China News

Tiny carbon nanotubes with walls just one atom thick found on the far side of the moon have provided the first confirmed evidence that a material long thought to require sophisticated human engineering could also be produced naturally. They were found in rocks collected by China’s 2024 Chang’e-6 mission, the first probe to land on the far side of the moon and bring samples back to Earth. Using high-resolution electron microscopes, a team from Jilin University in northeastern China detected the...

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

A move to curb US President Donald Trump’s power to sell advanced AI chips to China moved a step closer on Wednesday when a Republican-led congressional panel joined hands with their Democratic counterparts, brushing aside objections from the White House and chip giant Nvidia. The action has put Representative Brian Mast, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, on a collision course with Trump’s top AI adviser David Sacks and drawn sharp criticism from Maga-aligned...

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

US President Donald Trump’s accelerated push to seize Greenland has transformed a once-quirky idea into a full-blown diplomatic crisis, with observers warning it could deal a near-fatal blow to the post-war transatlantic order. Trump’s refusal to rule out the use of America’s military to control the autonomous Danish territory – coinciding with the US-led Group of Seven’s effort to de-risk from China’s rare earth dominance – also risks forcing Europe to recalibrate its ties with Beijing because...

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

The renewed debate over Greenland has placed Denmark in an awkward strategic position. When a close ally openly flirts with the idea of territorial acquisition – however unrealistic or rhetorical – it exposes an uncomfortable truth for many middle and small powers: alignment does not guarantee protection and loyalty does not always translate into leverage. In an age defined by intensifying competition between the United States and China, governments increasingly feel inclined to show where they...

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

Beijing and Ottawa reached a “landmark” trade agreement last week, slashing tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles, in a move analysts said further cements China’s dominance and suggests the US decline in the global EV market. The deal will open Canada up to Chinese EVs, signalling a thaw in diplomatic relations and a major break from the US. The bilateral partnership marks a shift in direction for Canada’s automotive industry, coming during a month that saw China’s BYD topple Tesla as the world’s...

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

Chinese and US negotiators are expected to discuss stepping up trade in AI chips and farm products, as well as what to do later this year when their hard-fought 2025 truce expires – all before President Donald Trump visits China for the first time in his current term, analysts said on Wednesday. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested on Tuesday that the pieces were in place for an April summit in Beijing between Trump and President Xi Jinping, as announced by the US leader in late...

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

Frontier research lab MiroMind, a subsidiary of the China-founded multinational firm Shanda Group, has asked some of its staff in Shanghai to relocate to Singapore, according to people with knowledge of the matter, raising comparisons to artificial intelligence start-up Manus’ pull-out from China last year. Those actions came amid Sunday’s reorganisation announcement by Shanda and Singapore-based MiroMind, which said its research on artificial general intelligence (AGI) and fundamental...

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

Nato members must collectively protect the Arctic from growing Chinese and Russian influence, the chief of the security alliance said on Wednesday, while sidestepping the issue of Washington’s controversial bid to acquire Greenland. Speaking at an event during the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Wednesday, Nato Secretary General Mark Rutte said the transatlantic security alliance was crucial not only for the defence of Europe, but also for the US, which required a “safe Arctic, a...

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

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. US President Donald Trump speaks at Davos today at a time of immense geopolitical tensions as his unconventional leadership approach continues to send economic, military and security shock waves around the world, upend traditional alliances and dominate the global attention...

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

The United States could be at risk of falling behind China in the technology race unless it halts the “wholesale onslaught” on scientific research programmes taking place under US President Donald Trump, according to the Nobel Prize-winning economist Joel Mokyr. The American-Israeli scholar, who shared the 2025 prize for economics, said “all areas that are at the cutting edge of science” in the US were “suffering” under the current administration, which appeared to be “against any kind of...

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

China ramped up its exports to Africa last year, widening its trade surplus with the continent by 64.5 per cent to a record US$102 billion, according to Chinese customs figures. The jump in the trade gap – up from US$62 billion the previous year – was driven by a 25.8 per cent surge in Chinese exports to the continent to US$225 billion, far outpacing the 5.4 per cent growth in African shipments to China to US$123 billion, according to the latest data from China’s General Administration of...

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

The municipal government of Shanghai will open “free-to-fly” zones in the city for drones from February 1, as part of streamlined regulations designed to support the country’s development of a low-altitude economy. According to Shanghai’s new guidelines for civil unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), consumer drones will be allowed to fly in certain “suitable airspace” in the city without prior declaration, provided these devices are registered. These include UAVs categorised as micro, light and...

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

China could learn from Ukraine on using drones to launch modified small and micro aerial bombs, a leading Chinese weapons expert said. Cai Yi, chief scientist of China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco), said in an interview earlier this month that aerial bomb strikes by Ukrainian drones provided “a valuable example for observing drone warfare”. China could draw inspiration from Ukraine’s experience in developing small drone-borne bombs, Cai added in the interview, which appeared in...

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

Beijing’s recent call to balance trade and investment as part of a push for more sustainable growth reflects a gradual shift towards greater overseas localisation of Chinese supply chains, analysts said, as the country grapples with simmering frictions amid a record trade surplus. “Commercial authorities at all levels ... should guide the reasonable and orderly cross-border layout of industrial and supply chains, promote integrated development of trade and investment... and effectively...

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

The UK approved China’s controversial plan to build a mega-embassy in London, a move that probably paves the way for Keir Starmer to make the first trip to Beijing by a British prime minister since 2018. The decision, following three delays, moves China closer to constructing the roughly 65,000 square metre (700,000 sq ft) embassy at the site of the former Royal Mint near the Tower of London. Local residents may challenge the decision in court. Starmer is set to visit Beijing and Shanghai from...

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

This month, a telling scene unfolded in Addis Ababa. The African Union and China held their ninth strategic dialogue in the Ethiopian capital and launched the 2026 China-Africa Year of People-to-People Exchanges, framing the agenda around modernisation, connectivity and industrialisation rather than bloc politics. The moment captures what many smaller states are doing in today’s fractured world: choosing workable partnership over performative rivalry. The loudest conversations in global politics...

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

Shanghai’s tax authority fined an operating entity of PDD Holdings, the US-listed e-commerce company that runs platforms including Pinduoduo and Temu, citing its failure to comply with local tax requirements, according to a Wednesday report from state news agency Xinhua. Shanghai Xunmeng Information Technology, a PDD Holdings subsidiary which operates Pinduoduo, failed to report necessary information concerning its platform operators and employees for the third quarter of 2025, the city’s tax...

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

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is betting that her strong public approval ratings will translate into a decisive majority in next month’s elections, but her bid could face a challenge from surging right-wing factions and a newly formed political party. A failure to secure a majority in the parliament’s lower house would severely undermine Takaichi’s ability to steer a tougher course on China. But irrespective of the election outcome, repairing relations with China would take well beyond...

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

China should leverage its massive buying power to boost imports settled in yuan and shift towards a more balanced trade structure, to accelerate the currency’s global use, according to a former central bank adviser. The proposal signals a potential opportunity for the yuan’s internationalisation, years after Beijing kicked off the process in 2009 by allowing selected exporters to be paid in the Chinese currency. “China is the world’s largest goods exporter, but the yuan’s international standing...

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

Four Chinese groups are racing to build global satellite communications infrastructure to challenge the considerable head start made by US tech billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink. The two leaders for China so far are the central-government-backed GuoWang and Shanghai-backed Qianfan. They have the most satellites in orbit and plans to eventually deploy more than 10,000 apiece. Carmaker Geely’s Geespace also has satellites in space. The fourth group, Hongqing Technology, 48 per cent owned by...

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

China plans to power a world-class petrochemical complex under construction with ultra-high-temperature steam from an unprecedented three-reactor nuclear system. The steam can reach up to 1,000 degrees Celsius (1,832 Fahrenheit) – high enough to break molecules apart. Located in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, the project combines two third-generation Hualong One pressurised water reactors with one fourth-generation high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) for heating and electricity...

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

Iran’s streets have once again become a site of uncertainty, but this time the tremors extend far beyond its borders. Unrest that began in late December spread across multiple provinces and continued into January. It was met with a level of repression that has only deepened public anger. What sets this moment apart is not just the scale of repression, but the way sustained instability is beginning to undermine long-held assumptions among Iran’s external partners, especially China. For years,...

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

China’s H‑6J maritime strike bomber, equipped with two reconnaissance pods, indicates it has enhanced long-range strike capabilities while supporting peacetime maritime surveillance, according to military analysts. Cai Suliang, identified as a member of an unspecified People’s Liberation Army bomber formation, said that the H-6J, a new variant of the H-6 bomber series, differed from the H-6K in its external appearance – mainly due to additional reconnaissance pods. “This amounts to giving [the...

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

China could launch anti-dumping investigations into Japanese imports, impose more export bans and discourage consumption of the country’s goods if it escalates a dispute with Tokyo that began in November, according to Morgan Stanley. Beijing might also expand a temporary ban on the sale of rare earth metals – crucial components in hi-tech hardware and automobiles – to target civilian manufacturing, the New York-based multinational investment bank said in a note by a team of researchers, led by...

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

Shanghai-based Harbour BioMed’s acquisition of a stake in US-based Spruce Biosciences is the latest example of China’s novel drug developers progressing from one-time licensing deals into long-lasting equity partnerships with overseas partners. The deal, detailed in a Hong Kong stock exchange filing on Monday, also showed Chinese firms’ growing clout on the global pharmaceutical stage, analysts said. “The coming years will see more Chinese biotech firms engaging in equity investments and joint...

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