On June 7, 2026, industry statistics showed that China's outstanding credit card issuance declined from a peak of about 810 million cards in 2022 to about 690 million cards, a cumulative drop of more than 120 million cards over more than three years.
On May 19, Huang Qifan spoke at the 2026 Tsinghua PBC School Global Finance Forum, addressing issues such as the trade surplus and a moderate appreciation of the renminbi.
Two Japanese employees working at the China branches of major Japanese heavy electrical machinery giants were caught red-handed at Dalian Customs, suspected of concealing dysprosium and terbium—heavy rare earths used in high-end military applications—inside large machinery to smuggle them out of the country.
On May 19, 2026, the High Court of Hong Kong concluded the closing arguments proceedings in the case of former Hong Kong Alliance leaders Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, who were charged with incitement to subvert state power, and the judge announced that the ruling on the facts of the case was expected to be formally announced in mid-to-late July of the same year.
While accompanying Xi Jinping in meeting U.S. officials, Trump exchanged glances with the officials and raised his eyebrows at Defense Secretary Hegseth, who had just shaken hands with Xi Jinping. Footage of the scene has surfaced.
On May 17, the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, the British Embassy in China published an article titled "Will the Rainbow Return?", reviewing the past 30 years of the Chinese LGBT community and pointing out that the group is facing a comprehensively tightening survival environment, including the arrest of Danmei writers, the removal of dating apps, and the banning of organizations.
On May 17, Wang Xiaodong, former governor of Hubei Province, was placed under investigation. Wang had served as governor of Hubei since 2017 and became a target of public criticism due to ineffective epidemic control after the outbreak of COVID-19. He resigned and moved to a secondary role in May 2021.
On the evening of May 16, 2026, an overloaded pickup truck carrying 15 rural middle-aged and elderly casual workers lost control and fell into the water while passing a low-water bridge in Kenren Tun, Yongquan Village, Luoyang Town, Huanjiang County, Hechi, Guangxi, exposing hidden dangers in rural temporary labor and road safety.
According to data from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, as of December 17, 2025, the cumulative value of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan under successive administrations stands at approximately $8.7 billion under Clinton, $15.6 billion under George W. Bush, $13.9 billion under Obama, $18.2 billion during Trump's first term, and $8.3 billion under Biden.
The United States and China made commitments on issues including rare earths, Boeing aircraft, and agricultural product purchases at the Beijing summit, but there remains the question of whether China will fulfill the commitments.
The Trump-Xi summit held in May 2026 was interpreted by Miles Yu as exposing a dangerous tendency in U.S. foreign policy to replace strategic judgment with fantasy. He argues that the CCP used the summit to hype myths like the "Thucydides Trap" in an attempt to cover up its authoritarian nature, domestic dilemmas, and hostility toward the free world. The summit failed to resolve fundamental ideological conflicts and may have instead exacerbated misjudgment and appeasement.
Trump invites Xi Jinping to visit the United States at an appropriate time
Trump visited China at the invitation of Xi Jinping and held a heads-of-state summit with him; the two sides subsequently continued discussions on trade, Taiwan, and technology issues.
Health officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo say that since the outbreak began in mid-May, at least 3,800 cases and approximately 1,707 deaths have been confirmed, with more than 700 patients currently in isolation and treatment.
Trump visited China at the invitation of Xi Jinping. The two sides reportedly established the US-China Trade Council and discussed promoting a more balanced trade relationship and expanding market access for U.S. agricultural and livestock products.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping held a summit in Washington, where Xi expressed his hope that the Trump administration would handle the Taiwan issue with caution.
China issued a readout after a China-US meeting held in Beijing, claiming that the Taiwan issue is one of the most important issues in China-US relations.
On May 14, 2026, the owner of a factory in Xixian New Area, Shaanxi reported that after he refused to let subdistrict urban construction personnel in plain clothes enter the factory for an inspection, the subdistrict office dispatched multiple comprehensive enforcement vehicles to continuously block the factory gate for 11 days. Local officials responded that "blocking the gate was appropriate."
On May 13, 2026, Jin Xing held an exchange event at the Paris 13th Arrondissement City Hall, introducing the Chekhov play The Cherry Orchard in which she stars.
US President Donald Trump pays a state visit to the People's Republic of China.
Trump stated that during his visit to Beijing in May, he established a trade council with the Chinese side, and teams from both sides subsequently promoted the establishment of a more balanced trade relationship.
In May 2026, a federal jury in New York found Lu Jianwang guilty of illegally acting as an agent of the Chinese government and of obstruction of justice, charging that he participated in Manhattan in assisting China's Ministry of Public Security in establishing and operating a transnational secret police station.
In May 2026, following the trial of a Chinese student in Germany for drugging and sexually assaulting multiple women on several occasions, the German Federal Cabinet passed a draft law increasing the minimum statutory sentence for rape committed using date-rape drugs from three years to five years.
On May 13, 2026, the German federal government passed a draft amendment to the Criminal Code, stipulating that committing sexual assault or robbery using dangerous means such as date-rape drugs is tantamount to using a dangerous weapon, and raising the statutory minimum sentence substantially from three years to five years.
When Air Force One landed at Beijing Capital International Airport on May 13, 2026, Xi Jinping did not go to the tarmac to greet Trump. Han Zheng presided over the welcome ceremony, which was attended by ambassadors of various countries to China, officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the honor guard military band. It was not until the next day that Xi Jinping held a formal welcome ceremony outside the Great Hall of the People.
The head and deputy director of the Shanggao County Public Security Bureau in Jiangxi Province abused their official authority, using an intermediary to illegally provide buyers with citizens' bank account information at a price of 1000 yuan per record; the related judgment has been published on the Court Judgment Website.
The King of Malaysia, Sultan Ibrahim, received Fan Bingbing and the creative team of the film "Mother Bhumi" at the Johor Palace.
Fang Rui, Secretary of the Political and Legal Affairs Commission of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has been arrested.
On May 12, 2026, the human rights organization Safeguard Defenders, working together with overseas Chinese activists, established the "Overseas Black Hand Files" platform to collect and document cases of the Chinese Communist Party's transnational repression worldwide.
Over 100 employees of Xi'an SMIC, an important IT outsourcing supplier to Huawei, gathered at the company gate to strike, protesting the company pushing employees out through pay cuts, job transfers and other means.
Ellen Wang, formerly mayor of Arcadia in Southern California, resigned as mayor and city council member on May 11, 2026 after a plea deal came to light, and formally pleaded guilty in federal court in Los Angeles on May 29, admitting to acting as an agent of the Chinese government without registering.
On May 11, 2026, the United States announced sanctions against 3 individuals and 9 companies, accusing them of helping Iran's Revolutionary Guard ship oil to China; the companies involved are located in Hong Kong, the UAE, and Oman.
On May 11, 2026, the White House released the list of business leaders accompanying Trump on his visit to China; Secretary of State Rubio also joined the delegation. He has been sanctioned by China since 2020, and China used a new transliteration of his name this time.
On May 11, 2026, former Chinese-American mayor of Arcadia, California, Wang Ailin, formally pleaded guilty in federal court to a federal felony charge of acting as an illegal agent of the Chinese Communist Party.
Bo Guagua, son of Bo Xilai, posted on Twitter to remember his mother Gu Kailai, who has been imprisoned for 14 years, and shared an old family photo of them watching her play a musical instrument years ago, sparking widespread discussion among netizens.
A netizen in Guangdong posted that after discovering a middle-aged driver playing a Japanese song in his car, he suspected the driver was a Japanese spy based on his appearance and behavior.
On May 10, 2026, on the occasion of artist Gao Shen's 70th birthday in prison, dozens of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International and Chinese Human Rights Defenders, issued a joint statement calling on the Chinese authorities to immediately release Gao Shen, who has been detained over his artistic work, and to lift the exit bans imposed on his family members.
From May 10 to 15, 2026, the Shandong Provincial Drug Administration inspected Line 103 of the lyophilized powder injection workshop at Shandong Huatai Pharmaceutical, concluded that there was 1 serious defect and that the results were non-compliant, and decided to suspend production of amiodarone hydrochloride injection.
The New York Times reported that since December last year, a fake Hong Kong consulting firm, under the guise of high-paying consulting work, attempted to recruit the core aide to the chairman of the US House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party, seeking sensitive information on China policy; the case has been handed over to the FBI.
70 recipients of the 2026 Chinese Government Scholarship from 16 Chinese universities arrived in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, to begin their studies there.
Thousands of property owners from four housing developments in Shizhong District, Leshan, staged a collective protest against the government's reclassification of their household registration (hukou) as rural, which affects their children's access to urban educational resources. Some owners blocked traffic.
A large section of the exterior wall insulation of a high-rise building at the Wuzhou International Residential Complex in Taocheng District, Hengshui City, suddenly detached, crashing onto the road and a nearby kindergarten. The person who posted the video was subsequently pressured by the local government to hide the content.
U.S. Central Command stated that a U.S. Navy F/A-18 fighter jet struck the funnels of the cruise ships Starfish 3 and Sevda, which were attempting to violate the U.S. blockade and enter an Iranian port, causing them to lose power.
Iranian officials stated that they seized a Barbados-flagged tanker, Ocean Koi, carrying Iranian oil in the Gulf of Oman. The vessel is managed by a company in Pudong, Shanghai, and had previously been sanctioned by the United States.
The Zhengzhou Teresa Teng Digital Technology Music Center opened, featuring a holographic projection of Teresa Teng singing her new song "Going Home," which prompted the Teresa Teng Cultural and Educational Foundation to issue a public statement saying it was unauthorized.
China's two former defense ministers, Wei Fenghe and Li Shangfu, were sentenced to death with a reprieve in first-instance trials. A military newspaper published an article emphasizing the determination to fight corruption, and outside analysts believe this may be paving the way for the trial of Zhang Youxia.
Thousands of villagers protested at Maojiawan in Zhaotong, Yunnan, the second-largest poverty alleviation relocation resettlement site in China. The conflict was triggered by a monthly parking fee of 360 yuan, leading to clashes after SWAT police arrived to suppress the demonstration.
China's National Financial Regulatory Administration recently issued verbal guidance suggesting that several major domestic banks suspend issuing new RMB loans to five refineries sanctioned by the U.S. for involvement in Iranian oil transactions.
Chongqing Public Security Bureau Director Zhang Anjiang was officially reported to have died of sudden illness, aged 55, leaving the director position vacant for more than two months.
Futu fell 13.76% in a single day, wiping out $3 billion in market value; Tiger dropped 7.2%; Barclays took the opportunity to cut its price target on Futu, sending a weakness signal, and shorts completed strategic short-position building.