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The Chinese government showed off its growing military capabilities at a lavish parade in 2025.

China’s ability to strike targets in Australia is ‘real and growing’

The rapid expansion of China’s nuclear-powered submarine fleet and long-range missile stockpile is fuelling its growing ability to hit targets in Australia, a new report warns.

  • Matthew Knott

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Chinese President Xi Jinping, left, shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un ahead of their talks in Pyongyang on Monday. No independent journalists were given access to cover the event.

Xi Jinping is feted in Pyongyang as Kim Jong-un swivels to Moscow

In a rare visit to Pyongyang, Xi and Kim talked up China-North Korean ties, even as Kim draws closer to Vladimir Putin.

  • Lisa Visentin

The Chinese president has arrived in North Korea. The world is watching

Xi Jinping has arrived in Pyongyang for talks with Kim Jong-un. Much hinges on this.

  • Peter Hartcher
Over the past decade, the Chinese government has expanded its massive surveillance network.

The mysterious database that provides clues to China’s foreign surveillance

The discovery of an unsecured Chinese policing dashboard paints a picture of how authorities track foreign journalists and other people of interest.

  • Lisa Visentin
Thousands of people attend a candlelight vigil for victims of the Chinese government’s brutal military crackdown in Hong Kong in 2019. The last time it was allowed to take place.

How do you remember a massacre that’s been scrubbed from the history books? Very carefully

More than 100,000 people used to cram into a Hong Kong park to remember the Tiananmen massacre. This year, some found a defiant way to continue their vigil.

  • Lisa Visentin and Jessie Pang
Mu Jie, 49, makes little more than the equivalent of $1.20 per order as a driver for instant grocery delivery platform Xiaoxiang (Little Elephant) in Beijing.

Working from sun up to sun down, China’s delivery drivers caught in a price war

China’s army of food delivery drivers are paying the price as tech giants wage war for control over the lucrative market.

  • Lisa Visentin
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US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth praised Australia for “stepping up” in its defence spending and collaboration with the US in a speech to the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore.

Hegseth praises Australia for ‘stepping up’ as he shifts tone on China

While the US defence secretary struck a more conciliatory tone on China, Defence Minister Richard Marles said the seabed was “becoming a battlefield”.

  • Lisa Visentin
Don Farrell

Wedged between China and the US, Australia’s salesman-in-chief performs delicate balancing act

Australia, as a middle power, has found itself in between two capricious giants whose leaders have proven themselves willing to weaponise trade for their own ends.

  • Lisa Visentin
Kevin Rudd resigned from the ambassador’s post after three years.

Kevin Rudd lifts lid on AUKUS, China and Trump-era tensions

In his first interview since leaving his role, former Australian ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd has opened up about AUKUS tensions, China’s growing power and diplomacy under Donald Trump.

  • Peter Hartcher and Michael Koziol
Russia China

Vladimir Putin flies in to meet Xi Jinping, but there’s only one man calling the shots

The Russian leader has been welcomed to Beijing with the same red carpet pomp bestowed on Trump days earlier. But while Putin and Xi share an unmatchable bromance, the US-China relationship matters more to Beijing.

  • Lisa Visentin