By turning his back on US allies and global institutions, Trump will help Xi Jinping advance his plan for a China-centric world

Is Donald Trump China’s worst nightmare or a dream come true? He is both, but not in equal measure. In the near-term, his tariff-led approach to trade will cause problems for Beijing. However, in just a few weeks he has done more damage to the liberal international order, the cohesion of the democratic west, and the US’s global standing, than all the combined efforts to undermine them in the entirety of the cold war. This goes beyond the wildest dreams China’s leaders could have had.

The tariffs already levied are serious enough, and Beijing cannot but see them as a harbinger of more to come. Unlike during his first term, this time Trump seems prepared to deliver the threats he makes. With China’s economy already misfiring, an intensified trade war is the last thing Beijing needs, despite the bravado of its diplomats.

Steve Tsang is director of the China Institute at Soas University of London and co-author of The Political Thought of Xi Jinping

Ministers must cover full costs of championing western values abroad, senior BBC figures to argue

Ministers must take on the full costs of the BBC’s World Service to counter an “aggressive” disinformation drive by Russia around the globe, BBC bosses are preparing to argue.

Amid concerns about the scale of state-backed content after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, senior BBC figures believe it is “undeniable” that the government should shoulder the costs of championing “western values” via the financially strained World Service.

Former CISA Director Jen Easterly writes about a new international intelligence sharing co-op:

Historically, China, Russia, Iran & North Korea have cooperated to some extent on military and intelligence matters, but differences in language, culture, politics & technological sophistication have hindered deeper collaboration, including in cyber. Shifting geopolitical dynamics, however, could drive these states toward a more formalized intell-sharing partnership. Such a “Four Eyes” alliance would be motivated by common adversaries and strategic interests, including an enhanced capacity to resist economic sanctions and support proxy conflicts.

Whatever deal the US president is eyeing over the app, it is further proof some digital giants wield disproportionate clout

Late on Saturday 18 January, TikTok, the short-video app beloved of millions of users mostly aged between 18 and 24, went dark in the US . This was not because of a power outage, but because its owner switched it off. For an explanation of why it did so, though, we have to spool back a bit. For years, TikTok has been a thorn in the sides of US legislators and national security officials for two reasons. First, it’s owned by a Chinese company, ByteDance, which doubtless does whatever Xi Jinping tells it to do. Second, TikTok hoovers up phenomenally detailed data about its young users. The average session lasts 11 minutes and the video length is about 25 seconds. “That’s 26 ‘episodes’ per session,” says blogger Prof Scott Galloway , “with each episode generating multiple microsignals: whether you scrolled past a video, paused it, rewatched it, liked it, commented on it, shared it, and followed the creator, plus how long you watched before moving on. That’s hundreds of signals. Sweet crude like the world has never seen, ready to be algorithmically refined into rocket fuel.” The thought of personal data with this granularity falling into Chinese hands seemingly drove the American deep state, not to mention Meta, Google and co wild. And Congress got the message.

In April last year, Joe Biden signed into law the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act , a statute that had attracted unprecedented bipartisan support on its path through a divided Congress. The act basically mandated that TikTok’s owner would have to sell it to an American company or be banned in the US. It was scheduled to come into force on Sunday 19 January 2025.

The US president has issued a blizzard of edicts and announcements. Determining where to focus the fightback will be difficult but essential

Waiting for Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday was like watching a tsunami gather force. Everyone could see the threat approaching. But its scale was still shocking as it hit land, and what damage it wreaks will ultimately take months and years to determine.

The deluge is intentional. For supporters, there is a sense of unleashed macho, almost messianic energy – setting the US on a path to national destiny which might take in Greenland, Panama and ultimately Mars. This time Mr Trump has an electoral mandate, a compliant team with a ready agenda, the obsequiousness of billionaires who command the attention economy , and a compliant supreme court which has already granted the president extraordinary power . He aspires to the rule of a monarch. The flood of executive orders , pardons and pronouncements is intended to overwhelm and intimidate, but also to disorientate opponents.

Three-year-old bears Qing Bao and Bao Li can be seen on the zoo’s ‘giant panda cam’ after arriving in US in October

Two new giant pandas made their public debut at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington DC on Friday morning amid growing excitement about newcomers to the nation’s capital, quickly dubbed by some media outlets as “pandamonium”.

The three-year-old pandas, Qing Bao, whose name means “green treasure” in Mandarin, and Bao Li, whose name means “active and vital power”, arrived in the US from China last October, making them the first pandas to come to DC from China in 24 years, but have been in quarantine since.

Detainees fear their return could be imminent despite UN experts urging Bangkok to halt the possible transfer

Relatives of Uyghurs detained in Thailand for more than a decade have begged the Thai authorities not to deport the 48 men back to China, after the detainees suggested their return appeared imminent.

A UN panel of experts this week urged Thailand to “immediately halt the possible transfer”, warning the men were at “real risk of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment if they are returned”.

From Europe to Canada, Africa, China and Brazil, most countries appear to have doubled down on their commitment to tackle crisis

World leaders, senior ministers and key figures in climate diplomacy have one by one reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris agreement this week, in response to the order by Donald Trump to withdraw the US from the pact .

The prospect of the world keeping temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as the treaty calls for, was damaged by the incoming US president’s move. Hopes of meeting the target were already fast receding, and last year was the first to consistently breach the 1.5C limit , but the goal will be measured over years or even decades and stringent cuts to emissions now could still make a difference.

Deteriorating security environment and incidents in Baltic have forced military reassessment in northern Europe

Submarines normally operate in secret, lurking in the deep. So when the British defence secretary, John Healey, authorised a Royal Navy Astute-class attack sub to surface close to the Russian “spy ship” Yantar south of Cornwall in November , it was unusual enough.

What was even more notable, however, was that the minister went on to tell the House of Commons on Wednesday what he had done. It was, Healey said, conducted “strictly as a deterrent measure”, as was his decision to accuse the Kremlin of spying on the location of undersea communication and utility cables that connect Britain to the world.