US President Donald Trump heads for a superpower summit with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping next week hoping the Iran war will not spoil the mood in Beijing.

Trump will be expecting a lavish welcome at the high-stakes meeting, which he delayed in March because of the Middle East conflict.

But the war will still loom large over his first visit to China since 2017, which is supposed to focus on easing tensions over trade and Taiwan between the world’s largest economies.

Trump said the two leaders would discuss the issue and that Xi had been “very respectful” over Iran.

Yet with Trump desperately seeking a deal to end the war before he lands in Beijing, China may seek to use his weakened position to extract concessions on key issues.

“The reality is that right now, Iran is critical for the US and the Chinese know that,” said Edgard Kagan of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

‘Big, fat hug’

The world will be closely watching the Trump-Xi summit, but uncertainty over the timing and a lack of preparation mean deliverables are likely to be limited.

For a US president obsessed with the idea of Great Power diplomacy, the main priority during the May 14-15 visit will be visuals of him being feted by a strongman fellow leader.

Trump, 79, has repeatedly talked up his “very good relationship” with Xi, 72, whom he met in South Korea last October, even saying the Chinese leader will give him a “big, fat hug” over Iran.

He will also hope to come away from the summit with big business deals as he looks to midterm elections in which Republicans face a hammering over high oil prices from the Iran war.

While some industry leaders say invitations have still not formally gone out, Trump’s administration plans to invite CEOs from companies including Apple, Exxon, Nvidia and Boeing, Semafor reported, with talk of a big Boeing deal in the offing.

Trump will also be hoping to bring back deals on AI, critical minerals and fentanyl.

One solid result that China in particular hopes for could be an extension of the fragile year-long trade truce that Trump and Xi agreed on in South Korea in October.

China has however shown that it is still ready to respond to Washington, saying on May 2 that it would not comply with US sanctions against firms targeted over Iranian oil transactions.

“It appears that the truce is not as strong as we were hoping,” Sean Stein, president of the US-China Business Council, told AFP.

‘A lot of leverage’

Communist-run China will meanwhile be looking for stability in a Trump-roiled world, and to play for time in the knowledge that the volatile US leader is on his second and final term in office.

Beijing is also likely to use Trump’s weakened position to its advantage where it can.

“There’s actually a lot of leverage there that Beijing could use,” said Patricia Kim, a senior foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“Trump is looking for a win, right? I mean, he hasn’t had much wins in recent weeks with the war in Iran going on.”

Taiwan could be one area in particular where Xi may try to extract concessions, analysts say — for example on arms sales to the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its own.

Trump has been known to go off-script on the thorny topic before and allies in the region who fear an assertive China will be closely watching for signs of US wavering.

At the same time Beijing is likely to play up to Trump’s love of pomp and flattery, knowing that a slighted and angry Trump would cause trouble.

But the Chinese will try to wash their hands of any involvement in the war on its ally Iran and deflect pressure from Trump during the meeting with Xi.

Beijing’s hosting of Iran’s foreign minister this week was “a sign that they realize this is coming down the pike,” said Kagan from CSIS.

A retired Hong Kong policeman and a former UK Border Force official were convicted by a London jury Thursday of conducting “shadow policing” on British soil on behalf of China.

Ex-police superintendent Bill Yuen, 65, and Peter Wai, 38 — both dual Chinese-British nationals — were found guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service under Britain’s national security laws following a weeks-long trial.

Wai, who worked for the UK’s Border Force immigration and customs enforcement agency after previously serving in the British police and the Royal Navy, was also convicted of misconduct in a public office.

He had searched the interior ministry’s computer system for people of interest to Hong Kong authorities.

The jury at London’s Old Bailey court, which deliberated for nearly 24 hours, was discharged after failing to reach verdicts on a further foreign interference charge against each defendant.

Prosecutors promptly announced they would not seek a retrial and the duo were remanded into custody ahead of sentencing on a date to be set on May 15.

The court had heard how Wai had gathered intelligence on the orders of Yuen, who was a senior manager at the Hong Kong Economic Trade Office (HKETO), which represents Hong Kong’s government in London.

Politicians, campaigners

The pair targeted Hong Kong dissidents and pro-democracy protesters living in Britain, with “special attention” also paid to politicians, including senior Conservative Iain Duncan Smith.

They undertook information gathering, surveillance and acts of deception, with one operation capturing photographs of prominent campaigner Nathan Law.

Their activities coincided with Hong Kong authorities publishing bounties of around £100,000 (US$136,000) for information helping to identify several UK-based activists, including Law, jurors heard.

Another protester told the jury of how Wai had threatened him with arrest for confronting a Hong Kong diplomat in London.

Messages on Yuen’s phone showed surveillance of Law began as early as 2021, the prosecution said as it gave evidence.

See also: ‘Your inner self is red’: UK border officer accused of ‘infiltrating’ Hong Kong pro-democracy group

The defendants’ activities were exposed in May 2024 when police foiled an alleged bid to snatch a former Hong Kong resident from her flat in the northern county of Yorkshire, the court heard.

Wai, of Staines-upon-Thames, southwest of the capital — who was known to associates as Fatboy — and Yuen, of Hackney in east London, had both denied wrongdoing.

The case comes in the wake of tens of thousands of people, including democracy activists wanted by Chinese authorities, moving to Britain since Hong Kong enacted a draconian National Security Law in mid-2020.

President Donald Trump’s suggestion that US arms sales to Taiwan could be a bargaining chip with China has set off alarms across the world, but in Taipei, people told AFP the situation was beyond their control.

A week on from Trump’s remarks to Fox News and aboard Air Force One, feverish speculation bubbled over whether decades of US policy on the democratic island has been upended.

While the United States switched official diplomatic relations from Taipei to Beijing nearly 50 years ago, Washington is Taipei’s most important security backer.

Though Taiwanese government officials have been anxiously waiting for Trump’s decision on the latest arms package, people on the streets of Taipei were calm.

Nicole Lee, a 46-year-old nurse, said she didn’t put much stock in Taiwan’s military hardware in a war against China, which claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.

“Even if they give us weapons, if we really had to use force against (China), I don’t think there would be much we could do,” she said.

Delivery driver Ben Wu, 41, echoed those comments, likening US arms sales to Taiwan to a “protection fee” and noting that even with the “best weapons it would still be very hard to win” against China.

Taiwan has spent many billions of dollars buying fighter jets, high-tech missiles and drones from the United States to bolster its defences against a potential attack from China.

Trump ‘totally untrustworthy’

Still, Taipei has been at pains to remind Trump of US commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act, which was passed by the US Congress in 1979 and requires the United States to provide weapons to Taiwan.

US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, have insisted nothing about US policy on Taiwan has changed.

Cynthia Kuo, a 29-year-old elementary school teacher, said Trump was the “kind of person who just says whatever pops into his head.”

“So I feel like whatever decisions he makes, he only makes them if he thinks they’re good for the United States,” she said.

“He’s not going to take other countries into account.”

A 78-year-old retiree, who spoke on condition that her name not be used, said the one thing that was certain is that Trump can’t be relied upon.

“He’s totally untrustworthy,” the woman said. “I often feel that Trump is a hooligan in international politics.”

In any case, Washington’s conclusion on the weapons and Beijing’s next steps on Taiwan will be decided far from Tapei.

“I’m not that worried,” 22-year-old university student Matt told AFP. “Whether we worry or not doesn’t really change anything.”

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea next week, state media said Friday, his first trip abroad this year after hosting a series of leaders as Beijing asserts itself as a global diplomatic superpower.

State broadcaster CCTV said Xi would visit from June 8 to 9 at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his first trip to Pyongyang in seven years.

Beijing is a vital source of political and economic support to North Korea, which is one of the most diplomatically isolated countries in the world and under heavy international sanctions.

The upcoming meeting will be Xi’s first official overseas trip this year, and comes after he hosted back-to-back summits with US President Donald Trump and Russia’s Vladimir Putin last month.

“China is meeting leaders from around the world, coordinating positions and playing a mediating role,” Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea’s Kyungnam University, told AFP.

“As China’s international standing rises, Beijing is likely seeking to draw Pyongyang more actively into its diplomatic orbit as a partner in advancing a more multilateral order.”

The two leaders will “exchange views on bilateral relations and issues of common concern”, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said at a press briefing on Friday.

The visit was “an opportunity to promote the development” of bilateral relations and “make greater contributions to regional and even world peace”, Mao said.

Pyongyang depends on China for up to 95 percent of total trade and 85 percent of its exports, according to 2022 statistics from the National Committee on North Korea, a Washington-based think tank.

But North Korea has drawn closer to Russia since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Pyongyang sending thousands of troops and weapons to support the war effort.

In return, analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology, food and energy, helping it circumvent sanctions over its banned nuclear programmes.

Xi’s choice of Pyongyang for his first overseas trip of 2026 is “a deliberate visual rebuttal to the prevailing read in Western capitals that Pyongyang had quietly migrated into Moscow’s orbit”, said Seong-Hyon Lee from the George H. W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations.

Managing the relationship

Xi last met Kim in September, when he invited the North Korean leader and Putin as guests of honour to a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over imperial Japan in World War II.

In 2019, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were welcomed to North Korea with great pomp and fanfare to celebrate the two countries’ “unbreakable friendship”.

Beijing’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a visit to Pyongyang in April that China and South Korea should “enhance coordination” on international and regional issues.

China’s interests include keeping an eye on North Korea’s nuclear programme, the advancement of which is “extremely rapid”, Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) told AFP.

“This aspect needs to be managed. If North Korea acts in a provocative and belligerent manner, it could trigger regional conflict, which could run counter to China’s interests,” Hong said.

Kim vowed an “exponential” increase in nuclear military capabilities on Wednesday as he visited a new atomic facility, Pyongyang’s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported.

South Korea’s foreign ministry has said it hopes exchanges between North Korea and China contribute to peace and stability, and that China can play a constructive role.

Pyongyang has repeatedly shunned efforts by the South Korean government to improve relations, calling Seoul its most “hostile” adversary.

Analysts have viewed Xi’s recent diplomatic flurry as part of attempts to position China as a stable, strategic alternative to an unpredictable United States.

Traditional US allies, including Britain’s Keir Starmer and France’s Emmanuel Macron, have also come to Beijing.

However, Hong, of KINU, judged the chances that Xi might help broker a meeting between Trump and Kim as “very low”.

A Chinese military court handed suspended death sentences on Thursday to two former defence ministers for corruption, state media said.

They are the harshest sentences that Beijing has slapped on high-ranking military officials as part of President Xi Jinping’s sweeping anti-corruption campaign.

Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu’s sentences will be “commuted to life imprisonment” after a two-year reprieve, the Xinhua state news agency reported.

See also: Chinese Defence Minister Dong Jun under investigation for corruption – report

The ex-ministers, who served between 2018 and 2023, were also former members of China’s powerful Central Military Commission, which oversees the military, and frequently appeared on television.

Wei was convicted of accepting bribes and Li was convicted of accepting and offering bribes, Xinhua said.

The pair were also stripped of their political rights for life as well as their personal property.

The US consulate in Hong Kong displayed commemorative candles in its windows on the 37th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown on Thursday, while other diplomatic missions paid tribute with social media posts.

The annual move is often blasted by local and Chinese authorities, and has been cited by Beijing as “evidence” of foreign interference in a 6,300-word “fact sheet.”

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Hong Kong used to be one of the few places on Chinese soil where annual vigils were held to commemorate the people who died in the 1989 crackdown.

But police banned the gathering at Victoria Park for the first time in 2020, citing Covid-19 restrictions, and imposed the same ban the following year.

No official commemoration has been held since the vigil organiser, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, disbanded in September 2021. Its leaders were arrested and are currently on trial.

Currently occupying Victoria Park – historically the site of Hong Kong’s vigils – is a five-day patriotic carnival organised by pro-Beijing groups.

Diplomatic commemorations

Earlier on Thursday, Britain’s embassy in China shared a social media post featuring an animation with scenes from the bloody crackdown. It was shared without commentary.

The British consulate in Hong Kong posted a reel of a mobile phone held aloft with its torch on, apparently referencing the candlelit vigils.

Washington’s mission in Beijing shared a quote from US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating: “Those who sacrificed to uphold their unalienable rights of free expression and peaceful assembly will be vindicated someday.”

In response, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing had “long since reached a clear conclusion regarding that political turmoil that occurred in the late 1980s.”

The Canadian consulate in Hong Kong shared a Facebook post, which read: “Today, Canadians honour the memory of all who lost their lives, were injured or went missing during the Tiananmen Square crackdown on June 4, 1989. Canada stands with the survivors and the families and loved ones who continue to demand accountability.”

Meanwhile, the Australian consulate in Hong Kong shared on Facebook a photo of candles and a statement reading: “Today, we stand with communities worldwide in remembering those who lost their lives at Tiananmen Square on 4 June 1989. Australia remains steadfast in its commitment to upholding human rights, including freedom of association, of expression, and of political participation.”

In June 2019, then-leader Carrie Lam said that the city’s annual vigils were “proof that Hong Kong is a free place.”

A Hong Kong court is now hearing a landmark trial of the Alliance and two vigil leaders, Chow Hang-tung and  Lee Cheuk-yan. They are accused of “inciting subversion” under the national security law, an offence that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years behind bars. 

Another vigil leader – Albert Ho – pleaded guilty when the trial opened in January.

By AFP teams in Tehran, Dubai, Beijing and Mecca

US forces launched overnight strikes on missile sites in southern Iran and boats they said were trying to lay mines in Gulf waters, sending oil prices higher Tuesday and fuelling tension as diplomats sought a deal to end the war.

The international benchmark Brent crude jumped up by almost three percent after the US Central Command announced the new wave of bombings, and China urged both sides to respect their truce and resolve their dispute peacefully.

Iran did not immediately confirm the reported strikes, but state media reported blasts in the southern port city of Bandar Abbas, and the Revolutionary Guards Corps said its forces had downed a US drone entering its airspace and fired at an F-35 fighter jet.

In a statement marking the start of the Eid al-Adha holiday, Tehran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei declared that Washington was losing its influence in the Middle East and warned Middle East countries to ensure that they no longer host bases from which the US could launch attacks.

The United States, he said in a written statement, “in addition to no longer having any safe haven in the region for aggression and the establishment of military bases, is moving further and further away from its former position with each passing day”.

Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command, said: “US forces conducted self-defence strikes in southern Iran today to protect our troops from threats posed by Iranian forces.”

‘We’ll see’

He gave few details of the attacks and said only that the targets included missile launch sites and boats trying to “emplace mines.”

Despite the strikes, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that a deal remained within reach.

But he remained firm on the fate of the Strait of Hormuz, the key oil and gas shipping route out of the Gulf, which Iran is seeking to control by charging fees to approve the passage of vessels.

“There were some talks going on in Qatar today, so we’ll see if we can make progress. I think it’s a lot of talking back and forth going on about specific language in the initial document, so it’ll take a few days,” Rubio told reporters during a visit to India.

He said the strait was “going to be open one way or the other,” adding: “What’s happening there is unlawful, it’s illegal, it’s unsustainable for the world, it’s unacceptable.”

The strikes threatened a ceasefire that began on April 8 as the United States and Iran struggle to reach an accord to end a war that has rattled the global economy with a severe disruption of energy flows.

China, Washington’s great power rival and a major energy importer, expressed concern after the US strikes.

“We urge the parties concerned to fulfil their ceasefire commitments, resolve disputes through peaceful means… and promote the early restoration of peace,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told reporters.

Hopes of an accord took another blow when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to “crush” Hezbollah in Lebanon on Monday evening. Iran has demanded that any peace accord apply to the fighting in Lebanon as well.

On Tuesday, Israel warned Lebanese civilians to evacuate the southern city of Nabatieh ahead of more planned strikes.

Nuclear fuel disposal

US President Donald Trump said in a social media post that he expected Iran to hand over its enriched uranium to the United States to be destroyed, or have it destroyed in Iran with an international witness.

The nuclear fuel “will either be immediately turned over to the United States to be brought home and destroyed or, preferably, in conjunction and coordination with the Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed in place or, at another acceptable location”.

Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale said Wednesday he would be “reviewing” his country’s secretive 2022 security pact with China, which rattled Canberra and Washington.

Asked about that pact alongside Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the Solomons leader — who was elected last month — said he had been “praying and fasting” about the Chinese security deal.

“We are going to be reviewing, as we are reviewing other security agreements that we have with many other countries,” he said.

Australia and the United States have been sharply critical of the deal over concerns it could allow a permanent Chinese navy presence in the South Pacific.

It was signed under one of Wale’s predecessors, Manasseh Sogavare, who was seen as Beijing’s staunchest ally in the South Pacific.

Wale said the deal contained a non-disclosure agreement and he had not seen it until just before his visit to Australia.

“I have had to remove certain people from key positions. I have not been afforded a copy, even, of that agreement, until a day before I left, so I have not had a good look at it,” he told a news conference in Canberra.

Australia is the largest aid donor to the country of 800,000 people that sits 2,000 kilometres (1,240 miles) to its north-east and historically provided police support during crises.

After the Solomons switched diplomatic ties from Taiwan to Beijing in 2019 and struck the security pact, relations with Canberra and Washington deteriorated.

China quickly became the strategically located Pacific island state’s largest bilateral creditor, with Solomon Islands’ debt to Chinese banks for infrastructure projects doubling last year.

Seeking to counter Beijing’s influence, Australia has seized the opportunity to rebuild ties, hosting Wale on his first international visit as leader.

Albanese said Wednesday the two countries would begin work on a “comprehensive” new treaty as well as deepen ties in policing, with Australia seeking to be the top security partner for the Pacific.

The treaty will be “underpinned by mutual trust, respect, and open dialogue”, the prime minister said.

Deals on policing, infrastructure

“We have sought a reset in this relationship — we acknowledge there have been problems over the last few years,” Wale told reporters.

The Pacific should turn to other countries within the region for their security, he stressed.

The leaders also agreed to push ahead with a major police training deal.

Australia’s offer to fund the expansion of the Solomons own police force had stalled under the previous Solomon Islands government, which allowed Chinese police to enter villages to collect household and biometric data.

See also: Australia and New Zealand urge China to reveal details of Solomon Islands policing deal

Wale also said he was in discussions with Australia and the United States for financing for critical infrastructure such as ports.

Former Solomon Islands prime minister Sogavare rejected US offers of infrastructure grants, instead opting to partner with Chinese state companies.

Australia has sought to bind South Pacific countries closer by striking treaties with a string of small but strategically located island states, Tuvalu, Nauru and Papua New Guinea offering significant economic support in return for curbs on Chinese security ties.

Vanuatu and Fiji have said they are close to signing similar deals.

Japan fired surface-to-ship missiles and sank an old warship in waters between the Philippines and Taiwan as part of major military exercises that include US forces, angering China.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi has accelerated Japan’s shift towards a more muscular defence policy, further casting off — with US encouragement — Tokyo’s pacifist stance in place since the end of World War II.

The firing on Wednesday of two Type-88 missiles formed part of exercises in the Philippines between US, Australian, Filipino and Japanese troops as well as contingents from France, New Zealand and Canada.

Japanese and Philippine defence ministers observed the launch in the northern province of Ilocos Norte, some 400 kilometres (250 miles) from Taiwan, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

The two projectiles hit the target, a retired Philippines navy corvette, around 75 kilometres offshore in the South China Sea, causing it to sink, officials said.

The 19-day Balikatan exercises, meaning “shoulder-to-shoulder” and which wrap up Friday, have involved some 17,000 military personnel including Japanese combat troops for the first time.

Japan in recent years has moved to obtain “counterstrike” capabilities while hiking military spending and deepening security cooperation with regional allies including the Philippines.

Last month Takaichi’s government relaxed the country’s self-imposed rules to allow exports of lethal military hardware, seeking to grab a larger slice of the booming global market.

Last year Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries won a landmark order from the Australian navy — Takaichi was in Canberra this week — to supply 11 warships.

Missile drill angers China

Long-frosty China-Japan ties have worsened after Takaichi, seen as an arch-conservative and security hawk, suggested in November that Japan might intervene militarily in any Chinese attempt to take Taiwan.

China, which regards the democratic island as part of its territory and has not ruled out force to annex it, was furious over the comments, advising its citizens to avoid Japan and imposing trade restrictions.

On Wednesday Beijing lashed out at the missile test, calling it “another example of the Japanese right-wing forces’ push for accelerated remilitarisation of Japan.”

Foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian told a regular briefing that “not only has Japan, the aggressor, failed to deeply reflect on its historical crimes, it has even sent military forces overseas and fired offensive missiles under the pretext of security cooperation.”

Yee Kuang Heng, a professor in international security at the University of Tokyo, said that the missile test to sink a ship was “particularly significant as island defence is a shared concern of both Japan and the Philippines.”

Another important component was the participation of Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB) in counter-landing drills with US, Philippine and Canadian forces, Heng added.

“Balikatan 2026 also saw the maiden deployment of Japan’s ShinMaywa US-2 amphibious aircraft for air-sea rescue and medical procedures, especially important given the long sea lanes in the region,” Heng told AFP.

The leader of Taiwan’s main opposition party said Friday she hopes to maintain engagement with the United States on the island’s defense capabilities, speaking on a two-week US visit aimed at growing trust with Washington.

Addressing reporters in the US capital, Kuomintang chairwoman Cheng Li-wun said the party has expressed support for Taiwan’s defense capabilities and hopes “to continue maintaining and deepening our cooperation with the US in this regard.”

She did not comment specifically about a US$14 billion US arms sale to Taiwan that remains under review. Such sales are a thorny issue between Washington and Beijing.

Cheng in April became the first KMT leader in a decade to visit Beijing and meet Chinese President Xi Jinping, and her US trip comes just weeks after President Donald Trump himself held a summit with Xi.

The KMT, which has long advocated for closer ties with China, recently thwarted the Taiwanese government’s plan to spend nearly US$40 billion on critical weapons such as US arms and domestically produced drones.

In Washington, the KMT comes up against concerns over its more pro-engagement position, compared with President Lai Ching-te’s Democratic Progressive Party.

Cheng has rocked Taiwanese politics since her unexpected rise to the top of the party last year and drawn criticism for being too pro-China.

Beijing claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to seize it.

On Friday, Cheng hit back at critics, saying that “seeking peaceful dialogue across the Taiwan Strait does not mean abandoning Taiwan’s defense capabilities.”

She added that she met nine members of Congress during her visit, alongside academics and others, touting the trip as a success.

She said Trump’s recent warning to the island against making a declaration of independence was also aligned with the KMT’s positions.

After wrapping up his state visit to Beijing last month, Trump said in an interview that “I’m not looking to have somebody go independent. And, you know, we’re supposed to travel 9,500 miles to fight a war. I’m not looking for that.”

Cheng’s itinerary also included stops in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston and New York.

Chinese spies are posing as job recruiters to trick staff in western governments into disclosing sensitive information, the Five Eyes alliance of security agencies has warned.

China’s military intelligence services advertise false jobs such as foreign policy or defence analysts on platforms including LinkedIn, the spy agencies of Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand said jointly late Wednesday.

The agents pretend to be HR consultants or employees of “legitimate-looking” private consultancies or think-tanks that claim to be located outside of China.

They pressurise candidates into revealing “non-public” information during the interview process, including by writing a report, the intelligence agencies said.

People with security clearance, military personnel, journalists and academics are among those targeted, the Five Eyes added.

Military staff may be asked about their roles and unit activities, home base or naval vessel.

Recruits receive anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars per report, and may be offered more money in return for increasingly sensitive information, the agencies said.

They warned that “while applicants often have no direct access to classified information, even unclassified information” can be helpful to the Chinese government.

“Certain types of data can place the lives of frontline military or other personnel at risk, can weaken our economic prosperity, and enable interference in our democratic processes,” the agencies wrote.

They said they had identified people who had been duped by the scam, “leading to criminal prosecutions, job losses, and security-clearance revocation”.

Western spy agencies have repeatedly warned of the threat of espionage from China, as well as from Russia and Iran, in recent years.

Last month, two Chinese-British dual nationals were convicted by a jury in London of spying on Hong Kong dissidents on Beijing’s behalf. They are awaiting sentencing.

Myanmar’s coup-commander turned President Min Aung Hlaing touched down in China on Monday for talks with Xi Jinping, his first visit since taking over as civilian leader after Beijing-backed elections rejected by democracy monitors.

Min Aung Hlaing is hoping to expand trade and security ties with China, a rare enduring partner for Myanmar after his 2021 coup ousted the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and diplomatically isolated the country on the world stage.

Relations have frayed in recent years over mushrooming internet scam centres along the countries’ shared border areas which both enlist and target Chinese citizens in lucrative cryptocurrency fraud, analysts say.

China has emerged as a key power-broker in the civil war sparked by the coup — variously backing the military, rebels and truces between them according to its security and economic interests, analysts say.

The one-party state also vocally backed recent polls excluding Suu Kyi’s party, punishing dissent with prison time and returning a walk-over win for pro-military MPs — who elected Min Aung Hlaing as president.

Democracy watchdogs described the transition as a charade to launder the reputation of the leadership, campaigning to recover from the pariah status many nations branded it with since the putsch.

Min Aung Hlaing landed in China to a red carpet welcome, according to images shared by his office, and spent the first hours of his five-day trip touring Beijing Aerospace City — the centre of China’s space programme.

Supply and demand

During his half-decade ruling Myanmar as military chief, Min Aung Hlaing made trips to China only for regional summits — meeting Beijing officials on the sidelines.

China hopes his first visit as civilian president will deepen “comprehensive strategic cooperation”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Friday.

In addition to Xi, Min Aung Hlaing is also set to meet Chinese Premier Li Qiang and top legislator Zhao Leji.

Beijing is a key provider of materiel to the Myanmar military and has also brokered a pair of landmark truces with two of the most powerful rebel factions that once challenged it in the borderlands with China.

While Myanmar has been massively impoverished by the civil war, it has also emerged as a major global supplier of mined rare earth minerals — vital for China’s production of renewable energy technology.

The first bill announced by Myanmar’s new crop of lawmakers proposes the death penalty for those who detain or violently coerce victims into working in scam centres, signalling the country’s intention to crack down.

Attention has also been drawn to the bilateral relationship between Myanmar and China by Beijing’s detention of a US scholar who studies Myanmar and stands accused of spying.

Min Zin, founder of the Institute for Strategy and Policy Myanmar (ISP-M), “has been subjected to criminal compulsory measures”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin told reporters on Friday.

Authorities are holding him “on suspicion of engaging in espionage activities that endanger China’s national security”, Lin said.

Min Zin was detained in the capital of China’s border province of Yunnan, a person with professional ties to the ISP-M told AFP anonymously because of the case’s sensitivity.