• China’s youth facing unique academic pressures in age of AI need a helping hand
• China’s ‘telepathy’ radio could make combat units invisible for electronic warfare edge
• Trump’s fresh tariffs on East Asia, China’s rare earth dominance: SCMP daily highlights
• Von der Leyen deepens gloom over China-EU summit with attack on Beijing’s Russia stance
• Will US tariff pressure on Japan and South Korea push them closer to China?
• China steps up economic monitoring, looking to head off worst-case scenarios
• In global survey, US cited more often than China as greatest ally and threat
• China to speed up bullet-train connectivity with neighbours
• 8 detained in China for lead poisoning after high levels detected in kindergarten children
• Philippines summons Chinese ambassador over travel ban on former senator
• Woman driver with disabled son runs China’s ‘messiest but most loving cab’ and wins hearts.
• Why Trump’s 14-nation tariff package puts China on edge and pressures Southeast Asia
• China’s optical chip advances such as Meteor-1 light the way for AI development
• How China, Japan and South Korea can be titans of tech innovation
• Business leaders call for efforts to combat ‘Hong Kong equals China’ perception
• China’s rare earth dominance faces global pushback but Beijing has ‘strong hand’: analysts
• Hong Kong leaders say city is good place to seek stability, capitalise on China growth
• Hong Kong is vital link to world, where China anchors its trust, John Lee says
• As US drops among Chinese study preferences, Singapore beckons with status and culture
• Panda diplomacy: a boost for China-Japan ties amid US tariff anxiety?
• Chinese design firm converts swimming pool into office, triggers safety probe
• China’s trade war strategy? Bet on Guizhou, long one of its poorest provinces

China’s youth facing unique academic pressures in age of AI need a helping hand

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3317433/chinas-youth-facing-unique-academic-pressures-age-ai-need-helping-hand?utm_source=rss_feed

Suicide rates among adolescents in China reveal a unique pattern: some studies show that those from more affluent families and with better-educated parents are at a higher risk of taking their own lives compared to those from less privileged backgrounds.

This stands in stark contrast to trends observed in many other countries, where children from poorer families and those exposed to domestic violence are more likely to attempt suicide.

However, this does not imply that children from poorer families in China are unaffected. Research also indicates that “left-behind” children of migrants in rural areas – particularly those experiencing loneliness – exhibit a high risk of suicidal tendencies.

While loneliness, parental neglect, poverty and domestic violence could lead to depression or suicidal thoughts, a unique and tragic factor for Chinese children is the intense pressure they face from parents who care too much about their success.

Authorities alarmed by the trend have rolled out a range of measures to address this, including banning paid tutoring after school hours and during the summer holidays.

But it is no secret that many parents secretly hire private tutors for lessons at home.

Mental health and education experts say government measures alone will not solve the problem, as the key lies in how parents define their children’s success.

Since imperial times, academic achievement has been the most important means of upward social mobility in China – and the old saying that “golden houses can be found in books” is still deep-rooted in Chinese thinking.

Today, a young student’s future largely hinges on their performance in the – the national exam that determines admission to China’s top universities.

More affluent families may send their children to study abroad, but academic achievement still remains the only measure of success in the eyes of many parents.

Such a mindset not only places immense psychological pressure on adolescents but also hinders their capacity to thrive in the face of the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI).

For example, writing strong essays – once crucial for high exam scores – is becoming less important as many large language models (LLMs) can now produce superior work. Memorising and compiling information, once a strong suit of Chinese students, can now also be performed by AI.

Beijing is aware of the problem and is actively reforming the education system.

It has sped up the building of vocational schools aimed at training more people to programme AI or use AI tools for various tasks. Students at such schools are also no longer required to write a graduation thesis.

Many universities also discontinued subjects with low enrolment numbers, such as business administration, philosophy, history and traditional industrial production, and replaced them with courses related to AI and digital economy.

But despite reforms, academic performance remains the key measure of success. The only difference is, under the new system, skills like writing prompts for AI or programming AI may become more important than memorising or writing.

What is still lacking is the emphasis on valuing individual uniqueness.

The Chinese education system is one that rewards conformity, instead of uniqueness and originality.

When a student performs poorly in an examination, their other strengths may be overlooked and undervalued, which can undermine their confidence.

In a broader sense, this could also mean that the country may produce skilled engineers who create faster, better and more affordable devices, but not innovators capable of revolutionary inventions – because creativity flourishes only when individual uniqueness is recognised or encouraged.

This also means that, despite education reforms, young people will continue to face academic pressure.

In the age of AI, students with strong logical thinking and mathematics are more likely to do well academically. The government and educators should also focus on helping those who struggle in these areas, so that they can find their place within the education system and the society. Such measures are crucial if they really want to improve the psychological and mental well-being of the younger generation.

If you have suicidal thoughts or know someone who is experiencing them, help is available. In Hong Kong, you can dial 18111 for the government-run Mental Health Support Hotline. You can also call +852 2896 0000 for The Samaritans or +852 2382 0000 for Suicide Prevention Services. In the US, call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org for the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. For a list of other nations’ helplines, .

China’s ‘telepathy’ radio could make combat units invisible for electronic warfare edge

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3317392/chinas-telepathy-radio-could-make-combat-units-invisible-electronic-warfare-edge?utm_source=rss_feed

Since they debuted in World War I, military radios have played a vital role in sending strategic messages via electromagnetic waves, but it has always been a deadly game of hide-and-seek.

The devices present a dilemma: crucial communication at the risk of simultaneously broadcasting the location of their users to adversaries, exposing forces to interception, jamming and missile strikes.

But the cat-and-mouse game may soon be over. Chinese researchers have claimed a breakthrough that enables high-speed battlefield communication while ensuring the units sending signals remain in absolute radio silence.

One expert, who described the communication technology as “telepathy”, said it could potentially make People’s Liberation Army combat units invisible in electronic warfare.

Led by senior engineer Liu Kaiyu with the Aerospace Information Research Institute, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the team detailed the innovation in a paper in the peer-reviewed Journal of Radars on June 24.

Liu’s team developed a system that allows tanks, warships or aircraft to send vast amounts of data without emitting any active signals.

The solution is centred on a “smart surface” composed of hundreds of programmable metamaterial tiles.

When illuminated by synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellites such as China’s Gaofen-3 or Ludi Tance 1, these tiles silently manipulate reflected signals – switching between “on” (0° phase) and “off” (180° phase) states – to encode messages directly into the radar echoes received by the satellites.

Combat platforms in war-torn cities or on stormy seas could relay data day and night at 127 kilobits per second (kbps), matching the bandwidth of Nato’s Link 16 tactical data network without being detected.

Because they do not release any extra detectable energy into the environment, such platforms can blend into the natural electromagnetic background.

“This communication system operates by scattering and modulating received SAR echoes, eliminating the need for active electromagnetic wave transmission,” Liu and his colleagues wrote in the Chinese-language paper.

“This ensures communication concealment and security while significantly reducing detection risks.”

ABeijing-based communications researcher, who was not involved in the project said: “In a way this indeed seems like telepathy, very different from existing communication methods. If validated, this could fundamentally reshape future battlefields.”

However, the researcher, who asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the issue, added: “But any technology has weaknesses. New countermeasures can be developed to detect such passive sources.”

Bringing the technology to life was a tremendous challenge. Liu’s team first needed to reconcile the linear frequency modulation of synthetic aperture radar with communication data encoding without degrading imaging precision.

The technology also needed to cut through urban electromagnetic “noise jungles” and sea-surface backscatter – the reflection of waves, particles or signals from the ocean surface back towards the direction from which they originated – to ensure signals could survive hostile interference.

It also had to counteract ship pitch and roll in stormy seas, which distort phase-modulated signals, and maintain radar image fidelity, at less than 10 per cent resolution loss, while achieving high data transmission rates.

To overcome the obstacles, the team came up with several innovations. Where urban clutter typically drowns weak signals, for instance, their adaptive algorithms can boost signal-to-noise ratios by 300 per cent by dynamically adjusting phase modulation depth.

At sea, inertial sensors and autofocus software counteract ship sway, correcting wave-induced position errors in real time.

During the Gaofen-3 satellite data trials, which simulated Sea State 4 conditions with waves higher than 2 metres (6.5 feet), error-correction protocols maintained an extremely low bit error rate of 0.77 per cent while sending images without degrading radar imaging resolution beyond 9.7 per cent.

The system has been only tested in laboratory settings and has yet to be proven in real-world conditions, but the researchers already have ambitious plans for large-scale applications.

“This system has demonstrated robust passive communication capabilities by successfully sending data while performing high-resolution SAR imaging – even amid complex scattering environments and under non-ideal platform instability,” they wrote.

“Future work will prioritise enhancing data rates and anti-jamming performance, while joint trials with multimode spaceborne SAR systems will validate field-deployment readiness.

“Furthermore, we plan to extend this information-metasurface-based passive wireless communication concept to other spaceborne radar remote sensing systems, establishing a comprehensive space-air-ground integrated radar network. This effort will open new pathways.”

Trump’s fresh tariffs on East Asia, China’s rare earth dominance: SCMP daily highlights

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317439/trumps-fresh-tariffs-east-asia-chinas-rare-earth-dominance-scmp-daily-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

US President Donald Trump, apparently impatient with the slow progress of negotiations, on Monday slapped 25 per cent unilateral tariffs on Japan and South Korea and equal or higher import taxes on several other nations ahead of a self-imposed Wednesday deadline.

Beijing’s recent export controls on rare earths have spurred a flurry of international efforts to diversify supply chains and reduce China’s long-standing dominance in critical minerals.

When US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to extend a pause on “reciprocal” tariffs until August 1, it offered little comfort to China. Instead, Beijing’s policymakers may feel increasingly cornered, as Washington also moved to target 14 countries – many of them China’s close trading partners – with tariffs of up to 40 per cent.

Guizhou, a mountainous province in Southwest China, 400 kilometres from the nearest coast, has barely felt the shock waves from Donald Trump’s unprecedented tariff blitz. Instead, officials have identified opportunities as Beijing strategically pivots to the domestic market and renews its focus on economic security.

Universities in Singapore are beginning to offer programmes taught entirely in Mandarin and live support via WeChat for Chinese applicants.

Beijing’s sudden activation of another civilian air route near the Taiwan Strait’s unofficial median line has renewed alarm in Taipei, with defence experts and lawmakers warning the move could raise the risk of miscalculation in an already tense air corridor.

China will further enhance connectivity with other countries by expanding its high-speed railway network, a senior politician pledged on Tuesday.

Von der Leyen deepens gloom over China-EU summit with attack on Beijing’s Russia stance

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3317442/von-der-leyen-deepens-gloom-over-china-eu-summit-attack-beijings-russia-stance?utm_source=rss_feed

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made some of her strongest criticisms of China to date on Tuesday, laying into Beijing’s stance on Russia and its policies on trade.

The speech at the European Parliament was designed to set out the hawkish German's stall ahead of a major showdown with China’s leaders in two weeks. It showed that from the European perspective, the outlook for that summit is getting increasingly gloomy.

What was supposed to be a two-day summit has been reduced to one, according to diplomatic sources.

A second day in Hefei where the sides were slated to meet with business groups was cancelled at Beijing’s request.

Two sources said discussions have now moved to hosting the round table in Beijing on July 24 – the same day as the summit.

It is thought that Hefei, a city in Anhui province, was chosen to generate some positive mood music ahead of the summit.

In 1984, von der Leyen’s father, Ernst Albrecht, a former minister-president of Lower Saxony, created a partnership agreement between the German state and Chinese province that survives to this day.

In recent weeks, however, positivity has drained from the relationship like air from a punctured tyre. This was crystallised in von der Leyen’s latest comments.

“We also know that China’s unyielding support for Russia is creating heightened instability and insecurity here in Europe. We can say that China is de facto enabling Russia’s war economy,” said von der Leyen.

The language veered closely to lines adopted by Nato last year that went further than the official position of the European Union by designating Beijing a “decisive enabler” of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

Von der Leyen added: “We cannot accept this. And I have always said: how China continues to interact with Putin’s war will be a determining factor for EU-China relations going forward.”

China’s ties with Russia have been a major thorn in its relations with the EU for more than three years.

EU officials were stunned last week when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told them that Beijing did not want to see Russia lose the war, since the United States would then be free to turn its attention to Asia and China’s own backyard.

The news, first reported last week by the Post, was relayed by EU officials on Monday to a group of diplomats from other Western nations, including the US, Britain, Canada and Australia, according to two people present.

On trade, von der Leyen accused China of “flooding global markets with subsidised overcapacity – not just to boost its own industries, but to choke international competition.”

She added: “China cannot rely on exports to solve its domestic economic challenges. Overcapacity must be addressed at its source – it cannot simply be offloaded onto global markets.”

The commission chief also slammed Beijing for introducing export licence requirements for rare earth elements and magnets that have hit European manufacturers.

“We are engaging with Beijing so that it loosens its export restrictions … we do not believe strategic decoupling is in our interest. I believe that for Europe, it would be inefficient and ineffective. But we will continue to de-risk,” she continued.

Von der Leyen’s language on trade has grown harsher over the course of the year.

In speeches in January and February, she appeared to offer an olive branch to Beijing, voicing openness to “deepening trade and investment” relations, in what was seen to be a reaction to Donald Trump’s return to the White House.

But things soon soured, partly because of Beijing’s rare earth restrictions, but also due to what is described by senior EU sources as China’s “intransigence” over long-term grievances, such as market access for European firms, opacity on state subsidies and refusal to acknowledge the problems caused by its industrial overcapacity.

In frustration, Brussels pulled the plug on a pre-summit round of trade talks, known as the high-level economic dialogue.

While stories appeared in Chinese state media last weekend suggesting that a deal to end a long-running feud over electric vehicle tariffs was imminent, senior EU sources said they were “not true”.

Other disputes continue to bubble over. While China announced anti-dumping duties on European brandy imports last Friday, some cognac makers were given exemptions after agreeing to minimum import price levels with Beijing.

On Sunday, China barred European companies from major medical device contracts, hitting back against similar EU restrictions imposed on Chinese firms last month.

On non-trade issues, meanwhile, new wrinkles are appearing in the relationship with alarming frequency.

On Tuesday, the German foreign ministry summoned China’s ambassador, alleging that the Chinese military fired a laser at a German aircraft taking part in an EU operation in the Red Sea.

This came weeks after the Czech government accused Chinese state-linked hackers of a cyberattack on its foreign ministry.

But von der Leyen said on Tuesday there was still scope for the sides to work together on climate issues.

“Beijing is at once a leading competitor in the clean tech race, and a vital partner for global decarbonisation. This is the complexity we must deal with. We must switch gear in our competition, but also explore every avenue for cooperation,” she said.

Her climate commissioner Wopke Hoekstra, however, poured cold water on the suggestion that there would be a joint statement on climate after the summit.

“I understand and recognise the Chinese push for a declaration [by] the presidents for diplomatic value but that in itself for the [EU] is not enough,” Hoekstra told the Financial Times.

“There is only merit in having a declaration from our perspective if there are also content nuts to be cracked and ambition to be displayed.”

Will US tariff pressure on Japan and South Korea push them closer to China?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3317440/will-us-tariff-pressure-japan-and-south-korea-push-them-closer-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Even as Washington ramps up pressure on Japan and South Korea to settle trade disputes with the US, diplomatic observers believe tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump are not likely to push its two Asian allies closer to Beijing.

However, they suggest that the trade tensions could create an opportunity for China to offer stronger incentives to enhance trilateral cooperation with Tokyo and Seoul.

The assessment was made following US announcements that reciprocal tariffs on Japan and South Korea had been raised to 25 per cent, effective from August 1.

Zhang Yun, a professor of international relations at Nanjing University, said that tariff tensions might bring the three countries to develop closer ties, but Tokyo and Seoul would not abandon their alliance with Washington.

He added that the pragmatic and less ideology-driven characteristics of Japanese and Korean leaders pushed them to pursue stable ties with China, which would be inclined to offer further incentives to promote economic cooperation.

“With several diplomatic events on the horizon and external factors stemming from Trump’s policies, the current moment presents a favourable opportunity to strengthen trilateral relations,” Zhang said, referring to a trilateral leaders’ summit set for Japan this year, as well as Apec summits hosted by Seoul in October and by Beijing as chair country next year.

Japan and South Korea are long-standing economic and military partners of the US, and the three countries’ push to contain China’s rise persists as a concern for Beijing.

Under former US president Joe Biden, the trio institutionalised a cooperation framework and built collective defence integration to counter perceived threats from China, Russia and North Korea.

But Japan and South Korea have also sought to improve ties with China to hedge against US uncertainty, and their respective bilateral ties with Beijing show signs of improving. The three Asian powerhouses meet regularly to focus on economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, public health and digital cooperation.

Stephen Nagy, a professor at the Tokyo-based International Christian University, said it remained in the national interests of the US, Japan and South Korea to work together to prevent China from shaping the region in a way that would be unfavourable for them. He said the imposition of tariffs was unlikely to alter this shared priority.

“US tariff pressure will likely mean that Beijing will offer Seoul and Tokyo more inducements to cooperate with China,” Nagy said. “But both capitals know that Beijing’s current niceties are a textbook case of wedge politics and practising the economy of enemies.”

On Tuesday, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said Japan would “actively seek the chance of an agreement that benefits both [Japan and the US], while protecting Japan’s national interests”.

Despite being among the first countries holding negotiations with Washington, Tokyo hit an impasse because of Trump’s additional 25 per cent levy imposed on car imports. Tokyo is pushing for a reduction or withdrawal.

With a Japanese upper house election set for July 20 – an important test for Ishiba’s leadership – he said on Tuesday that Japan would not make “easy concessions” for the sake of an early deal with Washington.

Ishiba noted that recent talks had helped Tokyo avoid steeper tariffs of around 30 to 35 per cent threatened by Trump days ago.

Nagy was optimistic about the tariff tensions between Japan and Washington. Both Japan and South Korea understood that Trump’s latest move was the first in the negotiation process, he said.

“In Tokyo’s case, continuity in the bureaucracy, the 70 years-plus alliance partnership and the endless layers of partnerships between Washington and Tokyo will eventually find a way for tariffs to be a manageable compromise.”

South Korea also faces sector tariffs from the US: 25 per cent on its cars and 50 per cent on steel products. It has insisted that exemptions or reductions on these duties should be included in a deal.

A key focus of the bilateral trade talks revolves around non-tariff barriers, particularly Seoul’s regulations of major tech companies. Washington has argued that these rules unfairly target US firms while giving exemptions to Chinese competitors.

Following Monday’s announcement, South Korea’s industry ministry said the country would intensify efforts to achieve a mutually beneficial outcome in the negotiations and address the trade deficit issue by refining domestic regulations.

Ma Bo, an associate professor specialising in US-China relations at Nanjing University, said tariff disputes were not likely to weaken the trilateral collective security cooperation against China in the Indo-Pacific.

He noted that Japan and South Korea had increasingly distanced themselves from China in recent years, particularly on security issues, and while Trump’s actions might slow this trend, they were not likely to reverse it or rebuild trust in China.

Seoul and Tokyo are likely to downplay US tariff issues during the trilateral meeting with Beijing and will not want to appear as if the mechanism is an effort to counter US trade unilateralism, according to Ma.

“Even if the trilateral summit proceeds smoothly, Tokyo and Seoul are expected to focus on broader regional concerns of mutual interest rather than US trade unilateral practice,” he said.

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China steps up economic monitoring, looking to head off worst-case scenarios

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3317395/china-steps-economic-monitoring-looking-head-worst-case-scenarios?utm_source=rss_feed

Amid erratic US tariff threats and with the world economy in flux, China’s top economic planner says that more economic monitoring and early-warning capabilities are needed.

The National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) is soliciting studies to assess the impacts of US tariffs and to refine China’s existing monitoring indicators “in the context of global economic and trade order restructuring”.

It also plans to evaluate how non-tariff barriers of various countries might impact China’s economy, according to a notice published on its website in late June.

From the central bank to the commerce ministry, China already employs a vast system to monitor its economic health. However, the NDRC’s fresh push signals the desire for a more nuanced and forward-looking approach as it helps draft the country’s 2026-2030 development blueprint.

“This might need to be of higher frequency and more capable of reflecting the real economy,” said Shao Yu, director of the Shanghai Institution for Finance and Development.

Shao expects that changes to the economic-monitoring system will help China better navigate the volatility and competition that he expects to intensify in the future.

“While existing systems might focus on indicators such as trade balances and financial market volatility, future systems will likely dive deeper into supply-chain security, technology, and monetary stability,” he said.

In a separate notice, the NDRC called for research into factors affecting economic and trade relations with the European Union, while seeking policy recommendations for strengthening cooperation.

China’s economy displayed resilience as its gross domestic product rose by 5.4 per cent in the first quarter. The second-quarter reading is due to be released next week.

However, the huge uncertainties haunting the global economy continue to keep Beijing’s policymakers on high alert to external headwinds.

US President Donald Trump slapped high tariffs on 14 countries on Monday, and more are expected to be announced before August 1 – his new deadline to secure trade deals.

Chinese and US negotiators had reached a framework deal in May to scale back tit-for-tat tariffs that amounted to more than 100 per cent. The two countries also agreed during talks in London last month to drop export-control measures.

Tensions remain high despite the recent truce, especially as countries scramble to make deals with the US to avoid the reinstatement of tariffs.

The US lowered tariffs on Vietnam to 20 per cent in a new trade deal announced on Wednesday, with the exception of transshipped goods, and analysts warned that Beijing might view the move as a strategy to isolate China from critical supply chains.

Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily decried Washington’s tariffs on Tuesday.

“The US’ abuse of tariffs is a typical act of unilateral bullying that has severely impacted the normal international trade order and must be resolutely opposed,” said an editorial published in the publication.

In global survey, US cited more often than China as greatest ally and threat

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3317453/global-survey-us-cited-more-often-china-greatest-ally-and-threat?utm_source=rss_feed

A new survey of citizens in 25 middle- and high-income countries has found that the US is more likely than China to be seen as their most important ally – and their greatest threat.

In the survey it released on Tuesday, the Pew Research Centre polled nearly 32,000 adults from the world’s six populated continents – including those in the US and the four Asian nations of India, Indonesia, Japan and South Korea – between January 8 and April 26.

Respondents were not given a list of countries from which to choose; instead, they were asked to name allies and threats that came to mind.

In Canada, Indonesia, South Africa and five other countries, the US was the most commonly mentioned threat.

By contrast, China was seen as the top threat by a plurality of respondents in just three countries: the US, Australia and Japan.

But respondents in some countries, including Brazil, Canada and Mexico, cited the US as both top threat and top ally.

“Proximity and historical conflict both seem to play an important role in which countries people see as significant threats to their own,” Pew researchers Laura Clancy, Janell Fetterolf and Jordan Lippert said in the report.

The nature of perceived threats from the US and China is also different. Those who saw the US as their country’s greatest threat were more likely to view it as an economic challenge than a security risk.

The situation was more mixed for China.

Americans and South Koreans were equally likely to label China as an economic threat and a security threat. Italians and Nigerians were more likely to say China threatened their economy rather than national security.

Japan was the only country where respondents were more likely to see China as a security threat.

The survey comes as US President Donald Trump’s administration hikes tariffs on traditional US allies like South Korea and Japan, scales back investments in soft power globally and calls into question security guarantees for members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

Since his second term began in January, Trump has also floated the idea of taking over Canada and Greenland, spurring waves of political backlash abroad.

The US was named the top ally more often than any other country in the poll, with respondents in 15 of the 24 non-US nations choosing it – including three where it tied with another country for the top spot.

It is second to Russia as the most common response for the top threat. Russia was cited as the top threat in eight countries – all European – and tied with the US in Spain.

Respondents from three of the four Asian countries considered the US their top ally, with Indonesians regarding Washington as their second most important ally, after China.

Forty per cent of respondents from Indonesia, which is not a US treaty ally, named the US as the greatest threat more than twice the 19 per cent who named China.

Respondents in Japan and South Korea, both US treaty allies, overwhelmingly named the US as their most important ally, at 89 per cent and 78 per cent respectively.

Still, Japanese respondents cited the US as its No 2 threat after China, with 18 per cent of respondents naming it as their top concern.

China was named the top ally by a plurality of respondents in just four countries – South Africa in addition to Indonesia, and tied with the US among Kenyans and Nigerians.

Perceptions of China as the top threat are strongest in Australia and Japan, where 52 per cent and 53 per cent of respondents, respectively, ranked it first.

China is the top-ranked threat for 42 per cent of Americans surveyed, though views differ by political party. Republicans were more likely to name China, while Democrats were more inclined to regard Russia as the greater threat.

Views of both China and the US have changed over time. Since 2019 the last time Pew surveyed a similar group of countries the share of Canadians naming the US as their country’s greatest threat has almost tripled, to 59 per cent from 20 per cent.

In Turkey and Argentina, however, perceptions of the US as a threat have declined significantly – dropping from 46 to 30 per cent in Turkey, and from 40 to 24 per cent in Argentina.

On the other hand, the share of Canadians who called China the leading threat has fallen by 15 percentage points since 2019 But the proportion of Indians who named China as their greatest threat has risen by 16 percentage points over the same period.

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China to speed up bullet-train connectivity with neighbours

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317391/china-speed-bullet-train-connectivity-neighbours?utm_source=rss_feed

China will further enhance connectivity with other countries by expanding its high-speed railway network, a senior politician pledged on Tuesday.

The country intends to promote both the “hard connectivity” of infrastructure and the “soft connectivity” of standards and rules to position high-speed rail as a cornerstone for advancing the nation’s Belt and Road Initiative, Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing said at the opening ceremony of the 12th World Congress on High-Speed Rail in Beijing.

“China is committed to implementing both major projects and smaller, people-centred initiatives that deliver tangible benefits,” Zhang said at the event, which has become a global showcase for high-speed developments and technology.

“In carrying out high-speed rail projects abroad, we will enhance support for infrastructure and skills training to better benefit people in all countries.”

Beijing will continue to advance major landmark rail projects – such as the Hungary-Serbia railway, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, and the China-Thailand railway – while participating in the formulation of international railway standards, Zhang added.

Marking China’s first high-speed rail entry into Europe, the Hungary-Serbia route is designed to connect the two countries’ respective capitals, Budapest and Belgrade, and part of the line in Serbia has been operational since 2022. The full route is expected to be completed by 2026, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said earlier this year.

The project, particularly the Hungarian section, has also faced scrutiny from the European Union, which is increasingly wary of China’s growing influence in the region.

The Thai government approved the second phase of the China-Thailand high-speed railway project earlier this year, and it is expected to begin operations in 2030. This would be nearly a decade later than originally planned, as construction has faced delays and disagreements over financing and design, plus disruptions from the coronavirus pandemic.

Having been in limbo for decades, the China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway, which looks to connect China’s northwestern frontier with several cities in the two Central Asian countries, began full construction earlier this year. With a total investment of US$4.7 billion, the first phase is expected to be completed by the end of the decade.

“Against the backdrop of today’s crisis-ridden and challenging environment, marked by geopolitical divisions and global instability, opening up new transportation routes is of critical importance,” said Bakyt Torobayev, deputy prime minister of Kyrgyzstan, at the same event.

“The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway is such a solution.”

The 304km (189-mile) railway line will establish the shortest rail corridor between the East and West, providing direct access for goods to European and Middle Eastern markets and forming a vital transport artery, Torobayev said.

“The China-Kyrgyzstan-Uzbekistan railway will reshape the trade landscape.”

China will strengthen the alignment of high-speed-rail development plans with various countries, and it is willing to share its experience in high-speed rail planning, construction, equipment manufacturing and operation management with other countries, Zhang said.

As of the end of 2024, China’s high-speed rail network spanned 48,000km, accounting for more than 70 per cent of the world’s total high-speed rail mileage, according to official data.

China has collaborated with more than 40 countries and regions across Asia, Europe, North America and Africa in railway planning, design, construction, and operation, according to Wang Lixin, vice-president of the state-owned China Railway.

Completed flagship overseas projects include the China-Laos railway and a route in Indonesia that connects Jakarta and Bandung.

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8 detained in China for lead poisoning after high levels detected in kindergarten children

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3317413/8-detained-china-lead-poisoning-after-high-levels-detected-kindergarten-children?utm_source=rss_feed

Police have detained eight people accused of lead poisoning after more than 200 children in a Gansu province kindergarten were found to have elevated lead levels in their blood, sparking widespread public outrage and concern.

The principal of the kindergarten in Maiji district in Tianshui, surnamed Zhu, was detained together with investor Li and six canteen staff on suspicion of “producing toxic and harmful food”. Two others have been placed on police bail pending trial, according to a release by investigators in Tianshui on Tuesday.

The statement alleged the canteen staff bought decorative paint online with the consent of Zhu and Li, diluted it and used it in food. Laboratory tests confirmed the paint contained lead and was clearly marked not for consumption on the package.

Of all 251 children at Peixin Kindergarten, 233 were found to have abnormal blood lead levels, while 18 returned tests within the normal range, the announcement said.

Parents have questioned the credibility of test results released by local authorities and the kindergarten.

Chinese media outlet Southern Weekly said some of the parents had detected unusual symptoms in their children – including hair loss, darkened teeth and bad breath – as early as 2024 but did not suspect there might be a collective poisoning case.

A criminal investigation was launched on Thursday after cases were reported to police and the market supervision bureau on July 1, the announcement said.

Chinese media said several teachers in the kindergarten tested were also found to have abnormal blood lead levels.

Tests were conducted on 223 food and related samples collected from all four of the kindergartens Li had invested in, with 221 passing inspection. Two samples from Peixin Kindergarten failed: a breakfast sample of three-colour red jujube cake and a dinner sample of corn sausage roll, the investigation statement said.

According to the statement by Tianshui investigators, the foods contained lead levels of 1,052 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) and 1,340mg/kg respectively – far higher than the national food safety limit for contaminants of 0.5mg/kg, the announcement said.

Guo Qingxiang, vice-mayor and Public Security Bureau chief of Tianshui, told state broadcaster CCTV that Zhu and Li had approved the purchase because they aimed to “attract more enrolments and increase profits”.

Wang Xiaojuan, another vice-mayor of Tianshui, said the incident revealed “serious shortcomings in the oversight and training” of private kindergartens and their staff, according to CCTV.

“We will conduct thorough inspections and rectifications, leaving no blind spots or weak links. Efforts will be made to strengthen the regulation of private kindergartens and enhance training for their staff to prevent similar incidents and firmly safeguard food safety in schools,” she said.

Many of the children were reportedly taken to Xian, the capital of neighbouring Shaanxi province, for testing and hospital treatment.

In 2006, China’s Ministry of Health issued Guidelines for the Prevention of Childhood Elevated Blood Lead and Lead Poisoning, which defines blood lead levels over 100 micrograms per litre (mcg/L) as elevated; levels over 200mcg/L – equal to 0.2mg per litre – as lead poisoning.

According to Chinese media, several of the children’s test results showed blood lead levels exceeding 250mcg/L, the threshold between mild and moderate lead poisoning, with some surpassing 450mcg/L, indicating severe poisoning.

Despite the investigation statement, some of the Tianshui parents reported that the blood lead test results arranged by the kindergarten were generally lower – in some cases by a lot – than those from the Xian Central Hospital, a designated chemical poisoning treatment centre.

Yan Chonghuai, a paediatric lead poisoning expert and professor at Xinhua Hospital, an affiliate of Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, told Chinese media that blood lead levels in children at regular kindergartens should be no higher than 20mcg/L.

Children are particularly vulnerable to lead’s neurotoxicity, which could cause irreversible IQ loss and, even with treatment, cognitive damage could persist, Yan said.

The privately-run Peixin Kindergarten was granted a licence in June 2022 and officially began enrolling children in late August that year.

The investigation statement did not specify when the canteen staff bought the inedible painting pigments.

Social media commenters have questioned why anyone would choose to buy inedible paint instead of food-grade alternatives, noting that the price difference between the two is minimal.

China has a poor food safety record. It has had a string of scandals that shocked the nation, including in 2008 when some 300,000 children were poisoned after Chinese suppliers added melamine, a chemical used to make plastic, to their powdered milk to artificially boost the protein levels.

The government launched an investigation and issued death sentences to those at the centre of the contamination case.

Philippines summons Chinese ambassador over travel ban on former senator

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3317423/philippines-summons-chinese-ambassador-over-travel-ban-former-senator?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippine foreign ministry has summoned the Chinese ambassador Huang Xilian after Beijing hit the former Senate majority leader with a travel ban for his stance on the South China Sea.

Francis Tolentino, a key ally of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, has been barred from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, according to a statement released by the Chinese foreign ministry last week.

Beijing said the ban was the result of his “egregious conduct on China-related issues”.

During a press briefing on Tuesday, Claire Castro, a presidential spokeswoman, read out a statement from the Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro that said: “The [Department of Foreign Affairs] conveyed to the Chinese side that while the imposition of such sanctions falls within China’s legal prerogative, the imposition of punitive measures against democratically elected officials for their official acts is inconsistent with the norms of mutual respect and dialogue that underpin relations between two equal sovereign states.”

Lazaro said that the foreign ministry “reminded the ambassador that as a democracy, the Philippines values freedom of expression”, and emphasised that senators and other elected officials had a mandate to inquire into issues of national interest.

“The department remains committed to addressing differences through diplomacy and dialogue and looks forward to continued constructive engagement with China to promote mutual understanding,” the statement added.

The Chinese embassy said that Huang had told the Philippine foreign ministry that “some anti-China politicians in the Philippines have adopted a series of malicious words and deeds on issues related to China for their own selfish interests”.

It added that the Chinese government would defend its national sovereignty and security, and that attempts by Tolentino and others to “maliciously smear” China and provoke disputes would “backfire and ultimately damage the interests of the Philippine nation and people”.

“It should be pointed out that China’s relevant sanctions are purely within its own legal authority. There must be a price to pay for damaging China’s interests,” the embassy added.

Beijing and Manila have levied a string of accusations against each other amid rising military tensions in the South China Sea.

This includes claims made by the Chinese embassy in Manila last month that “certain individuals” in the Philippine military were acting as pawns of the United States.

Tolentino, who lost his re-election bid during the Philippines’ midterm elections in May, was a principal author of the Philippine Maritime Zones Act, a piece of legislation signed by Marcos late last year that asserts Manila’s claims in the South China Sea.

During a Senate hearing in April, Tolentino accused the Chinese embassy in Manila of orchestrating a disinformation campaign on social media, including smears targeting critics of Beijing.

Tolentino posted on social media that the ban was a “badge of honour” and a testament to his commitment to protecting the country’s national interest.

Woman driver with disabled son runs China’s ‘messiest but most loving cab’ and wins hearts.

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3316630/woman-driver-disabled-son-runs-chinas-messiest-most-loving-cab-and-wins-hearts?utm_source=rss_feed

A young ride-hailing taxi driver in China who takes her disabled seven-year-old son to work with her every day has moved both passengers and people on mainland social media.

Zhang Congcong, 27, has been driving a taxi with her son, Momo, as a back seat passenger for four months in central China’s Henan province.

Zhang has to take Momo with her because he suffers from a rare form of spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that severely affects his mobility and requires round-the-clock care.

Zhang and her husband, Zhao, have two children, both of whom have the condition, but Momo’s condition is more serious than that of his elder sister.

Zhao takes care of their daughter while working as a forklift driver.

Zhang quit her kindergarten teaching job after the children were diagnosed in 2018. She used to run a market stall but now drives the taxi every evening after Momo finishes his treatment.

She said most of her passengers are shocked to see a child in the back seat of her taxi.

However, after Zhang explains the situation, they understand and comfort her with encouraging words.

She also attached a note on the back of the front passenger seat which wishes her passengers a good day.

In addition, Zhang invites her riders to write a message for her son on a Post-it note and stick it somewhere in the interior of the car.

“Your mum is great, and so are you,” one person said in one of the notes.

“Difficult as the journey is, we will reach our destination if we stay the course,” reads another.

Zhang said she has collected more than 200 notes which are plastered around the inside of her cab.

Internet users have dubbed her vehicle “China’s messiest but most loving taxi”.

Some people also hide cash under their notes.

A social media user named @yigeaipaizhaoderen said he hid 200 yuan (US$30) under his note. Momo saw the money, but the passenger told him to keep it a secret until he had left the cab.

Zhang said another passenger left 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) cash in her car.

One online observer said of Zhang: “She is a great mother with a strong heart.”

Why Trump’s 14-nation tariff package puts China on edge and pressures Southeast Asia

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317397/why-trumps-14-nation-tariff-package-puts-china-edge-and-pressures-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed

When US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to extend a pause on “reciprocal” tariffs until August 1, it offered little comfort to China.

Instead, Beijing’s policymakers may feel increasingly cornered, as Washington also moved to target 14 countries – many of them China’s close trading partners – with tariffs of up to 40 per cent.

This came despite breakthrough talks in London that laid the groundwork to remove most bilateral export controls – from China’s rare earth restrictions to US aircraft engines and chips.

Analysts said the latest US tariff package was a calculated strategy to isolate China and strengthen Washington’s position in coming trade negotiations, as the 90-day trade truce agreed in May is set to expire in early August.

“Trump’s newly announced tariffs ... are a continuation of this decoupling agenda,” said Xu Weijun, an assistant research fellow at the Institute of Public Policy at South China University of Technology.

“It’s both pressure and division: the message is clear – ‘cooperative’ countries like Vietnam get preferential treatment, while others face high tariffs,” he said.

“The goal is to force Southeast Asian countries to choose sides and join the US effort to isolate China economically.”

Alongside 25 per cent tariffs on Japan and South Korea, the US focused heavily on Southeast Asia – now the top destination for Chinese exports after surpassing the European Union and the US.

Six members of the 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) received tariff letters: 25 per cent on Malaysia, 32 per cent on Indonesia, 36 per cent on Cambodia and Thailand, and 40 per cent on Laos and Myanmar – the highest among the 14 countries included in the package.

Those spared included Singapore, with which the US has a trade surplus, and Vietnam, which recently announced a deal with Washington.

“These tariffs show the US continues to focus on a continued strategic decoupling for both itself and its trading partners,” said Steven Okun, CEO of APAC Advisors, a geopolitical advisory firm based in Singapore.

Washington’s duties were also a response to China’s industrial policy, he added.

“The latest tariffs show Trump has a real issue with Southeast Asia, which has become a magnet for Chinese investment and exports, resulting in increasing US trade deficits with much of Asean,” Okun said.

The 10-nation Southeast Asian bloc is considered the most important region for transhipping Chinese exports to the United States.

“The US is targeting transshipments to undermine China’s role in the supply chain,” said Zhu Keli, a director and founder of the International New Economic Research Institute.

Morgan Stanley estimated that if the new duties take effect, the weighted average tariff rate for Asia would jump to 27 per cent – warning that trade tensions were returning to the fore.

“We think this moves us towards the tactical escalation scenario,” its chief Asia economist, Chetan Ahya, wrote in a note on Tuesday.

“This development, plus potential implementation for sectoral tariffs on pharma and semis, China negotiations and the transshipment issue suggest that uncertainty will likely persist, weighing on corporate confidence, capex and the trade cycle.”

The other nations that received letters - Kazakhstan, South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bangladesh, Serbia and Tunisia - are all members of various China-led initiatives such as the Belt and Road.

Beijing has adopted a tit-for-tat approach to Washington’s tariff war. The strategy, combined with its economic resilience and export controls, has secured it more face-to-face talks than other countries.

Chinese officials have also issued a strong message to other countries, warning them not to reach a deal with the US at China’s expense.

He Weiwen, a senior fellow at the Beijing-based think tank Centre for China and Globalisation, said Trump’s unilateral tariffs underscore his failure to reach agreements with trading partners within the 90-day period.

Despite the higher tariffs that Vietnam now faces, China still has a chance, he argued, citing the competitiveness of Chinese companies.

The 40 per cent transshipment tariff imposed on Vietnam is lower than the rates applied to goods exported directly from China.

According to UBS estimates, the total weighted average US tariff rate on Chinese products now stands at about 43.5 per cent, including pre-existing duties imposed in previous years. Morgan Stanley put it at around 42 per cent.

“In the case of Vietnam, the next step is to define what constitutes transshipment and what origin content percentage is required to determine whether a product is locally made,” he said.

Trump’s tough stance on Beijing’s partners – including a 10 per cent tariff threat on Brics developing nations – stands in sharp contrast to his approach to China’s competitors.

The US administration clinched its first deal with the UK in May, agreeing to a baseline tariff of 10 per cent.

The European Union, whose leaders will visit Beijing for a summit later this month to address bilateral trade disputes, appears not to have received a letter.

For India, a populous nation expected to gain more manufacturing from the China-US rivalry, a deal seems to be close, according to Trump’s tweets.

Stephen Olson, a visiting senior fellow at ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore, said the deals with the UK and Vietnam were “vaguely worded” framework agreements that are sparse on details.

But one thing is clear. “The US intends to use these negotiations to pressure countries to curtail trade and investment ties with China. That will inevitably bleed over into US-China discussions and obviously complicate third country relationships with China,” he added.

Additional reporting by Kandy Wong

China’s optical chip advances such as Meteor-1 light the way for AI development

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3317327/chinas-optical-chip-advances-such-meteor-1-light-way-ai-development?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s recent advances in the development of high-performance chips, including research published on the new Meteor-1 parallel optical computing integrated chip, could transform the artificial intelligence industry, say analysts.

In recent months, several research teams have made strides that could boost generative AI, which has an increasing computing demand for AI model development, training and deployment.

Electronic chips, which have made everything AI possible so far, appear to be reaching their limits in terms of speed and size or scalability, prompting scientists to focus more on optical alternatives using light, or the photons within, instead of electrons to transfer data.

Light offers degrees of freedom that an electrical signal does not, according to Amit Agrawal, associate professor in optical engineering at the University of Cambridge and a fellow at the university’s Trinity College. Agrawal said light transmitted data better and faster than electric signals, meaning more operations could be done when using its inherent capabilities.

“The novelty is the hardware,” Agrawal said.

While competing technologies had been shown to use 10 or 20 light channels for data transfer, he said the Chinese scientists showed a 100-fold increase in computility, an advance he said “is quite significant”.

Nathan Youngblood, associate professor in the electrical and computer engineering department at the University of Pittsburgh, said that in effect the theoretical content applied in the research was not new to the international science field.

“It’s simple in theory but experimentally it’s relatively difficult to make it work as nicely as they did,” he said.

He said “latency and efficiency are the two things that motivate people to work on this area of research” in which optics offered a promising alternative or addition to electronic computing, potentially improving overall system efficiency.

Meteor-1 is a big step forward in terms of chip scalability and computing power. Both experts said that although the hardware was impressive, it was not yet ready for real-life application and commercial production.

AI developments such as this are at the core of world technology competition. In recent years, the US has applied export bans to hi-tech AI chips and other advanced technologies for China, some of which have since been dropped.

“I would say that when you constrain people by preventing some technology from going into their country, they’re going to innovate in different ways. And this could be one driver to make progress on the computational front where China could really end up being a key innovator in the space”, Youngblood said.

He said China’s science field had the specific advantage of domain expertise.

“The packaging, the design of the fabrication of the chip, the measurement, all of those different components take a lot of expertise. And if you don’t have those domain experts all working together then this type of thing really isn’t possible,” Youngblood said, adding that components such as packaging were more difficult to get in the US – unless a buyer had enough money.

Agrawal said photonics remained far from the tech availability “warfare” of the electronics world.

“If photonic computing becomes big and these sort of photonic architectures become big, then none of the core technologies that enable one to do what these guys have done are export controlled,” he said.

There are hopes that optical computing could reduce energy consumption and heat generation in data centres, the large warehouses storing server networks. To ensure uninterrupted operation, they need to be cooled with vast amounts of water or air cooling systems.

Scientists such as Youngblood doubt the strain on the environment will be alleviated. “If you make something that is 100 times more efficient, you’re just going to use it 100 times more. You’re not actually saving any power or energy,” he said.

Agrawal points out that optical computing “can be made more efficient in the future, but as of today it is not giving you a lower power consumption unit”.

At this point in the development, scientists are mostly talking about an integrated approach, meaning electronic and optical processes working together, which in turn means a lot of energy is still used to convert from one to the other.

Both experts agreed that scientific output from China increasingly contributed significantly to the field.

“The techniques that they use here are valuable to researchers all over the world”, Youngblood said. “This is another important key publication coming from researchers in Asia and I’ve been seeing more and more, really high quality works coming out of China in the space.”

“I think these types of papers are really key for kind of motivating the field,” Youngblood said. “[They’re] something that makes people go from ‘OK, that’s theoretical’ to something like ‘that actually can happen’.”

However, Agrawal said Chinese products were often limited to being sold in the domestic market.

“From academic research to that technology translating into the commercial, I think the US still is much more ahead,” he said, adding that this was in part because of support for start-ups, venture capitalists and big companies such as Google taking on the technologies.

How China, Japan and South Korea can be titans of tech innovation

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3317197/how-china-japan-and-south-korea-can-be-titans-tech-innovation?utm_source=rss_feed

Just ahead of the July 9 deadline to reach an agreement on tariffs, US President Donald Trump announced his decision on the tariffs levels for 14 countries – including a rate of 25 per cent on Japan and South Korea – effective August 1.

Trump accused Japan of not buying enough rice and cars from the US. It’s worth noting that the American car industry is simply not competitive in Japan. Germany, Japan and China are the top three auto exporters. Those countries, along with South Korea, have commanded high surpluses in the global auto trade while the US has incurred a steep deficit.

Japan’s rise was epitomised by global brands like Sony and Toyota. While Sony’s pre-eminence may have been long eclipsed by Samsung, Toyota is still one of the best carmakers in the world. As for electric vehicles (EVs), Chinese companies like BYD are emerging as formidable challengers to Tesla.

The East Asian economic model has been powered by export-led growth. East Asian economies went through similar pathways from basic labour-intensive products like apparel to hi-tech products such as cameras and smartphones.

Unlike Japan and South Korea, whose manufacturing is largely based on home-grown technologies, China has long played the role of an original equipment manufacturer. While laptops and smartphones represent a key proportion of China’s exports to the US, many of them are made for foreign brands. Geopolitics and cost factors notwithstanding, such a role is dispensable.

However, China has passed the stage where it competes on low costs. Labour-intensive production has shifted to Southeast Asia, South Asia and elsewhere. China remains a manufacturing powerhouse due to its robust supply chain and shift towards automation. Ranked third after South Korea and Singapore, China has surpassed Germany and Japan in adopting industrial robotics.

The US granted Japan and South Korea privileged access to its market partly out of Cold War considerations in the past. American calculations for China have been quite different. Washington has erected rings of trade barriers against Beijing.

China has been able to broker a trade truce with the US ahead of its allies Japan and South Korea, partly due to reciprocal leverage in the trading relationship. The US is dependent on China for rare earth minerals and various tech products. Without such leverage, Vietnam had to seemingly settle for a deal that favoured the US.

In an asymmetric trading relationship, the US’ size confers upon it tremendous market power – such was the logic when Trump launched his global trade wars in early April. But such imagined power was empirically tested when the US found itself in a de facto mutual trade embargo with China. In the end, the US was forced to recognise the balance of power based on the nature of trade interdependencies.

The key to resolving US-China trade relations lies in de-escalating their export restrictions towards each other. China leveraged foreign technologies to a large extent in its initial stages of development, propelling rapid growth. While the deepening of its supply chain is a natural evolution of its industrial capacity, China is forced into greater self-sufficiency due to US tech restraints.

Feeling threatened by China’s technological rise, the US has escalated its tech restrictions on China since the first Trump administration. In a review of critical technologies released by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in 2024, China leads in 57 of the 64 areas. In 24 of these areas, such as drones, China dominates. According to a Harvard study released last month, the US still leads in key technologies, such as semiconductors. However, China is quickly closing gaps in sectors like quantum and biotechnology.

The US’ edge in semiconductors primarily lies in chip design and tools. Following its trade truce with China, the US recently lifted its export controls on chip design software to China.

For China, it matters less that iPhones are assembled in China when most of the value added is captured by Apple and suppliers of critical components. What truly matters is that Xiaomi has succeeded in making EVs where Apple stumbled.

High value is created when the world embraces Chinese intellectual properties, such as Pop Mart’s Labubu. From making quality products at low costs, China’s future lies in innovations designed at home. Meanwhile, manufacturing can take place anywhere from Southeast Asia to Africa.

Just like Silicon Valley in the US, innovations in China are concentrated in select regions. While the San Jose-San Francisco corridor ranks sixth, three of the top five science and technology clusters in the World Intellectual Property Organisation’s Global Innovation Index are in China – Shenzhen-Hong Kong-Guangzhou, Beijing and Shanghai-Suzhou. China has 26 of the top 100 clusters; the US boasts 20. As one of China’s leading tech regions, the Greater Bay Area development zone has a critical role to play in its innovation-driven future.

In fact, all of the world’s top five science and technology clusters are in East Asia, including top-ranked Tokyo-Yokohama and Seoul, ranked fourth. Why shouldn’t China collaborate with these forerunners of innovation-led growth?

In a similar model to the European Union’s collaborative research efforts, multinational research centres could be set up in Seoul, Tokyo and Beijing – pooling world-class expertise in robotics and batteries. From cars to consumer electronics, South Korean companies have long competed fiercely with their Japanese counterparts, yet this rivalry masks deeper complementarities.

Today, components from Japan and South Korea integrate into final products in China, creating value chains that transcend borders. Imagine the unstoppable force if these East Asian economic powerhouses overcame historical tensions to pursue collaborative innovation.

Business leaders call for efforts to combat ‘Hong Kong equals China’ perception

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3317378/business-leaders-call-efforts-combat-hong-kong-equals-china-perception?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong must work harder to be as international as possible under the “one country, two systems” framework to combat a growing perception in Western capitals that it is no different from any other mainland Chinese city, business leaders have urged.

The city also maintains a significant lead over regional rival Singapore in key financial metrics, panellists at the South China Morning Post’s China Conference said on Tuesday.

“The problem is that many of them feel that Hong Kong equals China,” said Eden Woon, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong.

“Therefore, the policy that they may set, you know, versus China because of the geopolitical situation, they apply it also to Hong Kong, and that really is worrisome and not a positive factor for Hong Kong.”

Beijing increasingly realises the city’s vital role as an international financial centre amid escalating geopolitical tensions, resulting in a record pipeline of more than 200 mainland companies waiting to list in Hong Kong, observers have said.

“We have to be as international as possible,” Woon said. “It won’t be like the good old days where Hong Kong was a darling of the West, but we can still show our difference, show our distinction by being a different city, different from other places on the mainland, to me, to us and to many American companies. This is the attraction of Hong Kong.”

Woon cited survey results of his chamber in December last year, in which international perception of Hong Kong was “also one of the big worries”.

He said this perception that “Hong Kong equals China” was creating difficulties for American firms, which were already grappling with immense uncertainty from the US-China trade war.

The discussion coincided with the official end of a 90-day tariff truce between Washington and Beijing on Tuesday, and the apparent ease in tensions between the two nations after their talks in the UK.

When asked to assess how the tariff situation might affect Hong Kong, Woon said that businesses were in a “stay put situation”, not making bold investment or hiring moves, with the unpredictability of duties factoring into everything from consumer goods sourcing to hotel renovations.

Woon’s views were echoed by the city’s former commerce minister Edward Yau Tang-wah in another panel discussion when he touched on how the city could secure a more stable trading environment.

“Stay international, truly international. It’s more than just China’s international, it’s really also the world’s international,” he said, urging Hong Kong to uphold international practices and keep on refining what it does.

Despite the headwinds, some sectors are seeing an “economic summer” after four difficult years, according to Dato’ Seri Cheah Cheng Hye, honorary chairman of Hong Kong-listed asset management firm Value Partners Group.

Cheah, also the chairman of the investment committee and cash market consultative panel of Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited, noted that the mainland was gradually opening capital pipelines, with mainland investors now accounting for more than 20 per cent of the local stock market’s daily trading volume.

Benny Miao, an executive vice-president and head of Southeast Asia region at Taipei-headquartered Cathay United Bank, said his institution just doubled its footprint in the city’s office space and was looking to increase its headcount, viewing Hong Kong as an irreplaceable bridge between North Asia and Southeast Asia.

Miao said that while the uncertainty did create some headwinds for clients, the bank believed Hong Kong was a “stable factor” and would recover on the “tailwinds of a new supply chain”.

He added that for any businessman who wanted to “go in or out of China or within the region”, Hong Kong “has to be in the discussion”.

However, Cheah, who also convenes the advisory council for the Malaysian Chamber of Commerce in the city, warned of “two Hong Kongs” emerging, with the thriving financial industry contrasting sharply with struggling small and medium-sized businesses.

Cheah suggested the city should focus on its core strength in the equities market, rather than on intense competition with other hubs.

Hong Kong’s stock market capitalisation is 13 times the size of Singapore’s, while its average daily turnover is 27 times larger, giving it a giant’s advantage in equities, Cheah said.

“I don’t feel that Singapore is necessarily someone I need to compete with, as opposed to cooperate.”

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China’s rare earth dominance faces global pushback but Beijing has ‘strong hand’: analysts

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317330/chinas-rare-earth-dominance-faces-global-pushback-beijing-has-strong-hand-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing’s recent export controls on rare earths have spurred a flurry of international efforts to diversify supply chains and reduce China’s long-standing dominance in critical minerals.

In June, the Ministry of Commerce announced that it would approve qualified export applications and was open to discussions with other countries regarding the restrictions. But as rare earths emerge as a new front in the US-China rivalry, companies worldwide have announced plans for a string of projects designed to break dependence on Chinese supplies.

On July 2, the Australia-listed St George Mining announced in an email that it had begun identifying enriched mineral zones at its fully-owned Araxá niobium-rare earth elements project in Brazil.

Two weeks earlier, US companies Kaz Resources and Cove Kaz Capital issued a statement about their partnership with Kazakhstan’s national geological company to explore and hold metallurgical tests at the Akbulak rare earth project.

To fund a rare earth project in southern Greenland, the Nasdaq-listed Critical Metals Corp said in June that it had secured a loan of up to US$120 million from the US Export-Import Bank.

In May, Australia-listed Lynas Rare Earth said it was producing dysprosium oxide in Malaysia, making it “the only commercial producer of separated heavy rare earth products outside China”, according to the company.

Governments have also moved to boost production or secure critical mineral supply chains.

China will continue holding the cards for quite a while

Earlier in July, the Times of India reported that Delhi would invest between 35 billion (US$408 million) to 50 billion rupees to increase rare earth output.

In May, the US and Ukraine signed a minerals deal, with Kyiv agreeing to secure long-term investment from American firms.

In Australia, research firm Earth Rarest said the country could become the world’s second-largest source of light rare earths, potentially supplying 15 to 20 per cent of neodymium and praseodymium – excluding China.

But it cautioned that the country could not “fully replace” China across all 17 elements.

Diversifying supplies away from China remains a challenge, analysts said. The country processes 90 per cent of the world’s rare earth elements and accounts for 69 per cent of global production.

“China will continue holding the cards for quite a while,” said Vivek Y. Kelkar, an independent analyst based in India. “The attempt to minimise China’s dominance in REEs began a few years ago, but it hasn’t moved far enough to talk about the end of Chinese domination in the sector.”

Cameron Johnson, a partner at Shanghai-based consultancy Tidwalwave Solutions, agreed that the diversification push would face serious challenges – including time, costs and human capital.

“The sheer amount of time needed is at least 10 to 20 years, [and] it costs at least trillions,” he said.

“Where are the talents going to come from? Who understands how to process these materials? Who understands how the refining process works? How to get the purities? Those talents don’t exist in most places.”

Few countries have proposed effective state-backed or state-driven investment strategies, Kelkar said, which would give China “a very strong hand” for the foreseeable future – unless global finance can be “effectively channelled”.

China’s dominant market share grants it pricing power, Kelkar said, which it could leverage to delay rival global projects by creating financial uncertainty. In contrast, US President Donald Trump appears reluctant to “spell out” new subsidy-linked finance strategies, he said.

“The next stage of [the] US-China rivalry will intensify across global REE mining and sourcing, specifically focused on regions in Africa and Latin America,” he added, pointing to growing US initiatives in Angola, Rwanda and Saudi Arabia aimed at securing supply chains.

Hong Kong leaders say city is good place to seek stability, capitalise on China growth

https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3317341/hong-kong-leaders-say-city-good-place-seek-stability-capitalise-china-growth?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong is an ideal place for investors to seek stability and move resources away from riskier parts of the world, according to Alpha Lau Hai-suen, the director general of InvestHK.

Speaking at the South China Morning Post’s China Conference on Tuesday, Lau said that since the Covid-19 pandemic, Hong Kong’s investment flows have not returned to previous levels due to global trade and tariff challenges. InvestHK is a government agency tasked with promoting the city overseas.

“Despite all that, the opportunities are rebounding because companies need stability,” she said.

She said the city was both an ideal place to “shift some of your concentration risk away from less certain regions” and a bridge to the mainland.

“This is a two-way flow, and we’re placing far more emphasis on it,” she said.

At the conference, themed “Where Capital Meets Innovation,” Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said Hong Kong was a vital global link connecting the world to mainland China’s growth and stability amid shifting geopolitical landscapes.

“Hong Kong is the ‘superconnector’ and ‘super value-adder’ that links the world with opportunities from China’s growth certainties,” he said in a keynote speech. “A link you can always bank on.”

On top of that, Hong Kong was a springboard for mainland firms seeking to expand overseas, according to Jackson Qiu, Standard Chartered Bank’s SME banking transaction and treasury management head.

“The China Plus One and China Plus N model is definitely rooted here in Hong Kong,” he said, referring to strategies where mainland firms move their manufacturing and sourcing to other countries while maintaining a presence at home.

Wang Qixin, director and chief marketing officer at Hangzhou-based Unitree Robotics, a top humanoid robot start-up, said Hong Kong offered tech companies unique opportunities in terms of financing, global strategy and access to talent. Through its operations in the city, Unitree has extended its sales network to neighbouring countries.

“Hong Kong has one of the most active IPO markets in Asia, which provides a very stable and efficient financing channel for technology and innovation companies like ours,” he said.

On Sunday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said HK$107 billion (US$13.6 billion) was raised by 42 initial public offerings in the first six months of the year, putting the city’s exchange in first place globally.

David Xiao, chairman of AscenPower Semiconductors and APT Electronics, said his companies showed how Hong Kong’s legal system and overall business environment supported hi-tech companies. Xiao started his company at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology 20 years ago and subsequently raised money in the city.

“I think Hong Kong is very special,” Xiao said.

At the end of last year, there were nearly 4,700 start-ups in Hong Kong and 28 per cent of those companies’ founders were not originally from the city, according to InvestHK’s Lau.

Hong Kong is vital link to world, where China anchors its trust, John Lee says

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/politics/article/3317305/hong-kong-vital-link-world-where-china-anchors-its-trust-john-lee-says?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong is a vital link that the world can rely on for security and development under the shifting geopolitical landscape as it connects the globe with China’s growth certainty and investible stability, the city leader has said.

“Hong Kong is the ‘superconnector’ and ‘super value-adder’ that links the world with opportunities from China’s growth certainties. A link you can always bank on,” Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said in a keynote speech at the South China Morning Post’s China Conference on Tuesday.

“Amid an ever-changing geopolitical landscape and constantly escalating uncertainties, Hong Kong is the place that promises security and development. This certainty of safety and development is precisely what a world of investors needs and thirsts for.”

The China Conference, themed “Where Capital Meets Innovation” and mainly sponsored by Manulife, attracted more than 650 in-person attendees, alongside 300 participants.

Lee also mentioned China’s first domestically built aircraft carrier, the Shandong, which concluded its maiden visit to Hong Kong on Monday.

He said that the fleet was “more than a display of maritime strength”, adding it also showcased “China’s commitment to peacekeeping and regional stability”.

“And much like how the Shandong docked in our safe harbour, Hong Kong is where the country anchors its trust,” he said.

Lee said that the international trade uncertainties and chaos were likely to persist amid the growing protectionism and unilateralism.

“In this era of fogged horizons, China does not just project power – it radiates investible stability,” Lee said.

Despite disruptions to global trade, he added, China’s expanding trade and capital flows had helped sustain the economies of both the region and the world.

Lee pointed to the country’s 5.4 per cent GDP growth in the first quarter of this year compared with the same period last year, noting that it was firmly on track to meet the official growth target of around 5 per cent for 2025.

He also forecast the city would enjoy a real GDP growth of 2 per cent to 3 per cent for the year following a year-on-year 3.1 per cent increase in the first quarter of this year.

He pointed out that Hong Kong’s “long-standing” position as a safe haven for Chinese and international capital and a bridge for global investors is reflected in a robust stock market, at which the city became the world’s largest market for initial public offerings.

It raised US$13 billion during the first half, which was 22 per cent higher than the total for the entire 2024.

As US drops among Chinese study preferences, Singapore beckons with status and culture

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3317302/us-drops-among-chinese-study-preferences-singapore-beckons-status-and-culture?utm_source=rss_feed

Miya Zheng once aimed to earn a master’s degree when she first arrived in the United States for her undergraduate studies. But now, three years later, the Chinese national has shifted her sights halfway across the world – to Singapore.

“After staying here for some time, I realised that this isn’t quite the right place for me in the long run,” said Zheng, who is majoring in economics and statistics in the US and aspires to work outside China after graduating.

She has faced increasing hurdles as an international student in America. Difficulties adjusting to cultural differences coupled with her parents’ concerns about safety have prompted her to apply to Singapore’s top two universities in the coming application cycle.

“Singapore offers a great environment,” said Zheng, who is drawn to the nation’s warm climate, abundance of Chinese cuisine and relatively high economic and diplomatic openness.

Singapore, home to six publicly funded autonomous universities and a handful of private universities, has long been a popular destination for Chinese students seeking an overseas education. In 2023, there were more than 73,000 international students in Singapore, according to local media reports, with a significant proportion believed to be from China.

And while the US has historically been the primary draw for Chinese students, industry insiders say Singapore may see an uptick in applications from Chinese students in the short term amid growing uncertainty and instability in the US.

For Chinese, Singapore ranks second among 28 popular study-abroad destinations for the overall appeal of its environment, according to a forthcoming report jointly compiled by China’s Ministry of Education and the Beijing-based think tank Centre for China and Globalisation (CCG).

Britain tops the list, while the US ranks fourth after Canada, dragged down by disquiet about safety.

“These concerns, such as conflicts, public order issues and its general stance towards China, would prompt many students to consider other options,” said CCG vice-president Zheng Jinlian.

The number of Chinese students in the US was already in decline, with India overtaking China as the top source of international students in the US last year.

And in May, US President Donald Trump’s administration announced it would “aggressively” revoke visas issued to Chinese students, a day after the US State Department suspended student visa processing for all foreign students.

Trump has since reversed course – welcoming Chinese students after a long-anticipated phone call with Chinese President Xi Jinping last month and resuming student visa processing with stricter social media vetting – but only after policy shifts sparked anxiety and confusion among Chinese students.

Zheng said many applicants seeking a backup option in the event their US study plans did not eventuate were likely to consider Singapore, which has high rankings for safety and stability and, unlike the US, imposes no restrictions on majors deemed sensitive for international students.

An admissions consultant with a Wuhan-based agency, who gave her last name as Gao, confirmed that her firm had received more queries about studying in Singapore in the past month following recent developments in the US.

Beyond safety, the city state’s cultural familiarity and reputable universities were also main draws for Chinese students, Gao noted, especially as academic prestige remained a key consideration among many Chinese employers.

The National University of Singapore (NUS) retained its place as the top university in Asia and ranked eighth globally in the latest QS World University Rankings 2026, while Nanyang Technological University (NTU) ranked 12th.

“NUS has quite a high degree of recognition in China,” said third-year undergraduate student Oswald Dong, who plans to apply for postgraduate studies in finance abroad but would like to then return to the mainland to work.

He once considered studying in the US, but has dropped that plan. Most American master’s programmes run for two years, making them more expensive, and the current unpredictability in the country is a deterrent for Dong.

“One-year programmes in the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore seem like better value,” Dong said.

Tuition fees for these programmes typically range from US$30,000 to US$55,000 – sometimes less than half the cost of programmes in the US.

“I personally didn’t want to get a master’s degree, but I have no choice. I won’t get a job if I don’t,” Dong said. He noted that Britain was his first choice because admissions were not as competitive as Singapore’s top universities.

In China’s highly challenging job market, a postgraduate qualification has increasingly become the minimum entry requirement for many desirable positions.

More than one in seven people aged 16 to 24 living in urban areas, excluding students, were unemployed in May. This figure is expected to rise sharply in summer when a record 12.2 million graduates enter the workforce.

Faced with intense competition, many Chinese students and parents view a master’s degree – local or international – as a necessary credential to stand out. Nearly 3.9 million people signed up for this year’s domestic postgraduate enrolment exam, as many others look to further their education abroad.

Undergraduate student Zhao Hongyi hopes to pursue postgraduate studies at Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS), the country’s youngest autonomous university.

Zhao, from Taiyuan in Shanxi province, admitted that his academic background was not competitive enough for Singapore’s top universities and said he would also apply to private universities as a backup plan.

“Given the current global climate, my family isn’t comfortable with me going to Europe or the US alone,” Zhao said. “And I find life in Singapore more comfortable than places like Hong Kong.”

Universities in Singapore are keen to capture this growing interest among Chinese students. Several programmes now feature Mandarin versions of their websites, complete with WeChat contacts for live support in the application process.

And institutions are even beginning to offer programmes taught entirely in Mandarin. NUS and NTU offer executive master of business administration degrees in Mandarin.

The launch by SUSS of its first Mandarin-medium postgraduate programme in management last year was “met with strong interest”, a spokesperson said.

“SUSS has observed a significant increase in applications from international students across various countries within Asean and China,” the university spokesperson said, noting that international undergraduate applications had more than doubled this year compared with the previous academic year while postgraduate applications rose more than 30 per cent.

The university has since introduced several more Mandarin-taught programmes that will welcome the first intakes this month in areas such as financial technology, intellectual property and data analytics, which Zhao is considering.

While some have warned Zhao that SUSS is not as well-known on the mainland and its degree might lack employer recognition, he remains unbothered.

“I don’t really care about that. The main thing is my family insists I get a master’s, since everyone is getting one,” he said, adding that if given the opportunity, he would like to work in Singapore after graduating.

Admissions consultant Gao noted that post-graduation employment prospects for staying in their study abroad countries were sometimes a factor in how students decided where to go.

“It’s not a given [that securing a job after graduation will be easy], but Singapore’s salary levels are attractive. Its wages are among the highest in Asia,” she said.

According to the country’s annual graduate employment survey, undergraduates fresh from university took home a median gross monthly salary of S$4,500 (US$3,400) in 2024.

This contrasts sharply with the average monthly income of 6,199 yuan (US$860) for Chinese undergraduates last year, according to a report released by the Chinese education consulting company MyCos last month, which did not reveal median figures.

But securing residency in Singapore remains a significant hurdle for many international graduates. Amid a push for local hiring, the country’s employment pass framework has become increasingly selective over the years, as minimum qualifying salaries have risen.

“I did some research [into securing an employment pass] and it seems difficult,” said Miya Zheng, the undergraduate studying in the US who plans to apply to postgraduate programmes in Singapore.

She is, however, optimistic that while competitive, it will still be easier there compared to the US.

“I’ll have to take things one step at a time,” she said. “I don’t want to return to China to work.”

Panda diplomacy: a boost for China-Japan ties amid US tariff anxiety?

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3317256/panda-diplomacy-boost-china-japan-ties-amid-us-tariff-anxiety?utm_source=rss_feed

Panda diplomacy is back in play as Japan seeks to charm visiting Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng with hopes of securing one or two of the endangered bears on loan.

The gesture could help soothe bilateral ties and signal regional unity amid growing unease over US trade policy under President Donald Trump, analysts have said.

He, a close adviser to President Xi Jinping, is scheduled to attend the World Expo in Osaka for “national pavilion day” at the Chinese pavilion on Friday.

The Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday that Hiroshi Moriyama, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and chairman of the Japan-China Parliamentary Friendship League, would meet He in Osaka and request the loan of at least one panda for a Japanese zoo.

There was an outpouring of sorrow when four pandas kept at a wildlife park in Wakayama prefecture, central Japan, were returned to their homeland in June. At present, there are only two pandas in the country, at Ueno Zoo in Tokyo, and those are due to return to China in February.

“Japanese people love to see pandas and they are deeply symbolic, but it goes beyond that at a time like this,” said Hiromi Murakami, a professor of political science at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.

“With the US administration being so harsh on tariffs on both countries at the moment, I think both sides are trying to build better relationships with other countries in the region,” she told This Week in Asia.

“In this situation, pandas are effectively a bargaining chip that can be used to make bilateral ties stronger and, for China, to show to the rest of the world that it is willing to work with Japan and other nations and can be a regional leader.”

Improved ties with its giant neighbour would appeal to Tokyo as well given current trade tensions, Murakami said. Trump on Monday slapped 25 per cent unilateral tariffs on Japan and South Korea, to take effect from August 1.

“It’s not just because of this US administration, but it has reinforced the message that Japan really needs to diversify its trade and economic partners and build resilient supply chains,” she said.

To underline that position, she pointed out that new South Korean President Lee Jae-myung was pushing hard to arrange an official visit to Japan, just a month after he took office.

Japan and the European Union announced in June a major upgrade to their cooperation in the defence sector, while Mitsubishi Corp is preparing to start importing liquefied natural gas from Canada in the coming months, with imports eventually expected to meet about one quarter of total Japanese demand.

Jeff Kingston, director of Asian Studies at Temple University, described discussions on the loan of pandas to Japan as another example of recent “softball diplomacy”.

“There is a greater desire to seek common ground on both sides, with China relaxing some of the regulations on imports of Japanese seafood and the ministry of education in Tokyo announcing that it will cut living expenses for foreign graduate students,” he said.

“Chinese students make up [more than] one-third of all the foreign students in Japan, so that will be a welcome subsidy.”

Kingston, however, said tongue in cheek that he did not expect Japan to make “major concessions” on the Diaoyu Islands – the disputed archipelago in the East China Sea also known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan – as a result of the pandas. “But the ripples of what is happening in America are travelling around the world.”

China may not even require a reciprocal move from Japan after the pandas are delivered, according to Murakami.

“It is enough for Beijing to show that it is a leader in the region and is willing to work with other countries on trade and in other sectors,” she said. “China is becoming the guardian of this freer trading system, the system that the US used to control.”

Chinese design firm converts swimming pool into office, triggers safety probe

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3316498/chinese-design-firm-converts-swimming-pool-office-triggers-safety-probe?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese decoration company has sparked online controversy and amusement after it converted a drained swimming pool into a temporary office.

Staff get down to business in the “deep end” before exiting the office using the original poolside ladders.

The quirky set-up came to light after an employee from Luban Decoration Group, based in Chengdu, Sichuan province, southwestern China, posted a video online entitled “Swimming Pool Transformed into Office Space”.

The clip quickly went viral.

According to Cover News, the company’s gym, swimming pool and office area are all on the same floor. A glass door next to the gym takes staff into the so-called pool office.

The creation has largely retained its original structure, with signs reading “swimming area” and “deep water area 1.55m” still visible. Employees access their desks using the pool’s original handrails.

One member of staff said the pool was converted because of renovations and that they had been working there for two months.

Photos and videos trending online show five rows of desks, each with eight fully equipped workstations. Electricity is supplied via sockets on the floor and extension cables.

A male employee quipped that when he looks down from his desk, he sees the pool’s lane markings, making each workstation feel like a small diving tank.

“I feel like I am in a science fiction film; it is so outlandish, yet cool. I could brag about this office environment for a year!” he said.

Despite the initial amusement, the unusual office quickly drew criticism from online observers who raised concerns about fire safety.

Wang Ming, partner of Beijing Yingli Law Firm, said issues included blocked evacuation routes and the lack of essential fire safety features.

The office arrangement also sparked lively discussion online.

“This sunken office set-up is truly unique. If you try to slack off, the boss just needs to take a few steps and the entire office is in view. It is even more effective than surveillance cameras!” one person said.

Another added: “There could be fire safety concerns. Swimming pools and office spaces are subject to different building codes.”

“An underwater office might look trendy, but the humidity could cause rheumatism. Sitting for long hours in the deep end? My joints would not survive,” quipped a third.

The local fire department later confirmed to Red Star News that they had investigated and that the company had vacated the temporary office.

China’s trade war strategy? Bet on Guizhou, long one of its poorest provinces

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317235/chinas-trade-war-strategy-bet-guizhou-long-one-its-poorest-provinces?utm_source=rss_feed

The 2025 trade war launched by the United States is shaping up to become a watershed moment for Chinese policymakers.

While the country’s economic resilience and role at the centre of global supply chains helped secure a 90-day truce with Washington, Beijing is digging deep to fight a protracted conflict. The forthcoming Five-Year Plan – China’s signature development blueprint – is expected to fortify the domestic economy in the pursuit of global leadership.

Provincial leaders are seizing opportunities to align with the national strategy, as the 2026-2030 development plan, officially released in March 2026, promises to reshape the nation’s economic and industrial landscape.

Guizhou, a mountainous province in Southwest China, 400 kilometres from the nearest coast, has barely felt the shock waves from Donald Trump’s unprecedented tariff blitz. Instead, officials have identified opportunities as Beijing strategically pivots to the domestic market and renews its focus on economic security.

“We must fully play up our comparative advantages to serve the national strategy,” said Xu Lin, Guizhou’s party chief, at a preparation conference for the Five-Year Plan on May 28.

Guizhou now counts on the “strategic hinterland strategy”, introduced during a policymaking conference in December 2023.

The plan focuses on developing inland industrial bases, material reserves and infrastructure. It has drawn widespread comparisons to China’s Third Line Construction Project – when the central government relocated tens of thousands of defence projects and strategic factories to the mountainous west in the 1960s and 1970s amid escalating tensions with the Soviet Union.

The strategic hinterland became a formal long-term strategy at the Communist Party’s third plenum in July 2024, when officials endorsed support for critical industries in China’s inland provinces.

In a research report released in May, Pangoal Institution, a Beijing-based think tank, outlined the Greater Hinterland Strategy – a blueprint that would consolidate 10 central and western provinces, including Guizhou, into an economic zone to empower domestic markets and counter external risks.

“Such a redistribution of regional economic layout would help offset external uncertainties and foster new growth engines,” the report’s authors said.

“It would be a proactive strategic choice.”

During the era of central planning in the 1950s and 1960s, the central government directed funds to build factories in Northeast China, in regions bordering Russia’s Far Eastern District. The area became an industrial powerhouse, earning the nickname China’s “elder son”.

Then came the late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping’s reforms in 1978, which shifted the growth engine to coastal regions like Guangdong, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai, where exports powered China’s economic boom.

Now, the Pangoal Institution is calling for a new shift. The think-tank has urged the central government to adopt a similar strategy in the coming Five-Year Plan, with central government-owned enterprises and industrial leaders channelling more investment into China’s hinterland provinces.

These regions should host more national laboratories and government-funded projects to address development bottlenecks, the think-tank said.

“The strategic hinterland is more a reflection of [Beijing’s] bottom line thinking,” said Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist of Standard Chartered Bank. “As security is a topic that cannot be ignored for China, the backup of certain industries is necessary.”

The western provinces have grown faster than the national average due to the rapid development of infrastructure in recent years, he added.

“Western provinces have cost advantages, abundant resources and certain industrial foundations. It would attract more investment if their business environment were further improved.”

However, Derek Scissors, chief economist at the New York-based research firm China Beige Book, questioned whether such relatively small markets could offset economic losses from the US.

“Coastal infrastructure is superior in linking production centres within China and for export,” he said. “It would make more sense to bring more inland migrants to the coast.”

Guizhou, a landlocked province that became a battleground in President Xi Jinping’s anti-poverty campaign, long struggled to attract investors due to its mountainous terrain.

Dozens of high bridges have been built over the past two decades to expand road and rail links with China’s economic powerhouses – with some rivalling San Francisco’s Golden Gate in scale. But reactions have been mixed, with locals appreciating the influx of tourists and investment while overseas observers worry about mounting debt.

In 2024, Guizhou’s GDP grew by 5.3 per cent year on year to 2.27 trillion yuan (US$317 billion), ranking No. 22 out of China’s 31 provincial jurisdictions – equivalent to the US state of Kentucky.

When finalising the previous Five-Year Plan in 2020, the last year of Trump’s first presidential term, Guizhou was assigned a more prominent role in promoting common prosperity after it successfully eliminated absolute poverty. Targets included an annual growth rate of 7 per cent, with increased spending on high-speed rail, expressways and digital infrastructure.

The province was also encouraged to bolster industries in critical areas, including materials and advanced equipment, according to a document released by the State Council in January 2022.

In this year’s work report, provincial leaders pledged to seize a “historic opportunity”, naming “backup industries” as one of six industrial pillars alongside strategic mineral development, new energy batteries and materials, computing resources, Chinese liquor and energy.

The decision has historical roots, since the mountainous province once served as a strategic shelter against foreign attacks.

During World War II, Guizhou helped defend the wartime capital Chongqing from Japanese aggressors, and hosted relocated industries from coastal regions.

When Cold War tensions reached a fever pitch, the province - together with neighbouring Sichuan, Chongqing and Hubei – became a core area in China’s Three Line Project.

President Xi has endorsed Guizhou’s strategic industrial development, highlighting its unique location during a two-day inspection in mid-March.

The province is situated between two of China’s four major economic zones – the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area and the Sichuan-Chongqing economic belt – which together account for about one-fifth of national GDP.

Guizhou also links the West China Land and Sea Corridor, a mega transport project designed to attract inbound investment and connect inland western provinces to Southeast Asia via ports in the Beibu Gulf.

As part of China’s broader strategic shift, Guizhou has received central government approval to launch two national industrial backup programmes.

Though authorities have not disclosed a list of projects, local media reports suggest an aviation estate in Anshun city, a former base in Guizhou that hosted Third Line industrial projects.

More than 10 local firms already supply the Shanghai-based Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), which builds the single-aisle C919 plane. A supply chain for aircraft engines and parts – one of the latest flashpoints between Beijing and Washington – is also taking shape.

The Trump administration has banned US companies from exporting aviation engine technology to Comac, drawing condemnation from Beijing. A foreign ministry spokesperson has accused Washington of politicising economic and tech issues to contain China.

Beyond aviation, Guizhou has become a front runner in certain sectors of China’s digital economy, leading the way in the big data, data storage and computing industries.

In a May visit to Guizhou’s data centre parks, the words of President Xi – praising the province’s big data capabilities – adorned the walls of the exhibition hall.

Local officials proudly claim that Guizhou has built a complete industrial chain covering data storage, computing services and industrial applications. Tech giants Apple, Huawei Technologies and Tencent have set up businesses in the province.

Digital services now account for half of the province’s GDP, with the speed of expansion leading the country for nine consecutive years.

Guizhou is “already a highland in the digital economy”, the officials told visiting media.

The province’s computing power capacity has surpassed 55E FLOPS – about one quarter of the national total – in support of China’s “Eastern Data, Western Compute Project” that diverts data from economically thriving eastern regions.

For local cadres, Guizhou’s increasing strategic importance has unlocked new funding opportunities, a growing influx of industries and more infrastructure projects. Among them: a world record-breaking 625-metre-high canyon bridge that, when built, will be nearly 1.5 times the height of New York’s Empire State Building.

Plans to welcome new investment projects, relocated from eastern regions, are also in the pipeline.

“We must identify which industries and firms in the eastern region are ready to relocate. We must also clarify which industries Guizhou can accept based on its transport, industrial foundations and resources,” a local advisory group proposed to the provincial people’s congress in January.

At an investment meeting in late May, Xie Qiang, head of the Guizhou Investment Promotion Bureau, highlighted three new priority industries: fabric and clothing, food processing and pharmaceuticals.

“Guizhou is a land of opportunities,” Xie told dozens of visiting entrepreneurs. “You are investing in your future here.”

In 2024, Guizhou signed 298 industrial projects that will be relocated from eastern regions. So far, 190 have started the process, with a planned investment totalling 261.6 billion yuan, local media reported.