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As the People’s Liberation Army marks its 99th anniversary on August 1, one year from the deadline for its centenary goals, its evolution highlights the past, present and future of China’s military strategy. In the second part of a series, Gabriel Dominguez examines how Beijing is pushing the envelope on its near-seas island arc. Beijing has urged the People’s Liberation Army to transform into a “...
Driven by a surge in visitors from across Asia and a blockbuster June stadium concert by K-pop juggernaut BTS, international tourism in South Korea’s southern port city of Busan shattered post-pandemic records during the first half of this year. Busan welcomed more than 2.42 million foreign visitors between January and June – a 43.9 per cent jump compared to the same period last year, according to...
At a food fair in New Delhi, a vegetable exporter from the Philippines set out its wares: bags of dried moringa and lemongrass, bundles of taro leaves and a bowl of laing, the creamy coconut-milk stew made from them. The question Dry Tech Manufacturing wanted to answer was simple: could the simple Filipino food it sells under its Sheentaro brand tantalise the taste buds of the world’s most populou...
The US Justice Department moved Friday to dismiss a criminal case charging a former Olympian with deliberately damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Government lawyers said in a 20-page court filing that information provided since the indictment of David Hearn shows that the damage was the result of a “flawed installation by the contractor” as well as “the rush to complete the project pri...
Prominent US lawmakers have requested information from food delivery giant DoorDash on its use of Chinese artificial intelligence models after its co-founder disclosed that they had experimented with a model from Chinese start-up Moonshot AI, developer of the Kimi models. The move underscores growing tensions between US lawmakers and industry, as Chinese AI models have become increasingly popular ...
US Senator Steve Daines is expected to return to China for another round of talks ahead of President Xi Jinping’s planned September visit to Washington, according to people familiar with the preparations. The trip was intended to help finalise the agenda for what both sides hoped would be a high-stakes summit between Xi and US President Donald Trump, one of the sources said. Daines, a Montana Repu...
Chinese government buyers bought at least eight cargoes of US soybeans on Friday for shipment from US Gulf Coast terminals and six cargoes for shipment from Pacific Northwest ports in October and November, two US traders with knowledge of the deals said. The sales volume of at least 840,000 tonnes was among China’s largest single-day purchases this month after the world’s top soybean importer r...
Who will win the next war? That is the question posed on the cover of the latest Foreign Affairs magazine which explores, among other things, the US-China military and technological rivalry. At its core is a clash of strategic philosophies between the US-led order and China’s world view, which has propelled the latter’s rise to the world’s second great power. The magazine’s contributors reflect a ...
Google rolled back a new feature on Friday that allowed Google Earth users to generate AI visualisations on top of the service’s satellite imagery, following a furious backlash from researchers and open-source intelligence experts about the potential for disinformation. “We’ve seen geospatial professionals using this feature for a range of useful purposes, however we’ve also seen people sharing sc...
Chilean President Jose Antonio Kast received China’s ambassador to Santiago, Niu Qingbao, at the La Moneda Palace on Friday morning, in an encounter that lasted more than an hour and marked the first meeting between the two men since the right-wing leader took office in March. According to the presidency, Kast, Foreign Minister Francisco Perez Mackenna and Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Patricio T...
Beijing hit back at the White House decision to add 43 Chinese companies to a blacklist that is meant to block imports allegedly made in Xinjiang using forced labour, describing them as a “classic act of economic coercion”. Friday’s sanctions were the third time this week that Washington announced measures aimed at China. Enforcing the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA), the Department of ...
The White House on Friday added 43 Chinese companies to a blacklist that is meant to block imports made with alleged forced labour in Xinjiang, marking the third time this week Washington has announced measures aimed at China. Enforcing the Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act (UFLPA), the Department of Homeland Security increased its entity list by 30 per cent to include companies in sectors rangin...
The US Marine Corps says the pilot of an F-35B stealth fighter ejected before the jet crashed in California, and was taken to a medical facility. The jet went down on Friday afternoon near the Miramar airbase in San Diego. A Marines statement called it a “Class A mishap”. That is the most severe mishap category, used when the damage totals more than US$2 million, an aircraft is destroyed or a serv...
The US Marine Corps says the pilot of an F-35B stealth fighter ejected before the jet crashed in California, and was taken to a medical facility. The jet went down on Friday afternoon near the Miramar airbase in San Diego. A Marines statement called it a “Class A mishap”. That is the most severe mishap category, used when the damage totals more than US$2 million, an aircraft is destroyed or a serv...
President Donald Trump said on Friday that the United States has not agreed to Ukraine building Patriot missiles but that talks are ongoing, adding that the US must be “very careful about letting somebody build them”. Trump said during a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey this month that he was going to give Ukraine a licence to manufacture Patriot missile interceptors...
Italy said on Friday it was suspending the EU’s border-free Schengen arrangements with Spain in response to a mass influx of migrants into the Spanish enclave of Ceuta from neighbouring Morocco. Italy does not share a land border with Spain but the measure – which looks certain to anger Madrid – will affect people travelling by plane or boat between the two countries, meaning they will need to...
A Sri Lanka court sentenced former police chief Pujith Jayasundara to death on Friday for failing to prevent the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings, which killed 279 people including 45 foreigners. In a majority decision, a three-judge bench ruled that the former inspector general had failed in his duties to stop the deadly attacks, blamed on a home-grown Islamist extremist group. Jayasundara, 66, can ap...
The US-China tech rivalry has escalated into a deeper battle over undersea fibre-optic cables powering the global AI boom. As demand for cross-border data to power and train advanced systems intensifies, so does the high-stakes battle to control critical network ecosystems – mainly submarine cables that send nearly 99 per cent of intercontinental data traffic at immense speed. Beijing on Tuesday a...
Hungary’s only nuclear power plant will shut down for the first time in its history due to record-low water levels on the Danube River, Prime Minister Péter Magyar said on Friday, adding that the plant may not come back online for several weeks as the river is expected to continue receding. The Paks nuclear plant, located around 90 km (50 miles) south of the capital Budapest, is operating at less ...
Central Europe was sweltering under the latest heatwave in an already record-breaking summer on Friday, with several countries taking steps to reduce the risk of fires and ease pressure on water and energy networks. Europe’s wildfire threat is expanding, as high winds and heat force evacuations from Greece to the UK, even as blazes were brought under control in France and Spain. In Hungary, Prime ...
A group of 87 mainland Chinese families who came to Hong Kong under talent visa schemes has lost a legal bid to challenge the government’s policy changes that affected their children’s access to publicly funded university places as dependants. High Court Judge Russell Coleman on Friday ruled that there was no irrationality in the Education Bureau’s requirement that children of parents who arrived ...
Chinese tech investors are hearing warning bells after volatility in US tech stocks forced a fast-rising Wall Street hedge fund to clear its stock portfolio at a steep discount within a few days. “Don’t use leverage! Don’t use leverage! Don’t use leverage!” Shanghai-based public-markets analyst Harry Shen repeated to the South China Morning Post in an interview on Friday. Another warning came from...
US President Donald Trump on Friday hailed a “great breakthrough” in the Middle East, saying that the Board of Peace – the body he created to oversee Gaza’s governance, security and reconstruction – will lead the process of disarming Hamas. Speaking at an open-to-press cabinet meeting at Camp David, the presidential retreat that has hosted numerous world leaders, Trump credited the Board of Peace ...
Hamas said on Friday that it reached an agreement to disarm, a significant move that could help end the war in Gaza, but one that will face many hurdles and could take a long time to achieve, if at all. The group agreed to a road map as long as Israel also makes concessions, including ending hostilities and withdrawing its troops from the Palestinian territory, a Hamas official and a regional offi...
The European Union’s foreign affairs chief, Kaja Kallas, is expected to travel to China in the autumn for her first face-to-face meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi since a bruising encounter in Brussels last summer, according to multiple people familiar with the planning. It would mark Kallas’ first trip to Beijing since taking on her role in 2024. The trip – with a date yet to be confirmed – w...
Police will not charge a prominent Hong Kong basketball coach filmed slapping a student two years ago, citing insufficient evidence. In a reply to the South China Morning Post on Friday, the force said it would not prosecute Yung Kam-wah, who was arrested in June this year on suspicion of common assault for physically punishing a secondary student at Hon Wah College in Siu Sai Wan. “Following an i...
Vin Lors used to earn about US$20 a day working on construction sites in Bangkok, nearly twice what he now makes in Cambodia. After the border conflict between Thailand and Cambodia broke out last July, the 37-year-old and his wife decided to return home to Siem Reap province, worried about their safety and concerned about workplace discrimination. When he heard the government was helping returnin...
Hong Kong’s air safety watchdog has classified a tail strike involving a Cathay Pacific Airways passenger jet during an aborted landing at the city’s airport this month as “abnormal runway contact”, according to a preliminary report. The Air Accident Investigation Authority published its report on Friday on the July 3 incident involving flight CX509, carrying 203 passengers and 12 crew, from Tokyo...
Under new regulations, the Chinese government will soon be able to ban citizens from leaving the country if they violate export controls or rules on technology transfers. The measures were announced by the State Council, China’s cabinet, on Friday and are set to take effect on September 15. The Ministry of Commerce and other departments can enforce exit bans on citizens if their breaches “endanger...
Thousands flocked to the opening day of the annual Hong Kong Cat Expo despite Friday’s reel of rainstorm warnings, splashing out on products ranging from pet companion robots to ginseng supplements. The three-day event, which has been held annually since 2023, is being held at the Convention and Exhibition Centre in Wan Chai and features more than 185 exhibitors and 400 booths, helping to introduc...
