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As the United States grapples with mounting debt, China is doubling down on efforts to clean up its own balance sheet, vowing to tackle risks with “iron discipline”. The pledge came as the world’s second-largest economy weathers a years-long real estate slump and cooling domestic demand. Beijing faces growing pressure to balance short-term growth targets with longer-term deleveraging, as it seeks to transition to a more sustainable economy. In the government work report delivered on Thursday to...

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US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stirred unexpected debate in Taiwan after invoking the phrase “unleash Chiang” while warning that Washington would intensify its strikes against Iran. Speaking to reporters on Tuesday about the escalating Middle East conflict, Rubio said the world would soon see a change in the scope and intensity of the attacks. “We’re going to unleash Chiang on these people in the next few hours and days,” he said. The remark, made in the context of US efforts to dismantle...

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Mainland China and Hong Kong should ease listing rules for biotechnology companies and lower takeover thresholds for listed firms to capitalise on renewed foreign interest in the healthcare sector, venture capitalist Nisa Leung said. “Besides artificial intelligence, Premier Li Qiang also highlighted biomedicine in the ‘two sessions’ annual government work report,” said Leung, a managing partner at Aulis Capital, speaking in a sideline interview during China’s annual meetings of the National...

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The deadly US-Israeli military strikes on Iran have triggered an outpouring of public sympathy and support in China, with many social media users condemning the attacks and discussing ways to help. The Iranian embassy in China thanked the “righteous” Chinese public on Thursday for their support, but said it was not accepting financial help from Chinese individuals and organisations for now. “The embassy would like to express its sincere gratitude to the civilised and righteous Chinese people,”...

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More of the world’s billionaires live in China than anywhere else, after stock market gains and artificial intelligence generated a record number of billionaires globally, according to the latest Hurun Global Rich List. China overtook the United States to recapture bragging rights on the annual report released by Hurun Group on Thursday, with 1,110 billionaires out of 4,020 globally. China added 287 billionaires since the previous edition of the report, more than recouping its losses over the...

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The priorities outlined in drafts of China’s 2026 budget and next five-year plan overlap heavily with the ambitious projects championed by Elon Musk, including the Starlink constellation, electric vehicles, Neuralink interfaces and artificial intelligence. With Beijing allocating 426.42 billion yuan (US$61.7 billion) for the sector, it is positioning frontiers such as future energy, brain-computer interfaces and satellite internet as China’s future industries, with the nation doubling down on...

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China set the lowest economic growth target since 1991 as the country contends with global trade tensions, weak domestic demand and rising debt from white elephant investments. A target range for growth of 4.5 to 5 per cent, “while striving for better in practice” was announced by Premier Li Qiang as he delivered the annual government work report on the opening day of the National People’s Congress (NPC), the annual legislative gathering. That marks a reduction from “around 5 per cent” in each...

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Professor Pan Guang has spent decades focused on Jewish studies, the Middle East and its ties with China. Among his many roles, Pan is founding director of a research centre on the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here. Amid recent events in Iran, how do you assess the impact on China? Will China’s “petroyuan” settlement encounter problems, and what of the risks to the Belt and Road...

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Over six consecutive days since Friday, for the first time in at least three years, Beijing dispatched no warplanes near Taiwan, a pause which analysts say reflects deliberate caution ahead of this month’s Xi–Trump summit. The absence of People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft near the self-ruled island from Friday through to Wednesday is the longest such pause in the past three years, according to Taiwanese defence ministry data compiled by the South China Morning Post. The number of PLA naval...

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China will set priorities for technological innovation, economic security, public well-being and carbon reduction over the next five years, vowing to lay a solid foundation for its 2035 target of doubling per capita gross domestic product from 2020 levels. The world’s second-largest economy will release 20 growth targets, including both binding and non-binding ones, in areas covering the economy, technology, healthcare and economic security, Premier Li Qiang said when outlining the broad strokes...

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China’s National Development and Reform Commission unveiled its 2026 draft report focused on domestic demand, industrial upgrading and tech self-reliance. Key funding projects include: 250 billion yuan from ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to support consumer goods trade-in programmes 200 billion yuan from ultra-long-term special treasury bonds to support large-scale equipment upgrades 100-billion-yuan special fiscal-financial coordination fund to boost domestic consumption NDRC...

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China’s Ministry of Finance released its draft 2026 budget report, including plans for a more proactive fiscal policy to support the domestic market, advanced technology and public welfare. Major central government expenditures: National defence: 1.91 trillion yuan, up 7 per cent Debt interest payments: 874 billion yuan, up 6.7 per cent Science and technology: 426 billion yuan, up 10 per cent Public security: 258 billion yuan, up 5.9 per cent Education: 192 billion yuan, up 5 per...

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Beijing laid out a list of priorities for the economy, innovation and the military for this year at the opening session of the National People’s Congress (NPC) at the Great Hall of the People on Thursday. Here are the major takeaways from this year’s government work report and budget report: Major targets for 2026 Gross domestic product growth of 4.5-5 per cent A consumer price index increase of around 2 per cent A fiscal budget deficit of around 4 per cent of GDP Addition of 12 million...

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The bombs falling on Iran have extinguished any remaining doubt. The US-Israeli military campaign has ignited a major regional war. This explosion of violence is the ultimate rebuke to a central promise of US President Donald Trump’s second term: that America could disengage from distant quagmires to focus on confronting China. Over a year into this administration, the strategic picture affirms the conclusion I reached last summer: America’s hoped-for single-minded containment of China lies in...

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This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. Premier Li Qiang is presenting the government’s annual work report at the opening ceremony of China’s top legislature, the National People’s Congress (NPC). This year’s annual meetings of the top legislature and the top advisory body – together known as the “two sessions” – are being...

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A bipartisan resolution that would block US President Donald Trump from launching further strikes on Iran failed to pass the Senate floor on Wednesday, as the Pentagon pledged to “accelerate” its actions in a war that’s “just getting started”. In a 52-47 procedural vote on Wednesday, the Republican-controlled Senate blocked a war powers resolution aimed at curbing Trump’s ability to escalate military action against Iran, preventing the measure from reaching the floor for debate. The resolution...

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A Hong Kong operator has lost control of the Panama Canal, one of the world’s most pivotal waterways for merchant ships, but university researchers said this week that Chinese state institutions have funded hundreds of other seaports around the world. Specifically, they have invested a total of US$23.9 billion over the past quarter century in 363 ports and related activities abroad, according to AidData, a research lab at William & Mary University in the United States. AidData called the...

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In the run-up to this year’s ‘two sessions’ – the annual meetings of China’s top legislature and political advisory body – high-level policymakers have stressed the need to defuse financial risks and root out political corruption, two of President Xi Jinping’s long-term priorities. As part of a series, Dannie Peng looks at the fight against corruption in academia. As science and technology become national priorities in China, Beijing has turned its sweeping corruption crackdown on academia,...

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When German Chancellor Friedrich Merz arrived in Beijing for his first visit to China last week, it came at a moment of heightened geopolitical attention. With US President Donald Trump expected to visit Beijing in late March or early April, European leaders are watching closely for possible shifts in transatlantic relations and trade policy. Against this anxious backdrop, Merz’s meetings with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang in Beijing offered something the global stage has been deeply...

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As China and the United States compete to shape the future of artificial intelligence, Africa’s rapidly expanding digital landscape is emerging as a new arena for their rivalry, far from the technology hubs of Silicon Valley or Shenzhen. With a growing population, expanding internet access and linguistic diversity, Africa is increasingly seen as a critical region for AI development, according to analysts. Early infrastructure and platform decisions can shape the future of emerging technology...

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The following brief article by Brian Berletic, originally published on his Twitter/X, addresses a question that has been raised by some anti-imperialist commentators since the launch of the criminal US-Israeli war on Iran: why has China not directly intervened militarily to stop this aggression. Berletic argues that the answer lies primarily in structural and military … Continue reading Why isn’t China intervening to stop the US war of aggression against Iran?

The post Why isn’t China intervening to stop the US war of aggression against Iran? appeared first on Friends of Socialist China.

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Artificial intelligence will be a focal point of the scientific agenda at Beijing’s annual legislative meeting and coming five-year plan, as China and the US pursue divergent AI paths putting their tech ecosystems at odds. Just over a year ago, Chinese start-up DeepSeek released an open-source AI model that changed how the world viewed the country’s AI capabilities and ambitions. Chinese companies have embraced an open-source approach to AI development, which has rapidly scaled usage of their...

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The US’ decapitation of Iran’s leaders highlights America’s superior military strength and runs counter to the popular view in China that the United States is in decline, according to international relations specialists. The weekend operation, conducted with Israel, killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens of senior commanders within the country’s armed forces, just weeks after a US Special Forces team abducted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Those two incidents –...

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Alibaba Group Holding has recruited a research scientist from Google DeepMind to bolster development efforts for its Qwen artificial intelligence models, in an internal restructuring that has seen the departure of previous technical lead Lin Junyang. While no successor to Lin was announced, former Google senior staff research scientist Zhou Hao was joining Alibaba as head of post-training research, replacing Yu Bowen, who also departed this week, two sources said. Zhou, who holds a PhD from the...

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China must speed up military applications of AI and deepen civil-military fusion to narrow its strategic gap with the United States, a leading Chinese political scientist and adviser to Beijing has said. Citing US-Israeli precision strikes that eliminated Iran’s supreme leader, Zheng Yongnian warned that China risked repeating historical mistakes if it limited artificial intelligence (AI) mostly to civilian or entertainment uses and failed to convert frontier technologies into decisive hard...

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