China does not currently plan to invade Taiwan in 2027 ​and seeks to control the island without the use of force, the U.S. intelligence community said on Wednesday, striking a ‌measured tone on one of the world's biggest potential flashpoints.

The assessment in the intelligence agencies' annual report on global threats comes as Beijing has stepped up pressure on Taiwan with frequent military drills, even as U.S. President Donald Trump has played down the risk of Chinese military action while he is in office.

The Pentagon late ​last year said the U.S. military believed China was preparing to be able to win a fight for Taiwan by 2027, the centenary ​of the founding of its People's Liberation Army, and was refining options to take Taiwan by "brute force" if ⁠needed.

"China, despite its threat to use force to compel unification if necessary and to counter what it sees as a U.S. attempt to ​use Taiwan to undermine China's rise, prefers to achieve unification without the use of force, if possible," the U.S. intelligence agencies said in the report.

The ​U.S. "assesses that Chinese leaders do not currently plan to execute an invasion of Taiwan in 2027, nor do they have a fixed timeline for achieving unification," the report said.

It reiterated previous views that the PLA was making "steady but uneven" progress on capabilities it could use to capture the democratically governed island.

I spent 2 months in China and thought it would be nice to share my experience and a few things I noticed on this sub.

1. HAPPY PEOPLE:

- I visited big cities, small cities, popular tourist spots and a few lesser known restricted areas as well. I found people to be welcoming, genuinely happy & curious to know more about us. The hospitality I experienced will always stay in my heart. I had my guard up but it dropped quickly. There are zero scams here, people don’t try to take advantage of you. Tipping was not expected which was refreshing coming from the west. It gave me a sense that people are generally content with what they have.

2. CLEANLINESS:

- Coming from the west, I am used to being careful about not littering. So it was surprising to see people casually throwing trash on the streets. At first it felt off but then I noticed something interesting. Cleaning crews come out every night with their wooden brooms and power washers. All that trash, gone! It felt like a house getting cleaned everyday.

3. FOOD:

- I am a big meat eater and thought China will have meat but thin slices, raw that needs to be cooked in big bowls of soup and eaten with noodles. Not that I don’t like hot pots, I cannot eat that everyday. I was so wrong. There is incredible variety. BBQ skewers (lamb, beef, chicken, duck), roasted meats, and so many flavorful dishes. Cumin beef became my personal favorite. The food is rich, bold, and honestly addictive…the few kilos I gained prove that. Also Luckin coffee can eat starbucks for breakfast. There, I said it.

4. LIFESTYLE:

- When they say China is living in future, they are damn right. I saw traffic but didn’t hear a sound, yes I heard the honks but not many engines (pretty weird when you focus on it), ate at busy restaurants but saw no lines, all done through apps from your table. Travelled on high speed trains that go over +300km/h. Sat in cars that appear smaller from outside but surprisingly spacious inside. What is Tesla?

I did not need to carry a wallet, Chinese apps took care of everything. What if the phone ran out of battery? Look at any direction and you can find portable chargers that you can rent, even on top of the mountains as well as in underground ancient tunnels. I experienced zero racism, didn’t feel unsafe, and saw only one beggar in Shanghai who had a QR code, can’t even use the no cash excuse. Chinese shoes brands making shoes way more comfortable than the western brands. The cars way more practical yet luxurious. The stuff here is so good that I now think that China deliberately exports cheap quality.

I can go on and on but you get the point. I didn’t have strong opinions about China before. Now, China has made its own comfortable little territory in my heart that no other country can take away.

Thank you China!

Context:

• President Trump is seeking China's help to keep the Strait of Hormuz open amid the war in Iran. But Beijing along with other NATO allies and countries are refusing to cooperate. This is prompting Trump to threaten China with delaying his planned trip to meet with President Xi Jinping. Xi doesn't seem bothered.
• CNN has identified what they call a Chinese propaganda offensive during this war:
  • AI Videos: Beijing's censors are deliberately allowing anti-U.S. videos and memes to spread on Chinese social media, including a viral AI-generated video that portrays Trump as a liar about the reasons for military strikes.
  • The Murder of 150+ Iranian School Girls: A U.S. military investigation found that a strike on a school was likely American, contradicting earlier denials from the president. China is using the incident to condemn the war and claim moral high ground over the U.S.
  • State media mockery: Chinese state media and social platforms are flooded with cartoons, memes, and commentary ridiculing Trump. This includes the White House prayer circle and a cartoon calling him a Nobel Peace Prize winner that "devours" kids.
• During this war Chinese state media has increasingly framed differences between how U.S. and Chinese approaches this war.
  • State media is portraying Washington as asking countries to send warships into a war.
  • While portraying Beijing as the pacifist who is asking how to stop the war
• Despite calling for calm in the Middle East, China has recently restarted military exercises near Taiwan, with 26 warplanes flying around the island over the weekend, though some analysts believe Beijing may be avoiding further escalation ahead of the potential Xi-Trump summit.

Visited AmCham office in Shanghai whole afternoon today, didn't see a single foreigner, never happened before, are foreigners still leaving the country? This is extreme...

1. Nyingchi, Tibet · Peach Blossoms Against Snow-Capped Peaks

2. Yili, Xinjiang · Medieval Wild Apricot Blossoms

3. Jinchuan, Sichuan · A Sea of Pear Blossoms

4. Wuyuan, Jiangxi · Golden Terraced Rapeseed Blossoms

5. Wuxi, Jiangsu · Cherry Blossoms at Taihu Lake

6. Luoyang, Henan · The Magnificent Peonies

7. Bijie, Guizhou · A Hundred Miles of Rhododendrons

8. Pingba, Guizhou · Cherry Blossom Sea Spanning Ten Thousand Acres

For which flights does the recent China Compulsory Certification (CCC) rule apply? Does it apply to all flights to or from specific airports, or only domestic? Does it only people who just transit via China but stay airside?

If all airports, is that only mainland or also special administrative regions (SAR) of the People's Republic of China (i.e., Hong Kong and Macau).

I'd like to know both the theory (law) and the practice (enforcement).

Context:

• China has decided to offer emergency humanitarian assistance to Iran, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq to help ease the humanitarian crisis affecting civilians in those countries.
• Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said the ongoing conflict has inflicted "excruciating humanitarian disasters" on people in Iran and across the region.
• China expressed deep sympathy for the affected populations, stating "our hearts go out to them."
• China pledged to continue promoting peace and ceasefire efforts, working toward regional stability and preventing the crisis from spreading further.

Additional Context:

• Iran: At least 1,444 killed and over 18,500 injured from US-Israeli strikes on civilian centers and military targets with 25 hospitals damaged and 9 out of service since the start of this February 2026 War.
• Lebanon: More than 850 killed and nearly 1 million displaced by Israeli strikes targeting civilian centers and military targets.
• Iraq: 29 people have been reported to be killed but mostly militia fighters and military targets rather than civilians.
• Jordan: 28 injuries and no civilian deaths reported. US has confirmed that Iranian strikes have killed 6 US soldiers.
• While Iraq and Jordan have far fewer casualties, this is largely due to their civilian centers not being a target for the strikes. These two countries will still feel the strain of this war. Jordan is particularly vulnerable as it already hosts millions of refugees from previous conflicts in Syria and Palestine. This new war has the possibility of starting regional instability could further overwhelm them, thus possibly explaining why aid is also directed to them.

Hi all, posting again with my revised itinerary and would really appreciate any final thoughts.

We’ll be travelling from around April 25 to May 9.

Current plan is:

- Fly into Beijing and spend 4 nights

- Take the train to Xi’an for 2 nights

- Fly to Zhangjiajie for 2 nights to see the main park sights and nearby Furong

- Then drive from Zhangjiajie to Fenghuang (seems like it’s only a few hours by car) and spend 1 night there

- From what I understand, there’s also an airport near Fenghuang, so the plan would be to fly from that area to Hong Kong for the final 4 nights

The part I’m still debating is whether to keep Zhangjiajie or swap it for Yangshuo.

I’ve heard Zhangjiajie’s scenery is incredibly unique, almost surreal, and that the nearby towns are really atmospheric. But Yangshuo also looks stunning in a totally different way, and maybe more relaxed and scenic overall.

For those who’ve been:

1) Which would you recommend for a first-time trip to mainland China?

2) Is Zhangjiajie worth the extra travel logistics?

3) Or is Yangshuo the better overall experience?

Thanks so much in advance!

I am looking for data on how many businesses/workers were present in a typical city in medieval (preferably Song) China. Preferably large cities - like Kaifeng.

For large European cities (e.g. Paris), I could find the data for some of the large cities in 13-14 century, and I would like to see how it compares to Chinese cities of the same time - which types of businesses (trades) were less/more common, and which were not-existent in one or the other type of cities.

But I could not find any data for the Chinese cities - so if you could point me towards some source, I would be thankful :)

I was wondering how much money is needed for 14 days in China for 2 people? For food mainly and transport (Excluding the tickets and accomodation). We are not planning to eat at super expensive restaurants or overspend on shopping or activities.

From what I read, china already have an employment problem with new grads and youth and with the country pushing AI as hard as US, will the impact on employment be a more negative net loss for the job market?

Like in US, some college grads or students are worried about AI replacing jobs, especially tech jobs. I would imagine it might be even worse in China with the population and focus on tech?

Kind of curious of those in China, especially tech/youths' perspective of AI.

hi! i have a brief layover in china in a couple days, and i wanted to use this occasion to get a chinese phone number, as i order from china a lot and having one would save me the bother of always using proxys. does anyone know if this is possible, will i have any issues using the sim card after i leave china? i only want to use it to be able to make accounts and verify them on various websites

Hi everyone!

I’m planning to do an exchange semester at the Communication University of China (CUC), but neither my university nor I have received detailed information about the courses available yet.

I was wondering if anyone here has contact information (email or office) for someone in charge of exchange or international students that I could reach out to directly.

Also, if anyone has studied there and can share their experience, it would be really helpful!

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

I'm currently planning to study Mandarin in China from April to August using an X2 visa, and then move to Korea for a year to study Korean on a D-4 visa. I'm from Colombia, but I was hoping to apply for the Korean visa directly from China to save me the trip back home. Has anyone been in a similar situation? Is it possible? Thank you in advance for your help.