China News

We are pleased to republish below the Spanish translation, by the progressive Chilean journal El Ciudadano, of Carlos Martinez’s recent article, Cuba’s economic reforms and the prospects for socialist renewal. El siguiente artículo analiza las transformaciones más profundas del modelo económico cubano en más de seis décadas: un programa compuesto por 23 ejes estratégicos y …

From Friends of Socialist China via This RSS Feed.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) marked the 73rd anniversary of victory in the Fatherland Liberation War on July 27, the day in 1953 when US imperialism was forced to sign the armistice agreement after three years of genocidal war, with a wide range of celebrations and commemorative events. Among them, the Korean Central …

From Friends of Socialist China via This RSS Feed.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi attended the Meeting of the Council of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Member States, held in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan on July 24. Addressing the meeting, Wang Yi stated that the SCO Tianjin Summit, held in August-September 2025, mapped out a strategic blueprint for the organisation’s …

From Friends of Socialist China via This RSS Feed.

Beijing has tightened its rules on the sale of military equipment to ban its sale through unauthorised channels. “In recent years, some business operators have openly sold, online and offline, goods … such as decommissioned and scrapped military equipment, causing an adverse impact and creating security risks,” an administrative notice issued by multiple state bodies said. The notice – made public on Tuesday and published internally last week – covers everything from uniforms to machinery,...

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

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

The struggle between the US and China over who will lead in artificial intelligence is one of the defining competitions of our time. In the third part of our exclusive interview with a key player defining Washington’s policy on AI, Jacob Helberg, US undersecretary of state for economic affairs, gives a commitment to the Philippines on the Pax Silica Initiative. Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr used his State of the Nation address in Manila on Monday to staunchly defend a proposed...

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

In Orwellian totalitarianism, two plus two can equal five. But with American hegemony, things can be A and not A at the same time. Earlier this month, Washington declared war on the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose very existence, it claims, poses an “intolerable” challenge to America’s sovereignty. But, citing an international maritime law, it also led a coalition of 14 mainly Western countries in issuing a joint statement in support of a 10-year-old South China Sea arbitration ruling...

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

This year’s US-led Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) military exercises around Hawaii displayed a higher level of integration of new technology in allied operations, with deterring Beijing in mind, experts said. From Japanese land-based anti-ship missiles to US attack submarines and exploding drone boats, allied forces linked troops on shore with aircraft, surface and undersea vessels to form a single network able to find, track and attack the same maritime target. The drills, which ran from June 24...

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

China has seen a spike in Covid-19 in recent weeks, overtaking influenza as the top respiratory pathogen for the first time this year, but most patients experienced mild symptoms, while the medical authorities said data suggested the infection rate was significantly lower than last year’s peak. The spread of the Omicron NB.1.8.1 variant has reached a “moderate transmission level”, according to the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The CDC does not give a weekly total of...

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

Chinese President Xi Jinping said that China and Slovakia should explore cooperation in clean energy, robotics and artificial intelligence, as the European nation navigates growing trade tensions between Beijing and the EU. Xi told his counterpart Peter Pellegrini that mutual trust has continued to deepen between the nations. The Slovak president is on a three-day visit to China, the first by the country’s head of state in 16 years. Slovakia has relatively warm relations with China, as one of...

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

An American company found itself under attack by American artificial intelligence systems. Its unlikely rescuer was a Chinese AI model. It sounds like a Hollywood science fiction film. It’s not. During an internal test, advanced OpenAI models bypassed network restrictions, gained access to the internet and launched autonomous cyberattacks on open-source platform Hugging Face. As engineers rushed to respond, several leading closed-source AI systems reportedly failed to provide meaningful help...

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

The Chinese government has appealed to the public for clues as part of its investigation into a reservoir dam that collapsed in southern China earlier this month, causing heavy casualties. State media reported on Monday that the public was invited to submit information related to the collapse of the Liulan Reservoir in Hengzhou, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on July 6 via a dedicated telephone hotline. People also have until August 15 to post submissions to an investigation and assessment...

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

The world’s largest known rare earth deposit in northern China could contain far more resources underground than currently reported, according to a leading Chinese geologist. Containing 100 million tonnes of rare earth reserves, the Bayan Obo mine in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region has served as the backbone of China’s rare earth industry for decades. According to Yang Li, a Peking University geologist, “Bayan Obo’s rare earth resources have been the dominant source of global rare earth...

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

This article was first published on July 29, 1976. Quake rocks Northern China by Staff Reporters Heavy casualties and severe damage to industrial plants and property were feared when the strongest earthquake for 12 years struck the industrial belt of northern Hopei Province early yesterday (July 28, 1976) morning. The tremor was followed by a series of aftershocks and 16 hours after the first quake, an aftershock of almost the same intensity struck the same area, causing further damage and...

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

The first tonne-class long-distance unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) suitable for multiple civil purposes to be built to airworthiness standards in China – Yitong UAV System’s TP200 – completed its maiden flight on Sunday. According to a Science and Technology Daily report on Monday, the TP200 – designed to handle maritime patrols, island supply and land surveying – can stay in the air for 24 hours at its maximum payload, giving it a range of 3,000km (1,860 miles). The TP200, developed...

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

Chinese scientists have uncovered the world’s oldest verified amber in the northwestern Xinjiang region, revealing that ancient plants were producing protective resin 385 million years ago, long before most animal groups had emerged to damage them. The amber – discovered in coal seams in West Junggar, part of an ancient zone where tectonic plates collided, grew and merged – pushes back the record by roughly 65 million years and challenges some long-held assumptions about the origins of plant...

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

Even top American doctors are now relocating to China. On July 21, Westlake University in Hangzhou announced that Shen Yang, a top endocrinologist in Los Angeles, had joined its medical school. Shen’s move is striking because of her credentials, which include over 16 years of clinical experience in the United States, board certifications in internal medicine and endocrinology, and a thriving practice in southern California. She is the first clinical doctor at the Westlake University school of...

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

When Jean Kaseya, director general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), met Jiang Feng, head of China’s mission to the African Union, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in mid-July, the message was practical. They signed a handover certificate that brought Beijing’s direct emergency support for the Ebola response to US$4.5 million. A five-member Chinese medical team was already working in the Democratic Republic of Congo capital of Kinshasa. Kaseya described the contribution as...

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

The Shenzhen Natural History Museum will open to the public on July 28 as the first dedicated large-scale institution of its kind in southern China. Spearheaded by the Shenzhen government with a total investment of 3.5 billion yuan (US$517 million) – excluding the cost of collecting artefacts – the museum, located in the Pingshan district in the northeast of the city, is among its “Ten Cultural Facilities of the New Era”. The first of these to open was the new Shenzhen Art Museum in 2023,...

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

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed on Sunday night to accelerate negotiations for a trade agreement between China and Mercosur, a striking reversal for Brasilia, which for years led resistance to such a deal in the South American bloc. The two leaders spoke by telephone for more than an hour, according to a statement from the Brazilian presidency, and “coincided on the importance of speeding up the talks for a Mercosur-China agreement that...

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

A congressional advisory panel focused on China has returned from a trip to Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou with commissioners pledging to make the visits an annual event to strengthen engagement and inform their work on US-China relations. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), an independent advisory body established in 2000, provides annual reports and recommendations to lawmakers on trade and national security-related policies. “We are committed to seeking to return at...

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

Two days after the Financial Times warned darkly of China’s “AI diplomacy” in the Global South, here is what that supposedly sinister campaign consists of in practice. The Xinhua News Agency reports on China–Ethiopia cooperation in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies, centred on something relatively unglamorous yet genuinely life-saving: weather forecasting. The Ethiopian Meteorological Institute …

From Friends of Socialist China via This RSS Feed.

Alleged scam-network mastermind Chen Zhi could face the death penalty, with Chinese prosecutors adding intentional injury to the list of charges against him. Chen, 38, was extradited from Cambodia to China six months ago and formally arrested on July 6, according to Chinese business magazine Caixin. He founded the Cambodian conglomerate Prince Group, which authorities say was linked to a sprawling online scam network. Caixin reported on Monday that prosecutors dropped a previous count of...

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

Beijing student Lulu Lu was just preparing for bed when she was startled by loud banging at her door. When she opened the door, a man pushed his way inside, shone a flashlight in her face and shouted: “Get down. Give me your phone.” Lu froze. Moments later, she came to her senses and did as she was told, burying her face in the mattress and raising her hands above her head. The intruder blindfolded Lu, tied her hands and finally made her record a phone message for her parents – begging them to...

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

South Asia is undergoing a gradual but important shift. Smaller states now command a widening array of options, and India’s primacy is quietly giving way. The lesson is clear. Regional leadership can no longer rest on geography and must be sustained through credible and mutually beneficial engagements that compare favourably with the alternatives. China’s challenge begins at India’s border. Both countries fought in 1962, continue to dispute a frontier of roughly 3,500km and had their deadliest...

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