cargo-passenger icebreaker capable of breaking through 2.5 meters of ice at two knots.
In 2018, China released its Arctic Policy white paper, describing itself as a “near-Arctic state” and proposing a “Polar Silk Road.” The move drew sharp criticism from some Western nations, most notably then-U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who flatly stated that only Arctic and non-Arctic states exist, with no third category.
The Arctic’s significance is hard to overstate. The region holds vast natural resources, strategically important shipping routes, and dual-use military and civilian infrastructure. Only eight countries hold Arctic status by virtue of their geography, cooperating through the Arctic Council framework, though non-Arctic nations may still access Arctic resources.
Washington’s unease is, in part, by design. The Trump administration has leveraged the narrative of a Chinese Arctic threat to justify ambitions over Greenland, folding it into a broader strategy of pressuring Beijing by framing China’s presence in key regions as a danger. Experts suggest this so-called Arctic “China threat” serves as both a specific justification for the Greenland issue and a long-term element of U.S.-China strategic competition.
Meanwhile, Russia and China are actively cooperating to develop the Northern Sea Route, which cuts travel distances by 30–40% compared to the Suez Canal. Last year, the container ship Istanbul Bridge sailed from Ningbo to Felixstowe, England in just 20 days via the Arctic — a journey that would take 40–50 days through Suez.
China maintains its Arctic expansion is purely commercial. No Chinese warships have been observed in the region, and experts note that narrow passages and short sailing seasons make the Arctic ill-suited for military use. For China, the route’s greater promise lies in trade and tourism.
Source: Sputnik News, February 17, 2026
https://sputniknews.cn/20260217/1069814875.html
China Expands Space Program Footprint in Africa with Namibia Satellite Station Handover
Chinese officials on Thursday handed over a satellite ground station to the Namibian government in the outskirts of the capital Windhoek, marking another advance in China’s expanding overseas space program, according to Chinese state media reports cited by Reuters.
The facility, constructed with Chinese aid and located in the southern suburbs of Namibia’s capital, will significantly enhance the country’s capacity to receive and process satellite remote sensing data, according to state news agency Xinhua’s Friday report. The handover ceremony was attended by Namibia’s prime minister, who delivered remarks on behalf of the president expressing gratitude for China’s support.
As the United States reduces aid to African nations, China has been building alliances and expanding its space influence across the continent by providing satellites, laboratories, and monitoring stations. Beijing maintains it is helping Africa develop space programs to ensure no country is left behind. However, Reuters previously reported that China’s aid projects enable it to access a broader surveillance network in its quest for space dominance, allowing Beijing to utilize data and images collected from satellites, telescopes, and ground stations provided to African countries. Chinese personnel are also stationed long-term at facilities constructed in Africa.
Chinese Ambassador to Namibia Zhao Weiping stated that Namibia will have complete ownership and independent operation of the satellite ground station. He added that Chinese experts will continue providing technical support to the fourteen local technicians they helped train, and that phase two construction of the facility is underway. Photographs released by Xinhua show the facility’s dome prominently painted with the slogan “China’s Aid, Creating a Beautiful Future Together.”
Source: Radio France International, February 14, 2026
https://rfi.my/CRXX