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Lawrence J. Lau is a Hong Kong economist specialising in economic development and East Asian economies. He was an economics professor at Stanford University in the United States before becoming vice-chancellor and president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong until 2010. Lau has held the Ralph and Claire Landau Professor of Economics chair at the university since 2007. For other interviews in the series, click here. SCMP Plus readers get early access to articles in the Open Questions series....

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The notion that China is flooding the world with excess industrial capacity is usually based on its massive surplus in goods trade, now standing at nearly US$1.2 trillion. That number is real, but treating it as proof of systemic overcapacity is not entirely correct. Goods trade is only one slice of China’s external balance, and it is increasingly offset by large outflows such as import of services and investment income payments. Moreover, China’s total current account surplus is US$657 billion...

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A key US congressional panel on Thursday advanced four Taiwan-related bills aimed at strengthening the island’s energy security, communications resilience and diplomatic influence as lawmakers ramp up efforts to counter Beijing ahead of President Donald Trump’s expected visit to China in April. The move by the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee reflects a broader trend in Congress, in which support for Taiwan often exceeds the administration’s position. Thursday’s coordinated action signals...

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China’s leadership has paid tribute to Liao Xilong, praising the late general for his loyalty to the Communist Party and military service. Liao, 85, who was in charge of overhauling military logistics, died on January 23, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday, the day of his funeral. “[Liao was] a time-tested and loyal communist warrior, an outstanding military commander, and an exemplary leader in advancing the comprehensive modernisation of military logistics,” the report said. The...

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Chinese President Xi Jinping received a unique gift from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Beijing on Thursday: the official match ball from Sunday’s fixture between Manchester United and Arsenal, according to media reports. Starmer is on an official visit to China, the first by a British leader since 2018. While Starmer is an ardent Arsenal fan, Xi is reportedly a supporter of Manchester United. Manchester United secured a 3-2 victory in a tightly contested match. By offering the gift...

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Nearly three-quarters of Americans expect China to overtake the US in power and global influence at some point – if it has not done so already, according to a survey by a US foreign policy institute. Releasing the results of a national poll earlier this month, the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said 47 per cent of the 1,500 adults surveyed agreed that China had already surpassed the United States or would do so within the next five years. A further 27 per cent said the shift would...

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At Davos, US President Donald Trump declared he had “always had a very good relationship with President Xi” Jinping, calling the Chinese leader “an incredible man”, “highly respected by everybody”. Trump also praised TikTok’s decision to transfer parts of its US business to a consortium of US investors, thanking Xi on social media. This broadly friendly rhetoric is likely to be a signal of Washington’s keen interest in finalising a trade deal with the world’s second-largest economy. Trump’s...

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British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca said on Thursday it plans to invest US$15 billion in China through 2030, signalling renewed momentum in Sino-UK commercial ties. The investment – the biggest deal announced so far during UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s trip to Beijing aimed at strengthening trade ties – will support expanded medicines manufacturing as well as research and development (R&D), the company said in a statement. “Unlocking opportunities for British businesses across...

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A Chinese court has executed 11 people, including several citizens of Myanmar, linked to a notorious telecoms fraud group based in the Southeast Asian country for crimes including fraud, drug trafficking and murder. The Wenzhou Intermediate People’s Court in eastern Zhejiang province carried out the executions of people who formed the core leadership of the Ming family crime syndicate and associated telecoms fraud groups, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday. According to China’s Supreme...

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After testing Tesla’s driver assistance system FSD earlier this month, Chinese economist Ren Zeping exclaimed that autonomous driving’s large-scale real-world implementation was progressing much faster than he thought. Though driverless taxis are so far only being tested in designated areas in Chinese cities, he prophesied that autonomous driving would soon become widespread. “Autonomous driving will erupt in the next couple of years. Large models enable a unified driving paradigm, letting tens...

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The European Union has surpassed the United States as the economy with the most serious trade disputes with China, driven by conflicts over semiconductor materials, rare earth magnets and other strategic sectors, according to a Chinese trade body. A monthly index released on Wednesday by the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), a semi-official Beijing-based organisation, found that in November 2025 – the last month tracked – the EU ranked as China’s top source of trade...

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Beijing has released footage of an upgraded J-20A stealth fighter undergoing flight tests, with observers noting it appeared to be equipped with the long-awaited high-thrust WS-15 engine alongside significant avionics enhancements. Chengdu Aircraft Corporation – the Aviation Industry Corporation of China subsidiary responsible for the J-20 stealth fighter – released new imagery and flight footage of its latest test aircraft last Saturday. According to a social media post by state news agency...

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The Taiwan government has cleared Nvidia to establish a NT$3.3 billion (US$105 million) headquarters on the island that produces most of the world’s advanced semiconductors, which the Silicon Valley chip designer will need to feed the red-hot global artificial intelligence sector. Nvidia would use the Taipei site for a “commercial office” building and the acquisition of land for a “comprehensive business park”, the island’s Ministry of Economic Affairs announced on Wednesday. The approval came a...

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney does not mince his words. Writing for The Economist last November, Carney argued the post-Cold War had collapsed and said the world was “entering an era of ‘variable geometry’” involving “pragmatic coalitions, built around shared interests, and occasionally shared values, rather than shared institutions”. The essay, it turns out, was the prelude to a hard-hitting speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 20. Carney told attendees...

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A widely shared video on Chinese social media shows customers scrambling to get furniture and even fighting over items during what appears to be a clearance sale at an Ikea outlet in the country. The multinational furniture retailer has announced plans to close seven of its stores in China from February 2. The move is part of a strategy to shift Ikea’s focus from scale expansion to targeted growth. China’s weak property market and sluggish consumer spending have dampened demand for Ikea goods.

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While some Western scholars have maintained that the development of large-scale water projects fostered what they called “Oriental despotism”, new archaeological evidence from China has presented a different story. According to the Key Laboratory of Archaeological Science and Cultural Heritage Protection at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, the study has pushed the history of large-scale water conservancy in China back by nearly 3,000 years. Researcher Liu Jianguo said in Beijing on...

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The sudden demise of a major gold trading platform has rocked the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, leaving tens of thousands of retail investors with combined losses totalling more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.4 billion), according to investors and domestic media reports. Chinese retail investors have rushed to capitalise on the unprecedented rally in global gold prices in recent months, leading many to put their funds into the online metals trading platform JWR. But as the gold spot price...

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China and Britain need to deepen dialogue and strengthen cooperation amid an increasingly complex international environment, Chinese President Xi Jinping said as he began talks with Britain’s Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In brief opening remarks at their meeting in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Thursday, the Chinese leader said Beijing was willing to work with Britain. “China stands ready to work with the UK to foster a long-term and stable comprehensive strategic partnership,” Xi...

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A Chinese AI system has outperformed its US competitors in solving geometry problems at the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) level, taking less than half the time and using simpler computational resources, according to its developers. Unlike existing models confined to problem-solving, the Chinese system can also generate mathematical problems – three of which appeared in a Chinese national team qualifying exam and a top Olympiad in the United States in 2024. “We present TongGeometry, a...

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As China’s two largest cities by economic output, Beijing and Shanghai are widely seen as barometers for the country’s broader economic performance. In 2025, Beijing’s gross domestic product reached 5.2 trillion yuan (US$748 billion), making it the second Chinese city to cross the 5-trillion-yuan mark after Shanghai, which breached the threshold in 2024 and did so again in 2025 with a GDP of 5.67 trillion yuan. Based on last year’s figures, each city’s economic size is comparable to that of a...

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Following the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam, Chinese President Xi Jinping, who is also General Secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, held phone talks with To Lam, who was re-elected General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) Central Committee at the first meeting of the … Continue reading Chinese and Vietnamese leaders discuss after Vietnamese party congress

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Republicans in the United States increasingly oppose friendly cooperation with China, according to a new survey released on Wednesday, marking a major break with past decades. The report titled “The Growing Partisan Divide on US Foreign Policy”, published by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and drawing on 50 years of comparative data, found that respondents in the increasingly partisan US are sharply split on how Washington should deal with Beijing. Bipartisan agreement on the topic has...

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One of the leading scholars of China-Latin America relations, Francisco Urdinez is known for coining the concept of “economic displacement”, a theory that also gives its name to his Cambridge University Press book title published in November. The idea holds that China’s rise has reduced US relevance in the region by making partnerships with Beijing more consequential and ties with Washington less essential for many governments. Now, in the wake of US attacks on Caracas and the abduction of...

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused China of profiting from Venezuela’s long-running economic collapse by securing discounted oil, telling senators that removing Nicolas Maduro was necessary to end energy arrangements that he said “favoured Beijing at the expense of the Venezuelan people”. During a hearing of the US Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, Rubio portrayed China as a central beneficiary of the Maduro government, arguing that Beijing had taken advantage of sanctions...

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The following article from Beijing Review, written by Carlos Martinez, situates Donald Trump’s renewed threats to seize Greenland within the broader context of Washington’s escalating strategic confrontation with China. While framed publicly as a matter of “national and world security,” the push to bring Greenland under direct US control reflects a desire to lock in … Continue reading Greenland in the New Cold War

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