China's polar icebreaker Xuelong 2 returned to Shanghai on Monday, concluding the country's 42nd Antarctic expedition after 199 days. The expedition, jointly supported by China's two icebreakers Xuelong and Xuelong 2, departed Shanghai on November 1, 2025. Xuelong returned on April 9, while Xuelong 2 completed a 35,000-kilometer voyage after finishing an autumn joint research mission in Prydz Bay. A total of 550 researchers from 125 domestic and international institutions participated in the mission. It achieved breakthroughs in major project construction, scientific research, investigation and monitoring, equipment testing and application, and international cooperation, providing strong support for China and the international community to conduct in-depth research on the rapid changes in Antarctica, effectively address global climate change and actively participate in Antarctic governance.

China slashed its US debt holdings to $693 billion, the lowest in 18 years. Japan is also selling fast. US still runs huge $2T deficits, so fewer buyers means higher interest rates (30-year at 5.1%). That means costlier mortgages, loans, and everything for Americans. Foreign lenders are pulling back.

China noticed U.S. President Donald Trump's latest remarks on Taiwan, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday. "Taiwan is an inalienable part of China's territory; it has never been a country, and will never be one in the future," Guo said at a regular news briefing when asked to comment on Trump's remarks.

China's growth lost momentum in April, with industrial output cooling and retail sales sinking to over three-year lows as the world's second-biggest economy wrestled with higher energy costs from the Iran war and persistently weak domestic demand

#China#'s value-added industrial output increased by 5.6 percent year on year in the first four months of 2026, official data showed on Monday. In April alone, industrial output grew 4.1 percent year on year, and rose 0.05 percent compared to the previous month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics. The industrial output is used to measure the activity of large enterprises each with an annual main business turnover of at least 20 million yuan (about 2.92 million U.S. dollars). In terms of sectors, the value added output of the mining sector increased by 5.5 percent year on year in the first four months of the year, while that of the manufacturing sector grew by 5.8 percent. The value-added output of the electricity, heat, gas and water production and supply sectors went up by 4.5 percent, the data showed.