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US President Donald Trump’s phone calls with both his Chinese and Japanese counterparts this week suggest Washington is engaged in a delicate balancing act over the Taiwan issue. These high-level communications are also intended as a message to Japan, and other US allies, that Taiwan is not a top priority for the Trump administration and should not disrupt the stabilisation of Sino-American ties, according to diplomatic observers. On Tuesday morning, Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae...

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A private Chinese aerospace company has become the first in the world to start mass production of a low-cost, high-performance hypersonic missile, suggesting a seismic shift in military technology and defence industrial dynamics. On Tuesday, Beijing-based Lingkong Tianxing Technology released a video on its official social media account showcasing the YKJ-1000 hypersonic missile in flight and how it struck a real target in a desert testing range. A company spokesperson said the missile was...

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1. Trump talks to Japanese PM hours after his overnight call with China’s Xi Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed “the close cooperation” between Tokyo and Washington in a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, hours after Trump spoke by phone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping.
2. China sends emergency return vehicle to space...

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There are moments in statecraft when a government reveals its strategic character. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s new administration has shown one such moment – and it was encouraging. On Ukraine, Berlin has moved with a decisiveness long thought beyond its political metabolism. Weapons are flowing. Defence production is expanding. Germany is anchoring Nato’s eastern flank and, for the first time in decades, speaking like a country prepared to bear the burdens of European security. On China,...

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In a span of just four days last week, Beijing’s envoy to the United Nations criticised Japan – and its leader’s comments related to Taiwan – twice. Fu Cong first said, during a debate on reforming the UN Security Council on Tuesday, that Tokyo was “totally unqualified” to seek a permanent seat on the group, calling Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s earlier comments on Taiwan “brazen” and “provocative”. Takaichi on November 7 suggested that Japan could deploy its military forces in the...

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UBTech Robotics, one of China’s top robot manufacturers, said on Tuesday it had secured a major contract to deploy humanoids at border crossings to perform tasks such as guiding travellers, conducting inspections and handling logistics, as the country intensified efforts to apply robotics in the real world. The company has struck a 264 million yuan (US$37 million) deal with a humanoid robot centre in Fangchenggang, a coastal city in the southern autonomous region of Guangxi, which shares a...

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Japan’s submarine fleet could prove a major strategic headache for China, military analysts have said, as Tokyo moves to strengthen its armed forces. The two Asian powers have become embroiled in one of their most serious diplomatic crises in years after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said earlier this month that an armed attack against Taiwan could be seen as a “survival-threatening situation” that would justify Japan deploying its military. Her remarks were the most explicit by a sitting...

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German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has revealed he is now in the “last stages of coordinating” a trip to China, after his planned visit to Beijing last month was hastily cancelled. Speaking at the Berlin Foreign Policy Forum on Tuesday, Wadephul said he was “confident” that the trip would be rescheduled soon. It is thought that the conservative minister would be in the Chinese capital in the second week of December. Wadephul postponed his planned trip in October after failing to arrange...

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Beijing has rejected claims that Chinese authorities detained and harassed an Indian national born in a disputed border region, after the traveller alleged that she was held for more than 18 hours while transiting through Shanghai. On Sunday, a woman who identified herself as Pem Wang Thongdok, said on social media that she had been “held” against her will at a Shanghai airport on Friday. According to the post, Chinese border control officers and China Eastern Airlines declared the woman’s...

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Alibaba Group Holding, China’s e-commerce and cloud computing giant, on Tuesday reported a better-than-expected 5 per cent increase in revenue for the September quarter, as its cloud and artificial intelligence businesses continued to gain momentum. Total revenue for the Hangzhou-based company reached 247.8 billion yuan (US$34.8 billion) for its financial second quarter ended September 30, beating the consensus estimate of 245.2 billion yuan by Bloomberg-polled analysts. That was more than the 2...

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Huawei Technologies on Tuesday revealed that its next-generation Kirin 9030 system-on-a-chip powers the more advanced models of its newly launched 5G Mate 80 series smartphones. Shenzhen-based Huawei listed the Kirin 9030 as the processor for the 12-gigabyte random access memory (RAM) version of the Mate 80 Pro, while its Kirin 9030 Pro version is built into the 16GB RAM Mate 80 Pro, the Mate 80 Pro Max and Mate 80 RS models, according to the official website for the company’s latest flagship...

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Hong Kong is ramping up efforts to expand the use of local currencies across the Asia-Pacific region, including developing a local currency debt market, as part of a push to hedge against rising geopolitical risks, according to Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) CEO Eddie Yue Wai-man. Speaking at the fourth edition of the Asean+3 Economic Cooperation and Financial Stability Forum in Hong Kong on Tuesday, Yue underlined the need to strengthen regional financial ties as Hong Kong and its...

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China’s leading aircraft manufacturer, determined to carve out a share of the lucrative but technologically complex civil aviation market, has obtained a timely round of financial support from its state backers, greatly expanding its registered capital as the firm aims to overcome a production bottleneck and remount its challenge to the Boeing and Airbus duopoly. As competition from the two Western giants for contracts heats up amid a supply chain crunch that has slowed turnaround rates for the...

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The Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac) has launched a clean surgical cabin for its C909 narrowbody jet – an innovation the manufacturer touts as the first of its kind, and one that could expand access to complex medical procedures in the country's most remote and underserved regions. The upgrade advances the airborne hospital concept from in-flight diagnosis to genuine surgical capability, broadening the jet’s commercial applications, according to official media. The cabin is a...

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Young Chinese consumers, including a growing number of men, are splurging on aesthetic medical treatments for physical, emotional and social wellness, according to the CEO of Fosun Pharma‑backed Sisram Medical and its subsidiary Alma, who says Asia’s relatively low penetration offers greater growth potential than North America. “It is a global trend that younger generations, including those [in mainland China] and Hong Kong, are turning to energy-based aesthetic treatments such as lasers as a...

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Even as the bombs fall in Ukraine, precisely following trajectories defined by equations, Ukrainian and Russian mathematicians, among others, gather in sunlit rooms beside tranquil Yanqi Lake in an industrial estate north of China’s capital. Here, at the Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications (Bimsa), they debate string theory over coffee, co-author papers on quantum fields and lose themselves in problems that stretch across centuries while some of their countries engage in...

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As they look to keep the United States engaged in Ukraine and push for lower trade tariffs, EU ministers lobbied their US counterparts for joint policies on China on Monday – even as new public opinion polling shows a waning appetite for such a partnership. The China carrot was dangled by successive ministers ahead of and after a meeting of the bloc’s trade council in Brussels, which was attended by US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. This is despite...

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China has launched a replacement ship that will travel to its space station as a substitute return vessel. The uncrewed Shenzhou-22 spacecraft carrying 600kg (1,320 pounds) of goods, including food and equipment, was launched at 12.11pm on Tuesday and was expected to dock with the Tiangong space station autonomously. The vessel will replace the Shenzhou-21 spacecraft used to return three astronauts to Earth on November 14. They had to take the new spacecraft because tiny cracks were found in the...

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Bitcoin mining is quietly staging a comeback in China despite being banned four years ago, as individual and corporate miners exploit cheap electricity and a data-centre boom in some energy-rich provinces, according to miners and industry data. China had been the world’s biggest crypto mining country until Beijing banned all cryptocurrency trading and mining in 2021, citing threats to the country’s financial stability and energy conservation. After its global bitcoin mining market share slumped...

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US President Donald Trump is expected to speak to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on Tuesday morning, as tensions between China and Japan continue to escalate over Takaichi’s remarks over the Taiwan contingency. Takaichi was reported to be making final arrangements to hold a telephone conversation with Trump, after a request from the White House, according to the Fuji News Network, citing multiple government sources. News of the impending call came shortly after the phone conversation...

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Brief, controlled bouts of oxygen deprivation – essentially moments of safe suffocation – can alleviate severe depression as effectively as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and ketamine, two of the most powerful treatments known to psychiatry, Chinese scientists have concluded. This radical new approach, called acute intermittent hypoxia, harnesses a natural mechanism triggered by a temporary drop in oxygen in the brain and activates a naturally occurring compound known as adenosine, which acts...

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A former editor-in-chief of a Chinese nationalist tabloid has called upon official media to manage public expectations properly and refrain from using “harsh language that does not reflect the actual situation” when criticising Japan. Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the Global Times, affiliated with Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, said some social media accounts run by official media had used “harsh language that does not reflect the actual situation” when criticising Japanese...

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China has announced plans to consolidate the cruise operations of four central state-owned enterprises into a single entity that will reportedly operate the largest fleet in Asia, as part of a broader efficiency drive. China Tourism Group – one of the four companies – was designated as the operator of the venture at a signing ceremony hosted by China’s state-owned enterprises watchdog on Friday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. After the deal goes through, the venture will operate Asia’s...

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As China’s traditional spirits and premium wines grapple with declining consumption, a significant shift is under way across the beverage landscape. This three-part series examines the challenges faced by Maotai town as its once-coveted baijiu loses its lustre, the impact of economic shutdowns on European wine imports, and the rise of craft beer as a budget-friendly alternative for consumers seeking quality without breaking the bank. On the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, when the rainy...

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Chinese President Xi Jinping has reaffirmed Beijing’s steadfast support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, sending a congratulatory letter on the eve of the embattled leader’s birthday that pledged continued backing for the South American country’s sovereignty amid mounting regional tensions and US military pressure. In the message, released by Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry over the weekend, Xi described China and Venezuela as “intimate friends, dear brothers and good partners”. He vowed to...

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