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In the highest-ranking sacrificial pit at Sanxingdui, 11 crimson beads remained undisturbed for 3,000 years among bronze vessels, ivory tusks and fragments of gold. They are carnelian – a red gemstone prized across the ancient world, from the Indus Valley to the Middle East and the Mediterranean. In China, however, carnelian was not commonly found in elite burials until the late Western Zhou dynasty (c1046-771BC), with red tones traditionally represented by other minerals, such as ochre and...

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China has banned carmakers from selling new vehicles for less than it costs to make them, including through discounts and subsidies, as regulators continue trying to smother a persistent price war that has sent hopes of profitability up in smoke for most producers. In “pricing guidance” released on Thursday, the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) listed a series of tactics that would result in below-cost pricing for new vehicles, warning that carmakers using any of them would face...

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Chinese researchers say they have found a viable pathway to building long-distance quantum communication networks. In a study published this week in Nature, a team from Peking University said it had developed a prototype networking capacity that could communicate over distances of more than 3,700km (2,300 miles). Quantum key distribution (QKD) is regarded as the gold standard for secure communication – any attempt at eavesdropping inevitably leaves detectable traces, regardless of distance or...

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Beijing’s push to internationalise the yuan is gaining a new vehicle in Africa as another major multilateral lender is set to diversify towards the Chinese currency to slash borrowing costs and reduce the risks of dollar volatility. Multilateral lender Africa Finance Corporation (AFC) has confirmed that a debut panda bond issuance is “on the table for this year”, as it looks to deepen its ties with Chinese capital markets following last year’s successful triple-A Chinese rating. Banji Fehintola,...

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The PLA has been told to close the funding loopholes and tackle the deep flaws in combat readiness exposed by an anti-corruption drive in the aftermath of the downfall of China’s top general. In a brief Lunar New Year speech via video link to the People’s Liberation Army on Tuesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the PLA to bolster combat training and maintain a state of combat readiness, according to state broadcaster CCTV. “The past year has been unusual and extraordinary. The PLA has...

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Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company MiniMax has released a new model “designed for real-world productivity”, hot on the heels of new releases from its domestic rivals in a frenetic week for China’s AI industry. The update to its M2 large language model comes as investor interest in smaller Chinese AI companies hits new heights, with global investors looking to capitalise on China’s rapid progress in AI beyond the traditional tech giants. Citing in-house benchmark scores, MiniMax said on...

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Across social media, a curious phrase has been circulating: “You met me at a very Chinese time in my life.” It appears under videos of hotpot dinners, DHGate hauls, Chinese streetwear fits and users joking about switching their phone interfaces into Chinese “for the aesthetic”. It has even spawned an ecosystem of spin-offs: “Chinamaxxing”, “you will turn Chinese tomorrow” and countless posts where people half-joke about becoming “more Chinese” by the day. But beneath the humour of what looks...

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China’s marriage registrations edged up in 2025, offering a glimmer of hope for the birth outlook this year, but analysts caution that deeper demographic headwinds remain entrenched and difficult to reverse without broader policy support. China recorded 6.76 million marriage registrations nationwide in 2025, according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, marking a 10.8 per cent increase from a year earlier, or 657,000 more couples. The number of marriage registrations is closely watched in China,...

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The Central Military Commission, the top decision-making body overseeing the People’s Liberation Army, is set for a leadership reshuffle after the downfall of most of its members. President Xi Jinping is now in his third term as chairman of the commission. But now five of the other six members of the commission – who were all originally slated to serve a five-year term, ending in 2027 – are no longer active. Last month Zhang Youxia, first-ranked vice-chairman of the CMC and China’s most senior...

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Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, a member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Cuban Communist Party (PCC) and Foreign Minister of Cuba, recently visited China as a Special Envoy of the Cuban party and government. The visit occurred in the context of the viciously enhanced US blockade and the severe crisis this is … Continue reading China and Vietnam reaffirm solidarity with Cuba

The post China and Vietnam reaffirm solidarity with Cuba appeared first on Friends of Socialist China.

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As Washington withdraws from United Nations agencies and other member nations cut their funding, pushing the organisation into a severe financial crisis, the head of one well-funded agency won re-election on Thursday, despite criticism over some of his policies. The vote of 83 eligible member states saw incumbent Daren Tang Heng Shim, a Singaporean national, re-elected to the World Intellectual Property Organisation, or Wipo, by a vote of 81 to 2 against Haitian national Johanny Stanley...

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In January, James Zimmerman returned to the American Chamber of Commerce in China (AmCham China) as its chairman. He previously served in that role for four one-year terms in 2007, 2008, 2015 and 2016. A lawyer by training and a resident of China for 28 years, Zimmerman has witnessed the rise of the world’s second-largest economy, the challenges it has faced and the attendant changes to how American businesses operate in the country. In this interview, Zimmerman assesses the potential of US...

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China has reiterated its support for Iran’s right to safeguard its sovereignty, security, and national dignity as well as its legitimate rights and interests. The Tehran Times newspaper reported this, on February 6, noting that this was stated by Assistant Foreign Minister Miao Deyu in a meeting with Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi who … Continue reading China reaffirms backing for Iran

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The United States has issued a warning that Peru risks eroding its sovereignty after a court ruling limited state oversight of a Chinese-controlled megaport, prompting a sharp rebuke from Beijing and intensifying geopolitical tensions over a strategic hub on South America’s Pacific coast. The dispute centres on the Port of Chancay, a US$1.3 billion deep water facility located about 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of Lima and majority owned by China’s state-run shipping giant Cosco Shipping...

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Just weeks after a dramatic removal of China’s top general, the CIA is moving to capitalise on any resulting discord with a new public video targeting potential informants in the Chinese military. The US spy agency ‌on Thursday rolled out the video depicting a disillusioned mid-level Chinese military officer, in the latest US step in a campaign to ramp up human intelligence gathering on Washington’s strategic rival. It follows a similar effort last May that focused on fictional figures within...

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Taiwan is likely to be “the most critical and contentious” issue when US President Donald Trump meets his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in less than two months, according to analysts, who called on Beijing and Washington to “turn the page” on trade. They also warned there was little chance the powers would make headway on nuclear arms control – an increasingly important fault line in bilateral ties – during Trump’s visit. While his precise arrival dates were still under discussion, Trump was...

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China’s latest rocket test has put the country neck and neck with the US in the race to the moon, with crewed landings before 2030 a realistic goal for both nations, according to analysts. During Wednesday’s eight-minute flight from southern Hainan province, China successfully tested two major components of its crewed lunar system: a mid-air escape of the Mengzhou crew capsule and a full launch, re-entry and splashdown of the moon rocket’s core stage. Rand Simberg, an aerospace engineer and...

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Beijing has issued a central directive to dismantle the administrative walls dividing China’s electricity sector, signalling a decisive shift towards a unified national power market designed to support the country’s energy security and green transition. A decade into its power-sector overhaul, China is doubling down on market unity during the just-started 15th five-year planning period. These structural shifts are widely seen as indispensable to the nation’s 2030 carbon-peak target, as the...

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The perpetual question of “who governs” finds stark expression in today’s US-China rivalry. As the two powers compete, the contrast between governance-by-technocrats in China and the predominance of lawyers in the United States is shaping each country’s respective development path. China is set to approve its 15th five-year plan, which will set development goals and strategies through 2030. It prioritises critical technological breakthroughs and industrial integration. Meanwhile, in the Trump...

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Lenovo Group, the world’s largest personal computer (PC) maker, warned of the “prolonged impact” of a global memory crunch after reporting a 21 per cent profit drop in the December quarter, while pinning hopes on a shift to artificial intelligence-powered devices to drive growth. “This structural imbalance between supply and demand [for memory chips] is not simply a short-term fluctuation,” Yang Yuanqing, chairman and CEO, said on Thursday after the earnings release. “It is likely to have a...

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China has deployed a section of its mysterious cyberspace force to the South China Sea to remain “ready for action”, with the unit making a rare appearance in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Lunar New Year greeting to the military. Xi conveyed his Lunar New Year message to multiple branches of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) via video on Wednesday from Beijing’s Bayi Building – the headquarters of the powerful military command body, the Central Military Commission – according to state...

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China’s premier has vowed the country will consolidate its advantages in traditional industries like rare earths while also striving to accelerate innovation in frontier technologies such as artificial intelligence, as Beijing prepares to unveil its latest five-year plan. Premier Li Qiang made the call during a visit earlier this week to Ganzhou in the central Chinese province of Jiangxi – one of the world’s largest production bases for heavy rare earth elements, a strategic resource essential...

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Beijing has defended its travel ban on more than a dozen Philippine municipal officials that Manila said could harm ties between the two countries, after a diplomatic spat took yet another retaliatory turn. Angelica Escalona, spokeswoman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs, said on Wednesday that while Beijing had the right to ban the officials from entering China, its decision to do so was not helpful. “While preventing the entry of foreign nationals into their territory is a...

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The United States and China are set to extend October’s trade war truce by up to a year when US President Donald Trump visits Beijing, the South China Morning Post reported exclusively on Thursday. Trump would probably meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in the first week of April, potentially after arriving on March 31 for a three-day trip, the newspaper said, citing unidentified sources. The timing is still under discussion, as Beijing weighs scheduling around the April 5 Ching Ming...

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Chinese consumers placed over 120 million orders on Alibaba Cloud’s flagship artificial intelligence app Qwen within six days, signalling growing acceptance of AI-powered shopping as the company joined other mainland Chinese tech giants in a multibillion-yuan holiday campaign. Nearly half the orders came from residents in counties and hinterland areas, with around 1.56 million people aged 60 and above making their first online purchases through Qwen, according to a statement on Thursday from...

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