Trump, sitting comfortably in the White House, set a trap just waiting for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa to take the bait. On the global stage, Trump tried to publicly shame a Black president. The two had barely sat down when Trump fired off, pulling up random screenshots from the internet claiming Blacks were massacring white farmers—Boers, British settlers, and other white landowners. The way he described it made you thought that South Africa’s situation was worse than Gaza’s, with more white deaths than Palestinians. According to him, South Africa is basically hell on earth, Gaza and South Africa share the same tragic fate.
But within a day, Reuters, the world-famous news agency, pushed back hard. Trump had actually taken photos the news agency shot during unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo and falsely claimed they were from South Africa. That got Reuters accused of fake news. Trump and Elon Musk—yes, the South African-born Tesla guy—teamed up to smear South African Blacks. But Ramaphosa stayed cool and dignified. After listening, without changing a muscle, he just said, “No, we Blacks and Whites don’t hate each other, no unrest here. But we won’t go all the way to please you with a super Boeing, Mr Trump.”
Thinking back, I remember reading Mandela’s biography years ago. Mandela spent 27 years locked up under white colonial rule. When he came to power, South Africa embraced Whites, starting a republic based on racial integration and shared governance. Mandela’s story shows how much Black South Africans suffered, worse than Gaza’s Palestinians, and their tough road to coexistence. It really shows their amazing self-control. Without Mandela’s greatness—turning his own suffering under white oppression into love that united Blacks and Whites—democratic South Africa would never have happened.
The book also reveals how, back then, the Chinese Communist Party secretly sent massive arms to support the Black uprising in South Africa. Western intelligence fed info to white colonial officials, who, after weighing their options, realized defeat was inevitable and, scared stiff, turned to negotiate peace with Mandela. Mandela’s hardest job wasn’t just negotiating with Whites, it was convincing his own people not to seek revenge or massacre Whites. He preached love over hate, urging Blacks to share power with Whites without grabbing their wealth or land. Mandela’s legacy still shapes South Africa today—a peaceful country, not Gaza, not Ukraine, torn apart by war.
Mandela, South Africa’s founding father, and today’s president Ramaphosa prove that Blacks are no less smart or capable than anyone else. Mandela’s love lights up the world and the universe, all humanity and life. In his later years, hearing Hong Kong’s Wong Ka Kui, lead singer and composer of Beyond, sing a tribute to him, Mandela wept—because he stopped the massacres and protected all Whites in South Africa. Yet Elon Musk, born there, shows no gratitude. Instead, he works with Trump to set a trap against his own birthplace. Can a businessman really be without a homeland? Maybe South Africa isn’t his homeland but just a white colonial outpost.
Also, the Chinese Communist Party’s decades-old, no-strings-attached military support for the Black uprising—far worse than Gaza’s current plight—shows China backs justice without asking for anything in return. That’s a sharp contrast to the US, which exploits resources from countries like Ukraine and charges protection fees.
Trump talks a lot about making America great again, putting America first. But it’s clear now: he wants to make himself great, prioritizing white Americans. He’s calculated the votes—60% come from white voters—and tailors policies to favor them, hoping to secure a third term.
Trump has repeatedly kicked out journalists who criticize him to control the narrative. Now he’s shaking the nation’s foundation by targeting education—expelling foreign students from Harvard and saying this is just the first step, with other universities to follow. Former Hong Kong Economic Times editor-in-chief Mak Wah Cheung once said the French government gave him a scholarship to study in France, but it was really a way to groom global elites, embedding French culture and winning their intellectual loyalty.
Many African students who received French scholarships and studied in France later rose to high government positions. Thanks to their French education, their thinking aligns with France’s, influencing defense, infrastructure, electronics, even food and drink culture including red wine, white wine and brandy. As a result, African students prioritize French products.
America’s expulsion of international students undermines its cultural capital, blocking “Captain America” from expanding influence abroad and weakening its soft power. Countries once influenced by America will face a generational break, no longer following American cultural values. America’s ability to sway and subvert other nations will slowly fade—signaling its decline.
Xiao Qiang
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
China's strategy is simple: throw one punch to avoid a hundred.
On Wednesday, August 5, China fired back with five consecutive moves to counter a string of recent US measures that Beijing sees as hostile. A spokesperson for China's Ministry of Commerce called the countermeasures "generally restrained." The message was clear: since the China-US presidential meeting in Busan, the US Federal Communications Commission has ignored China's strong opposition and industry appeals. It keeps stretching the concept of national security to roll out restrictions on China.
Meanwhile, the US has added over 40 Chinese entities to the so-called Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act entity list. China demands the US immediately revoke these measures. And if Washington insists on new restrictions, "China will further retaliate."
China's moves are a direct answer to a series of petty US actions that fall into two main areas.
First, the FCC. Before the government took action, the People's Daily fired a warning shot. Under the byline "Zhong Sheng," it blasted the FCC for hiding behind banners like "non-discrimination" and "national security" to discriminate against and suppress Chinese companies.
The FCC recently added foreign-made power inverters and advanced robotic equipment to its so-called "Covered List." That means new models can't get certification and are locked out of the US market. The paper called the tactic typical unilateral bullying.
This isn't new. Back in 2021, the FCC put telecom and video surveillance gear from five Chinese companies on the list. Since then, it has steadily widened the net. In April, it proposed revoking the qualifications of testing and certification bodies from countries that haven't signed a "Mutual Recognition Agreement" with the US. That artificially raises the compliance bar for Chinese products.
And now, Reuters reports the FCC is drafting a ban on imports of new Chinese-made optical communication transceivers for data centers.
Second, the Xinjiang sanctions. On July 30, the US Department of Homeland Security added over 40 Chinese entities to the entity list under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act. The move, effective August 3, swells the list from 144 to 187, the biggest expansion since it was created. The new targets span food, clothing, and cotton. They include snack maker Qia Qia melon seeds, frozen food producer Zhengzhou Synear dumplings, and apparel brand Fujian Septwolves.
When the news hit the Chinese internet, netizens erupted in mockery. The joke going around teasing that "eating melon seeds can easily damage US soldiers' teeth."
China didn't waste a second. It fired back with five countermeasures, and the first one hits where it hurts: drones. Beijing is tightening export controls on drones and related technologies to the US. From now on, every shipment of drones, key components, and controlled technologies will face a strict case-by-case review.
And forget about any 'licensing facilitation' exemptions—those are off the table. Think about it: China is the world's drone superpower. The US wanted to block Chinese drones from coming in. Now China is flipping the script—it's restricting what goes out. The message is blunt: just because you want to buy doesn't mean we'll sell. Especially not advanced drones and components with military uses.
The second measure is a highly targeted strike: China has added six US entities to its Countermeasures List, all of which it says assisted US sanctions on Xinjiang-related companies.
Applied DNA Sciences, Inc. is believed to provide DNA-based traceability and verification services for relevant products.
Stratum Reservoir, LLC is believed to conduct stable-isotope testing and related analysis to determine the origin of Xinjiang-linked materials.
Altana Technologies, Inc., which operates a global supply-chain mapping and management platform, is believed to help the US government trace supply chains involving Xinjiang-linked products.
The Responsible Business Alliance, which promotes responsible business conduct in global supply chains and operates assessment programmes for member companies, is believed to help companies exclude Xinjiang-linked products from their supply chains.
Verité Group, Inc., a nonprofit focused on labour rights and human rights, examines alleged forced labour in global supply chains.
Human Rights in China, a New York-based human-rights organization, advocates sanctions related to Xinjiang.
China’s countermeasures against these six entities are therefore highly targeted.
The third measure targets a US compliance testing company that helped the FCC impose China-related sanctions. That company will now be locked out of the compliance testing business in the Chinese market. The ripple effect: it could drive up compliance costs for US products trying to enter China.
The fourth measure hits at the heart of product certification. China is suspending the entrustment of US agencies to conduct factory follow-up inspections for CCC certification. Remember, CCC certification is a must-have for US products to enter the Chinese market. By pulling the plug on US inspectors, China shifts the review work to its own agencies. That spells more time and more uncertainty for American exporters.
The fifth measure, a national security investigation into imported US printing and copying office equipment. On the surface, this one looks like a light tap.
China imported about $2.08 billion worth of such equipment in 2025, mostly from Japan ($1.72 billion). The US slice was small. But this is just the opening move.
The US has banned Chinese software and hardware from connected and autonomous vehicles on American roads—and until now, China held its fire.
Now Beijing is investigating US printers and copiers on national security grounds. The message is unmistakable: if Washington plays the national security card at every turn, Beijing can just as easily slap an 'unsafe' label on American phones and EVs running US software.
But that's not the main battlefield. Artificial intelligence is the real arena. Over the past month, Chinese companies have rolled out one high-performance, low-cost AI model after another, sending US AI giants reeling. When Anthropic released a new model in June, the US government demanded it be kept out of non-American hands. The clash forced Anthropic to pull the model. Trump signed an executive order in June setting up an AI safety framework, including a voluntary program for companies to submit cutting-edge models for government review.
Then Chinese developers like Moonshot AI and DeepSeek unleashed open-source systems that rival top-tier US models, fueling a fierce debate in Washington over how to regulate open-weight models. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei pushed for mandatory government safety reviews for both open and proprietary models, taking direct aim at Chinese open-source systems. He won backing from Treasury Secretary Bessent and others, but ran into a wall of opposition from US tech giants, including Nvidia.
On August 4, the Trump administration delivered its verdict. In a meeting led by the Office of the National Cyber Director, top US AI companies were told that under the new AI safety framework, open-source models from Chinese rivals would not face US government safety testing.
For Anthropic, it was a crushing defeat. US National Cyber Director Sean Cairncross later spelled out the thinking at a cybersecurity conference in Las Vegas: the US government wants to back the American open-source AI ecosystem. He called such models 'tremendously valuable' and insisted the regulatory framework must stay 'flexible.'
Otherwise, he warned, 'it would not only stifle growth, development, and innovation, but the regulatory regime would become obsolete within 48 hours of completing its process.'
The bottom line: Washington keeps chipping away at China with petty moves. But when the pile gets high enough, Beijing punches back hard—and signals it has heavier blows ready.
President Xi is due to visit the US in September, and Trump will be in Shenzhen in mid-November for the APEC summit. Trump doesn't want things to spiral out of control; at crunch time, he'll yank the leash on his officials.
The real battlefield is artificial intelligence. It was almost certain that the White House's decision to leave Chinese open-source models alone came after fierce pushback from China.
Lo Wing-hung
