As US President Donald Trump ratcheted up economic pressure on China over the past week, Beijing sent back its own message: Its rise won’t be interrupted.

A major political meeting taking place in the capital was the ideal backdrop for Beijing to respond. The “two sessions” gathering of China’s rubber-stamp legislature and its top political advisory body is where the government reveals its plans and sets the tone for the year ahead.

The top item on its priority list? Boosting consumer demand to ensure China doesn’t need to rely on exports to power its vast but slowing economy. And the next: driving forward leader Xi Jinping’s bid to transform the country into a technological superpower, by ramping up investment and enlisting the private sector.

Beijing is making these moves as it prepares for what could be a protracted economic showdown with the United States. Trump doubled additional tariffs on all Chinese imports to 20% on Tuesday and has threatened more to come – as well as tighter controls on American investment in China.

“We can prevail over any difficulty in pursuing development,” China’s No. 2 official Li Qiang told thousands of delegates seated in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People at the opening meeting of the National People’s Congress Wednesday. The “giant ship of China’s economy” will “sail steadily toward the future,” he said.

A foreign ministry spokesperson was more direct when asked about trade frictions on Tuesday: “If the US insists on waging a tariff war, trade war, or any other kind of war, China will fight till the end,” he told reporters.

And while Beijing’s priorities – and rhetoric – may echo those of years past, this time they are coming from a country that is starting to regain its swagger after being battered by its own Covid restrictions, a property sector crisis and by a tech war with the US.

“Confidence” has been an unofficial buzzword of the weeklong event, which ends Tuesday. It was used nearly a dozen times during a press conference held by China’s economic tsars on Thursday, splashed across state media coverage and included in a pointed reminder – that “confidence builds strength”– during the closing lines of Li’s nationally broadcast speech.

That optimism might be more aspiration than reality. Many in China are looking to the future with uncertainty. They’re more willing to save than spend, while young people are struggling to find jobs and feeling unsure whether their lives will be better than those of their parents.

But unlike last year, the country is entering 2025 buoyed by the market-moving successes of Chinese firms and technology. And while Trump’s return has Beijing concerned about economic risks, it’s also eyeing opportunity for its own rise.

Confidence boost

This mood isn’t just percolating in the halls of power.

On the streets of the capital, gleaming homegrown electric vehicles weave through traffic, including those from carmaker BYD, which now goes toe-to-toe with Elon Musk’s Tesla for global sales – a reminder of China’s successful push to become a leader in green tech.

Then there’s the box office record-smashing animation “Ne Zha 2” and the breakout success of privately owned Chinese AI firm DeepSeek. Its large language model shocked Silicon Valley and upended Western assumptions about the costs associated with AI.

In Beijing this week, “you can ask DeepSeek” has been a playful and proud punchline in casual conversation.

“Last year, people may have been impacted by the US narrative that China is declining, that China has peaked,” said Wang Yiwei, director of the Institute of International Affairs at Renmin University in Beijing. “We still have many difficulties. We still have many problems, of course, but it’s not that we’ve reached peak China.”

“China is developing quickly now and that’s attracted international attention, especially from the United States,” but that may not be a bad thing, said a medical graduate student surnamed Xia. “Trump’s increase on tariffs is competition … (and) if there’s no competition maybe China’s independent development is not sustainable.”

High stakes rivalry

But even as Chinese officials seek to project confidence, international observers say the economic stimulus measures announced this week show Beijing is girding itself for major challenges to come.

Premier Li alluded to that in his opening address. “The external environment is becoming more complex and severe, which may have a greater impact on the country’s trade, science and technology and other fields,” he said.

China doesn’t want to deal with that volatility while also grappling with a weak economy at home. That’s one reason why it’s trying to boost consumption and spur growth, setting an ambitious expansion target of “around 5%” this year. Beijing is also aware that trade frictions mean the economy needs to rely less on exports.

“It is likely that Beijing has thought through the scenarios of Trade War 2.0, but whatever happens, it is clear that China’s growth will have to rely more on domestic demand,” said Bert Hofman, a professor at the East Asian Institute at the National University Singapore and former World Bank country director for China, in a note.

Still, some analysts say Beijing’s initiatives are short on details and much less aggressive than needed to rev up the economy and boost consumer confidence.

“It adds up to a sense by the leadership that they want to refocus on growth and development, but still a desire to do only as much as necessary in terms of stimulus to get there,” said Michael Hirson, a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis.

Xi may also be balancing this goal with another concern: a need to save some firepower to support the economy if China faces “a nasty four years dealing with Donald Trump,” he said.

Beijing also wants to direct resources toward the high-tech transformation of its economy and industries. That’s another key part of the government’s 2025 agenda – and a long-term objective of Xi, who unlike US presidents is not subject to term limits on his leadership.

Beijing is pushing for innovations in AI, robotics, 6G and quantum computing, announcing a state-backed fund to support tech innovation and even welcoming foreign enterprises – in a significant tone shift for Xi – to play a role.

China is still smarting from the first Trump administration’s campaign to keep its tech champion Huawei out of global mobile networks and from the Biden administration’s efforts to convince allies to join it in cutting Chinese access to advanced semiconductors.

Last month, Washington said it was considering expanding restrictions on US investment in sensitive technologies in China.

But Beijing this week has also touted its confidence in advancing no matter the barriers.

“Be it space science or chip making, unjustified external suppression has never stopped,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters Friday. “But where there is blockade, there is breakthrough; where there is suppression, there is innovation.”

“We are witnessing an ever-expanding horizon for China to become a science and technology powerhouse,” he said.

The Trump threat?

How much Trump’s policies will challenge China remains an open and urgent question for Beijing.

The US president has refrained so far from slapping Chinese imports with the blanket 60% or more tariffs that he had threatened on the campaign trail.

He’s been focused elsewhere, including on unleashing sweeping changes to US global leadership by decimating US foreign assistance, threatening to take control of other countries’ sovereign territory, and upending US alliances in Europe, while pulling closer to Russia at the expense of Ukraine.

There are potential risks for Beijing in that shake-up. For example, if a Washington-Moscow rapprochement pulls Xi away from Russian President Vladimir Putin, his closest ally, or if an American dial-down of security in Europe allows it to ramp up attention on Asia.

But Chinese diplomats have also been taking advantage of the changes to play up their country as a responsible and stable global leader, despite criticisms of Beijing’s own aggressive behavior in Asia.

When it comes to tariffs, observers say Beijing is trying to moderate its response, holding out for a potential meeting between Xi and Trump or perhaps even a deal that could avert an escalating trade war.

While China immediately retaliated against two sets of US tariffs this year, including with levies on US energy and key agricultural goods, it has remained measured in its reprisals.

The country’s deficit with the US means it will have less room to hit back if a trade war escalates, but Beijing is expected to be calculating other measures like export controls that it could use for leverage.

And the view from some parts is that even if tariffs cause the Chinese economy short-term pain, it will be the US which loses in the long run. China is still an indispensable part of global supply chains. It’s also better prepared to weather this trade war than the last one, because it’s sending goods to more markets globally now, data show.

“If you play (imposing tariffs) with a peer competitor, it actually would not work that well compared to if you’re doing this with small countries or medium powers,” said Zhou in Beijing, who is also the author of the forthcoming book “Should the World Fear China?”.

China, he said, wants cooperation not friction.

“But since the US is still the stronger side in this relationship, (it will) decide which kind of relationship this is … so China has to say ‘OK – if this has to be to be one of competition, then we must dare to fight,’” he said.

Malala Yousafzai has returned to her hometown in Pakistan, 13 years after she was shot in the head by the Taliban.

The 27-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner shared a picture of herself in the stunning landscape of northern Pakistan on social media, saying it was the first time she had been back there since she was brutally attacked at just 15 years old.

She wrote: “As a child, I spent every holiday in Shangla, Pakistan, playing by the river and sharing meals with my extended family. It was such a joy for me to return there today – after 13 long years – to be surrounded by the mountains, dip my hands in the cold river and laugh with my beloved cousins. This place is very dear to my heart and I hope to return again and again.”

In October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Taliban while riding a bus home from school. In the days that followed the shocking attack, the teenager was airlifted to hospital in Birmingham, England for life-saving surgery.

She and her family settled in Britain, where she went on to graduate from Oxford University. She has since devoted her working life to campaigning for educational rights for girls and women around the world under the umbrella of the international non-profit organization the Malala Fund.

“At the college, she addressed the students during a special event. She then visited her grandmother’s grave in the family cemetery. After spending about two and a half hours in Shangla, Malala Yousafzai departed for Islamabad via helicopter. Strict security arrangements were in place throughout her visit.”

In her post on Wednesday, Yousafzai went on to reference the ongoing instability in her country of birth. She wrote: “I pray for peace in every corner of our beautiful country. The recent attacks, including in Bannu yesterday, are heartbreaking. I am sending my condolences to the victims and their families and offer my prayers for the safety of every person in my homeland.”

She was referring to an attack earlier this week in Bannu in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in which at least 12 people were killed.

A group affiliated with the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack in the northwestern area of the country in which two suicide bombers breached a wall at a military base, before other attackers stormed the compound.

The comments also come with the Gaza ceasefire hanging by a thread, after Israel blocked vital aid into enclave in an attempt to pressure Hamas to reverse its rejection of a revised proposal to extend the truce.

He said “stability can only be achieved through an agreement with Hamas. I believe that meetings with the American side aim to achieve this goal.”

Since the October 7 terror attack, Israel has refused to hold direct talks with Hamas and vowed to eliminate the group. Following news of the talks between and US and the militant group, Israel said it “expressed to the United States its position regarding direct talks with Hamas” without saying what its position was.

Masri said that Hamas wanted to resolve the issue of American-Israeli hostages in Gaza in exchange for the start of negotiations on the second phase of the ceasefire, in which the remaining live hostages would be released in return for a sustainable end to the fighting.

Only one living American hostage, Edan Alexander, is believed to remain in Gaza. The group also holds four dead Americans. At least 12 dual US-Israelis are thought to have been captured on October 7.

He said that Trump “speaks about Israeli prisoners, who are only a few dozen, while ignoring the nearly 10,000 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.”

Israel has been pushing Hamas to extend the initial phase of the ceasefire and release more hostages without providing any firm commitment to withdraw its forces and move to ending the war.

Despite the talks between Hamas and the US, there has been no letup in Trump’s threats to Hamas. On Thursday it was posted on his Truth Social site account that Hamas should release all hostages now or there would be “hell to pay.”

The US envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, raised the specter Thursday of American military action in Gaza, telling reporters at the White House that it was “unclear” what would happen if Hamas does not comply with American demands to release hostages.

“I think there’s going to be some action taken,” he said. “It could be jointly with the Israelis. It’s unclear right now. But I think Hamas has an opportunity to act reasonably. To do what’s right. And then walk out.”

Masri, who is also a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council representing North Gaza, said Trump’s recent threats were “designed to provide a safe cover for the occupation to commit further acts of genocide against the Palestinian people.” He urged the Trump administration not to become a “replica” of the Biden administration in its support for Israel.

He claimed that “the US administration, through its blatant bias toward Israel, positions itself as a party to the conflict rather than a mediator.”

“Threats and intimidation will not be effective. Attempts to forcibly displace the people of Gaza are futile,” he added.

Trump has repeatedly said that the Palestinian population in Gaza must leave the territory so the US can take ownership of it and build a Middle Eastern “riviera.”

European leaders have vowed to rearm the continent at historic emergency talks held after the United States threatened to rip up 80 years of security guarantees over the trajectory of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Since taking office in January, US President Donald Trump has fundamentally changed transatlantic relations, suspended all military aid and intelligence sharing to Kyiv and again cast doubt that the US would defend its NATO allies if attacked.

With Russia posing what French President Emmanual Macron called an “existential threat” to Europe, the continent is now scrambling to prepare for the once-unthinkable prospect of defending itself in a potential future conflict without the help of America.

And as the European Union leaders push for Ukraine and Europe to heard in peace talks, they were joined by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Brussels on Thursday.

Zelensky announced he will visit Saudi Arabia next week to present an initial ceasefire plan ahead of talks between Kyiv and Washington, following his unprecedented televised argument with Trump in the White House last week.

Here’s what to know:

Billions in defense spending

At an extraordinary meeting of the European Council in Brussels, the EU leaders agreed to plans that could free up billions of euros to ensure Europe’s security, boost defense spending, and shore up support for Kyiv.

The EU’s executive arm presented leaders with a proposal that could mobilize up to 800 billion euros ($862 billion) to bolster defense on the continent.

Part of the rearmament plan would provide countries with loans totaling up to 150 billion euros ($162 billion).

European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen called it a “watershed moment” for Europe and said detailed legal proposals will be studied ahead of another meeting at the end of the month.

Macron also announced the EU will give Ukraine more than $33 billion in assistance, taken from Russians sanctioned by Europe. “In 2025, the EU will provide Ukraine with 30.6 billion euros, financed by Russian assets,” Macron said.

The leaders said that Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine constituted an “existential challenge for the European Union,” and that Europe must become “more sovereign, more responsible for its own defense and better equipped to act and deal autonomously with immediate and future challenges and threats.”

Alarm over Article 5

A joint declaration from the NATO leaders’ summit in Washinton, DC last year, stated that “Russia remains the most significant and direct threat to NATO security.” In the eyes of his allies, Trump is throwing that central theme to the wind.

On Thursday, Trump again suggested the US may abandon its commitments to the security alliance – a key bedrock of Western security against the risk of a Russian attack – saying that member countries were not spending enough on defense.

“I think it’s common sense. If they don’t pay, I’m not going to defend them,” Trump said.

At the core of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and enshrined in Article 5 of the treaty is the promise of collective defense — that an attack on one member nation is an attack on all.

Trump has long complained about the amount NATO members spend on defense compared with the US.

But his comments could raise alarm around the world, coming as the US changes its position on the Ukraine war, and amid accusations the Trump administration is aligning with Russia over its allies.

“We see now the White House takes steps towards the Kremlin, trying to meet them half way, so the next target of Russia could be Europe,” Kyiv’s ambassador to the United Kingdom Valerii Zaluzhnyi said Thursday. He added that the US is “destroying” the current world order.

NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte on Thursday emphasized the importance of the US’ commitment to NATO, saying, “Let me be clear, the Transatlantic relationship and the Transatlantic partnership remains the bedrock of our Alliance.”

A peace deal with Europe’s involvement

As European leaders voiced near-unanimous support for Ukraine, European Commission President Von der Leyen warned that negotiations for peace would only be possible with Europe’s support.

Of the 27 EU leaders present in Brussels, all but one signed a text calling for a peace deal that respects “Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity,” while including Ukraine in the negotiations. Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban abstained.

France’s Macron had outlined a plan for a one-month “air, sea and energy infrastructure” ceasefire in Ukraine, which could pave the way for a more lasting peace deal.

But he warned that allies “must avoid a ceasefire that is discussed in haste.”

And Ukraine withdrawing its NATO bid without a security guarantee as a condition of any ceasefire is “obviously unacceptable,” he added.

Zelensky said he is “preparing practical proposals” to end the war with European leaders. The first step would be for Russia to stop airstrikes on energy and civilian infrastructure and halt “all military operations in the Black Sea,” Zelensky posted on X.

The Ukrainian president will meet with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia next week, and his team will stay in the country “to work with our American partners,” he said.

The UK and Turkey, two NATO allies and key backers of Ukraine – but not EU members – were not present at the summit. Britain’s leader Keir Starmer has said he is ready to put boots on the ground in Ukraine to help keep any truce agreed between Kyiv and Moscow.

Maria Zakharova, a spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, rejected the one-month ceasefire proposal, and said the idea of European peacekeeping troops being deployed in Ukraine would be “unacceptable.”

The ministry said the “normalization” of the Russia-US relationship is “causing panic” in Europe.

Meanwhile, China’s special envoy for European Affairs Lu Shaye said he hopes Europe can be stirred by the “Trump administration’s aggressive and domineering policies toward Europe” to “at least reflect on some of their past policies toward China.”

Sudan has filed a case against the United Arab Emirates at the World Court for allegedly violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention by arming the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, the International Court of Justice said on Thursday.

The United Arab Emirates said it would seek immediate dismissal of the case, which it said lacked “any legal or factual basis,” a UAE official said in a statement to Reuters.

The charges are in connection with intense ethnic-based attacks by the RSF and allied Arab militias against the non-Arab Masalit tribe in 2023 in West Darfur, documented in detail by Reuters. Those attacks were determined to be genocide by the United States in January.

The Sudanese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters has seen a copy of the government’s application.

Sudanese officials have frequently accused the UAE of supporting the RSF, the government’s rivals in an almost two-year-old civil war, charges the UAE denies but U.N. experts and U.S. lawmakers have found credible.

At the ICJ, Sudan alleges the RSF committed “genocide, murder, theft of property, rape, forcible displacement, trespassing, vandalism of public properties, and violation of human rights,” according to a statement by the ICJ, also known as the World Court.

“According to Sudan, all such acts have been ‘perpetrated and enabled by the direct support given to the rebel RSF militia and related militia groups by the United Arab Emirates,’” it said.

The UAE official said: “The UAE is aware of the recent application by the Sudanese Armed Force’s representative to the International Court of Justice, which is nothing more than a cynical publicity stunt aimed at diverting attention from the established complicity of the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) in the widespread atrocities that continue to devastate Sudan and its people.”

The UAE maintains that it is committed to addressing the humanitarian crisis and has “consistently called for an immediate ceasefire” in Sudan, in a statement.

The war between the Sudanese army and the RSF, which erupted after a power struggle over integrating the forces in April 2023, has devastated the country, spreading hunger and disease while risking its fragmentation, and has drawn in several foreign powers.

It has sparked ethnic attacks in multiple areas, but the bloodiest were in West Darfur, where survivors told Reuters that Masalit boys were targeted for killing while young women were targeted for rapes over waves of attacks soon after the war began.

The ICJ is the U.N.’s highest court that deals with disputes between states and violations of international treaties. Sudan and the UAE are both signatories of the 1948 Genocide Convention.

Sudan is asking the court to impose emergency measures and to order the Emirates to prevent such genocidal acts.

While a hearing on the emergency measures should come before the ICJ within weeks, it will take years before the court will issue a final ruling which could determine if a genocide had been committed in Darfur.

The RSF and allied political groups are in the process of setting up a parallel government to the army-aligned one which has taken Port Sudan on the Red Sea, a move rejected by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.

Reporting by Reuters’ Maha El Dahan, Stephanie van den Berg, Khalid Abdelaziz, and Bart Meijer; writing by Nafisa Eltahir; Editing by Toby Chopra, William Maclean

Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk said Friday that his government is working on a plan to prepare large-scale military training for every adult male in response to the changing security situation in Europe.

Tusk told the country’s Sejm, the lower house of parliament, that the military training would create a reserve force that is “adequate to possible threats.”

The speech was focused on the international security situation. Poland is located along NATO’s eastern flank and is deeply concerned by the war in Ukraine. There are fears that if Ukraine is defeated, Russia will turn its imperial ambitions next to countries like Poland, which it controlled during the 19th century and during the Cold War.

Jaroslaw Kaczyński, the head of Poland’s largest opposition party, the conservative Law and Justice, said a mental shift in society would also be needed in addition to the military training of men. “We will have a return to the chivalric ethos and to the fact that men should also be soldiers, that is, be able to expose themselves, even to death,” Kaczyński said.

Concern has grown in Poland and across most of Europe as President Donald Trump has shifted the US position from being a defender of Ukraine to withholding military aid and intelligence and signalling a support for Russia’s position.

“If Ukraine loses the war or if it accepts the terms of peace, armistice, or capitulation in such a way that weakens its sovereignty and makes it easier for (Russian President Vladimir) Putin to gain control over Ukraine, then, without a doubt — and we can all agree on that — Poland will find itself in a much more difficult geopolitical situation,” Tusk said.

President Andrzej Duda on Friday said he submitting an amendment to the Polish constitution for consideration which would oblige the country to spend at least 4% of its GDP each year on defense.

Poland is already NATO’s top spender on defense as a percentage of its overall economy, spending above 4% of its GDP this year. But Duda said he wanted to take advantage of the consensus on the political scene in Poland today on the matter to enshrine it in the highest law.

Trump has suggested that the US might abandon its commitments to the alliance if member countries don’t meet defense spending targets.