China News

Recently, some major Western media outlets have focused on China’s embrace of clean energy technologies. Between the lines of the rhetoric on China becoming an “electrostate”, there is palpable anxiety about US President Donald Trump’s “drill, baby, drill” approach and the partisan political landscape. The New York Times highlighted one of China’s longest ultra-high-voltage power lines, stretching from the far northwest remote desert to the populous southeast, noting that these power lines are...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

BeOne Medicines, a global drug company that originated in mainland China, plans to launch more cancer drugs in Hong Kong and expand production in Guangzhou to tap greater market opportunities arising from local drug-approval reforms two years ago. The company has brought three types of cancer medications to Hong Kong so far and intends to seek approval from local health authorities to cover additional medical indications by the end of this year. “The Guangzhou facility, which now produces large...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Increased collaboration between Hong Kong and mainland China could potentially lead to more advances in the cryptocurrency sector, according to industry experts who took part in the 11th Global Blockchain Summit in Shanghai on Thursday. That assessment comes amid the central government’s years-long ban on a range of crypto-related activities on the mainland, including initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency trading and bitcoin mining. Calls for Hong Kong and the mainland to collaborate in...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

US President Donald Trump will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on October 30 in South Korea, the White House confirmed. “On Thursday morning local time, President Trump will participate in a bilateral meeting with President Xi of the People’s Republic of China,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing on Thursday. The meeting between the two leaders will take place at the end of a trip by the US president to Asia, which will begin in Malaysia, continue to Japan and...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China topped the world in knowledge and technology outputs this year in a leading innovation index, driven in large part by its scientific productivity, patent applications and hi-tech exports. Despite its strong showing in sci-tech output, China came in 10th overall in the World Intellectual Property Organisation (Wipo)’s annual Global Innovation Index (GII) released last month. It was Switzerland that took the top spot in the ranking for the 15th year in a row, raising questions among some in...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

To justify his threat of a 100 per cent tariff on imports from China, US President Donald Trump framed China’s tightening of its export controls on rare earths as “hostile”. However, Beijing’s expanded rules are a direct and reasonable response to the Trump administration’s relentless campaign of ratcheting up restrictions on Chinese companies and exports. On September 12, just two days before US-China trade talks in Madrid, Spain, the US blacklisted 23 Chinese institutions. On September 25,...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

A subsidiary of Chinese battery company Gotion has abandoned a plan to build a US$2.4 billion plant in Michigan to produce essential materials for electric vehicle batteries, the state said on Thursday. The plan, first announced in October 2022, was expected to create 2,350 factory jobs but came under criticism from some lawmakers for the company’s Chinese ownership. The Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) said none of a US$125 million state grant for the project was ever disbursed...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Binance co-founder Zhao Changpeng has received a pardon from US President Donald Trump after he went to prison for failing to safeguard the world’s largest crypto exchange against money laundering. “President Trump exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden administration in their war on cryptocurrency,” said White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt. Zhao wrote in a social media post that he was “deeply grateful for today’s pardon and...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

A group of US Republican lawmakers is urging President Donald Trump to confront Chinese President Xi Jinping at an expected summit next week about Americans they view as unjustly detained or barred from leaving China, framing Beijing’s use of exit bans and detention as “tools” to gain leverage. In a letter released on Thursday, three Republicans – Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska, Representatives Chris Smith of New Jersey and John Moolenaar of Michigan – highlighted the cases of Dawn Michelle Hunt...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

With the US threatening to leverage its software strengths ahead of fresh trade talks with China in response to its recent export controls on rare earths, analysts say Beijing is unlikely to make major concessions, though progress could be made on issues such as soybeans or fentanyl. Washington is reportedly considering imposing curbs on a range of software-powered exports to China – from laptops to jet engines – according to Reuters, following a threat by US President Donald Trump earlier this...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

The European Union has sanctioned two mainland Chinese oil refineries and one Hong Kong-based oil trader as part of its latest efforts to hobble Russia’s war economy, drawing a stern rebuke from Beijing. The companies were listed in a broader package of sanctions agreed by the EU’s 27 member states on Thursday morning, punishing in total 15 mainland Chinese or Hong Kong-registered entities over what Brussels considers illicit trade with Russia. China’s foreign ministry hit back immediately,...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) CEO Bonnie Chan Yiting cautioned that the fundraising bonanza in the city, which leads the global initial public offering (IPO) rankings this year, could slow down amid geopolitical and economic risks. “I would say that we need to be very conscious that the world is still under a lot of stress geopolitically and macroeconomically,” she said at the Bund Summit financial forum in Shanghai on Thursday. “I think it’s too early [for the HKEX] to claim...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng to talk with US officials in Malaysia China’s Vice-Premier He Lifeng will hold trade talks with US officials during a visit to Malaysia from Friday to Monday, Beijing’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday.
2. Avoid West’s ‘discourse trap’ when defending China: ex-government adviser China should break free from Western...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Weeks after China unveiled its lightweight but powerful Type 100 main battle tank featuring diesel-electric propulsion, the US Army’s pursuit of a similar design for a hybrid-electric next-generation version of the Abrams tank faces a new strategic hurdle. Beijing has imposed export controls on the advanced lithium batteries critical for powering such next-generation military systems, creating a significant and immediate supply challenge for the US development timeline. The Type 100 tank was...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China has accused the United States of showing “a lack of basic respect” for Central America following its threat to ban officials and others from the region with ties to the Communist Party from entering the country. The State Department said last month that it would “restrict US visas for Central American nationals … intentionally acting on behalf of the Chinese Communist Party” and who “knowingly direct, authorise, fund, provide significant support to, or carry out activities that undermine...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Australia should lead the creation of a formal Five Eyes-style intelligence club in the Pacific amid China’s growing presence in the region, a prominent foreign policy think tank has suggested. Dubbed “Pacific Eyes”, the proposed intelligence-sharing alliance could help to plug institutional gaps that “external powers” – particularly Beijing – were eager to exploit, the Sydney-based Lowy Institute said in a report released on Tuesday. It recommended that the dedicated framework initially consist...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

As US President Donald Trump talked up meetings with President Xi Jinping and vowed on Monday to reach a deal with China, analysts said a comprehensive trade agreement was still unlikely in the near term despite the latest in a series of conciliatory signals from the US side. “When we finish our meetings in South Korea,” Trump said, referring to a planned summit with Xi before or during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) forum this month, “China and I will have a really fair and really...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Unitree Robotics has launched an education platform for students to train robot dogs and understand how they operate based on the start-up’s Go2 system, as adoption of these quadruped machines expands from enthusiasts to mainstream consumers. According to its social media post on Tuesday, Unitree has developed an in-person training course with ready-to-use tools that would enable students to learn the operation, maintenance and applications of a quadruped robot – specifically, the company’s...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Completing the delivery of all 66 F-16V fighter jets ordered from the United States by the end of next year will be “challenging”, Taiwan’s defence minister has conceded, with the island yet to receive any of the aircraft. The admission from Defence Minister Wellington Koo Li-hsiung highlights growing concerns in Taiwan over delays to one of its most important arms deals with Washington – a programme regarded as essential to bolstering air power as Beijing steps up military pressure on the...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. Trump downplays Beijing threat to Taiwan as Australia touts rare earths deal While Trump celebrated a multibillion-dollar minerals deal with Canberra aimed at curbing China’s leverage in trade talks, he also dominated the encounter by opining that Beijing had no plans to invade Taiwan and posed no real threat in the Indo-Pacific.
2. How a single rule change...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

A critical minerals framework deal valued at US$8.5 billion between the United States and Australia will allow American buyers to rely less on Chinese rare earth metals, but developing a secure, independent supply chain may take the US 10 to 20 years, according to analysts. “Deals like this go a long way – this is a good start,” said Pini Althaus, CEO of US-based rare earth metal investor and developer Cove Capital, adding that Beijing would likely grow “more concerned” as the deal matures and...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

Chinese scientists have created a superfast analogue chip that can solve complex maths problems for advanced scientific tasks and artificial intelligence (AI) while using less power than conventional computing, according to a paper published this month. The analogue device designed by researchers from Peking University uses memory chips made of resistive materials. With future improvements, it could perform calculations at a processing rate 1,000 times faster than top digital processors, such as...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China is in talks with Japan and South Korea – both US allies – about a possible trilateral currency swap to bolster the region’s financial safety net and deepen economic cooperation amid US President Donald Trump’s trade war, according to a source familiar with the issue. Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), touched on the issue with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts, Rhee Chang-yong and Kazuo Ueda, on the sidelines of the IMF-World Bank annual meetings in...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

China’s commerce minister has accepted an “urgent” invitation to Brussels, the EU’s trade chief Maros Sefcovic said on Tuesday, as the bloc looks to unpick Beijing’s restrictions on rare earth mineral exports and defuse a row over Dutch-based chipmaker Nexperia. The EU is seeking China to relax export licensing requirements for rare earth elements and magnets, which are crucial to manufacturing hi-tech goods, from fighter jets to electric vehicles, and which were broadened earlier this month. It...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.

US President Donald Trump is expected to approach his coming summit with Xi Jinping by relying on personal chemistry and his “gut”, but his ability to charm the Chinese leader will be limited at best, analysts and former government officials in Washington said on Tuesday. The first meeting in six years between the heads of the world’s two largest economies is expected to take place shortly before the October 31-November 1 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in South Korea. Among the topics...

From China - South China Morning Post via This RSS Feed.