China News

Chinese state security authorities recently warned of “honey trap” risks in the defence and technology sectors, citing a case in which a public official was blackmailed into surrendering state secrets following a trip abroad. A social media account affiliated with the National Administration of State Secrets Protection published an article on Wednesday stating that personnel in the military industry were becoming targets of honey traps by foreign intelligence agencies and provided details of a...

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China’s top diplomat in the United States delivered a sharply worded rebuke on Thursday over US President Donald Trump’s tumultuous approach to global relations, laying out a stark choice between a world informed by China-led stability and one battered by Washington. Chinese ambassador Xie Feng’s comments to the 1,000-member China General Chamber of Commerce come two weeks into Trump’s second year of his latest term in the White House. The past fortnight has already seen the Trump administration...

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Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pitched a new China-Canada relationship that could bring security and prosperity for both nations, in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday. “Together we can build on the best of what this relationship has been in the past, and create a new one that adapts to [the] new global reality,” Carney said during his opening remarks, adding that it could deliver stability, security and prosperity for both nations. Carney is on a state visit to China, the...

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We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. Chinese military says it is developing over 10 quantum warfare weapons The People’s Liberation Army said more than 10 experimental quantum cyber warfare tools were “under development”, many of which were being “tested in front-line...

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Shares of Chinese electricity and grid equipment makers surged after State Grid unveiled a 4 trillion yuan (US$574 billion) plan to upgrade the country’s power networks, as surging demand and the global race in artificial intelligence drive investment in energy infrastructure. Baoding Tianwei Baobian Electric, which makes transformers, climbed 4.6 per cent to 14.50 yuan in Shanghai and power equipment manufacturer Henan Pinggao Electric jumped 4.8 per cent to 20.83 yuan. Suzhou Electrical...

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Chinese scientists have unlocked a revolutionary supercooling innovation in semiconductor technology, paving the way for a 40 per cent leap in the performance of gallium nitride-based radar systems, which are widely used in China’s most advanced stealth aircraft. The new Chinese-made chips can handle extreme power loads in the X and Ka bands – frequencies critical for advanced radar systems, satellite communications and next-generation wireless computer networks. “This is the most significant...

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America’s ambassador to China, David Perdue, will visit Hong Kong at the end of January to speak at a business conference, according to sources. Perdue will address the Goldman Sachs Global Macro Conference Asia-Pacific 2026 on January 27, several people familiar with the matter told the South China Morning Post. They said the envoy was expected to spend “several days” in the city. The US consulate in Hong Kong declined to comment on the matter. But an American diplomat in the city, speaking on...

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United States President Donald Trump’s “America first” agenda is helping to make China great again and ushering in a “truly multipolar world”, according to a survey by the European Council on Foreign Relations. “A year on from Trump’s return, in countries across the globe, many people believe China is on the verge of becoming even more powerful,” the think tank said after surveying 25,949 people from 21 countries, including the US, China, Russia, Britain and Brazil. Most respondents thought...

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Concerns about China’s slowing economic growth and “strained” Beijing-Washington relations rank as the top two concerns among members of the American Chamber of Commerce in China this year, according to a chamber survey released on Friday. The growth concern was raised by around two-thirds of the 368 respondents, making it the leading issue, the annual China Business Climate Survey found. Fifty-two per cent of respondents reported being profitable or very profitable last year, 6 percentage...

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One of China’s latest Earth observation satellites operating in low orbit could feature an optical aperture at a two-metre scale with “global leading” remote sensing capabilities, according to a China Science Daily report on Thursday last week. The report refers to the Yaogan-47 satellite, which was launched aboard a Long March 4B carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre on December 9. For comparison, the Hubble Space Telescope and likely the US KH-11 spy satellite have main...

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China’s move to raise margin requirements for leveraged stock trading signalled regulators’ push to steer clear of boom-and-bust cycles, while strengthening the stock market’s role in funding the country’s tech self-sufficiency efforts, according to analysts. “The signal from regulators was crystal-clear: guide the market towards a stable transition to a slow bull run,” said Wang Jun, a strategist at BOC International in Shanghai. “Investors should reduce their leverage levels to guard against...

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Blending economic nationalism with geopolitical leverage, US President Donald Trump’s top trade official delivered a pointed message to Taiwan shortly after Washington announced an ambitious deal on Thursday to bring critical technology manufacturing, including semiconductors, back to the United States. US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick framed the massive reshoring initiative as not just a business transaction, but as a strategic imperative for Taiwan to maintain favour with the “America...

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A US spending bill approving US$300 million in cash assistance for Taiwan’s military has passed the House of Representatives and is expected to become law. On Wednesday, the House passed a two-bill government spending package that would fund the Departments of the Treasury and State through September, along with other federal agencies, bringing the total to eight of 12 annual spending bills needed by January 30, to avoid a government shutdown. The bills must now clear the Senate before they can...

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China’s eastern tech powerhouse Zhejiang, home to giants like Alibaba and the humanoid robotics start-up Unitree, has set clear targets to develop cutting-chips and chipmaking equipment over the next five years. The province is the latest locality to prioritise innovation under its new five-year plan. It joins other hubs, including Shenzhen and Shanghai, that have thrown their weight behind Beijing’s nationwide strategy to develop indigenous technologies amid an intensifying rivalry with the...

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If you were asked which middle-income country has one of the lowest levels of educational attainment, very few would say China. We continually hear stories about mass university expansion, record numbers of annual graduates and elite institutions that rank among the world’s best. Despite these impressive strides, gaps in education remain a large roadblock for China’s further economic development. The country remains largely undereducated for its level of economic development: only about 31 per...

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A bipartisan group of lawmakers has proposed creating a new agency with US$2.5 billion to spur production of rare earths and the other critical minerals, while the Trump administration has already taken aggressive actions to break China’s grip on the market for these materials that are crucial to hi-tech products, including mobile phones, electric vehicles, jet fighters and missiles. It is too early to tell how the bill, if passed, could align with the White House’s policy but whatever the...

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A hacker group with links to China recently used Venezuela-themed phishing emails in a malware campaign targeting US government-related entities, as cyberattack campaigns increasingly leverage geopolitical materials, according to Swiss cybersecurity firm Acronis. A malware campaign has used recent developments between the US and Venezuela as “thematic lures” to attack US government and policy-related entities with a back door that has espionage-focused capabilities, including basic remote...

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US authorities have charged 20 people ‌with rigging college basketball and Chinese Basketball Association ‍games, according to a federal indictment released on Thursday, including some individuals previously charged in an NBA-related gambling investigation. The charges were unsealed ⁠by federal prosecutors in Philadelphia following a grand jury and accuse the defendants of conspiring on games from September 2022 until February 2025. During the 2022-2023 CBA season, the ‍individuals sought to...

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China needs to legislate to protect itself against the risk of “external suppression” and safeguard its technology and supply chains, a legal expert with a top Beijing think tank has warned. Li Honglei, head of a Communist Party committee that oversees two law institutes under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said tighter national security legislation was needed to make the country more “resilient”. He said the risks had been laid bare by America’s abduction of the former Venezuelan...

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China has warned that the “law of the jungle” must not apply in Iran amid the current wave of anti-government protests. Foreign Minister Wang Yi spoke to his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi by phone on Thursday, telling him that Beijing was willing to play a “constructive role” in resolving differences through dialogue. Some observers have described the recent protests in Iran as the largest since the 1979 Islamic revolution with an estimated death toll ranging from 2,000 to 12,000. Araghchi...

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Chinese companies are expected to shoulder higher costs for deploying advanced chips from the US, owing to a new 25 per cent tariff imposed by Washington on select high-performance semiconductors, according to analysts. The administration of US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said the new import duties on advanced artificial intelligence chips covered Nvidia’s H200 and Advanced Micro Devices’ MI325X graphics processing units, as well as their equivalent products and derivatives. According to...

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China and Canada are at a “new starting point” and the two countries should deepen cooperation to protect multilateralism and free trade. That was the message Premier Li Qiang had for Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney in Beijing on Thursday, on the second day of a four-day state visit to China. “Standing at a new starting point, China is willing to work with Canada to uphold the strategic partnership, strengthen dialogue and communication, enhance political mutual trust, respect each other’s...

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When contemporary Europe engages with the world, it increasingly presents as two distinct Europes operating within the same institutional framework. This duality – a Europe of strategic dependence vs a Europe of normative assertion – creates a contradiction. For partners, particularly in China and across Asia, this is not merely an abstract identity crisis but a practical geopolitical puzzle that complicates engagement and challenges assumptions about Europe’s global role. One Europe, embedded...

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China has ramped up audits involving online influencers and high-wage earners, as part of broader efforts to expand tax revenue and refine the taxation system. The State Taxation Administration on Wednesday spotlighted two fresh cases involving influencers in the centrally administered city of Chongqing and in Gansu province. In Chongqing, authorities ordered an influencer surnamed Peng – who has 30 million followers and works in online video production and commercial advertising – to pay 4.15...

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Nie Weiping, a legendary Go master in China, died in Beijing at the age of 73 on Wednesday. Nie is best remembered for his dramatic victory in the first Japan-China Super Go in 1985. Few had hope that China would win because its players had long lagged behind Japanese competitors in the strategy board game. By the time it was Nie’s turn to play in Tokyo, Japan’s top player, Kobayashi Koichi, had already won six straight games against his Chinese counterparts. Nie was the only Chinese player left...

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