China has announced it will resume some ties with Taiwan, including direct flights and imports of Taiwanese aquaculture products. The decision follows a visit by Taiwan's opposition leader. China's Communist Party said it would explore setting up a communication mechanism with Taiwan’s Kuomingtang Party. Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council criticized the move as a "political transaction" that bypasses Taiwan's government. Relations between China and Taiwan have been tense since 2016, with Beijing cutting off most official dialogue. China also plans to resume direct flights and work on a bridge connecting the mainland to Taiwanese islands.

President Donald Trump this week said he believes he’ll have “the honor of taking Cuba” soon.  Without declaring a formal blockade, Trump and his administration have already crippled trade with the island and threatened the future of the Communist Party regime. In March, supplies of oil, food and other goods to the island collapsed, with no foreign-originating tankers arriving to Cuba, according to shipping data analyzed by Windward, a maritime intelligence firm. The volume of port calls, which includes tankers moving from one Cuban port to another, averaged around 50 per month in 2025 but fell to just 11 in March - all of them arriving from domestic ports. It was the lowest since 2017.