Alibaba sues Pentagon, rare earth truce tested, Taiwan arms: 7 US-China relations reads

From China grappling with Trump to the world’s fastest computer: highlights from our overseas correspondents in the second half of June 2026

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Alibaba has hit back at the Pentagon after its products were placed on a US military blacklist. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 10:30pm, 1 Jul 2026

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing .

As the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump fades in the rear-view mirror, marked by anaemic deliverables, poor transparency and missed opportunities, analysts and former US officials pointed to another disappointment: the world’s most consequential relationship has become inordinately dependent on the two nations’ top leaders.

Read the full story here .

2. Pentagon sued by Alibaba over ‘arbitrary’ military blacklist targeting Chinese firms

Chinese technology and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding sued the US Department of Defence in June, seeking to be removed from a blacklist of companies deemed to support China’s military.

Read the full story here .

3. ‘China Initiative 2.0’: US crackdown on Chinese scholars intensifies

Leading immigration lawyers and activists said the US government had intensified its crackdown on Chinese scientists and researchers – a campaign they argued was even more aggressive than the controversial “China Initiative” launched during Trump’s first term.