China News

Desalination has always been an energy-hungry way of turning saltwater into freshwater, making it largely the preserve of wealthy countries with abundant fossil fuel reserves. Yet, an outdoor demonstration prototype in China has managed to exhibit year-long stability with zero utility energy costs, thanks to a new type of photothermal material. The researchers developed an innovative method to weave nanoparticles into a three-dimensional photothermal evaporation material, significantly boosting...

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European Union leaders had a week to bask in their rare, relatively united stance on China policy before news broke to remind them of the urgency of their task: German car giant Volkswagen was reportedly planning up to 100,000 job cuts in the face of cutthroat Chinese competition. Seven days previously at a European Council summit in Brussels, leaders from the EU’s 27 member states had instructed the European Commission to accelerate its efforts to fight back against what is seen as a damaging...

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A Chinese farmer has generated a buzz online by planting a forest of more than 170 surveillance cameras on his land in the hope of boosting his compensation under a land purchase scheme. Footage circulating on social media – which showed the poles standing almost shoulder to shoulder on a hillside in Badong county, Hubei province – prompted rampant speculation about what could possibly warrant such heavy security for an ordinary orchard. On Friday, the local village committee explained the man...

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China has leapfrogged the United States in a few mighty important sectors of space technologies: GPS-style navigation, spy-in-the-sky reconnaissance and even the ability to knock satellites out of orbit, according to a report from a US think tank. The report from the Washington-based Information Technology and Innovation Foundation said China had rapidly built a powerful commercial space sector under strong state backing and was narrowing the innovation gap with the US. “If the United States...

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Laureano Ortega Murillo, Presidential Advisor of Nicaragua for the Promotion of Investment, Trade and International Cooperation, and Coordinator for Cooperation with China, visited China recently. On June 22, Laureano and his delegation met with Vice-minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee (IDCPC) Ma Hui. The following article was …

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The world’s biggest superconducting magnet for a nuclear fusion reactor has passed final tests as part of China’s CRAFT “artificial sun” project, eclipsing international performance benchmarks. The assembly comprises two coils: a toroidal-field magnet that acts as a magnetic cage, and a central solenoid that serves as the igniter. The results, achieved by researchers with the Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, clear a major engineering hurdle on the path to confining a...

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For climate scientist Li Xueke, the decision to leave the University of Pennsylvania for Hong Kong was a pivot to the front lines of the global green economy. As climate change turns the Arctic into a seasonally navigable ocean, Li’s research on critical new shipping routes could shed light on the economic impacts of a warming planet. Li joined City University of Hong Kong (CityU) last month as an assistant professor in the school of energy and environment, following a decade of study and work...

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Chinese firms joined their global competitors at Eurosatory, the recently concluded arms fair, where the latest air defences were the centre of attention in a market made more important by the drone warfare seen in Ukraine and the Middle East. Experts said China could anticipate sales from the Global South thanks to its cost efficiency, but geopolitical constraints would continue to bar it from US-allied countries that were looking for combat-proven and interoperable systems. China’s largest...

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A new Chinese law that pledges to hold overseas individuals and organisations responsible for undermining ethnic unity is mainly intended to have a “deterrent effect”, according to analysts. The Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress was passed in March and is set to take effect next month, with Article 63 at the heart of the controversy about targeting people outside China. The law provides a new framework which analysts said was designed to counter Western ideological influence and provide...

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Japan and South Korea scrambled fighter jets in response to a joint Russian-Chinese bomber patrol on Saturday. The People’s Liberation Army Air Force said the patrols passed over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific, adding that they showed the two countries’ resolve and ability to safeguard regional peace and stability. It was the 11th patrol of this kind since 2019, but the first this year. Japan’s defence ministry said it had tracked two separate flights involving...

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On June 4, at a packing facility in Limuru near Nairobi, Kenya, avocados were being prepared for the Chinese market. The scene may seem mundane, but the politics behind it is significant. China has removed tariffs on imports from 53 African countries. African exporters are beginning to think about Beijing less as a distant buyer than as a market that could reshape their margins. When the UN projected 4 per cent gross domestic product growth for Africa for 2026, the figure landed quietly. No...

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As the lights dimmed in the Shanghai theatre, the string quartet struck up once more for the encore. Tina Zhang was fully drawn into the psychological thriller, but it was not until after the show that she found out that the musical was originally from South Korea. Zhang, 39, saw the official Chinese adaptation of Interview for the first time last year. “The logic was tight, the plot was well-structured and interwoven, and it was genuinely engaging,” she said. Over the past few years, a number...

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Scientists have uncovered a new species of raptor in Argentina that sports the same telltale curved claw as the velociraptors found in China, some 19,000km (11,800 miles) away. Though they were found on opposite ends of the world, these two dinosaurs were close kin – tracing back to a common ancestor from an era when the continents were knitted together to form one big land mass. This discovery, published late last month in the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, has prompted scientists to...

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The pilot of a light sport aircraft that hit Beijing’s tallest skyscraper on Friday died. In a statement on Saturday, the Chaoyang district government said that only the pilot was in the two-seater plane when it hit Citic Tower. In addition, 13 people were injured in the incident. The statement, issued after hours of silence, said the crash took place at 5.55pm on Friday and that the circumstances surrounding the incident were still under investigation. It did not name the building and only...

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A high-profile visit to Washington by Taiwanese Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu reflects a broader US effort to strengthen ties with the island’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT), according to analysts. Han’s trip follows visits to the United States by Taichung mayor and KMT member Lu Shiow-yen in March and KMT chairwoman Cheng Li-wun earlier this month. The succession of arrivals suggested Washington was preparing for political uncertainty after Taiwan’s 2028 leadership election by cultivating...

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China has removed six senior PLA officers from the country’s top legislative body, a sign that President Xi Jinping’s military anti-corruption campaign is not slowing down. According to a late-night notice issued by the National People’s Congress Standing Committee on Friday, 13 members of the legislature had been removed and one had resigned. Away from the military, those removed included a former top financial regulator and the ex-Xinjiang party chief. There had already been indications that...

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As China’s relationship with African countries deepens, the country’s influence is spreading into more areas. In our series Jevans Nyabiage looks at how Beijing’s blanket import clearance for three African food products will affect ties between them, and the potential effects for other governments around the world. Beijing is rewriting its trade playbook by bypassing years of protracted bilateral negotiations to grant continent-wide market access for African coffee, chillies and cashews. The...

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Who would have imagined that just over 100 days could so change the world? The US-Israeli “war of choice” on Iran has fundamentally – perhaps, permanently – shifted the global balances of economic, military and political power, and not in America’s favour. Mix the direct impact of this gratuitous military conflict with the broader effects on global security, efforts to mitigate climate change, contain soaring public debt and “de-risk” after America’s unilateral efforts to unravel globally agreed...

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As the summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump fades in the rear-view mirror, marked by anaemic deliverables, poor transparency and missed opportunities, analysts and former US officials point to another disappointment: the world’s most consequential relationship has become inordinately dependent on the two nations’ top leaders. Trump’s May China trip, the first by a US president in nearly a decade, produced vague and contradictory readouts, puffed up promises,...

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With the current 2026 Football World Cup being one of the most contentious in the history of the game due to the customarily outrageous behaviour of the US Trump administration, curtailing the movements of the Iranian team such that it has had to stay in Mexico between games in the US, denying visas to players, …

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As previously noted by us, on June 11, a video call was held between Liu Haixing, Minister of the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee (IDCPC) and Emilio Lozada García, Head of the International Relations Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC). The following article …

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The first scientific ship built by private interests in China is still waiting for its first assignment after it launched last month near Wenling, in Zhejiang province, on the east coast, according to Chinese media reports. The 82 metre-long (269-foot), 3,500-tonne Haiying Jiake research vessel was built with 150 million yuan (US$22 million) raised by 37 Zhejiang fishermen. It is designed to operate anywhere in the world’s oceans, including in thin sea ice, and support research ranging from...

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A light sport aircraft hit Beijing’s tallest skyscraper, Citic Tower, on Friday, triggering evacuations and scattering debris across the Chinese capital’s central business district. It was not immediately clear whether the crash caused any casualties or how many people had been on board the aircraft. The origin of the aerial vehicle and the circumstances leading to the crash were also unknown. Videos posted to social media showed the aircraft striking the upper floors of the 528-metre...

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Leaders of the G7 rich nations might have gone into this month’s summit in France hoping for a united front against China. But, overshadowed by the conflicts in Iran and Ukraine and alienated by a mercurial US President Donald Trump, the lacklustre gathering came up short. There was no public agreement on how to address the so-called China shock 2.0, the supposed overcapacity issues and currency manipulation that is considered to be the cause of Chinese exports flooding into Europe. Instead of...

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The United States has been asleep for decades as China undercut US economic strength by stealing ideas, technologies and, more recently, artificial intelligence advances, with the Chinese military first in line to benefit, according to testimony heard by a congressional committee on Thursday. The hearing by the House Select Committee on China, which focused on economic espionage and Chinese efforts to exert influence at state and local levels, was held amid mounting bilateral tension over export...

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