China will soon start flight tests of the Long March-10, the rocket designed to land astronauts on the moon by 2030, according to its developer. Rong Yi, a rocket expert with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), said in a social media post on Friday that the development of the new-generation crewed launch rocket was accelerating. “There have been breakthroughs in key technologies, and demonstration verification flights are about to be conducted to support the crewed lunar...

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With the Philippines set to succeed Malaysia next year as chair of Asean, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations faces challenges both within and beyond the region. It must remain united and continue to resist taking sides in the great power rivalry. The 47th Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur was a fitting finale to an exceptional year as the bloc’s profile continued to rise. Adding to this was the admission of East Timor – an important milestone that completes the Asean family and underscores...

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China’s third aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is expected to achieve combat readiness sooner than the previous two, and the country has the potential to produce more carriers for regular deployment on the high seas, according to state media on Friday. The reports also said China had the technology to build nuclear-powered carriers. The Fujian was officially commissioned on Wednesday in Sanya, Hainan province, as the nation’s most advanced carrier and the first with electromagnetic catapults. It...

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Germany needs to think long term and come up with a strategic vision to revive mutual trust with China following a series of diplomatic “bumps” this year, according to international relations observers. The relationship faced a setback last month when German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul postponed his first trip to China. A German foreign ministry official said the visit was called off after Beijing confirmed only one of his requested meetings. Cui Hongjian, director of the European studies...

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China has been quietly restricting the widespread abuse of a form of detention legal critics believe is a key source of illegal interrogation that has led to multiple deaths and blocked suspects’ access to lawyers. There has been no official announcement of the changes. But last month, a leaked file of new guidelines circulated online, adding supervision and restricting the way the measure, known as residential surveillance at a designated location (RSDL), is approved and executed. RSDL was...

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Following the Communist Party of China’s fourth plenum, debate has intensified over the direction of the country’s economy, with manufacturing remaining a central pillar of Beijing’s ambitions for the coming decade. The Communist Party’s Central Committee’s recommendations for the 15th five-year plan, released on October 28, reaffirm China’s goal of achieving socialist modernisation by 2035, measured by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita – a vision outlined in the 14th five-year plan and...

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A recent furore over the future of a popular independent bookstore has shone a fresh spotlight on concerns that the space for public debates and cultural events in China is shrinking. The announcement that the You Xing Bookstore in Chengdu – a venue that had hosted a number of events featuring prominent Chinese and foreign speakers – would shut later this month followed the closure of a number of other bookshops as well as cancelled cultural events and film screenings across the...

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Chinese artificial intelligence start-up DeepSeek made a rare appearance at a state-backed industry event on Friday as a senior researcher reaffirmed the AI lab’s commitment to developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) despite its potentially “dangerous” impacts on society. Chen Deli spoke during a panel discussion alongside the heads of five other companies collectively known as China’s “six little dragons” of AI at the World Internet Conference in Wuzhen, eastern Zhejiang province. It...

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China’s consumer prices returned to growth in October – though the near-zero figure still pointed to persistent deflationary pressures amid weak domestic demand and trade uncertainties – while factory-gate prices continued to fall. The national consumer price index (CPI), a key gauge of inflation, rose 0.2 per cent year on year last month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Sunday. The reading beat market expectations after a poll by financial provider Wind...

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World-renowned astrophysicist Zhang Bing has joined the University of Hong Kong as a chair professor after nearly three decades in the United States. Zhang left the University of Nevada, Las Vegas – where he was a distinguished professor of physics and astronomy – to become the founding director of the newly established Hong Kong Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (HKIAA) at HKU. He said his role in Hong Kong was full-time, but he would continue supervising his PhD students in the US until...

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Yadea – the world’s leading electric two-wheeler brand for eight consecutive years – runs a plant in its home base of Wuxi, in east China’s Jiangsu province, where a single assembly line can produce 1,300 electric bicycles and scooters a day, offering visitors a glimpse of the country’s manufacturing prowess. As of last year, Hong Kong-listed Yadea had sold over 100 million electric two-wheelers in more than 100 countries. It exemplifies how Chinese manufacturers are leveraging automation to...

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In the central Chinese province of Hubei, one small city is going the extra mile to reverse falling birth rates. Grass-roots volunteers in Tianmen are playing matchmaker for its young singles, combing through the details of all unmarried people in the area, putting the information on community posters and offering their services, according to Guangzhou-based Southern Weekend. Video footage posted on social media showed a swearing-in ceremony for the matchmakers in one village. It is one of a...

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The launch of the Fujian, China’s third and most advanced aircraft carrier, has been cause for celebration in Chinese media, with mainland analysts hailing it as superior to its US counterparts and a force for projecting power further into the western Pacific. But overseas analysts have been more tempered, suggesting that there is still a big gap between the naval force of the People’s Liberation Army and the United States in terms of the number of carriers, combat systems, personnel proficiency...

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Chinese businesses should pivot their attention to the “rising” Global South such as Africa and the Middle East while minimising foreign investment risks through localisation, according to a former senior diplomat. Le Yucheng, who was a Chinese foreign vice-minister from 2018 to 2022, offered the assessment on Wednesday at the Hongqiao International Economic Forum in Shanghai, held as part of the China International Import Expo (CIIE), one of the world’s largest trade fairs. The annual six-day...

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The European Commission claimed on Saturday that it has reached an agreement with China’s commerce ministry to restart the flow of semiconductors that had been disrupted by a crisis surrounding the company Nexperia. EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said on social media that, effective immediately, exports of the company’s chips to the bloc for non-military uses will not be subject to Chinese licensing requirements. “My team and I have been in constant contact with the Chinese authorities, and...

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President Xi Jinping has given the southern province of Guangdong the task of strengthening technology, infrastructure and regulatory cooperation with Hong Kong and Macau to advance the Greater Bay Area scheme. “Developing the Greater Bay Area is both a major responsibility and a rare development opportunity for Guangdong,” state news agency Xinhua quoted Xi as telling senior Guangdong officials on Saturday. “Guangdong should make great effort to deepen cooperation with Hong Kong and Macau in...

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Particle beams – streams of atoms or subatomic particles accelerated to nearly the speed of light – have been the holy grail of space warfare. The idea is simple: fire a tightly focused beam of high-energy particles at an enemy satellite or missile, damaging it through sheer kinetic and thermal energy. But turning this vision into reality has remained out of reach. One critical reason is power. To work, a particle beam weapon needs not just massive amounts of energy, but also extreme precision...

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Confirmation from Pakistan’s top naval official that Chinese submarines will soon arrive in the South Asian country suggests India’s dominance of the Indian Ocean could be tested and that Beijing has overcome a major technical hurdle, according to analysts. In an interview with Global Times, affiliated with People’s Daily, Admiral Naveed Ashraf, the Pakistani chief of naval staff, said the first batch of Hangor-class, conventionally powered attack submarines jointly built by China and Pakistan...

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European countries have been forced to boost defence spending because of the “threat” from Russia, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said as he wrapped up a visit to China where he called for the country to put more pressure on Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. In an interview with the South China Morning Post on Thursday, Tsahkna said: “President [Donald] Trump has been very clear that Europe must put skin in the game. Europe must take more responsibility.” Trump had previously...

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In a high-stakes bilateral exchange where Taiwan has historically been an enduring flashpoint, the unusual silence was deafening. Last week’s summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump produced a rare omission – no mention of Taiwan at all in official readouts from both Washington and Beijing. The rare departure from diplomatic tradition has left the self-ruled island with an awkward sense of both relief and unease. While most Western media described the outcome of...

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The Chinese embassy in Japan has urged Chinese citizens in the country to remain vigilant about local wildlife attacks amid a surge in incidents, with fatalities reaching a record high. The embassy released a statement on its official WeChat account on Friday, advising Chinese citizens to monitor wildlife sighting information released by local governments in Japan and avoid areas frequented by bears, wild boars and other animals to minimise risks. Since April, Japan has recorded at least 13...

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Chinese officials have agreed to hold talks with their Dutch counterparts regarding the Nexperia crisis, which has thrown the global automotive chip supply chain into uncertainty, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement on Saturday. In response to remarks made by Netherlands’ Economy Minister Vincent Karremans on Friday – indicating that Nexperia chips made in China could resume shipments in the coming days – Beijing expressed hope that the Dutch side would take concrete actions and agreed...

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China now has the largest naval fleet in the world, and its growing numbers of nuclear-powered submarines are an integral part of its efforts to project power beyond its coastal waters. But the view from Beijing is growing more complex as a handful of US allies in the Pacific also ramp up deployment of nuclear-powered subs. South Korea inched closer to attaining the technology on October 30 when US President Donald Trump said he had given the country approval to build a nuclear-powered...

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The ferocity of China’s biopharmaceutical investment boom this year – fuelled by record-breaking licensing of commercial rights to global giants after a three-year slump – may have surprised casual observers. But according to Helen Chen, one of the most respected analysts and advisers in China’s life sciences space, the supercharged sector’s real renaissance came two years earlier. In December 2022, US drug maker MSD agreed to license global (excluding China) rights to develop and commercialise...

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The fight against a Florida law restricting property purchases by Chinese citizens may hinge on finding new challengers – and on persuading a conservative judiciary unlikely to reverse course, legal experts say. In a 2-1 decision on Tuesday, the 11th US Circuit Court of Appeals in Atlanta upheld two provisions of the 2023 law – requiring buyers to register their property and attest to their eligibility by affidavit, and ruled that the plaintiffs lacked the right to challenge the main purchasing...

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