• Will Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill offer opportunities for China?
• Beijing denies Iran weapon sale, China deflation, Taiwan export ban: SCMP daily highlights
• China’s Chang’e-6 findings reveal asteroid strike may have altered moon’s far-side mantle
• China pledges to build megaprojects despite pivot to domestic consumption
• Is China’s ‘Bohai Monster’ a revival of Soviet-era cargo transport technology?
• Surprise US copper tariff tests the mettle of China’s vast refining industry
• Chinese firm behind AI agent Manus relocates to Singapore amid US chip curbs
• China cross-dresser secretly films sex with hundreds of men, sparks public health concerns
• China denies giving Iran air defence systems after conflict with Israel
• Tiger walks on highway in China, shocking motorists
• China’s rare earth dominance to continue as US investment lags: analysts
• China’s BYD and Geely bank on big discounts, Xpeng launches ‘super AI’ SUV: 7 EV reads
• China’s lead in global shipbuilding may already be fading, new data suggests
• Hong Kong stocks fall on worries about China’s deflationary pressure
• China’s ‘green great wall’ in Inner Mongolia traps 3 more deserts
• Sporty Chinese girl, 7, develops a passion for swimming and gets core strength training from dad
• China spins up offshore wind energy as Beijing promotes marine economy
• Trump admin increasing scrutiny of Chinese, other foreign farmland ownership in US
• China told its officials to tighten their belts. Did they go a notch too far?
• Brazil and China to study South American transcontinental railway project

Will Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill offer opportunities for China?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3317588/will-trumps-big-beautiful-bill-offer-opportunities-china?utm_source=rss_feed

US President Donald Trump’s latest tax and spending act might “cause some trouble” for China, according to analysts.

However, they also said Beijing may be able to benefit in certain areas if the act – known officially as the One Big Beautiful Bill – generates further political instability and damages domestic industries such as the US clean energy sector.

The act aims to make permanent tax cuts, lock in Trump’s priorities on border and defence financing, increase Washington’s debt limit by US$5 trillion, slash healthcare funding and jeopardise dozens of planned clean energy projects with ties to China.

It has sparked widespread concern across the world over an anticipated surge in US federal deficit – estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to reach at least US$3 trillion over the next decade – and its capacity to reshape global capital flows by sharply reducing incentives for US multinationals to keep profits and investments overseas.

The act “is not aimed at China” but will indirectly affect it and other countries, according to Zhu Junwei, director of Horizon Insights Centre, a Chinese think tank.

“Nowadays, when Americans oppose certain domestic policies, they often invoke China – claiming that a certain measure would benefit Beijing and should therefore be rejected. Whether there are exaggerations in such claims requires closer analysis,” she said.

Zhu added: “At first glance, the bill could cause some trouble for China,” citing potential duties on low-value commercial shipments to the US.

“But it could also create development opportunities [for China],” she added, noting that Trump’s push for fossil fuels over clean energy and EVs might cause the US to miss out on advancements in autonomous driving.

Still, she said that the law’s actual effect would depend on implementation – tax cuts and benefit reductions could be easier to enforce, but immigration-related measures were likely to face hurdles.

“Many of the bill’s policies directly harm Trump’s own voters, so how far it can really go remains uncertain,” Zhu added.

The law marked “a new beginning for a systemic reform”, according to Zhao Zhijiang, a researcher at Beijing-based think tank Anbound.

“The bill, along with future legislation, will impact China-US relations and China-US strategic competition to varying degrees,” he said.

“While such bills are tied to domestic politics and align with the broader dynamic in the US toward isolationism and a focus on internal affairs, they will ultimately affect geopolitical issues.”

Zhao said the act could benefit America’s defence-industrial complex and drone sector, potentially intensifying military competition between the US and China, adding it “remains to be seen” whether tensions would escalate in key strategic areas.

He also said the act could sharpen the technological race between Washington and Beijing because “the US may introduce stricter technology restrictions”.

The legislation reflected Trump’s approach to US-China competition, according to Meng Weizhan, an assistant research professor at Fudan University in Shanghai.

“From a certain perspective, the bill could have a greater impact on China than all the policies Trump introduced in the first half of the year and most China-related bills passed by Congress,” he wrote in an article published on social media by an institute affiliated with the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Shenzhen campus.

Meng said the act would embolden Trump to pursue his hardline agenda on immigration and law enforcement.

“While [that] may harm the US soft power in the short term, in the long run, it will improve America’s demographic and wealth structure, thereby enhancing its strategic competitiveness,” he said, noting that Trump’s pro-wealth policies could attract significant foreign capital and talent inflow.

Meng argued the law could allow Trump to push more aggressively for concessions from the likes of China and the European Union in trade talks.

“The bill grants Trump unprecedented authority over tariffs and targeted subsidies, allowing him to exert greater economic pressure on China, reduce the US reliance on Chinese hi-tech and energy raw materials, and limit China’s access to America and its allies’ technologies and markets,” he added.

But Meng also predicted that Trump would try to stabilise ties with Beijing and concentrate on domestic reforms to “lay a long-term foundation for competition with China.”

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman argued in an article last Thursday that the act could “make China great again,” by undermining US competitiveness in the energy sector.

“The Chinese simply can’t believe their luck: that at the dawn of the electricity-guzzling era of artificial intelligence, the US president and his party have decided to engage in one of the greatest acts of strategic self-harm imaginable,” he wrote.

Zhao alluded to this argument, saying: “As many believe this bill could ‘make China great again,’ those opposing it will probably try to push for countermeasures that avoid such an outcome.

“In other words, future proposals or policy recommendations – regardless of which party puts them forward – are likely to be crafted with the goal of undermining China’s competitiveness and influence.”

He added: “The instability in US domestic politics may affect its global strategy, and whether that would present a strategic opportunity for China remains to be seen.”

Beijing denies Iran weapon sale, China deflation, Taiwan export ban: SCMP daily highlights

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317595/china-denies-giving-iran-air-defence-systems-taiwan-export-ban-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 .

China has denied transferring surface-to-air missile batteries to Iran following Israel’s attacks on the Islamic Republic last month.

Beijing has banned the export of dual-use items to eight Taiwan-based aerospace and shipbuilding companies, including suppliers to the Taiwanese military.

As US President Donald Trump revved up his tariff threat against Brics, Brazil and India responded with a show of unity as they vowed to triple bilateral trade during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Brasilia on Tuesday.

China’s consumer prices rose for the first time in five months in June, but the modest gain still pointed to persistent weak demand in the world’s second-largest economy amid an unprecedented trade war with the United States.

A top Chinese oncologist and physician-scientist, Cheng Ying, has died suddenly aged 62, according to multiple sources.

A large wingship has been spotted in China’s Bohai Sea, revealing Beijing’s progress in developing its own version of the maritime cargo lifter while Washington races to revive this Soviet-era technology.

China has completed a sand control belt spanning three deserts in Inner Mongolia, marking yet another milestone in the creation of a “green great wall” across the arid northern region.

China’s Chang’e-6 findings reveal asteroid strike may have altered moon’s far-side mantle

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3317578/chinas-change-6-findings-reveal-asteroid-strike-may-have-altered-moons-far-side-mantle?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s Chang’e-6 lunar mission has yielded groundbreaking findings about the moon’s hidden history, revealing evidence that a colossal asteroid strike more than 4 billion years ago could have fundamentally altered the deep interior of its far side.

The research was published as four open-access papers on Wednesday in Nature, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious scientific journals with headquarters in London.

While these papers are available to all readers regardless of subscriber status, Chinese teams are reporting a wave of scientific findings from the country’s lunar programme that American government scientists may be locked out of because of a US decision to cancel subscriptions to Nature and other Springer Nature journals.

Officials cited budget concerns and dismissed the journals as “junk science”, which could hinder government scientists – including key Nasa researchers – from having access to major discoveries.

The new analysis of the returned far-side rocks suggests that part of the moon’s deep interior was stripped of important chemical ingredients more than 4 billion years ago – likely during a giant asteroid impact.

The collision was so powerful it not only carved out a 2,500km-wide (1,550-mile) crater on the moon’s far side – the largest of its kind in the solar system – but also changed the make-up of the moon’s mantle hundreds of kilometres below the surface, according to a team led by scientists at the Institute of Geology and Geophysics in Beijing.

Lava later erupted from this damaged mantle and cooled into volcanic rock that is depleted in elements such as titanium and thorium, as well as water. These samples are the most chemically depleted moon rocks ever studied – more so than any returned by the US, Soviet or earlier Chinese missions, which all came from the moon’s near side, the team reported in Nature on Wednesday.

Chang’e-6 is the first and only mission to return samples from the moon’s far side. It landed in the South Pole-Aitken basin in June 2024 and brought back 1.9kg (4.2lbs) of soil, mostly from a 2.8 billion-year-old volcanic eruption.

Stephen Elardo, a planetary scientist at the University of Florida, said the Chang’e-6 samples were unique and critical for understanding why the moon’s far side looked so different from its near side.

While remote-sensing missions, such as those flown by Nasa, offer global data, “having in-hand samples that can be subjected to a gamut of laboratory measurements will always eclipse observations from afar”, he wrote in a Nature commentary published alongside the study.

“Firsts in planetary exploration have long been viewed as politically competitive endeavours,” he added, “but they should be celebrated as shared achievements that contribute to humanity’s collective scientific knowledge.”

This month, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced it would cancel all its subscriptions to Nature journals.

The decision has affected thousands of federally funded researchers across Nasa and the US departments of energy and agriculture, including those studying lunar geology and planetary evolution, unless they are able to gain access via other institutions or means.

Some scientists warned the move could hinder access to top-notch global research, especially at a time when Nasa’s science budget might be slashed, missions cancelled, and senior expertise lost.

Others said the impact would be limited, since many US planetary scientists worked at universities and still had access through institutional accounts.

Many research papers are open access, meaning they are free to read – if the authors can afford the publishing fees.

Yuqi Qian, a planetary scientist at the University of Hong Kong, said he worried more about the high price tag to publish. “These fees can become a real financial burden for young scholars like me,” he said.

Springer Nature’s website lists an article processing charge of US$12,690 to publish gold open access in Nature.

In a statement, the publisher said it “continues to have good relationships with US federal agencies”.

According to the USASpending.gov database, federal agencies have contracts that will pay tens of millions of dollars to Springer Nature this year.

China pledges to build megaprojects despite pivot to domestic consumption

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317569/china-pledges-build-megaprojects-despite-pivot-domestic-consumption?utm_source=rss_feed

China will continue to “scientifically” plan and build megaprojects while maintaining its “investment intensity” over the next five years, officials said – even as Beijing seeks to shift to a more consumption-driven growth model.

“To further drive economic development and improve people’s livelihoods, it is essential to maintain a certain scale of investment,” said Li Chunlin, vice-chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country’s top economic planner, at a press conference in Beijing on Wednesday.

“China’s per capita GDP has just crossed the US$13,000 threshold,” he added.

Li’s comments came amid growing market speculation over how Beijing plans to further boost consumption to offset the impact of the tariff war launched by the United States.

Investment used to be a major engine of rapid economic growth – most notably the 4-trillion-yuan stimulus package in 2009-2010 that lifted China out of the shock of the global financial crisis. But the approach also triggered a surge in debt, mainly due to unchecked local government borrowing.

Under the 14th Five-Year Plan – China’s best-known blueprint for social and economic development that covers 2021 to 2025 – the country planned 102 megaprojects including the Sichuan-Tibet railway, the Laos-China Railway and the Pinglu Canal.

“All 102 investment projects have achieved substantial progress and the planned goals are expected to be successfully completed by the end of the year,” Li said.

The NDRC plays a central role in drafting China’s five-year plans and approving major investment projects. In the first four months of the year alone, the commission approved 27 projects with a total planned investment of 573.7 billion yuan.

To ease fiscal pressure at the local level, Beijing introduced a debt relief scheme totalling 12 trillion yuan (US$1.67 trillion) last October – while resisting calls to unleash large-scale stimulus measures.

Policymakers are instead working to transition towards a more sustainable growth model driven by domestic consumption and technological innovation. In terms of investment projects, big data facilities and other digital infrastructure have been prioritised.

From 2021 to 2024, final consumption expenditure – which includes both household and government spending – contributed 56.2 per cent to China’s annual economic growth. Investment accounted for 30.2 per cent annually, said Yuan Da, secretary general of the NDRC.

Yuan said investment and consumption were complementary and mutually reinforcing. “Without a strong domestic market, China’s economy won’t be stable and sustained,” he said at the press conference.

“We will place greater emphasis on strengthening the domestic economic cycle, expand domestic demand, accelerate building a well-rounded domestic demand system and fully unlock its potential.”

The 15th Five-Year Plan is still in the drafting stage and is expected to be released in March 2026.

As external trade pressures intensify, central bank adviser Wang Yiming has called for a more urgent transition to a consumption-led growth model.

Household spending currently accounts for about 40 per cent of China’s GDP – a lower share than in other major economies.

In the first five months of this year, retail sales increased by 5 per cent, though deflationary pressures persist.

After four straight months of decline, China’s consumer price index, a key gauge of inflation, rose by 0.1 per cent year on year last month. The producer price index, which tracks factory gate prices, fell for the 33rd consecutive month, decreasing by 3.6 per cent year on year.

---

Is China’s ‘Bohai Monster’ a revival of Soviet-era cargo transport technology?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3317541/chinas-bohai-monster-revival-soviet-era-cargo-transport-technology?utm_source=rss_feed

A large wingship has been spotted in China’s Bohai Sea, revealing Beijing’s progress in developing its own version of the maritime cargo lifter while Washington races to revive this Soviet-era technology.

Two pictures purporting to show the mysterious Chinese wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) craft – dubbed the “Bohai Monster” by some observers – emerged on social media last week, with one giving a full view of it above the water’s surface.

The other image shows the craft sitting on a pier, facing away from the camera. The vehicle has a boat-shaped fuselage with a horizontal stabiliser on top of the joined V-shape tail – a common configuration for WIG craft.

A buoyancy float can be seen fitted to each wingtip and four engines appear to be mounted side by side on top of the craft’s wings. The engines are widely considered to be jet-powered but military website The War Zone suggested they could be propeller engines.

A WIG craft – also known as an ekranoplan, as it is called in Russian – works on the “ground effect” principle, which describes an interaction between the underwing airflow and the surface below that produces a rise in static pressure and a reduction in drag.

The most famous WIG craft was a Soviet prototype developed in the 1960s – the “Caspian Sea Monster”, which was the biggest and heaviest aircraft in the world of its time. It was 92 metres (302 feet) long and had a maximum take-off weight of 544 tonnes.

By travelling over flat surfaces – ground or water – at low altitudes, WIG craft can take advantage of the reduced drag to travel more efficiently in terms of fuel and payload capacity than higher-flying aircraft.

They are also much faster than ships, making them ideal for fast maritime cargo transport. WIG craft can also endure tougher weather and sea conditions compared to helicopters.

In particular, because they move only metres above the surface WIG craft can avoid common radar detection and are out of the range of many traditional air defence weapons, providing stealth advantages in military missions.

Since the crash of the Caspian Sea Monster in 1980 there have been some WIG projects developed by other countries, but none that has been even close to matching it in terms of size.

A prototype WIG craft developed by the China Ship Scientific Research Centre, a subsidiary of state-owned China State Shipbuilding Corporation, was revealed in 2023.

Described as suitable for search and rescue and inter-island passenger transport in the South China Sea, the vehicle has a maximum speed of 240km/h (150mph) and can travel for six hours non-stop, with a full take-off weight of 4.5 tonnes.

China has also been developing conventional amphibious aircraft that can fly normally as well as take off and land on conventional runways and water. Its AG600 – the world’s largest amphibious plane with a maximum take-off weight of 60 tonnes and payload capacity of 12 tonnes – has recently entered mass production.

The WIG craft that was spotted in the Bohai last week appeared to be similar in scale to the AG600. When completed, it could play a larger role than its smaller predecessor in terms of fast delivery of equipment and resupply at sea.

Meanwhile, the US announced a plan in April named Liberty Lifter, which aims to develop a WIG craft with a lift weight of 25 tonnes. A demonstrator model is expected to make its maiden flight in 2028-2029.

Surprise US copper tariff tests the mettle of China’s vast refining industry

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3317571/surprise-us-copper-tariff-tests-mettle-chinas-vast-refining-industry?utm_source=rss_feed

Shockwaves from Washington’s decision to impose a 50 per cent tariff on copper imports are still rippling across the Pacific, and China, the world’s largest consumer of the metal, is feeling the effects.

Copper futures traded in the US rallied on the tariff threat, expanding a price gap with the London and China markets, where prices fell.

The most active copper futures contracts traded on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell by 1.36 per cent on Wednesday following US President Donald Trump’s announcement the night prior.

While the price differential will encourage arbitrage trading, the tariffs are expected to be implemented sooner than most potential copper deliveries can reach the US, cautioned Zhao Yongcheng, principal analyst of China’s copper market at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence.

“There could be a downward risk for the London Metal Exchange and Shanghai Futures Exchange copper prices, as the physical absorption effect from the US market weakens due to the time constraint,” he said.

The exact timeline and details on whether there will be any exemptions for the metal – most of which the US imports as refined copper from Chile and Canada – are still unclear.

Although the tariffs might cause the global flow of refined copper to be redirected from the US to other regions, Zhao said that the supply is not necessarily flowing to China.

“China’s domestic refined copper production has increased significantly with the surge in smelting capacity,” Zhao said.

As the world’s largest consumer of copper – a key material needed in a broad range of industries, including electronics and clean energy – China has a firm grip on the production of refined copper.

Beijing has been shoring up its supply of the metal while investing heavily in mining and processing facilities over the past few years, to secure its industrial supply chains amid increasing geopolitical competition.

China produced 13.6 million tonnes of refined copper last year, up 4.1 per cent from a year earlier. The January-May total increased by 8 per cent from a year earlier to 6.05 million tonnes, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

In addition to supplies from its mines overseas, China imported ores to feed its smelting factories.

Analysts have raised concerns that Washington’s tariffs could lead to more price volatility.

“This round of copper-price fluctuations has shifted from being driven by commodity attributes to being dominated by financial games,” Guosen Futures analysts warned in a note on Wednesday.

The market has long looked at copper as a gauge of broader macroeconomic conditions because it is widely used in many industries. It is sometimes called “Dr Copper” because it has traditionally been seen as a leading indicator of economic health.

China’s imports of refined copper have been flat in recent months as more copper flowed to the US in anticipation of tariffs, following a Section 232 investigation into copper imports ordered by the Trump administration in February.

However, China’s main copper imports – copper ores and concentrates used in smelting – have continued to rise.

It imported 12.4 million tonnes of copper ores and concentrates in the first five months of the year, marking a year-on-year rise of 7.4 per cent, according to customs data.

Chinese firm behind AI agent Manus relocates to Singapore amid US chip curbs

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3317568/chinese-firm-behind-ai-agent-manus-relocates-singapore-amid-us-chip-curbs?utm_source=rss_feed

The team behind Chinese general-purpose artificial intelligence (AI) agent Manus has relocated its headquarters to Singapore, stoking speculation that the move was aimed at facilitating easier access to Nvidia chips amid US export controls to China.

“This company right now is headquartered in Singapore,” Manus AI co-founder and chief product officer Zhang Tao revealed during a keynote session at the SuperAI conference in Singapore on June 18. He added that the firm also had offices in Tokyo and California.

The “About Us” section on Manus’ website also lists its global headquarters as Singapore.

Manus, developed in China by start-up Butterfly Effect, has captured significant attention within the global AI community since its invite-only launch in early March. The AI agent’s ability to handle complex tasks has positioned it as a leading symbol of AI innovation in China, following the success of DeepSeek.

But like many Chinese tech firms, Manus AI faces challenges in obtaining advanced chips from Nvidia to train its algorithms. Its Chinese ties have also come under scrutiny in Washington.

The US Treasury Department was reviewing a US$75 million financing round into Manus AI, led by California-based venture capital firm Benchmark, according to a report from news website Semafor last week.

Authorities were investigating whether the financial backing – which had boosted Manus’ valuation fivefold to nearly US$500 million, according to a Bloomberg report in April – fell under new restrictions requiring any American entity or individual to notify the Treasury Department of investments into AI that could harm US interests.

A presence in Singapore could help the start-up access US clients and funding.

Singapore has emerged as a strategic location for Chinese-linked tech firms seeking to navigate Sino-US tensions.

Fast-fashion giant Shein, for example, has highlighted its Singapore location even as it continues to run a vast supplier network in China. Similarly, TikTok has based its operations in Singapore to maintain a distance from Beijing-based parent ByteDance.

While Manus AI has found a new home in Singapore, Butterfly Effect is still based in China, according to a report last month by Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao.

Manus AI did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Wednesday.

The company is not alone in its shift towards overseas markets. Other AI firms, such as HeyGen – which originated from China and relocated to the US last year – and Genspark.AI – founded by former Baidu employees in the US – are pursuing similar strategies.

Manus AI has begun recruiting in Singapore, offering openings such as data analyst and AI agent engineer, according to its website. Monthly salaries range from US$8,000 to US$16,000, with some positions reaching up to US$18,000, according to local recruitment platform MyCareersFuture.

The expansion efforts came as AI agent Manus experienced a significant drop in monthly active users, from about 20 million in March to around 10 million in May, according to Chinese media reports.

That decline coincided with growing competition from major Chinese tech companies, including ByteDance and Baidu, which have launched rival products, Coze Space and AgentBuilder, respectively.

---

China cross-dresser secretly films sex with hundreds of men, sparks public health concerns

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3317508/china-cross-dresser-secretly-films-sex-hundreds-men-sparks-public-health-concerns?utm_source=rss_feed

Social media in China has been appalled by a cross-dressing, middle-aged man who claims to have had sex with more than 1,000 men, secretly filming them and sharing the videos online.

Police in the city of Nanjing in eastern China’s Jiangsu province said they had arrested a 38-year-old man, surnamed Jiao, for disseminating obscene material on July 5.

The mainland media reported that Jiao, who has been nicknamed “Nanjing Uncle Red”, installed a hidden camera in his flat and filmed himself having sex with his male visitors.

Jiao then shared the video footage in an online group and profited from a membership fee of 150 yuan (US$21) per person to join the group.

Some of Jiao’s victims reportedly saw themselves in the leaked videos and reported him to the police.

It has been reported that Jiao is in his 60s. He claims to have hooked up with 1,691 men.

The police said the figure was exaggerated but have not given a definitive number and have not said how much Jiao profited from the videos.

Jiao wears heavy make-up, wigs and long skirts. He also fakes his voice to deceive the men. It was reported that some realised he was a cross-dressing man.

Jiao did not charge them, only asking them to bring small gifts. Some men brought milk or fruit, and one man gave him half a bottle of cooking oil.

The news shocked the online community and topped the trending list on many social media platforms.

Despite police warnings about sharing Jiao’s videos, close-up images of the men’s faces still circulated online.

Some men were recognised by their friends and families. Some of the men’s social media accounts were discovered by online observers.

One man was recognised by a mother, who said he was an English teacher at a kindergarten.

A woman was reported to have discovered her fiancé in the headshots.

The case sparked a heated discussion and triggered concerns over public health.

“I wonder how many women are victims behind these men,” one woman said.

“It is scary as you do not know whether those around you are one of Uncle Red’s visitors,” said another.

“Free is the most expensive,” another person said, remarking on the possible consequences the men and their relatives face.

A police officer in Nanjing, who is also an online influencer with 5.5 million followers on a social media platform, @jiangningpopo, posted a meme of a man washing his eyes and said: “I thought I had seen it all.”

Jiao’s nickname also prompted many to stand up for women’s rights.

He once went by the self-given nickname “Sister Red”, which the media later changed to “Uncle Red” as many people complained that the name stigmatises women.

On July 8, Nanjing’s Centre for Disease Control and Prevention told Chinese media outlet Jimu News that they have intervened and are prepared to give a body check to those worrying about their health.

They said they cannot reveal if Jiao has contagious diseases to protect his privacy.

A lawyer told China Newsweek that if a person has unprotected intimate interactions with many people knowing they have contagious diseases, they could face imprisonment from three to 10 years.

According to China’s Criminal Law, spreading obscene material carries a punishment of up to two years in jail. Jiao might also face legal punishment for violating other people’s privacy and portrait rights.

---

China denies giving Iran air defence systems after conflict with Israel

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3317538/china-denies-giving-iran-air-defence-systems-after-conflict-israel?utm_source=rss_feed

China has denied transferring surface-to-air missile batteries to Iran following Israel’s attacks on the Islamic Republic last month.

The British-based platform Middle East Eye reported on Monday that Chinese air defence equipment had been sent to Iran after it struck a truce with Israel last month, citing an Arab official familiar with the intelligence.

One source told the platform that China – the biggest recipient of Iran’s oil exports – had received payment in oil shipments, but the report did not say how many surface-to-air missile systems Iran had received since the end of the fighting.

China’s embassy in Israel denied the report on Tuesday, telling the Hebrew-language newspaper Israel Hayom it “never exports weapons to countries engaged in warfare and maintains strict controls on the export of dual-use items”.

It added: “China firmly opposes the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems, and continuously strengthens its enforcement capabilities regarding non-proliferation.”

China’s defence ministry has been asked for comment.

The 12-day conflict began after Israel attacked Iranian nuclear facilities, military commanders and scientists.

Both sides claimed victory after agreeing a ceasefire mediated by Qatar and the United States, but the conflict is believed to have depleted Iranian ballistic missile stocks and launchers.

Israel said it had destroyed over half of the 400 launchers that Iran had before the conflict. It also estimated Iran had between 2,000 and 2,500 ballistic missiles at the beginning of the war, 500 of which were used during the conflict.

But Israel also said that Iran was “rapidly moving toward a mass-production strategy”, which could multiply its ballistic missile stockpile in the next few years.

China condemned Israel for initiating the attack and offered to play a “constructive role” in peacemaking, but largely avoided direct involvement.

Some analysts believe the conflict has shown the limits of China’s influence and its lack of interest in providing direct support to Iran.

Last month, when asked about whether it would aid Iran militarily if requested, a spokesman for China’s defence ministry said it had expressed its views and would “continue playing a constructive role in securing the stability of the Middle East”.

China and Iran have held regular naval exercises with Russia, with the latest drill taking place in March.

Tiger walks on highway in China, shocking motorists

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3317532/tiger-walks-highway-china-shocking-motorists?utm_source=rss_feed

A wild Siberian tiger was spotted walking on China’s National Highway 331, shocking motorists on the road.

China’s rare earth dominance to continue as US investment lags: analysts

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317546/chinas-rare-earth-dominance-continue-us-investment-lags-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed

China is expected to maintain a strategic edge over the United States in the rare earth industry, thanks to Beijing’s long-term investments in advanced mining and processing technologies.

In contrast, the US is paying the price for decades of underinvestment, obsolete policies and the absence of a coherent strategy, according to a report by the New York-based think tank Strategy Risks.

The warning came as Beijing increasingly leverages its dominance in the global rare earth supply chain – particularly during recent trade negotiations with the Trump administration.

The critical minerals became a powerful bargaining chip for China to push back against Washington’s tech restrictions, culminating in a deal in London last month that laid the groundwork for both sides to ease curbs.

Despite growing US efforts to close the gap, analysts at Strategy Risks said the country was still not doing enough to reduce its reliance on Chinese rare earth exports in the near and medium term.

“Although the US is addressing its vulnerabilities in this sector through initiatives intended to strengthen production and materials processing, America remains dependent on imported minerals from China, due to a comparative lack of raw mineral deposits and government investments,” they wrote in the report on Monday.

China mines about 70 per cent of global rare earth elements and accounts for more than 90 per cent of global capacity for separating and processing heavy rare earths, the report’s authors noted.

Meanwhile, US initiatives to modernise equipment and infrastructure remain fragmented and underfunded. American companies have focused on “retrofits and modular upgrades” to existing systems, while China has been developing automation technologies since 2015 to reduce or replace its mining workforce.

Beijing has even deployed smart lithium extraction technologies overseas, including in countries such as Argentina, according to the report.

China has also aligned its rare earth industry with its climate ambitions. Earlier this year, Beijing approved new regulations to support a national rare earth recycling system – part of broader efforts to peak CO2 emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.

Amid the country’s electric vehicle boom, China is projected to have 400 million tonnes of decommissioned power batteries by 2028, according to the China Electronics Energy Saving Technology Association. The state-sponsored industrial body estimates the recycling market could be worth more than 280 billion yuan (US$39 billion) by the same year.

To reduce its dependency on China, the US must adopt a more targeted approach to investments in the rare earth sector, the Strategy Risks report said.

“Future actions and strategic investments should be directed towards expanding extraction and refining capabilities, deploying artificial intelligence-powered mining systems, and strengthening domestic battery production and recycling.”

China’s BYD and Geely bank on big discounts, Xpeng launches ‘super AI’ SUV: 7 EV reads

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-evs/article/3317488/chinas-byd-and-geely-bank-big-discounts-xpeng-launches-super-ai-suv-7-ev-reads?utm_source=rss_feed

We have put together stories from our coverage on electric and new energy vehicles from the past two weeks to help you stay informed. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

China’s leading electric vehicle (EV) makers from BYD to Geely Auto sustained their strong sales last month as big price cuts lured new buyers, helping boost their market share and heaping pressure on smaller, unprofitable rivals.

Less than 10 per cent of EV brands in China will turn a profit in the next five years, as the industry grapples with a price war and chronic overcapacity, according to AlixPartners.

Chinese smartphone and EV maker Xiaomi has been flooded with orders for its YU7 SUV, with analysts saying the car could challenge the dominance of the Tesla Model Y, the bestselling SUV on the mainland.

A senior executive from Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL), the world’s largest producer of batteries for EVs, urged authorities on the mainland to intervene in the price war that is roiling the market for new energy cars.

Chinese plug-in hybrid electric cars are rapidly flooding the European market, with exports to the bloc rising an extraordinary 600 per cent year on year in May as China’s brands take advantage of an exemption in European Union tariffs.

Chinese EV maker Xpeng launched its G7 SUV on Thursday, sending another contender into a fierce battle in the premium SUV segment of the world’s largest EV market, where it joins Xiaomi’s recently introduced YU7 in taking on Tesla’s market-leading Model Y.

Eve Energy, China’s fifth-largest producer of EV batteries, unveiled plans to build its second factory in Malaysia, three weeks after it decided to raise funds with a share offering on the Hong Kong stock exchange.

China’s lead in global shipbuilding may already be fading, new data suggests

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317497/chinas-lead-global-shipbuilding-may-already-be-fading-new-data-suggests?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s dominance of global shipbuilding appears to have been eroded over the past six months, according to the latest industry data, suggesting that US efforts to rein in the country’s shipyards may be starting to bite.

China has been by far the world’s largest shipbuilder for years, but its shipyards saw new orders plunge 68 per cent year on year to 26.3 million deadweight tonnes in the first half of 2025, according to a Monday report from maritime consultancy Clarksons Research.

South Korea, the second-largest player in the industry, saw new orders decline by 7 per cent year on year to 14.2 million deadweight tonnes, but that meant the country gained ground against China in relative terms.

China secured 56 per cent of global new orders in the first half of the year, down from 75 per cent a year earlier, while South Korea’s share rose from 14 per cent to 30 per cent, according to the Post’s calculations.

Analysts said China’s shrinking market share was being driven by US curbs targeting its shipbuilding industry, as well as a broader downturn in global demand.

“This decline is largely attributed to concerns among shipowners worldwide over US measures targeting China’s shipbuilding industry and their subsequent efforts to adapt,” said Han Ning, general manager of the Singapore branch of SHIPBID, a ship bidding platform.

Washington has announced a string of measures targeting Chinese shipbuilders this year, as US President Donald Trump vowed to revitalise America’s shipyards and curtail China’s dominance of the industry.

In April, the US announced it would charge steep fees to any ships owned, operated or built by China entering an American port. It has also placed high tariffs on Chinese-made equipment used by shipyards, such as ship-to-shore cranes.

The measures have provoked strong industry backlash, but they appear to have had an impact on the market. In addition to shipbuilding, Chinese shipyards have also seen their market share decline in vessel repair and maintenance, according to Han.

China’s share in the repair and maintenance of very large crude carriers – a type of oil tanker – averaged about 70 per cent between 2021 and 2024, but fell to roughly 50 per cent in the first half of this year, Han added.

But a cyclical drop in global demand is also a key driver behind China’s falling market share, according to Ralph Leszczynski, head of research for shipbroking and shipping services group Banchero Costa.

During periods of high demand – such as from 2021 to 2024 – orders that cannot be handled by Korean and Japanese shipyards, which have strictly limited capacity, often spill over into the more flexible Chinese market, he explained.

However, the number of new orders has significantly dropped after the boom of the previous few years, meaning that there has been less of a spillover effect in 2025. Shipowners often prefer vessels made by Korean or Japanese shipyards as they are easier to sell on the second-hand market, according to Leszczynski.

“Large and well-established Chinese shipyards have little to worry about,” Leszczynski said. “But this situation should be of concern to smaller, private yards with a smaller track record.”

Chinese-built vessels account for 23 per cent of the total global fleet in service, according to Clarksons.

The US drive to revive its shipbuilding industry is widely seen as an opportunity for South Korea. With America having practically zero domestic capacity, Korea’s top shipbuilders are now expanding in the US.

Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) and Hanwha Ocean, two major South Korean shipbuilders, have joined bids for contracts to maintain, repair and overhaul US Navy vessels since last year.

In April, HHI signed a memorandum of understanding to accelerate cooperation and technology sharing with Huntington Ingalls Industries, the largest military shipbuilder in the US.

Despite ongoing trade tensions, South Korea and the US were deepening cooperation – particularly in shipbuilding – as Washington ramped up restrictions on China, South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said in March.

Lee, who took office last month, has also pledged to make South Korea “a maritime power that leads the world, beyond shipbuilding”.

Hong Kong stocks fall on worries about China’s deflationary pressure

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3317479/hong-kong-stocks-fall-worries-about-chinas-deflationary-pressure?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong stocks fell by the most in nearly three weeks as China’s deflationary trend became more entrenched, deepening concerns about the nation’s growth prospects.

The Hang Seng Index dropped 0.8 per cent to 23,943.42 at 10.13am local time on Wednesday and the Hang Seng Tech Index retreated 1.3 per cent. On the mainland, the CSI 300 Index climbed 0.2 per cent and the Shanghai Composite Index added 0.3 per cent.

Henderson Land Development slumped 8.3 per cent to HK$26 after raising HK$8 billion (US$1 billion) from the sale of convertible bonds. Other Hong Kong-based property developers also fell: Hang Lung Properties slid 4 per cent to HK$7.38 and Sun Hung Kai Properties sank 3.6 per cent to HK$89.25.

Producer prices on the mainland dropped by 3.6 per cent from a year earlier in June, marking the 33rd straight month of declines, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Wednesday. Consumer prices unexpectedly rose by 0.1 per cent.

Five companies started trading in Hong Kong. Wuhan Dazhong Dental Medical jumped 17 per cent to HK$23.30, Fortior Technology surged 8.5 per cent to HK$130.80 and Apple supplier Lens Technology added 2 per cent to HK$18.54. Beijing Geekplus Technology fell 2 per cent to HK$16.46 and Beijing Xunzhong Communication lost 0.4 per cent to HK$13.50.

Other major Asia-Pacific markets were mixed. Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1 per cent, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.3 per cent and South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.5 per cent.

China’s ‘green great wall’ in Inner Mongolia traps 3 more deserts

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3317376/chinas-green-great-wall-inner-mongolia-traps-three-more-deserts?utm_source=rss_feed

China has completed a sand control belt spanning three deserts in Inner Mongolia, marking yet another milestone in the creation of a “green great wall” across the arid northern region.

The last piece of straw checkerboard, a widely used method in China to stabilise sand, was placed at the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert on Sunday, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The move completed a 1,856km (1,153-mile) green belt that also runs across the Tengger and Ulan Buh deserts, the agency reported on Monday.

The three deserts in Alxa league, the westernmost part of Inner Mongolia, cover a total area of 94,700 sq km (36,564 square miles).

Zhang Youyong, chief engineer of the Alxa right banner’s forestry, grassland and desert control bureau, told Xinhua: “We use the straw checkerboard method to first lock the shifting sand, followed by planting drought-resistant trees such as sacsaoul.

“This approach helps us build an effective sand prevention and control system, ultimately strengthening the ecological barrier.”

Badain Jaran desert is China’s third largest desert. Together, the three deserts account for around a third of Alxa league’s total land area and more than 83 per cent of Inner Mongolia’s total desert land.

Average annual rainfall received by the league is less than 200mm (about 8 inches), while water lost to evaporation is about 15 times greater, at over 3,000mm, according to Xinhua.

The completed project to link the existing belts across the three deserts was launched in February, and further sand control and grassland restoration efforts will continue.

The project represents the latest phase in China’s decades-long efforts to curb desertification in its arid northern regions through sand control measures and reforestation under its Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Programme.

“Three north” refers to China’s northeast, north, and northwest – areas most threatened by desertification.

Initiated in the 1970s, the programme has seen a network of thousands of kilometres of forest and shrubs planted to stabilise the Gobi Desert, which has helped to reduce sandstorms blowing into nearby regions such as Beijing.

Last November, a green belt was completed across the Taklamakan Desert. Located in western Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, the Taklamakan is China’s largest desert and the world’s second-largest shifting sand desert.

Shifting sand deserts are dominated by wind-driven dunes and frequent sandstorms, which can affect weather, agriculture and human health.

The green belt around the Taklamakan stretches 3,050km and includes various trees and shrubs as well as other sand-blocking methods. It was completed to prevent desert spread and to safeguard roads and railways from the “sea of death”, a grim nickname earned by the Taklamakan due to the shifting dunes covering 85 per cent of its area and extreme aridity that make it one of the most dangerous deserts to cross.

Other countries are creating their own green belts in desert regions to combat their expansion. These include Africa’s “Great Green Wall initiative”, which aims to prevent the southward expansion of the Sahara.

Launched by the African Union in 2007, the programme aims to restore 100 million hectares (247 million acres) of degraded land by 2030 with the help of an 8,000km green wall.

China plays a significant role in supporting the initiative through sharing technology, expertise and funding.

Lei Jiaqiang, a leading desertification control expert from the Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, spoke earlier this year about how Chinese scientists introduced sand control techniques to help build the African wall.

This included introducing checkerboard straw grids, a technique perfected by China in its deserts, and drought-resistant shrubs to stabilise shifting sands near Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, Lei said at a seminar in Beijing.

---

Sporty Chinese girl, 7, develops a passion for swimming and gets core strength training from dad

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3316664/sporty-chinese-girl-7-develops-passion-swimming-and-gets-core-strength-training-dad?utm_source=rss_feed

A seven-year-old Chinese girl caused amazement with her exceptional passion for sport and the core strength she has developed from professional training.

The girl from Qingyuan, southern China’s Guangdong province, is nicknamed Xiaoqilin.

Videos of her performing difficult training tasks with agility at home, which show off the muscular strength she has built up in her abs and legs, have gone viral on social media.

Xiaoqilin’s mother, surnamed Guo, said her daughter began training at home with her father, a professional strength coach, after becoming obsessed with swimming a year ago.

Her father turned their living room into a gym, filling it with all kinds of fitness equipment.

He designed a training session for his daughter that lasts 20 to 40 minutes a day, during which she mimics swimming strokes to train the muscles needed for the sport.

She can now perform hardcore curl-ups and dead hangs easily.

Xiaoqilin only began swimming 12 months ago, and already she has mastered the four competitive swimming strokes. She also won three gold medals, a silver and a bronze at a recent city swim meet.

She also does mixed martial arts, taekwondo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu on the side.

Her holidays are filled with all kinds of sport, including strength training, backflip training, swimming and biking. She even practices taekwondo during her lunch breaks.

Xiaoqilin’s energetic lifestyle has impressed many people online, and her mother said it helped that her daughter was very self-disciplined.

Xiaoqilin can also easily cycle after picking up the sport at the age of four.

Guo runs her daughter’s social media account and posts her training videos. The account has 150,000 followers.

“She is born to be an athlete,” one online observer said.

“I can already see her winning a gold medal at the Olympics,” said another.

“Does she have some revenge plans?” another person quipped, sayingthat she had the air of the protagonist in a revenge film who gets super fit to get even.

Some also expressed concerns over the high intensity of her training.

One person said: “Too much strength training at too young an age might suppress the child’s growth. The parents should wait until she gets older.”

However, Guo said the physical training has a positive influence on her daughter’s studies.

China spins up offshore wind energy as Beijing promotes marine economy

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3317404/china-spins-offshore-wind-energy-beijing-promotes-marine-economy?utm_source=rss_feed

China has ramped up offshore wind energy development, as the form of renewable energy aligns with Beijing’s goals of carbon neutrality, energy security and developing the marine economy to boost economic growth.

China added more than 4.4 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind capacity in the first six months of the year, the same amount it added in all of 2024, according to a report by the non-profit Global Energy Monitor (GEM) on Wednesday.

The report said the country was expected to add at least 9GW of offshore wind capacity this year – more than half of projected global additions. China has another 22GW of offshore wind projects under construction that could commence operation beyond 2025, it added.

“China is developing a robust offshore wind technology industry, as its development boundaries are pushed farther into deep-sea areas,” said Zhang Mengqi, a GEM researcher and co-author of the report. She cited strong central government support that combined direct financial subsidies with a mix of top-level planning and market-based approaches.

The report came shortly after the country’s farthest offshore wind power project, located off Yancheng in the eastern province of Jiangsu, started operation last week, according to its developer, state-owned China Three Gorges Corporation. With turbines as far as 85.5km offshore, the project was expected to generate more than 2.6 terawatt-hours of electricity annually, enough to power around 1.1 million three-person households for a year, a spokesperson said.

President Xi Jinping mentioned offshore wind energy during a high-level economic meeting last week as a key sector to advance the “high-quality development” of China’s marine economy. Offshore wind power was also featured in Beijing’s annual government work report in March, which said the sector would help with job creation, energy security and coastal provinces’ economic development.

Although offshore wind represented only 9 per cent of China’s total wind power capacity, it was gaining traction as coastal provinces followed Beijing’s call to boost the marine economy and pursue ambitious decarbonisation targets, according to GEM. Offshore wind development grew by an average of 41 per cent a year over the past five years, it said.

Jiangsu and Guangdong provinces stood out as national leaders, with 12.6GW and 11.4GW of installed offshore wind capacity, respectively, which accounted for 55 per cent of the country’s total offshore capacity, GEM said.

State-owned enterprises like China Three Gorges, along with wind-turbine producers Goldwind, Mingyang and Envision, have taken the lead in developing offshore projects. According to S&P Global, offshore wind could become one of China’s most affordable renewable energy sources by 2050.

“China has long been head and shoulders above the rest in building wind and solar, so it’s not surprising to see the uptick in offshore capacity,” Zhang said. “What is really impressive is just how much potential there is to displace emissions from fossil fuels and drive a clean energy transition along the coast’s industrial heartland.”

The world’s largest developer of renewable energy, China is building 510GW of utility-scale solar and wind capacity, an increase of 57 per cent over the previous year, as it strives to peak carbon emissions by 2030, GEM’s report said.

China has 1.3 terawatts of utility-scale solar and wind capacity either planned or under construction, which could generate more electricity than neighbouring Japan consumed in all of 2023, it said.

---

Trump admin increasing scrutiny of Chinese, other foreign farmland ownership in US

https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3317456/trump-admin-restricts-foreign-ownership-us-farmland-amid-china-tensions?utm_source=rss_feed

US President Donald Trump’s administration is expanding scrutiny of Chinese and other foreign ownership of American farmland and starting to cancel agricultural contracts with entities from “countries of concern” amid apprehension over the national security risks of such foreign involvement.

As part of a new seven-part National Farm Security Action Plan, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told reporters on Tuesday that “swift legislative and executive action” would be taken at “every level of government” to “ban the purchase of American farmland by Chinese nationals and other foreign adversaries”.

The Agriculture Department will also target research and innovation programmes with foreign countries “that do not have our best interests in mind”.

Rollins said that the department has already cancelled seven active agreements with entities from countries of concern – a designation that includes China, Iran, Russia, North Korea – and will continue to cancel them, along with removing foreign citizens from federal contracts.

“American agriculture is not just about feeding our families, but about protecting our nation and standing up to foreign adversaries who are buying our farmland, stealing our research and creating dangerous vulnerabilities in the very systems that sustain us,” Rollins said, citing China as a “hostile regime” that sees the American way of life as a “profound and existential threat”.

The Agriculture Department, according to Rollins, is coordinating with the White House; the departments of Treasury, Defence, Homeland Security, and Justice; and state governors, agriculture commissioners, and local, tribal, and territorial governments to carry out the plan.

Flanked by Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, White House trade counsellor Peter Navarro, Attorney General Pam Bondi, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and several Republican governors and lawmakers, Rollins added that she has officially joined the Treasury-led Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States as of Tuesday.

CFIUS, as the inter-agency committee is commonly known, is responsible for reviewing transactions involving foreign investment in the US.

Tuesday’s announcement comes as US-China tensions have cascaded through local and state politics across the US in recent years, sparking alarm about Chinese investment and other involvement in the American agricultural sector.

According to the New York-based Committee of 100, a group of prominent Chinese-Americans, 45 bills restricting foreign property ownership, some of them explicitly targeting Chinese citizens, were under consideration in 14 US states as of June 25.

Last month, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, signed legislation to restrict Chinese nationals from buying property in his state.

However, the potential trade-offs of banning Chinese purchases of farmland have also been acknowledged at both national and local levels.

A Republican-led legal effort to restrict Chinese entities from owning land failed in Arizona last month after a veto by the state’s governor, Democrat Katie Hobbs, who argued that the bill would be “ineffective at counter-espionage” and open the door to arbitrary enforcement.

Critics of efforts to limit Chinese land investment argue that they could unfairly subject Chinese-Americans and Asian-Americans to extra scrutiny.

They also point to the relatively small amount of US land owned by Chinese entities and argue that there has been little evidence of Beijing’s interest in acquiring US farmland.

According to a 2023 US Department of Agriculture report, Chinese individuals or businesses own about 277,336 acres (112,234 hectares) of US land – less than 1 per cent of total foreign-held acreage – with none directly registered to the Chinese government.

Chinese ownership of land has come into the national spotlight several times in recent years.

In 2023, a US$700 million corn mill project in Grand Forks, North Dakota, was scrapped after opposition over its Chinese owner and proximity to a military base.

In a similar development that year, agrochemical and seed company Syngenta AG was ordered to divest 160 acres of farmland (65 hectares) in Arkansas within two years.

That enforcement action against Syngenta, which was acquired by China National Chemical Corporation, was the first taken under legislation signed by Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders restricting foreign entities from owning agricultural land in the state.

Sanders was one of the governors present at Tuesday’s event. In her remarks, she emphasised the need for a federal effort to curb land purchases by US “enemies”, noting that while states have led the way, they could not address the issue alone.

Tuesday’s National Farm Security Action Plan sets up a new portal for reporting foreign farm investments and raises the fine for late and false filings.

Rollins also said to expect an executive order on foreign land purchases from the White House “very soon”.

The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

China told its officials to tighten their belts. Did they go a notch too far?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3317362/china-told-its-officials-tighten-their-belts-did-they-go-notch-too-far?utm_source=rss_feed

This is the first story in a three-part series exploring the domestic economic challenges China faces as it navigates an unprecedented trade war with the United States. In this piece, we explore Beijing’s drive to rein in wasteful government spending – and its unintended consequences.

Wang, a civil servant from a small town in northeastern China, is too scared to go to restaurants these days. He even skipped his niece’s wedding due to his fear of being seen at a banquet.

An avid foodie, the 55-year-old used to dine with his friends once or twice a day – usually at purely social gatherings unrelated to his government job. But now, even casual meals out can cause serious problems.

“Nobody dares to stick their neck out nowadays,” said Wang, who declined to give his full name for privacy reasons. “So I only eat at home now.”

Wang is one of millions of Chinese state-sector workers who have been impacted by a government austerity drive that has sent shock waves across the country in recent weeks, hitting businesses hard and sparking concern in the corridors of Beijing.

The campaign started in May when the central government introduced stricter rules for civil servants and state-owned enterprise employees attending official receptions, which banned the consumption of cigarettes, liquor and “high-end dishes”.

The new guidelines were the latest in a string of measures to limit ostentatious celebrations by officials – a practice viewed as a waste of public funds and a slippery slope to corruption – that have long been a source of simmering public resentment.

But what started out as a simple anti-waste policy has since snowballed into something more extreme, as local authorities have rolled out far more draconian measures in an attempt to demonstrate their political loyalty to Beijing.

The campaign has become so overbearing in some regions that economists warn it might even jeopardise the government’s efforts to stimulate domestic consumption – a policy priority for Beijing as it tries to offset the impact of an unprecedented trade war with the United States.

“These people are absolutely terrified,” said one economist, who spoke with the Post on condition of anonymity, referring to the executives of state-owned enterprises with whom she frequently meets.

“Forget about formal banquets – even when we meet privately, we just stand outside the coffee shop. They won’t even dare to drink coffee.”

The new spending rules dovetail with two broader priorities for China’s government: a decades-long war against official corruption and a clampdown on wasteful government expenditure.

Both of those campaigns have only become more urgent in recent years, as an economic slowdown has squeezed the budgets of many local governments and intensified public resentment towards any signs of officials misusing public funds.

Recent news reports about local officials dying from excessive drinking and the financial burden caused by lavish banquets may have triggered the government’s decision to introduce the stricter guidelines, according to a political science researcher based in Guangzhou, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

However, some local governments have introduced measures that go far beyond the original rules, such as forcing staff to take daily breathalyser tests and offering rewards to local restaurants that provide tip-offs about officials dining out.

Though normal behaviour like drinking alcohol and eating out with friends is not banned under the central government guidelines, officials often struggle to justify whether a meal counts as “normal dining”, and lower-tier governments tend to add extra layers of controls, the economist said.

“While the direct impact on overall consumption might be marginal … it certainly has a negative impact on sentiment and counters efforts to restore consumer confidence,” she added.

Beijing has tried to push back against local overreach. In June, the central government weighed in to clarify the boundaries of the austerity drive, while state-owned media outlets and Communist Party publications such as Qiushi urged local governments to implement the new rules with restraint.

“There have been some misinterpretations of the regulations,” state news agency Xinhua said in a commentary. “[Some places] have banned officials from drinking alcohol 24 hours a day, limited attendance at meals to three people, or mandated bill-splitting.”

People’s Daily warned in another commentary that Beijing’s austerity measures were intended to be used like a “scalpel” to target wasteful and extravagant behaviour, but that some localities were wielding them like a “sledgehammer”.

“These are misunderstandings of policies and indifference to people’s livelihoods resulting from lazy government thinking, replacing precise governance with simple and crude measures,” it said.

Last week, state media outlets rushed to provide positive coverage of a district party secretary in southwestern Chongqing who had treated local pig farmers, workers and entrepreneurs to a meal costing 1,100 yuan (US$150).

But the media blitz has not been enough to alleviate the concerns of public-sector workers, with many still choosing to keep their heads down. On the Chinese social platform RedNote, there are still streams of posts from wedding organisers complaining about clients with public-sector jobs cancelling their banquets.

China’s liquor industry is also feeling the effects. Kweichow Moutai, the country’s premier baijiu maker, saw its share price fall 14 per cent from a peak in mid-May, despite the company’s efforts to distance itself from images of extravagant living and corruption. Shares in Wuliangye Yibin, another top baijiu distiller, also declined 13 per cent.

The campaign has even spilled over into the private sector. A worker at a commercial bank in Beijing, surnamed Yu, told the Post that his employer had cancelled several planned company gatherings in June to comply with the central government directive.

Meanwhile, documents circulating online suggest that several Chinese law firms have adopted new staff policies containing similar restrictions on dining and drinking to those imposed by the government.

While there is a real and pressing need to cut government waste and prevent corruption, analysts said the way the campaign was being implemented was causing unnecessary damage to the economy.

Tao Jingzhou, an arbitrator who has practised in Beijing, Hong Kong and London, said the campaign was affecting the economy more than necessary because many regions had failed to create a clear code of conduct for officials stating what type of spending was permitted.

Because the rules were often vague, many civil servants had cut off all catering expenditure to protect themselves – an “extremely destructive” trend, Tao said.

“If officials spend their own money, they should have the freedom to do so; if the dinner expenses are to be reimbursed by the government, a ceiling should be set up and all extra costs should come out of the officials’ own pockets,” Tao said.

Xue Qinghe, CEO of the private Guangdong-based think tank Zhibenshe, said the austerity drive’s impact on consumer spending was especially obvious in smaller cities, where over-enforcement was rampant.

“In the third- and fourth-tier cities, which lack pillar industries, public-sector household consumption forms the backbone of local demand,” Xue said.

Though China’s major cities are less reliant on spending by public-sector workers, the campaign threatens to exacerbate a downturn in the food and drink sector that began last year amid an anti-corruption drive targeting the financial sector. Revenues in both Beijing and Shanghai’s catering sectors have been shrinking since early 2024.

If sustained, the austerity campaign will have a significant impact on China’s catering sector, as spending by government bodies, public-sector institutions and companies drives an estimated 51.6 per cent of the industry’s revenues, according to a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit in June.

A 10 per cent drop in spending by those groups would therefore drag down the catering industry’s revenues by 5.2 per cent and cause a 0.6 per cent fall in China’s overall retail sales, the report said.

“This would have little direct impact on growth … but the implications for employment will be much more significant,” it added.

Recent history shows that government campaigns can inflict real damage, at least in the short term. When China first implemented austerity rules for government officials in 2013, the country’s catering industry revenues slowed sharply by 4.6 percentage points that year, according to the report.

Economists from the Japanese investment bank Nomura said the new austerity measures would deal a blow to the catering, tobacco and liquor sectors, with high-end catering services likely to be hit hardest.

Government officials and state-owned enterprise employees make up about 18 per cent of China’s urban workforce, they estimated in a report in June.

The new austerity rules – combined with a slowdown in the consumer goods trade-in programme and a higher base effect – are likely to cause China’s retail sales growth to slow from 5.0 per cent in the first five months of 2025 to just 3.1 per cent in the second half of the year, Nomura predicted.

But as the Guangzhou-based researcher pointed out, perhaps the catering sector’s reliance on spending by officials is a problem in itself – a sign of an unhealthy economic model that needs to change.

“The reliance on government hospitality to boost the catering industry may need a complete overhaul,” he said.

Brazil and China to study South American transcontinental railway project

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3317462/brazil-and-china-study-south-american-transcontinental-railway-project?utm_source=rss_feed

Brazil and China agreed on Monday to study the feasibility of a transcontinental railway that could reshape South America’s trade routes by connecting Brazil’s Atlantic Ocean coast to Peru’s Pacific Ocean port of Chancay.

The memorandum of understanding was signed between Infra S.A., the Brazilian state-owned company linked to the Ministry of Transport, and the China Railway Economic and Planning Research Institute, part of China State Railway Group.

The plan outlines a railway of about 4,500 kilometres (roughly 2,800 miles), running from Ilhéus in the northern Brazilian state of Bahia to Rio Branco in the northwestern state of Acre, before crossing the Andes towards the Peruvian coast.

Some estimates put the cost of proposed project at upwards of US$70 billion.

If built, the corridor could shorten shipping times to Asia by as much as 12 days compared with current Atlantic routes that pass through the Panama Canal. For now, however, the agreement is only for technical, environmental and economic studies, expected to last for up to five years.

The signing follows months of increased contact between Brasília and Beijing over the matter. In April, a Chinese delegation visited the Fico and Fiol railway lines in Brazil, which are expected to form key parts of the planned corridor. The team also toured the Port of Santos, Latin America’s busiest port, which is expanding with Chinese investment.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s government considers access to the Pacific essential for strengthening ties with Asia and boosting agricultural and mineral exports.

The idea of linking Brazil to the Pacific by rail is not new. A similar project was first discussed over a decade ago but was shelved amid questions about cost, technical obstacles and environmental impact.

The announcement comes as unease in Washington rises over China’s growing economic influence in the western hemisphere.

In November, shortly after US President Donald Trump’s re-election victory, Mauricio Claver-Carone, now his special adviser on Latin American affairs, called for tariffs of up to 60 per cent on any company using Peru’s Chancay port for trade with China.

Claver-Carone said the tariff would not only discourage general use of the port but also help prevent its use for transshipment – routing goods through other countries so they can be re-exported and enter their final market facing lower tariffs.

The so-called Fico and Fiol lines, to be operated under public–private partnerships, now form the backbone of Brazil’s railway expansion and would be central to the new route.

For China, the railway would help unlock the potential of the Chancay megaport near Lima, built with Belt and Road Initiative funding at a cost of around US$3.5 billion.

Inaugurated in November, the port is expected to become a major link for South American trade with Asia. Analysts say that without a direct connection to Brazil, its role as a regional hub would be limited.

In Peru, however, the news of the agreement triggered unease. Leolino Dourado, a researcher at the Centre for China and Asia-Pacific Studies in Lima, noted that some Lima officials were unsettled because Peru was not formally involved in the signing, despite the project passing through its territory. Local media described it as a violation of Peru’s sovereignty.

Even so, Dourado noted that Peruvian ministries have held talks with Brazilian and Chinese officials this year and that the absence of the foreign ministry may have contributed to misunderstandings.

“There were discussions at the technical level, but the lack of coordination within Peru created the impression that the country was left out,” he said.

Dourado said he thought the economic case for the project was shaky, arguing that the long overland distance from Brazil to Chancay made rail freight more costly than shipping goods directly through Atlantic ports. In his view, any savings from a shorter sea leg to Asia would be outweighed by the higher expense of moving cargo by land.

He noted studies that had raised similar doubts, including a 2015 International Union of Railways report that found little financial sense in building such a link. Dourado said that signs were few that conditions had improved since then.

He also said that any viable route would likely cross environmentally protected areas or indigenous territories, which could lead to legal disputes and complex negotiations. Altering conservation laws to make way for tracks, he warned, would be far from straightforward.

Without solid economic grounds and guaranteed funding, he added, there was a real risk the railway could remain little more than a grand vision.

“Crossing the Andes involves tunnels and bridges that push costs higher. Previous estimates put the northern route at about US$72 billion. If the line follows the southern option to reduce the environmental impact by using the existing Pacific Highway corridor, the cost jumps to nearly US$100 billion,” he said.

Despite the doubts and tensions, Brazil and China expressed hope that the studies would clarify whether the plan could move from the drawing board to reality, linking South America’s vast interior more directly to booming markets across the Pacific.

“This partnership is a fruit of wisdom and mutual trust, and will contribute to the dynamism and development of transport in our countries,” Wang Jie, general director of China State Railway Group, said in a statement.

The Brazilian government also said that the project would, once completed, strengthen its agenda for regional integration and sustainable infrastructure.

“Brazil is ready to lead a new era of logistics infrastructure. And this leadership role will be exercised with a sense of responsibility, high-quality engineering, solid partnerships and future-oriented tracks,” Leonardo Ribeiro, Brazil’s secretary of rail transport, said.