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China’s top economic policy coordinator has urged the country to confront unavoidable challenges, while expressing confidence that investment and consumption growth will recover next year as efforts to boost domestic demand intensify. An unnamed official from the Office of the Central Financial and Economic Affairs Commission said the current challenges were “issues arising in the course of development and transition”. “[They] cannot be avoided or sidestepped, but with effort they can be...

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In a landmark achievement for brain-computer interface (BCI) technology, scientists with the Chinese Academy of Sciences have enabled a paralysed man to control smart wheelchairs, robotic dogs and even perform paid work – all through the power of thought. Announced by the Centre for Excellence in Brain Science and Intelligence Technology (CEBSIT) this week, the development is the first time an individual with a high-level spinal cord injury has achieved stable, real-world control of multiple...

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The Taiwanese government has sparked fresh controversy by refusing to enforce amendments passed by the opposition-controlled legislature about local government funding. The move risks deepening a political stand-off and has drawn criticism that the island’s leader William Lai Ching-te was “bypassing the legislature when you can’t win”. The dispute centres on revisions to a law about how the central government distributes revenue to local authorities. Observers said the clash had escalated well...

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China, the world’s top soybean consumer, faces a complex balancing act when securing supplies. With 90 per cent of market demand met by imports, Brazil and the United States remain its top suppliers, but intensifying efforts to promote self-sufficiency are seeking to reduce reliance on imports. From price swings and quality traits to strategic roles in the market, soybeans from the three countries tell different stories about China’s quest for stability and security that can be broken down into...

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The conviction of former media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying in a high-profile Hong Kong trial has drawn sharp reactions in London, casting uncertainty over thawing Sino-British ties before Keir Starmer visits China. Although the outcome of Lai’s 156-day national security trial was widely expected, observers say it poses a significant test for the Labour government’s balancing act on China, which could narrow the space for engagement even if its immediate impact on bilateral relations is...

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Tencent Holdings has initiated a major restructuring at its artificial intelligence group with the promotion of recent high-profile recruit Vinces Yao Shunyu, a former researcher at OpenAI. Without mentioning his Chinese name, Shenzhen-based Tencent’s announcement on Wednesday came with a photo of Yao. He was tasked to lead the company’s new AI infrastructure efforts, including the development of large language models (LLMs). Yao’s official position is chief AI scientist under the CEO’s office...

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1. PLA division overseeing Taiwan sees newcomers in charge The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command, the division that oversees Taiwan and that has been hit hard in Beijing’s anti-graft campaign, appears to be presided over by two officers who joined the division only recently.
2. Senior US and Chinese defence officials continue ‘military-to-military’...

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Beijing’s build-up of maritime facilities in a contested part of the Yellow Sea is expected to trigger “more scrutiny” from South Korea, a report by a US think tank has warned. According to a report published on Monday by the website Beyond Parallel, operated by the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies, there has been “growing” Chinese activity in and around the Provisional Measures Zone (PMZ) in the Yellow Sea. It said Beijing was building buoys in the area and could...

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Mainland China’s 17 million Alzheimer’s patients can, for the first time, pay less out of pocket for a costly drug touted as “historic” and “the beginning of the end” for the memory-robbing disease after Beijing launched a commercial insurance innovative drug list in an effort to make medicines more accessible and affordable. Leqembi, developed by Japan’s Eisai and costing a mainland Chinese patient about US$28,400 a year, could see its price cut by half after it was added to the inaugural...

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China’s newest transport aircraft has conducted its maiden flight, images circulating on social media suggested, as the People’s Liberation Army moves to update its tactical transport fleet. Photographs and videos circulating online on Tuesday showed a four-engine turboprop aircraft. The most detailed images showed it had six-blade propellers, a T-tail, a blended winglet configuration and possibly an aerial refuelling probe positioned above the cockpit – a structure found on the Airbus A400M. A...

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China’s market regulator has warned that internet platforms demanding merchants offer the “lowest price across the internet” may face antitrust action, as Beijing steps up efforts to curb malpractice. The State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) explained some details of its draft – Antitrust Compliance Guidelines for Internet Platforms – at a press conference on Wednesday, according to Xinhua. The “lowest-price” requirement, where platforms bar merchants from selling cheaper elsewhere,...

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McDonald’s China arm has raised prices on most menu items, igniting a social media backlash as consumers grapple with job uncertainty and stagnant wages. Patrons discovered this week that prices for burgers, snacks and combos rose by up to 1 yuan (US$0.14). While modest, the increase drew attention because the chain’s budget combo has long been dubbed the “poor man’s meal” by frugal young adults. Some quipped online that “McDonald’s prices are rising, but my salary isn’t”, or that the popular...

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The Chinese military’s Eastern Theatre Command, the division that oversees Taiwan and that has been hit hard in Beijing’s anti-graft campaign, appears to be presided over by two officers who joined the division only recently. According to an analyst, the appointments mean the division maintained continuity of operation despite corruption cases being found in its leadership. Air Force Lieutenant General Yang Zhibin, 62, and Lieutenant General Zhang Jichun, 57, stood alongside other senior...

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1. China desalination tech makes fresh water cheaper than tap water – plus hydrogen China has launched a revolutionary facility in the eastern province of Shandong that produces fresh water from seawater for just two yuan (US$0.28) per cubic metre, generating green hydrogen as a by-product in a breakthrough that...

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China is emerging as a rising powerhouse for scientific innovation at a time when scientific research in the United States faces growing funding instability, according to Belgian neurologist Steven Laureys. Laureys, a pioneer in detecting hidden awareness in patients with severe brain injuries, is expanding his global research network to China, working with Hangzhou Normal University. “There’s a wonderful opportunity for me to work with China. And I’m very happy that China is investing in...

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Chinese scientists have turned allergy into a powerful weapon against cancer to deliver drugs and turbocharge the body’s own immune attack on cancer. The team loaded mast cells – which cause allergic symptoms when they encounter antigens such as seafood and pollen – with anticancer drugs to deliver them into tumours. The researchers said they were working on clinical applications, including exploring its potential combination with existing cancer immunotherapies. The scientists from Zhejiang...

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1. ‘Testing the waters’? US reported to have seized Chinese cargo bound for Iran The reported US seizure of a ship allegedly carrying Chinese-made dual-use components to Iran might signal Washington was “testing the waters” on reviving an old tactic to pressure Beijing’s ties with its adversaries, but such moves risked breaching international law, analysts...

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Chile’s election of an ultraconservative leader has created another vocal ally for US President Donald Trump in a lithium-rich region where China has emerged as the dominant economic partner, positioning the South American country at the centre of an intensifying superpower rivalry. In what was probably Chile’s sharpest rightward shift since the end of its military dictatorship in 1990, José Antonio Kast, a right-wing former lawmaker who campaigned on Trump-style hardline positions on crime and...

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Beijing’s fresh imperative to “invest in people” – first raised in a proposal for the 15th five-year plan and reaffirmed at an agenda-setting policy meeting last week – reflects a rethink in economic strategy designed to stimulate domestic demand and improve social welfare, analysts said. China’s leaders vowed to “fully tap” the domestic economy’s potential at the annual central economic work conference held last week, which laid out their economic policy priorities for 2026. A readout from the...

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Mannings, one of Hong Kong’s largest health and beauty chains, will cease all retail operations in mainland China, both online and offline, as it adjusts its strategy in the highly competitive market. In a letter to its members, Mannings China said “its physical stores on the mainland will close permanently after January 15, 2026”. Its online sales channels will wind down even earlier. Mannings’ official mini mall on Tencent Holdings’ WeChat will stop service at midnight on December 28, 2025,...

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A top scientist has sharply criticised China’s increasingly resource-driven research culture, warning that a reliance on vast accumulated funding, manpower and data for scientific output is inefficient and actively undermines genuine innovation. Zhang Hong, a senior cell biologist at the Institute of Biophysics in Beijing and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, condemned what he called “a vicious cycle” in how life sciences research was increasingly done in China. Projects were inflated...

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The reported US seizure of a ship allegedly carrying Chinese-made dual-use components to Iran might signal Washington was “testing the waters” on reviving an old tactic to pressure Beijing’s ties with its adversaries, but such moves risked breaching international law, analysts said. An American special operations team boarded a ship from China bound for Iran in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka last month, The Wall Street Journal reported last Friday. Citing sources, it said the operation aimed to...

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Chinese artificial intelligence chip designer MetaX Integrated Circuits will make its trading debut in Shanghai on Wednesday, according to a filing late on Monday, more than a week after industry peer Moore Threads Technology’s stellar listing on the city’s Star Market. Founded in Shanghai in September 2020 by former engineers at Advanced Micro Devices, MetaX priced its initial public offering at 104.66 yuan per share, which was expected to raise 4.2 billion yuan (US$596 million) from the sale...

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Senior US and Chinese defence officials met in Washington this week in the latest sign of renewed military-to-military communication as the two countries seek to stabilise ties. Alvaro Smith, a deputy assistant secretary of defence for China, Taiwan and Mongolia at the Pentagon, met with China’s Major General Ye Jiang, Deputy Director of the Central Military Commission Office for International Military Cooperation, for the 19th annual US-China Defence Policy Coordination Talks from December 15...

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For over a century, the dream of efficiently concentrating low-grade heat into high-temperature industrial energy has been constrained by a stubborn ceiling: 200 degrees Celsius (392 degrees Fahrenheit). Now, a team from China has shattered that temperature limit. Using a revolutionary heat pump with no moving parts, they achieved an output of 270 degrees with a 145-degree heat source to drive the cycle. Developed by a team led by Luo Ercang at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of...

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