• US sentences Chinese national to eight years for smuggling arms to North Korea
• China’s wartime message can sit alongside a love of today’s Japan
• Argentina registration by China’s BYD hints at local car production
• US names five more Chinese industries for enforcement under Uygur labour law
• US soybean farmers urge Trump to make purchase deal with China
• Zhou Ming, top engineer involved in Boeing 787 and A380 design, leaves US for China
• ‘Not easy’: how a US firm avoided Trump’s China tariffs by sourcing American
• China confirms Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit at end of month
• How Beijing and other South China Sea claimants can see eye to eye
• Pop Mart’s interim sales soar as Labubu craze fuels Chinese toymaker’s record earnings
• China’s Weibo shuts down social media accounts for ‘inciting gender antagonism’
• Surprising many, Nobody becomes China’s top 2D animated film at the box office
• Chinese woman keeps getting pregnant, has 3 kids in 4 years to avoid 5-year jail sentence
• Tech war: Chinese EDA leader Empyrean announces breakthroughs in chip design software
• The Front Line: taking stock of China’s military modernisation
• India’s Modi to meet China’s top diplomat as Asian powers rebuild ties
• US underestimating China’s AI progress, OpenAI’s Sam Altman says
• China launches plan to improve TV and mini-dramas amid soft power push
• China’s Wang Yi appeals for shared vision of partnership and opportunity on India trip
• Philippines reports Chinese ship surge at Scarborough Shoal after ‘embarrassing’ collision
• Nvidia plans more powerful chip for China after Trump approves H20 export, sources say
• China school in hot water over US$140,000 cash prize for student accepted by top university
• China unveils crewed tilt-rotor aircraft but how does it compare with US Osprey?
• Why are honeybees dying massively in the United States but thriving in China?
• China’s exports, investments to Global South surge in ‘age of tariffs’: report
• Hong Kong can’t afford to outsource its healthcare to mainland China
• Mainland Chinese tech firms using Hong Kong’s support to ease geopolitical risks
• Type 99A: China’s most advanced tank delivers firepower, agility and survivability
• Chinese husband discovers during wife’s abortion that child is his neighbour’s
• Putin taps Brazil in China-linked peace push as Trump hosts Zelensky
• China’s coastal provinces look to ride economic wave with offshore action plans
• China’s involution problem is not just about supply but also demand

US sentences Chinese national to eight years for smuggling arms to North Korea

https://www.scmp.com/news/us/article/3322431/us-sentences-chinese-national-eight-years-smuggling-arms-north-korea?utm_source=rss_feed

The US has sentenced a Chinese national to eight years in prison for illegally exporting firearms, ammunition, and other military items to North Korea via Hong Kong in return for US$2 million in payments from Pyongyang “for his efforts”, the Justice Department said on Tuesday.

Taking advantage of lax US gun laws, Shenghua Wen, 42, purchased many of the weapons in Texas and drove them to California, where they were shipped out of the Port of Long Beach, according to court documents. At least one shipment was listed as a refrigerator on export documents.

“Wen is a citizen of the People’s Republic of China who entered the United States in 2012 on a student visa and remained in the US illegally after his student visa expired in December 2013,” the department said.

“Prior to entering the United States, Wen met with officials from North Korea’s government” at two North Korean consulates in China who directed Wen to procure goods on Pyongyang’s behalf, it added.

Wen, who was taken into custody in December, pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to violate the International Emergency Economic Powers Act and one count of acting as an illegal agent of a foreign government. His sentence was handed down on Monday by the US District Court for the Central District of California.

As outlined by the Justice Department, two North Korean officials contacted Wen online in 2022, nearly a decade after Pyongyang made its original contact, and directed him to buy and smuggle US firearms, related goods and sensitive technology to North Korea by way of China.

“Wen stated that he was likely selected to procure goods on behalf of the North Korean government because he was good at smuggling,” according to court documents.

“Wen explained that the money was wired from a bank in China to Hong Kong and then deposited into business and personal bank accounts belonging to Wen’s partner,” identified only as “Individual 1”, the documents said.

Among those he acquired, it said, were some 50,000 rounds of 9mm ammunition primarily used in handguns and submachine guns; equipment used to identify chemical threats; and a handheld broadband receiver to detect illegal, disruptive or jamming signals “ideal for locating hidden eavesdropping devices”, according to the complaint.

“Wen explained that he believed the North Korean government wanted the weapons, ammunition, and other military-related equipment to prepare for an attack against South Korea,” the complaint added, with Pyongyang also requesting military uniforms “which would subsequently be used by the North Korean military to disguise their soldiers to conduct a surprise attack on South Korea”.

Wen also acquired or offered to acquire a civilian aeroplane engine and a thermal imaging system that could be mounted on a drone, helicopter or other aircraft for use in surveillance or identifying targets.

In 2023, Wen reportedly bought the AK5000 Inc weapon company in Houston – described as “Dealer in Firearms Other Than Destructive Devices” – for around US$150,000 paid for with North Korean funds.

That year, he shipped at least three containers of firearms out of Long Beach, including one late in the year that ended up in the North Korean port of Nampo after transhipping through Hong Kong.

Yun Sun, a senior fellow with the Stimson Center, said the case is a bit “bizarre”.

“It is hard to imagine that the firearms and ammo acquired by a single individual could make a major difference for North Korea’s military sector,” she said, adding that this case points to China as a transshipment hub.

“It does point to the loopholes, intended or not, in the customs inspection on the Chinese side. And it does raise questions about China’s complicity in the shipment.”

Wen, who was a resident of Ontario, California, admitted in his plea agreement that he knew it was illegal to ship the goods to North Korea, never obtained the required licences and did not inform Washington that he was acting as an agent for Pyongyang.

The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment; lawyers with the federal public defenders office, which represented Wen, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Until Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, North Korea was the most heavily sanctioned country on Earth, much of that sanctioning tied to the country’s expanded nuclear weapons programme following Pyongyang’s first nuclear test in 2006.

That saw the UN Security Council ban trade with North Korea, initially heavy conventional weapons such as tanks, warships and combat aircraft and subsequently all arms and related materiel, including light weapons.

Pyongyang has found imaginative workarounds.

“North Korea has become adept at evading sanctions that the international community has imposed on it,” a 2021 Rand study said, adding that in particular it tends to rely on its diplomats, overseas workers, third-party intermediaries and front or shell companies to smuggle materiel.

China’s wartime message can sit alongside a love of today’s Japan

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3322220/chinas-wartime-message-can-sit-alongside-love-todays-japan?utm_source=rss_feed

This year, China marks the 80th anniversary of its victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression – part of the broader victory in the World Anti-Fascist War. Across the country, commemorative exhibitions, television documentaries and a wave of summer blockbuster films have been rolled out to mark the occasion.

These films, set in the dark days of the 1930s and 1940s, are not just historical dramas; they are cultural reminders. They show the destruction of war, the brutality of the Japanese military aggressors, the resilience of ordinary Chinese people and the enormous sacrifices that went into securing peace. In the cinema, I have seen teenagers sitting in silence long after the credits rolled, absorbing the enormity of what they had just watched.

Yet outside the cinema, a different conversation is playing out. Critics – often overseas – accuse these commemorations of being a form of education to incite hatred against Japan, of keeping old grievances alive.

Educating people to hate is a huge project. It is the deliberate, systematic cultivation of hostility towards another country or people, often through distorted information or selective memory, with the goal of making reconciliation impossible.

But China’s remembrance of the war is something else entirely. It is about truth, not distortion; reflection, not vengeance. It is about remembering what happened, not dictating what people must feel today.

I grew up in China in the late 1980s, when Japanese culture flowed in through television screens and manga books. My evenings after school were filled with Sailor Moon’s magical transformations, the adventures of Captain Tsubasa on the football pitch, and the time-travel gadgets of Doraemon. Detective Conan sharpened my love for mystery, while Touch taught me about friendship, love and loss.

These stories were Japanese through and through, yet they sat comfortably alongside the accounts the older generations shared about the war years – stories of defiance, displacement and scarcity. I never felt the two were in conflict. The cartoons didn’t erase the history and the history didn’t sour their enjoyment. This coexistence was natural, not forced.

During a recent visit to Osaka, I stopped at several convenience stores. I can’t speak Japanese, but among the shop assistants there are usually Chinese students working part-time, providing a more convenient service for Chinese tourists, whose numbers are growing.

While they helped me pick out the groceries I needed, we had a little chat. Some of them had arrived in Japan during high school, and some had applied to go to university there. When I asked if they planned to return to China, they all said they preferred to stay, find a job and settle down.

Their paths, like mine, had been shaped by both history and culture – but not by hatred. They were proof of something I have long believed: Chinese people can carry a vivid memory without letting the past dictate every interaction in the present.

Tourism data backs this up. Japan saw a record 36.9 million visitors last year, surpassing pre-pandemic highs, with Chinese travellers a major driver of the boom with 6.98 million arrivals. Mainland tourists were the top spenders in Japan, with a total expenditure of over US$11 billion. The momentum has carried into 2025: in the first four months, 3.13 million Chinese tourists visited Japan, nearly half the total of 2024.

Education exchanges tell a similar story. Last year, Japan hosted 336,708 international students, the highest number on record. Chinese students made up the largest share, at 123,485.

These are not the patterns of a population steeped in hostility. They are the patterns of a society open to engagement, travel and learning. This dual approach is rooted in a cultural instinct: pragmatism.

We have a saying in Chinese, “yi ma gui yi ma”: keeping separate things separate. The wartime invasion and any attempts to distort that history are one thing; modern Japan and its people are another. One can be condemned while the other is embraced.

This is not hypocrisy; it is maturity. It reflects an ability to separate emotion from principle, and principle from practice. You can insist that a painful chapter of history be told accurately, while still celebrating the contemporary achievements of your former adversary. You can reject historical revisionism, while still debating which animated film from Studio Ghibli is the best.

The very act of remembering is what makes reconciliation possible. Forgetting does not heal; it risks repetition. China’s approach is similar to the playback meetings held in companies after a failed project: you revisit the missteps not to hold grudges, but to learn.

The endurance of Chinese civilisation over centuries owes much to this habit of reflection. Each era’s tragedies – whether from foreign invasion, internal strife or natural disaster – have been recorded, discussed and studied, not erased. The goal is not to keep the wound open, but to ensure the scar carries its lesson.

So when China commemorates the war, it is not engaged in “hate education”. It is performing a civic duty to history. It is telling its citizens, especially its young people: this is what happened, and it must never happen again.

In today’s interconnected world, this message can sit comfortably alongside a fascination with Japanese pop culture and booming tourist arrivals. The two realities do not cancel each other out. They enrich each other – a reminder that remembering the past is compatible with embracing the present.

Argentina registration by China’s BYD hints at local car production

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3322430/argentina-registration-chinas-byd-hints-local-car-production?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese electric vehicle giant BYD registered a local unit as a car manufacturer, a possible hint that the world’s biggest EV maker could soon start producing vehicles in South America’s third-largest auto market.

The filing, registered with the country’s Justice Ministry, authorises BYD Auto Argentina S.A.U. not only to import and sell cars but also to manufacture and maintain vehicles, batteries and auto parts. Essentially, the registration allows operations across the EV supply and service chain.

Although no plans have been revealed, BYD is no stranger to the Argentine market. In 2017, the Chinese carmaker spent US$100 million to build an electric bus manufacturing plant there following a trip to China by then-president Mauricio Macri, who was seeking new foreign investment.

The latest move follows the company’s announcement earlier this year that Argentina would become part of its regional expansion, along with Brazil, Chile and Mexico.

BYD did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation that its Argentine unit would be a manufacturer. If it follows through with such a plan, Argentina would host the Chinese company’s second vehicle factory in Latin America, after its large-scale project in Brazil.

The Brazilian plant, located in the industrial hub of Camaçari in Bahia state, is set to be BYD’s biggest production base outside China, selling domestically and to regional markets. The facility faced delays after an investigation into slavery-like labour practices, but officials in Bahia said it will be fully operational by the end of 2026.

In the meantime, the Camaçari plant has begun assembling vehicles from semi-finished kits and is preparing to scale up production, aiming to create up to 10,000 jobs once the plant is running at full capacity. Local officials have hailed the investment as transformative for a region hard hit by the closure of a Ford Motor Company plant in 2021.

For BYD, Brazil is both its largest market outside China and a proving ground for its broader ambitions. According to a company press release in January, sales of its passenger vehicles in the country reached more than 76,000 units in 2024, a 328 per cent increase from the previous year.

The company has also established itself as a leading supplier of electric buses to major Latin American cities, from Bogotá to Santiago and São Paulo, consolidating its role in the region’s energy transition.

Beyond Brazil and Argentina, BYD has also weighed building a factory in Mexico, attracted by its manufacturing base and proximity to the United States. As The Post reported last year, Chinese executives toured potential sites in Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco, and discussed projects that would employ thousands of workers.

But the company has since suspended those plans, citing geopolitical tensions and uncertainty over Washington’s trade policy. US President Donald Trump has threatened to impose tariffs on vehicles entering from Mexico to block Chinese manufacturers.

BYD’s Mexican challenges aside, China’s brands already dominate duty-free import channels available in Argentina and Chile, while steadily increasing market share in Brazil and Colombia. Local consumers, drawn by competitive prices and high levels of technology, are responding enthusiastically to the new entrants.

That shift is reshaping Latin America’s auto industry, long dominated by US, European and Japanese marques.

More than 17 Chinese carmakers now export to Argentina alone, while many officials in Brazil, including its president, have said Chinese auto investment is critical to support the country’s industrial base. The scale of the change has pushed governments to balance the opportunities of low-emissions transport with the challenge of protecting existing manufacturing jobs.

BYD’s move in Argentina comes just days after the inauguration on Sunday of a new factory by China’s Great Wall Motor in the Brazilian city of Iracemápolis. The plant, producing hybrid and electric models, underscores how aggressively Chinese brands are expanding their production footprint.

At the opening ceremony, the country’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva praised China for creating jobs and urged more of its companies to establish operations in Brazil.

“This vision the Chinese have, that they can occupy a part of the world by selling, producing and teaching, we are going to take advantage of it,” he said.

Lula asked Chinese carmakers to use Brazil as a hub for the region. “For those who want to come, we will be open with arms and heart.”

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US names five more Chinese industries for enforcement under Uygur labour law

https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3322427/us-names-five-more-chinese-industries-enforcement-under-uygur-labour-law?utm_source=rss_feed

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced on Tuesday it is designating five new Chinese industry sectors, including copper, lithium and steel, for “high priority” enforcement under a human rights law restricting imports from China’s Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

Tuesday’s updated list also names caustic soda – a chemical used in textiles and detergents – and red dates, bringing the total number of high-priority sectors targeted under the law to 12.

The Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act, which went into effect in 2022, creates a “rebuttable presumption” that all goods partially or wholly produced in Xinjiang are tainted by forced labour and therefore barred from being imported.

It was expected to have far-reaching effects on global supply chains given Xinjiang’s status as a manufacturing hub for goods ranging from agricultural staples such as cotton and tomatoes to sought-after materials like viscose and polysilicon.

“America has a moral, economic and national security duty to eradicate threats that endanger our nation’s prosperity, including unfair trade practices that disadvantage the American people and stifle our economic growth,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement.

“The use of slave labour is repulsive and we will hold Chinese companies accountable for abuses and eliminate threats its forced labour practices pose to our prosperity,” she added.

Beijing has repeatedly denied all allegations of forced labour in Xinjiang, lumping them together with US accusations of “genocide” in the region as “lies of the century”.

Since the law took effect, 144 Chinese entities have had goods presumptively prohibited from entering the US, according to DHS. As of August 1, US Customs and Border Protection has stopped over 16,700 shipments valued at nearly US$3.7 billion for further examination under the law.

China is the world’s largest producer of some of the newly targeted goods. According to a Tuesday Homeland Security Department report, it leads global production of caustic soda, with approximately 16 per cent of the country’s production based in Xinjiang.

China is also the world’s top producer and exporter of red dates, also known as jujubes, producing 40 per cent of the world’s output, and Xinjiang accounts for half of the country’s production.

Meanwhile, lithium, steel and copper have been identified as key sectors for development by the Xinjiang government, the report states.

Previously, the Homeland Security-led Forced Labour Enforcement Task Force, which produced Tuesday’s report, identified seven sectors for high-priority enforcement, including aluminium; apparel; cotton and cotton products; polyvinyl chloride; seafood; silica-based products, including polysilicon; and tomatoes and tomato products.

A sector is designated high-priority if the task force concludes its supply chains carry a higher risk of forced labour, if it is a particular focus of government investment in Xinjiang, or if the region is a major producer of that good.

The Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act, signed by then-US president Joe Biden in 2021, superseded a series of individual import bans aimed at specific producers or products that were imposed amid international concern over human rights conditions in Xinjiang.

Under the act, companies can appeal if they can provide “clear and convincing” evidence to customs authorities that their supply chains are free of forced labour.

Tuesday’s announcement coincides with trade negotiations between Beijing and Washington, following last week’s joint decision to extend a tariff truce through November.

It also comes a week after the US State Department released its annual human rights assessment of China, which said genocide and crimes against humanity occurred in 2024 against Muslim Uygurs and members of other minority groups in Xinjiang, and highlighted “serious indications” of forced labour in the region.

US soybean farmers urge Trump to make purchase deal with China

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3322424/us-soybean-farmers-urge-trump-make-purchase-deal-china?utm_source=rss_feed

American soybean farmers urged US President Donald Trump in a Tuesday letter to reach a trade deal with China that secures significant soybean purchase agreements, warning of dire long-term economic outcomes if the country continues to shun the US crop.

China, the world’s largest soybean buyer, is turning to Brazilian cargoes amid trade tensions with the US and continuing negotiations. The country has not pre-purchased soybeans from the coming US harvest, an unusual delay that has worried traders and farmers.

“Soybean farmers are under extreme financial stress. Prices continue to drop and at the same time our farmers are paying significantly more for inputs and equipment.

“US soybean farmers cannot survive a prolonged trade dispute with our largest customer,” said the letter sent from the American Soybean Association (ASA) to Trump on Tuesday.

China’s turn to Brazilian soybeans could cost US farmers billions. China bought 54 per cent of US soybean exports in the 2023-2024 marketing year, worth US$13.2 billion, according to the ASA. The country’s soybean imports hit a record July high this year.

Soybean prices jumped after an August 11 post from Trump on Truth Social urging China to quadruple its soybean purchases. However, farmers said they doubted such a large increase was possible.

“The further into the autumn we get without reaching an agreement with China on soybeans, the worse the impacts will be on US soybean farmers,” said the letter.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Zhou Ming, top engineer involved in Boeing 787 and A380 design, leaves US for China

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3322380/zhou-ming-top-engineer-involved-boeing-787-and-a380-design-leaves-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Zhou Ming, renowned as the mastermind behind key industrial software used in planes such as the Boeing 787 and Airbus A380, has left his leadership role at US-based global engineering giant Altair to return to China.

An announcement on the website of the College of Engineering at the Eastern Institute of Technology in Ningbo said Zhou had joined as a chair professor and the first dean of the college in June and was already setting up a research team.

Zhou also confirmed the move on his personal social media accounts, saying: “I’m excited to drive frontier research addressing global challenges while inspiring the next generation of technology innovators. It’s incredibly energising to be part of a mission far larger than ourselves.”

The university said Zhou would “establish a world-class research and development team for engineering software and optimisation design technology”.

It will focus on core engineering software technology with the aim of “empowering the independent innovation and enhancement of core competitiveness in China’s high-end manufacturing industry”.

Altair is a global leader in engineering software and computational science, focusing on simulation, data analysis, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing.

The company says it has more than 16,000 customers in 28 countries, in sectors such as aerospace, computing, finance, energy and the automotive industry.

Its biography of Zhou said he had achieved “remarkable results … on many iconic products, including the Boeing 787, Airbus 380 and 350”.

The industrial software that he helped develop has also been used in other critical sectors, including power plants and supercomputers.

Zhou’s career encompassed both academic research and engineering software development, and started with a 10-year spell studying at Beihang University, China’s top institution for aerospace studies.

In 1988, he moved to the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany, where he obtained a doctoral degree and carried out postdoctoral research focusing on structural mechanics and optimisation.

Zhou is a pioneer in topology optimisation, a mathematical field that aims to maximise design layout.

Traditionally, product design starts with computer-aided design, but topology optimisation inverts this process by driving design creation through simulation.

In 1998, Zhou joined Altair, where he integrated theoretical research on topology optimisation into his practical work, rising to the position of global senior vice-president and chief engineer.

Altair prioritises computer-aided engineering over computer-aided design and its simulation-based generative design is now critical for lightweight aircraft and cars.

This year, Zhou was elected to the US National Academy of Engineering “for contributions to topology optimisation and simulation-driven generative design technology”. He is also editor-in-chief of the official journal of the International Society for Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimisation.

Zhou is the Eastern Institute of Technology’s 16th academician-level recruit. The newly established private university close to Shanghai has more professors than its first cohort of 70 undergraduate students, but their academic scores already rank second in the province, just behind Zhejiang University.

Located in the Yangtze River Delta – a major centre for technology – the institute aims to nurture next-generation innovators and build a campus start-up ecosystem.

‘Not easy’: how a US firm avoided Trump’s China tariffs by sourcing American

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3322375/not-easy-how-us-firm-avoided-trumps-china-tariffs-sourcing-american?utm_source=rss_feed

Denis Gagnon had long wanted to establish a manufacturing firm supplied only by American-made parts, a vision shaped by his experience in the international corporate world and his assessment of business risks offshore.

He was an outlier in an era of globalisation when businesspeople, including his US peers, waxed lyrical about outsourcing from Asia to minimise production costs.

The Gagnons, including his son William, run a medium-sized company called Excel Dryer in the US state of Massachusetts.

In 2018, the year US President Donald Trump raised tariffs on Chinese imports in his first term, the father and son knew they had the right plan. Their conviction was reinforced earlier this year when the world’s two largest economies escalated duties on each other’s imports.

“The tariff increase only solidified our decision to move forward,” said William Gagnon, who is now executive vice-president of the company.

After eight tough years searching for a motor supplier outside China, the maker of electric hand dryers achieved its goal of sourcing 100 per cent of its parts domestically by 2023, William Gagnon told the Post.

Today, Excel Dryer does not have to worry about paying tariffs on imports from China. The move to source goods locally came as the Trump administration pushes to restore US manufacturing in industries ranging from shipbuilding and copper to rare earth metals.

“We are happy we don’t have to worry about it,” William Gagnon said. “We’re not on the edge of our seats worrying about what’s going to happen. We are able to focus on more important and strategic things.”

While sourcing most components in the US was simple enough, replacing the firm’s Chinese motor suppliers turned into a slog for the family-owned company, he said.

Excel Dryer evaluated at least a dozen American motor suppliers before selecting one, the executive VP added.

“It was difficult to find an American motor vendor that could match the size, performance and costs of motors made in China because of the volume and lower labour costs,” he said.

“That’s why other companies, like our competitors, have moved away from domestic sourcing in favour of importing components or the whole product to stay cost-competitive.”

Excel Dryer was looking for “reliability and consistency” when the Gagnons set out to source all components from the US.

“However, US parts often come at a higher cost,” he said. “Chinese suppliers dominate on price, but longer [order] lead times, inconsistent quality and growing geopolitical tensions add risk.”

He called the search for a motor supplier “very thorough”, covering performance, durability, cost, production capacity and reliability. Although he did not disclose the costs involved, he described it as a “significant effort” and not an “easy process”.

Excel now gets its dryer motors from Scott Fetzer Electrical Group, based in the US state of Tennessee. William Gagnon said the company allows Excel to communicate directly with its management and negotiate purchase deals.

The American vendor ended up offering higher “quality control”, shorter order times and “greater supply chain stability” than Chinese counterparts, he said.

“Keeping the product American-made is not easy. It’s taken a lot of focus and effort by us.”

Excel Dryer does not disclose what it pays for motors, but William Gagnon said that American and Chinese engines have about the same “landed cost” when factoring in tariffs.

Still, many Chinese analysts doubt whether American firms can follow suit and decouple from Asian suppliers.

Charles Chang, a finance professor at Fudan University in Shanghai, pointed out that other American light industrial firms facing Trump’s tariffs had tried to replace Chinese suppliers with American ones but usually ended up paying the duties anyway or raising prices.

Most companies are too “fragile” to afford the higher-cost, harder-to-find American suppliers, he said.

“These stories are popular, the workaround concept, but it’s a small percentage, a very small group of people.”

Excel, founded in 1997, does not disclose revenue or output figures but calls itself a mid-sized company with more than 15 per cent growth in annual revenue.

The executive VP said Excel would not raise prices on account of onshoring its dryer motors. Prices start at US$535 per unit on Amazon, compared to an average of US$400 – US$500 per unit, across brands, as estimated by the US-based online B2B retailer HomElectrical Electric Supply.

Excel Dryer has saved money by shipping hundreds of dryers to countries that lowered duties on US imports after April 2, when Trump raised tariffs worldwide, the executive VP said. Some countries managed to get the US to lower tariffs by easing their own trade barriers that had long irked American exporters.

“It’s helping us to export because [Trump tariffs] reduce barriers to export into those markets.”

China confirms Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit at end of month

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3322411/china-confirms-indian-prime-minister-narendra-modi-will-visit-end-month?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has confirmed that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit China at the end of the month for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit.

His comments, made during talks on the two countries’ border dispute with Indian national security adviser Ajit Doval on Tuesday, came in the wake of a series of reports in Indian media that the visit would go ahead.

It will be Modi’s first trip to China in seven years and raises expectations he will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the event.

The SCO, a largely Eurasian security bloc that China chairs this year, will meet in the northern city of Tianjin between August 31 and September 1. Russian President Vladimir Putin had already confirmed he would attend.

Wang’s trip to India marked another milestone in ties between the two countries, which sharply deteriorated after a deadly border clash in 2020. The two countries are now seeing their relationship improve amid ongoing trade tensions with the United States.

Wang said relations were on a steady course, with the border situation continuing to “stabilise and improve”.

“As two major neighbours and developing countries, China and India share common values and extensive common interests. They should trust and support each other, as this is the proper state of affairs for two emerging powers,” he said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

“Through dialogue and communication, [the two] should enhance mutual trust, expand exchanges and cooperation, and jointly promote consensus, clarify directions, and set goals in border management, boundary negotiations and cross-border exchanges.”

He also said they should “properly resolve specific issues” and “continuously create favourable conditions for the improvement and development of bilateral relations”.

According to CCTV, Doval said Modi’s meeting with Xi in Russia last October was a “turning point” that resulted in “positive changes in mutual understanding”.

“Amid the current turbulent international situation, India and China face a series of common challenges. It is necessary to enhance understanding, deepen trust and strengthen cooperation,” he said.

“India is willing to maintain communication and dialogue with China in a positive and pragmatic manner to continuously foster conditions for a final resolution of the border issue.”

The report said that following the latest round of border talks they had agreed steps to maintain peace and stability along the disputed frontier.

On Monday, when meeting his Indian counterpart S. Jaishankar in New Delhi, Wang said the two countries should see each other as “partners” that should “put each other’s precious resources into development and revitalisation” and offer the world “much-needed certainty and stability”.

“China and India should explore the right path of treating each other with mutual respect and trust, living in peace, pursuing development together and achieving win–win cooperation … and consolidate the momentum of improving China-India relations,” he said, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout.

According to The Economic Times, an Indian media outlet, China promised to address India’s three concerns, namely “rare earths, fertilisers and tunnel boring machines”, citing sources.

According to India’s foreign ministry, the talks also covered topics such as economic and trade issues, pilgrimages, people-to-people contacts, border trade, the sharing of river data and connectivity.

Wang is also expected to meet Modi during his two-day trip to India.

Jaishankar said Beijing and Delhi had to engage in “mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest”, and said “differences must not become disputes, nor competition conflict”.

“Having seen a difficult period in our relationship, Excellency, our two nations now seek to move ahead. This requires a candid and constructive approach from both sides,” he told Wang.

He also pointed out the need for a joint effort to “fight against terrorism”, sending a clear sign to pressure Beijing over Pakistan after the recent conflict over Kashmir.

The recovery in China-India relations started to gain momentum last year, marked by a border patrol agreement and a meeting between Xi and Modi on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Kazan, Russia – their first in-person meeting since the border clash.

The thaw has also coincided with a downturn in India-US relations, driven by a largely failed trade deal between the two countries that were once closer because of their shared interest in countering China.

This week, a new round of India-US trade negotiations was reportedly postponed, with India expected to be hit next week with a 50 per cent tariff imposed by Washington. A scheduled US visit to India this month has also reportedly been cancelled.

The White House has sent multiple signals to Delhi, indicating that India faces heavier penalties because of its engagement with Russia, especially its growing oil trade.

Moreover, Washington is deepening its engagement with Islamabad – India’s crucial rival – through a deal that sets tariffs on Pakistan at 19 per cent, while pledging closer cooperation on counterterrorism and security.

How Beijing and other South China Sea claimants can see eye to eye

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3322260/how-beijing-and-other-south-china-sea-claimants-can-see-eye-eye?utm_source=rss_feed

Few disputes in Asia are as enduring – and as polarising – as those over the South China Sea. For more than a decade, two sharply opposed narratives have dominated. In one, Beijing is seen as using force, or the threat of force, to change the status quo, undermining peace and stability. In the other, China is portrayed as exercising restraint, acting within its rights and working to safeguard regional stability.

These perspectives are not merely different; they are mutually exclusive. One side’s defensive action is interpreted as aggressive by the other, reinforcing mistrust and escalation. Measures to enhance one party’s security inevitably diminish the sense of security for others. This makes de-escalation difficult and drives the dispute beyond legal or territorial boundaries into the realm of identity, national pride and historical grievance. Without narrowing this gulf, a peaceful resolution remains remote.

At its core, the divergence stems from conflicting national interests. Yet the roots run deeper, in the incomplete territorial arrangements left after the second world war.

The rapid onset of the Cold War froze parts of the post-war settlement in ambiguity. Treaties such as the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty and 1952 Sino-Japanese Peace Treaty required Japan to renounce the Spratly and Paracel Islands but did not specify their new sovereign owner. Beijing maintains these territories are historically Chinese, before Japan’s wartime seizure.

Other claimants read the record differently. Some argue Japan’s renunciation did not automatically transfer sovereignty to China, rendering the islands terra nullius – open to lawful occupation.

A further source of contention is the mismatch between the historical and legal frames of reference. China grounds its claim heavily in history, citing the Cairo Declaration, Potsdam Proclamation, Japanese Instrument of Surrender and its own 1946 reclamation of the Dongsha, Zhongsha, Xisha and Nansha Islands. It points to maps published in 1947 and the erection of stone markers – acts uncontested at the time – as evidence of sovereignty.

By contrast, other claimants place greater weight on the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), which defines exclusive economic zones (EEZs) extending 200 nautical miles from coastlines. From Manila’s perspective, Beijing’s activities infringe on its rights conferred under Unclos. From Beijing’s perspective, dismissing its historical title undermines the post-war order and infringes on Chinese sovereignty.

Finally, the US-China strategic rivalry has deepened the divide. Washington has become more openly supportive of Southeast Asian claimants as part of a broader effort to counter China’s rise. Legal arguments have merged with security concerns, further hardening positions.

The perception gap has damaging consequences. It reduces the likelihood of compromise, fuels nationalist sentiment and narrows the space for rational policymaking. The dispute becomes framed in zero-sum terms, obscuring the possibility of shared or overlapping maritime interests.

When all sides see themselves as aggrieved, convinced their rights are being violated, it is harder to acknowledge the limits of one’s claims or the legitimacy of others’ perspectives. In such a climate, even minor incidents risk escalation.

Bridging these opposing narratives is not easy, but it is not impossible. The first step is to recognise the limitations of relying exclusively on history or Unclos. The post-war record should be examined in full, without selective citation to suit national positions.

For China, this could mean more explicitly acknowledging its Unclos obligations, including the legitimate EEZ rights of neighbouring states. For other claimants, it would mean recognising that Unclos does not determine sovereignty over islands, and that historical claims cannot be dismissed outright.

Second, all sides should avoid “territorialising” maritime entitlements. China’s nine-dash line remains a vague demarcation, legally disputed; treating it as a fixed territorial boundary escalates tensions. Similarly, when the Philippines or others describe EEZs as sovereign territory, they blur the legal distinction between land and sea rights, making compromise more difficult.

Third, strategic rivalry should not be allowed to instrumentalise legal disputes. If sovereignty and maritime rights become tools in a broader geopolitical contest, the incentive to reach negotiated settlements will diminish.

A joint, fact-based process could help reduce misperceptions: historians, archivists and legal scholars from all claimant states could cooperate to produce an agreed factual baseline. Reducing disputes over basic facts would limit opportunities for distortion. Such an initiative must be genuinely collaborative, avoiding nationalist narratives and political interference.

China could signal good faith by clarifying how its historical claims align with Unclos, reaffirming that its interpretation does not entail unqualified control over all waters within the nine-dash line. Southeast Asian states, in turn, could commit to distinguishing between EEZ rights and sovereignty claims, avoiding rhetoric that frames maritime zones as national territory.

The South China Sea is more than a symbol of national pride. It is a shared space critical to the economic and security interests of all littoral states, as well as a vital artery of global trade. Regional peace and stability depend on managing disputes without force, respecting both history and law.

This does not mean abandoning claims or conceding core interests. It means engaging in good faith, acknowledging each other’s legal and historical references, and avoiding absolutist positions.

Objective narratives and balanced perceptions are not luxuries – they are prerequisites for peace. As long as each side views itself solely as the aggrieved party and the other as the aggressor, compromise will remain elusive. By narrowing the perception gap, states can reduce the risk of miscalculation and create space for practical cooperation.

All littoral states share a collective obligation to reduce gaps in perceptions, promote consensus through dialogue, and commit to resolving disputes peacefully. The challenge is formidable, but so are the costs of failure.

Pop Mart’s interim sales soar as Labubu craze fuels Chinese toymaker’s record earnings

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3322400/pop-marts-interim-sales-soar-labubu-craze-fuels-chinese-toymakers-record-earnings?utm_source=rss_feed

Pop Mart established itself as the world’s most valuable toy producer and exporter of China’s “soft power” after the global phenomenon of its Labubu plush toys and figurines drove overseas revenue to soar fivefold in the first half.

Online and in-store revenue outside mainland China jumped to 5.59 billion yuan (US$778 million) in the first six months, making up about 40 per cent of the Beijing-based group’s total interim sales of 13.88 billion yuan, which beat analysts’ estimates, Pop Mart said on Tuesday.

North and South America made up the second-biggest overseas market for the 15-year-old company, with revenue jumping more than tenfold to 2.3 billion yuan. That was second only to the Asia-Pacific region, where sales rose 258 per cent to 2.85 billion yuan. Europe’s contribution surged sevenfold to 477.7 million yuan.

Founded by Wang Ning in 2010 with the idea of selling toys in so-called blind boxes that hide the content in opaque wrappings, Pop Mart has grown from a seller of plush toys and fridge magnets in Beijing’s Zhongguancun area to the world’s biggest toy company by value. Its market capitalisation as of Tuesday is HK$377.1 billion (US$48.3 billion), bigger than several toymakers combined: Hasbro of Transformers fame, Mattel the maker of Barbie and Sanrio of Hello Kitty.

Its best-known product is Labubu, an elfin figure with a toothy grin designed by the Hong Kong-born artist Lung Ka-sing. It alone made up 35 per cent of Pop Mart’s interim sales. Its popularity had been given a leg up by celebrity endorsements displayed on social media by Rihanna, Kim Kardashian, David Beckham, Awkwafina and Lisa of the girl band Blackpink since April.

Last Saturday, Lisa was seen dressed in a pink Labubu outfit, with a Labubu doll of the same colour attached to her waist, at the London stop of the group’s Deadline World Tour.

The growing popularity of Pop Mart has defied China’s slow economy and sluggish consumer spending. By offering joy at affordable prices, the company has come to embody what many describe as “emotional value” – a concept that has become increasingly popular in recent years, especially among younger generations facing uncertain job prospects and fierce competition. It is often compared to the rise of Kawaii culture centred around the concept of “cuteness” during Japan’s economic slowdown, especially during the 1990s.

Unemployment rates among those aged 16 to 24 reached 21.3 per cent in July 2023 before China paused publishing such figures. Around the same time, searches for “emotional value” on the Chinese internet surged, according to the Baidu Index, similar to Google Trends.

Labubu was also profitable, with the profit margin widening to 33.9 per cent in the first half, up from 22.3 per cent last year, the company said. Net profit beat analysts' estimates, nearly quintupling to a record 4.57 billion yuan.

However, the popularity of Labubu has come at a cost. Reselling has driven up prices on the second-hand market, and the number of counterfeits has also surged.

Fake Labubu products have become one of the key targets for inspection by customs authorities across China. In a press briefing last month, a senior officer at the General Administration of Customs shared his experience in examining Labubu counterfeits, including the number of its pointed teeth.

Long queues in stores from London to Seoul have become the norm ahead of the release of new products. Pop Mart paused the sales of Labubu in all stores in London in May after reports of customers fighting over the products.

In June, the state media People’s Daily criticised the unrestrained development of blind box culture in an article, calling it a commercial trap for youngsters.

Pop Mart started selling overseas around 2018 through online channels and exports. It opened its first overseas store in 2020 in Seoul. In an interview with the state-owned People’s Daily last month, founder Wang said he expected Pop Mart’s overseas revenues to surpass its domestic revenues by the end of this year.

Pop Mart shares dropped 1.4 per cent to HK$280.80 on Tuesday, after rising nearly 5 per cent on Monday.

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China’s Weibo shuts down social media accounts for ‘inciting gender antagonism’

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3322407/chinas-weibo-shuts-down-social-media-accounts-inciting-gender-antagonism?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese social media platform Weibo has shut down several accounts for “inciting gender antagonism” and vowed to continue cracking down on such behaviour.

On Monday, the social media site announced via its official account that it had permanently closed an account named “Lilian Shuodao” for “continuously stigmatising the opposite sex and posting extreme anti-marriage remarks”. The term “opposite sex” referred to men.

As of Tuesday, the banned account, which had 129,000 followers, was no longer accessible, but posts previously shared by other users showed that it frequently posted content raising awareness about sexual harassment in public places and voyeurism in China, as well as advocating feminism.

Another account, “FxxkFeminazi”, with over 5,000 followers, was also permanently banned. Weibo’s official censors said that the account had “posted insulting and attacking remarks targeting the opposite sex, inciting gender antagonism”.

The social media platform also temporarily suspended an account called “Lucha Fayan Dashang”, which had over 650,000 followers. Weibo said that the account had “repeatedly posted vulgar and insulting remarks about the opposite sex, inciting hostility through inappropriate comparisons and malicious associations”.

The suspended account had shared news articles relating to rape cases, domestic violence and sexual harassment, and had mocked Chinese authorities for their inadequate handling of these issues.

Another account that has been temporarily suspended appeared to be in a different camp from the other three.

This user, posting under the handle “Yilidalei Zhi Nu”, is widely considered to be a radical nationalist. The account’s posts linked feminism to “foreign interference” and criticised Chinese women for questioning the privileged role of men in society.

Weibo, which has over 250 million daily active users, pledged that it would “firmly crack down on any form of provocative behaviour that stirs up gender division” and urged users to “speak out rationally” and report such posts.

In China, openly advocating for feminism and the rights of sexual minorities has become increasingly sensitive as authorities crack down on these activities, linking them to Western values and viewing them as harmful to addressing China’s demographic crisis.

Several famous feminist bloggers and university societies have already been banned from social media, with some advocates even jailed for subversion.

However, gender-related topics such as the challenges faced by lower-income men in finding a spouse, reproductive harm to women, and the difficulty of obtaining evidence in sexual assault cases continue to spark widespread discussion on social media.

Several gender-related incidents have sparked controversy in China in recent months, and the four accounts banned by Weibo on Monday were all involved in these discussions.

Since last month, online controversy has brewed over a sexual harassment case that occurred two years ago in the central city of Wuhan.

A local court last month dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Wuhan University student, surnamed Yang, saying that her allegations that another student, surnamed Xiao, had masturbated in front of her in a library and sexually harassed her two years ago were unfounded.

This prompted Wuhan University to review its decision to punish Xiao two years ago and led to Yang being subjected to online abuse by some male social media users.

But supporters of Yang said her allegations were reasonable, arguing the court’s ruling was conservative and pointing to the insecurity felt by Chinese women in public spaces, as well as the difficulty of filing a lawsuit over sexual misconduct.

Last month, the publicity department in the eastern Chinese province of Zhejiang accused two online stand-up comedy shows of attacking men and “stirring up gender antagonism” after female comedians discussed gender-related topics, especially the challenges faced by Chinese women, during their performances.

Also last month, a Chinese university student in the northeastern province of Liaoning faced expulsion from her university after reportedly having a one-night stand with a Ukrainian gamer last year. She was publicly shamed by some male social media users over the affair.

Dalian Polytechnic University accused the 21-year-old student of “damaging national dignity”, sparking criticism that the punishment was too harsh and violated her privacy.

Surprising many, Nobody becomes China’s top 2D animated film at the box office

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322376/surprising-many-nobody-becomes-chinas-top-2d-animated-film-box-office?utm_source=rss_feed

There’s a new king atop China’s 2D animated box office, and it’s Nobody.

Shanghai Animation Film Studio’s movie has overtaken Makoto Shinkai’s Suzume as the highest-grossing 2D animated film in Chinese box office history while becoming a dark horse in the nation’s summer movie season.

With its success, Nobody has dethroned the dominance of Japanese animated films in China.

Before Nobody’s debut on August 2, the all-time top three such movies at the Chinese box office were Suzume, having generated 807 million yuan (US$112.2 million), followed by The Boy and the Heron’s 791 million yuan, and Your Name’s 713 million yuan – all produced in Japan.

Based on the 2023 online animated series Chinese Bizarreries, Nobody had earned just over 1 billion yuan as of Monday. It continues a unique animation style pioneered by the Chinese studio, incorporating extensive elements of ink-wash painting to create a Chinese aesthetic.

The film’s supervisor, Chen Liaoyu, said in July that Nobody features “ink entering the frame”, meaning the use of ink to construct the shots rather than using shots to depict ink, as reported by the Shanghai Observer newspaper.

“For example, the two tusks of the little pig demon retain the hand-drawn arc lines, and these details are the most challenging aspects,” Chen was quoted as saying.

The film is similar to the 3D animated blockbuster in terms of plot, focusing on a theme of defying fate and triumphing through human will.

Drawing from Journey to the West, a classic 16th-century novel, Nobody tells the story of four little monsters who impersonate the monk Tang Sanzang and his three disciples, embarking on a journey to obtain Buddhist scriptures.

Nobody received a score of 8.5 on Douban, China’s rating platform for artistic works. One comment on the platform, liked more than 5,000 times, said: “If I were still a child, perhaps I wouldn’t be crying my eyes out like I am now,” suggesting a resonance triggered by the protagonist’s struggles with the hardships and challenges of human life.

Xinhua reported on Monday that China’s total box office, including presales, from June to August had reached 10 billion yuan. The historical drama Dead to Rights, released on July 25, has grossed more than 2.5 billion yuan, topping the summer box office charts.

However, apart from Nobody’s stand-out performance, the broader summer movie market has been chasing some of the box office magic that Ne Zha 2 conjured during this year’s Spring Festival holiday.

Data from Maoyan Entertainment, China’s biggest movie ticketing app, showed that the summer box office was down by 17.85 per cent, year on year, as of Saturday.

Roughly 32.13 million screenings have taken place since June, marking a year-on-year decline of 16.17 per cent. The average ticket price this summer has been 37.39 yuan, compared with 40.9 yuan for last year’s summer season.

“Despite a massive consumer base, consecutive years of a sluggish film market have reduced the number of high-cost, high-quality productions,” Cui Ting, a film critic, wrote on WeChat Public Account in late July. “As audience expectations for commercial films rise, the mismatch between supply and demand lowers the likelihood of breakout hits.”

Chinese woman keeps getting pregnant, has 3 kids in 4 years to avoid 5-year jail sentence

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3321676/chinese-woman-keeps-getting-pregnant-has-3-kids-4-years-avoid-5-year-jail-sentence?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese woman who kept becoming pregnant to avoid jail has finally been brought to justice.

The woman, who is known by the pseudonym Chen Hong, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment for fraud in December 2020 in central China’s Shanxi province, the Shanxi Evening News reported.

However, she was never properly incarcerated.

Instead, Chen kept being pregnant, having three children with one man in four years.

In China, convicts who suffer serious illnesses, are pregnant and nursing their newborn babies, or are unable to live by themselves are allowed to temporarily serve a sentence outside prison.

They would serve a community correction service at hospitals or their own homes, supervised by their residence’s community correctional institutions, which are usually local prisons and public security organs.

The convicts are required to submit illness or pregnancy examination reports once every three months.

The execution of their service faces regular inspections by the local procuratorate.

During an inspection in May 2025, a procurator discovered that Chen, who had just delivered her third child, did not live with her baby.

It was also discovered that the child’s household registration was under Chen’s sister-in-law, which means that the child was legally the latter’s child.

Presented with the evidence, Chen admitted that she had already divorced.

Her first two children lived with her ex-husband. She gave away her third child to her ex-husband’s sister.

The local procuratorate believed that Chen was using pregnancy as an excuse to escape jail.

They suggested that she be committed to prison.

As there was less than one year left of Chen’s jail term, she was sent back to a detention centre instead of a prison to complete her sentence.

The procuratorate and local judiciary were also reported to have sent staff to explain the law to Chen and make sure she was willing to serve her term legally.

“I was more shocked that she could get pregnant when she wanted,” said one online observer.

“I pity the three children who were born only because their mother wanted to escape prison,” said another.

While a third online observer said: “Judging from my own experience, it is easier to get pregnant right after giving birth.”

Chen is not the only woman who has attempted to avoid imprisonment by getting pregnant.

Some procurators suggested that the legal system should consider suspending the sentence instead of continuing to calculate the time for the convicts who repeatedly get pregnant.

“In this way, it can also protect the rights of their unborn children,” procurators from Yancheng, eastern China’s Jiangsu province, wrote in an article.

Tech war: Chinese EDA leader Empyrean announces breakthroughs in chip design software

https://www.scmp.com/tech/article/3322366/tech-war-chinese-eda-leader-empyrean-announces-breakthroughs-chip-design-software?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top semiconductor design software developer Empyrean Technology said it has made breakthroughs in design tools for memory chips and panel displays, as part of its long-term goal to “fully replace foreign products” amid the ongoing US-China tech war.

For memory chip design, Empyrean added a “clone group” function to the layout editor, which helps “quickly and accurately complete the layout design of identical units” as memory devices contain arrays of storage modules, according to a filing to the Shenzhen Stock Exchange over the weekend.

Its simulation tool for memory chips was powered by artificial intelligence, which enables accurate simulation of high-yield circuits with a “smaller number” of tests, it said.

Both innovations were launched in the first half of the year, when Empyrean also introduced an “intelligent and automated” platform for panel display design, used to control the pixel layout on a flat screen. The new system, which uses AI algorithms to replace human work, is being rolled out to major panel manufacturers in China “on a large scale”, the company said.

The progress provides fresh evidence of how China is slowly moving towards self-sufficiency in critical areas such as electronic design automation (EDA) for chip design and operating systems. Huawei Technologies is set to open-source its software toolkit used to develop applications on its Ascend AI processors as it tries to compete with Nvidia’s proprietary Compute Unified Device Architecture, or CUDA, toolkit.

Beijing-based Empyrean also launched six other new software tools to facilitate the design of digital circuits, analogue circuits and three-dimensional integrated circuits.

The three global EDA leaders, Cadence Design Systems, Synopsys and Siemens EDA, still dominate the market in China, “while domestic EDA suppliers currently hold a small market share”, Empyrean said, adding that it was seeking to “achieve complete replacement of foreign products”.

In the first six months of the year, Empyrean recorded a 13 per cent rise in revenue to 501 billion yuan (US$70 billion), but profit dropped 92 per cent to 3 billion yuan.

Founded in 2009, Empyrean accounts for half of EDA sales among local suppliers in China, the company’s senior market director Yu Han told the World Semiconductor Conference in Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu province, in June.

Empyrean is currently the only Chinese EDA company to offer full-process platforms from design, simulation to verification for analogue circuits, 3D ICs, and radio frequency chips used in telecommunications, broadcasting and radar applications.

China’s semiconductor makers have found themselves vulnerable in an ever-changing geopolitical environment. Last month, Cadence, Synopsys and Siemens EDA – which collectively hold about 80 per cent of the global EDA market share – resumed access for their Chinese clients after Washington lifted export restrictions on their products.

The Front Line: taking stock of China’s military modernisation

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/series/3322391/front-line-taking-stock-chinas-military-modernisation?utm_source=rss_feed

India’s Modi to meet China’s top diplomat as Asian powers rebuild ties

https://apnews.com/article/india-china-border-talks-modi-8560a41310cae4c593ae24f11ee06527This combination of file photos show, on left, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi briefing the media in Berlin, Germany, on July 3, 2025 and on right,Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi waving to journalists in Buenos Aires, Argentina,on July 5, 2025. (AP Photos/Markus Schreiber and Rodrigo Abd, File)

2025-08-19T04:12:57Z

NEW DELHI (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet with China’s top diplomat on Tuesday in a sign of easing tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors after a yearslong standoff between the Asian powers.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, who arrived in India on Monday, is scheduled to hold talks with Modi and other leaders about the disputed border in the Himalayan mountains. Reducing the number of troops on the border and possibly resuming trade in the contested region are expected to be on the agenda.

The rebuilding of ties coincides with friction between New Delhi and Washington after U.S. President Donald Trump imposed steep tariffs on India, a longtime ally seen as a counterbalance against China’s influence in Asia. India is part of the Quad security alliance with the U.S., along with Australia and Japan.

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‘Compromise at the highest political level’

India and China’s decades-old border dispute worsened in 2020 after a deadly clash between their troops in the Ladakh region. The chill in relations affected trade, diplomacy and air travel as both sides deployed tens of thousands of security forces in border areas.

Some progress has been made since then.

Last year, India and China agreed to a pact on border patrols and withdrew additional forces along some border areas. Both countries continue to fortify their border by building roads and rail networks.

In recent months, the countries have increased official visits and discussed easing some trade restrictions, movement of citizens and visas for businesspeople. In June, Beijing allowed pilgrims from India to visit holy sites in Tibet. Both sides are working to restore direct flights.

Last week, the spokesman for India’s foreign ministry, Randhir Jaiswal, said India and China were in discussions to restart trade through three points along their 3,488-kilometer (2,167-mile) border.

Manoj Joshi, a fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a New Delhi-based think tank, said relations are still at an uneasy level of normalization.

“Settling the boundary issue between the two countries requires political compromise at the highest political level,” said Joshi, who also served as a member of the advisory board for India’s National Security Council. He asserted that the countries are “still talking past each other when it comes to the border dispute and issues surrounding it.”

Ahead of his meeting with Modi, Wang met India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and discussed the way forward to bolster the relationship.

“The setbacks we experienced in the past few years were not in the interest of the people of our two countries. We are heartened to see the stability that is now restored in the borders,” Wang said.

On Monday, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing is willing to take Wang’s India visit as an opportunity to work with the Indian side to “properly handle differences and promote the sustained, sound and stable development of China-India relations.”

Mao said Wang’s meeting with Modi’s national security adviser will “continue in-depth communication to jointly safeguard peace and tranquility in the border areas.”

Modi plans to visit China soon

The thaw between Beijing and New Delhi began last October when Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at a summit of emerging economies in Russia. It was the first time the leaders had spoken in person since 2019.

Modi is set to meet Xi when he travels to China late this month — his first visit in seven years — to attend the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, a regional grouping formed by China, Russia and others to counter U.S. influence in Asia.

Earlier this year, Xi called for India and China’s relations to take the form of a “dragon-elephant tango” — a dance between the emblematic animals of the countries.

Last month, India’s external affairs minister visited Beijing in his first trip to China since 2020.

The US and Pakistan play roles in the thaw

The renewed engagement comes as New Delhi’s ties with Trump are fraying. Washington has imposed a 50% tariff on Indian goods, which includes a penalty of 25% for purchasing Russian crude oil. The tariffs take effect Aug. 27.

India has shown no sign of backing down, instead signing more agreements with Russia to deepen economic cooperation.

Trump’s renewed engagement with India’s arch rival, Pakistan, has also encouraged New Delhi’s overtures to China, said Lt. Gen. D.S. Hooda, who led the Indian military’s Northern Command from 2014 to 2016.

In June, Trump hosted Pakistan’s army chief for a White House lunch and later announced an energy deal with Islamabad to jointly develop the country’s oil reserves. Both followed Trump’s claims of brokering a ceasefire between India and Pakistan after the two sides traded military strikes in May.

That clash saw Pakistan use Chinese-made military jets and missiles against India.

“China is heavily invested in Pakistan and, practically speaking, you can’t have any expectation that Beijing will hold back support to Islamabad,” Hooda said. “But you can’t have two hostile neighbors on your borders and simultaneously deal with them also.”

___

Associated Press writer Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, and video producer Liu Zheng in Beijing contributed to this report.

SHEIKH SAALIQ Saaliq covers news across India and the South Asia region for The Associated Press, often focusing on politics, democracy, conflict and religion. He is based in New Delhi. twitter mailto RAJESH ROY Roy brings over two decades of journalistic experience in covering a spectrum of big stories spanned across defense, geopolitics, business and local politics. Mostly found in the corridors of power: talking, scooping and writing. twitter mailto

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US underestimating China’s AI progress, OpenAI’s Sam Altman says

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3322364/us-underestimating-chinas-ai-progress-openais-sam-altman-says?utm_source=rss_feed

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says the United States may be underestimating China’s significant advances in artificial intelligence, warning that Washington’s technology restrictions are no impediment to that progress.

“I’m worried about China,” the 40-year-old Altman was quoted as saying on Monday in a report by American business news channel CNBC. He indicated that the AI arms race between the US and China was more complex than it appeared.

“There’s inference capacity, where China probably can build faster,” he said. “There’s research, there’s product; a lot of layers to the whole thing. I don’t think it’ll be as simple as: is the US or China ahead?”

His assessment marks the latest sign that Chinese AI companies have been narrowing the gap with their US peers by using an open-source approach, making the source code of AI models available for third-party developers to use, modify and distribute.

Open-source models from Chinese start-ups like DeepSeek and MoonshotAI, along with those from mainland Big Tech firms led by Alibaba Group Holding, have seen increased adoption across the industry on the back of their low-cost appeal and innovative features. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Altman’s remarks also echoed the sentiment expressed by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in June, when he warned that Huawei Technologies was in a position to expand its semiconductor business even with US chip export curbs.

On the possibility of further restricting exports of graphics processing units (GPUs) to China to slow down the country’s AI development, Altman cast doubt on such a strategy, according to the CNBC report.

“My instinct is that it doesn’t work,” Altman said.

“You can export-control one thing, but maybe not the right thing … maybe people build fabs or find other workarounds,” he said, referring to semiconductor fabrication facilities. “I’d love an easy solution. But my instinct is: that is hard.”

Nvidia was already developing a new GPU for China based on its latest Blackwell architecture that will be more powerful than the H20 model it is currently allowed to sell there, according to a Reuters report that cited two people briefed on the matter. US President Donald Trump last week opened the door to the potential export of more advanced Nvidia chips to China.

ChatGPT creator OpenAI, meanwhile, released earlier this month its first open-weight models, GPT-OSS-120b and GPT-OSS-20b, which offer high-performance reasoning capabilities for developers and researchers to use and customise. These AI models’ parameters, called weights, are publicly shared, but not their source code.

“It was clear that if we did not do it, the world was gonna head to be mostly built on Chinese open source models,” Altman said. “That was a factor in our decision, for sure. Wasn’t the only one, but that loomed large.”

China launches plan to improve TV and mini-dramas amid soft power push

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3322368/china-launches-plan-improve-tv-and-mini-dramas-amid-soft-power-push?utm_source=rss_feed

China has called for more mini-dramas, documentaries, animations and foreign programmes to air on television to improve the quality of content.

The National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) released a set of measures, made public on Monday, launching a “content renewal plan” to improve innovation, the management of television series, content censorship and the promotion of programmes.

The document stressed that more support would be given to producing quality documentaries and animations, as well as “outstanding micro and short series to be broadcast on TV” and foreign programmes.

It added that efforts should be made to improve the legal framework and copyright protection for these programmes.

Mini-dramas and Chinese-produced animations have been taking over the market both domestically and abroad in recent months as authorities seek to expand China’s soft power overseas.

“Micro-dramas have become a new growth pillar for China’s online audio and video industry, with their influence abroad significantly increasing,” said NRTA director Cao Shumin in March at the China Internet Audio and Video Convention.

Mini-dramas, which first emerged in China in 2018, not long after the debut of TikTok, have been growing rapidly and have outperformed films in terms of revenue. By the end of last year, the number of users on Chinese micro-drama platforms had reached 662 million, a 7.3 per cent increase from the first half of the year, according to the China Netcasting Services Association.

In the area of animation, became the world’s highest-grossing animated film of all time in March. State media have touted the film, calling it an important step in improving China’s soft power.

Chinese authorities have been working to promote the industry, drive the domestic economy and expand China’s soft power overseas.

In a 2022 report, the NRTA said the expansion of Chinese television dramas overseas had evolved, with production maturing as online streaming giants such as Tencent and iQiyi expanded their operations overseas after 2018.

Also in 2022, the Ministry of Commerce and 27 other government departments vowed to support the creation and export of films, television dramas, documentaries, animations and variety shows.

In January, China’s cabinet, the State Council, issued policies to strengthen the cultural sector, including financial support for high-quality films and animation, and to expand the industry internationally.

China’s Wang Yi appeals for shared vision of partnership and opportunity on India trip

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3322353/chinas-wang-yi-appeals-shared-vision-partnership-and-opportunity-india-trip?utm_source=rss_feed

China and India should see each other as “partners and opportunities” and offer the world “much-needed certainty and stability”, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during his first visit to India in three years amid recovering bilateral ties.

Speaking to his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, in New Delhi on Monday, Wang said that both countries should “put each other’s precious resources into development and revitalisation”.

“China and India should explore the right path of treating each other with mutual respect and trust, living in peace, pursuing development together and achieving win–win cooperation … and consolidate the momentum of improving China-India relations,” he said, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout.

According to The Economic Times, an Indian media outlet, China has promised to address India’s three concerns, namely “rare earths, fertilisers and tunnel boring machines”, citing sources.

Wang’s trip marked another milestone in ties between China and India, which dropped to a historic low after a deadly border clash in 2020. The two countries are now seeing their relationship improve as they both also face an uphill trade war with the US.

According to India’s foreign ministry, the top diplomats’ conversation included various topics, including economic and trade issues, pilgrimages, people-to-people contacts, border trade, the sharing of river data and connectivity.

After arriving on Monday, the Chinese foreign minister held talks about the border with Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Tuesday and is expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi later in the day.

Jaishankar, for his part, said Beijing and Delhi had to engage in “mutual respect, mutual sensitivity and mutual interest”, and said “differences must not become disputes, nor competition conflict”.

“Having seen a difficult period in our relationship, Excellency, our two nations now seek to move ahead. This requires a candid and constructive approach from both sides,” Jaishankar said, referring to his counterpart Wang.

He also pointed out the need for a joint effort to “fight against terrorism”, sending a clear sign to pressure Beijing on Pakistani issues after the two South Asian rivals engaged in a fatal conflict in Kashmir in May.

The Delhi trip will soon be followed by Prime Minister Modi’s trip to China – the first in seven years – to attend the leaders’ summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO). He is expected to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the meeting.

The recovery in bilateral ties started to gain crucial momentum last year, marked by a border patrol agreement between China and India and a meeting between Xi and Modi on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Kazan, Russia – their first in-person meeting since the border clash.

The warming China-India ties have coincided with a downturn in India-US relations, driven by a largely failed trade deal between the two countries that were once closer because of their shared interest in countering China.

This week, the new round of India-US trade negotiations was reportedly postponed, with India expected to be hit next week with a 50 per cent tariff imposed by Washington. A scheduled US team visit to India this month has also reportedly been cancelled.

The White House has sent multiple signals to Delhi, indicating that India faces larger penalties because of its engagement with Russia, especially its growing oil trade.

Moreover, Washington is deepening its engagement with Islamabad – India’s crucial rival – through a deal that sets tariffs on Pakistan at 19 per cent, while also pledging closer cooperation on counterterrorism and security.

But despite China-India relations undergoing a rapid recovery, a trend likely to continue under Washington’s pressure, some problems remain unsolved.

Beijing also remains dedicated to strengthening ties with Islamabad, a key partner.

Immediately following his visit to Delhi, Wang Yi is scheduled to meet his Pakistani counterpart in Islamabad.

Philippines reports Chinese ship surge at Scarborough Shoal after ‘embarrassing’ collision

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3322361/philippines-reports-chinese-ship-surge-scarborough-shoal-after-embarrassing-collision?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippine government has reported a marked increase in Chinese maritime activity near Scarborough Shoal, intensifying a stand-off over the disputed South China Sea atoll.

Officials in Manila have characterised the build-up as an attempt by Beijing to reassert control after two Chinese ships collided last week during a chase involving a Philippine vessel.

On Sunday, the National Maritime Council cited the Philippine Navy’s latest assessment, reporting that as of Thursday, seven Chinese coastguard vessels and 13 maritime militia ships were deployed near Scarborough Shoal.

The Philippines, by contrast, had a single ship in the area: the BRP Teresa Magbanua. The council did not provide figures for previous deployments but described the current numbers as a clear escalation.

“Maybe this is one of their ways to twist what happened because that was very embarrassing for them, and they want to project again that they’re in control to cover up the issue,” said Alexander Lopez, a spokesman for the council.

Despite being heavily outnumbered, Lopez insisted that Manila would maintain its measured approach in the West Philippine Sea – the Philippine term for areas of the South China Sea within its exclusive economic zone – and would refrain from deploying navy warships to Scarborough Shoal to avoid further provocation.

China claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea, overlapping with the exclusive economic zones of the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and others. In 2016, an international tribunal ruled that Beijing’s claims had no legal basis – a verdict China has repeatedly dismissed.

Regional analysts were divided on the motivations behind China’s show of force. Some saw the deployment as an “image repair manoeuvre” aimed at damage control after a People’s Liberation Army Navy destroyer and a Chinese coastguard vessel collided on August 11 while pursuing a Philippine ship.

Beijing responded to the incident by accusing the Philippines of “dangerous manoeuvring” and “illegally entering” waters near the shoal. Defence ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said the actions had “severely jeopardised” the safety of Chinese personnel, but did not confirm whether a collision had occurred.

Muhammad Faizal Bin Abdul Rahman, a research fellow at Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, suggested that Beijing was portraying the Chinese vessels as risking collision to avoid harming the Filipino crew.

“So what China could do is to use the media to disseminate its own narrative about the incident,” Rahman told This Week in Asia.

Still, he said the naval build-up was more likely a response to recent US naval operations and the launch of a major military exercise between the Philippines and Australia, rather than the collision itself.

“More likely the increased Chinese presence is a response to American naval vessels USS Higgins and USS Cincinnati conducting freedom of navigation operations,” Rahman said. “As well as Australia and the Philippines conducting their largest joint military exercise near the South China Sea.”

Indeed, the Philippine coastguard reported sighting the two US ships on Thursday, some 30 nautical miles (56km) from Scarborough Shoal during a routine maritime surveillance flight. That same week, the Philippines and Australia launched Exercise Alon 25, a two-week military drill off Palawan island, involving 3,600 personnel from four countries.

Anita Abbott, chair of the Asia-Pacific Security Innovation Forum in New Zealand, described the concentration of Chinese vessels at the shoal as “unusual”.

“Increasing its vessels shows an ‘image repair manoeuvre’. It is defensive signalling,” she said, noting that such moves had followed major joint exercises between Manila and its allies in the past.

“It is highly likely that the increased presence of Chinese vessels is a reaction to last week’s collision,” she added.

Wesley Romain, a global risk analyst at NorthStar Insights in Dubai, said the build-up served both to reaffirm China’s maritime dominance and to respond to Manila’s firmer strategic stance under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr.

“China, through its vessels, seeks to reaffirm its strength and maritime capabilities over the Philippine Navy,” he said. “Beijing’s objective is clear: to intimidate its adversaries, undermine their confidence, while projecting an image of unchallenged strength.”

Yet Romain cautioned that the collision had not altered the fundamental balance of power and said China still enjoyed a clear tactical advantage.

Asked how Manila might respond, Romain recommended deepening strategic partnerships with India, France and Japan, while also leveraging international law to document Chinese incursions and press the Philippines’ maritime claims.

Abbott agreed that only by “visibly deepening ties with the US and other like-minded states such as Japan, Australia, India and European partners” could Manila challenge Beijing’s narrative.

Sarang Shidore, director of the Quincy Institute think tank’s Global South Programme in Washington, warned that further escalation risked destabilising the region.

“All sides need to step back at this stage. China needs to avoid further hardening its military position in and around the shoal and allow Philippine fishers to fish in their traditional grounds unmolested,” he said.

US Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay Carlson has expressed cautious optimism that the incident could prompt a shift towards dialogue.

“We’re very sorry for the collision and very hopeful that perhaps this will be a watershed event that could lead to ratcheting down some of these aggressive actions out in the West Philippine Sea,” she said in an interview on Friday.

Nvidia plans more powerful chip for China after Trump approves H20 export, sources say

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3322354/nvidia-plans-more-powerful-chip-china-after-trump-approves-h20-export-sources-say?utm_source=rss_feed

Nvidia is developing a new artificial intelligence chip for China based on its latest Blackwell architecture that will be more powerful than the H20 model it is currently allowed to sell there, according to two people briefed on the matter.

US President Donald Trump last week opened the door to the possibility of more advanced Nvidia chips being sold in China, but the sources noted US regulatory approval was far from guaranteed amid deep-seated fears in Washington about giving China too much access to US AI technology.

The new chip, tentatively known as the B30A, would use a single-die design that was likely to deliver half the raw computing power of the more sophisticated dual-die configuration in Nvidia’s flagship B300 accelerator card, the sources said.

A single-die design is when all the main parts of an integrated circuit are made on one continuous piece of silicon rather than split across multiple dies.

The new chip would have high-bandwidth memory and Nvidia’s NVLink technology for fast data transmission between processors, features that are also in the H20 – a chip based on the company’s older Hopper architecture.

The chip’s specifications were not completely finalised, but Nvidia hoped to deliver samples to Chinese clients for testing as early as next month, said the sources, who were not authorised to speak to the media and declined to be identified.

Nvidia said in a statement: “We evaluate a variety of products for our road map, so that we can be prepared to compete to the extent that governments allow.”

“Everything we offer is with the full approval of the applicable authorities and designed solely for beneficial commercial use,” it said.

The US Department of Commerce did not respond to a request for comment.

The extent to which China, which generated 13 per cent of Nvidia’s revenue in the past financial year, can have access to cutting-edge AI chips is one of the biggest flashpoints in US-Sino trade tensions.

Nvidia only received permission in July to recommence sales of the H20. It was developed specifically for China after export restrictions were put in place in 2023, but the company was abruptly ordered to stop sales in April.

Trump said last week he might allow Nvidia to sell a scaled-down version of its next-generation chip in China after announcing an unprecedented deal that would see Nvidia and rival Advanced Micro Devices give the US government 15 per cent of revenue from sales of some advanced chips in China.

A new Nvidia chip for China might have “30 per cent to 50 per cent off”, he suggested in an apparent reference to the chip’s computing power, adding that the H20 was “obsolete”.

US legislators, both Democratic and Republican, have worried that access to even scaled-down versions of flagship AI chips would impede US efforts to maintain its lead in AI.

But Nvidia and others argue that it was important to retain Chinese interest in its chips – which work with Nvidia’s software tools – so that developers did not completely switch over to offerings from rivals like Huawei Technologies.

Huawei has made great strides in chip development, with its latest models said to be on par with Nvidia in some aspects like computing power, though analysts said it lagged in key areas such as software ecosystem support and memory bandwidth capabilities.

Complicating Nvidia’s efforts to retain market share in China, Chinese state media have also in recent weeks alleged that the US firm’s chips could pose security risks, and authorities have cautioned Chinese tech firms about buying the H20. Nvidia said its chips carried no back-door risks.

Nvidia is also preparing to start delivering a separate new China-specific chip based on its Blackwell architecture and designed primarily for AI inference tasks, according to two other people familiar with those plans.

Reuters reported in May that this chip, currently dubbed the RTX6000D, will sell for less than the H20, reflecting weaker specifications and simpler manufacturing requirements.

The chip is designed to fall under thresholds set by the US government. It uses conventional graphics-double-data-rate memory and features memory bandwidth of 1,398 gigabytes per second, just below the 1.4 terabyte threshold established by restrictions introduced in April that led to the initial H20 ban.

Nvidia was set to deliver small batches of RTX6000D to Chinese clients in September, said one of the people.

China school in hot water over US$140,000 cash prize for student accepted by top university

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3321690/china-school-hot-water-over-us140000-cash-prize-student-accepted-top-university?utm_source=rss_feed

A privately run secondary school in China has landed in trouble after it offered a controversial one million yuan (US$140,000) cash reward to a graduate who has been admitted to the prestigious Tsinghua University.

In early August, Dajiang International School in Guigang, a small city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region in southwestern China, held a graduation ceremony for its Class of 2025 students.

The cash awards prompted the Guigang Municipal Education Bureau to intervene and stop the school’s “irregular practice”.

“The state authorities discourage schools from doing publicity on their ‘gaokao’ scores. We have already stopped the Dajiang school’s practice,” an official from the bureau, whose name was not revealed, told Jiupai News on August 12.

At the ceremony, a number of graduates who were recently admitted to top universities received cash prizes from their alma mater.

Among them was a girl, surnamed Luo, who is set to become a first-year at Tsinghua University in September.

The Dajiang school awarded her one million yuan by presenting her with a red banner bearing the Chinese characters for “Tsinghua University” and “one million yuan”.

The ceremony also displayed piles of banknotes.

“The school put the money on a stool on the stage. It is stacked like a small hill. I am stunned by the scene,” a local witness told Anhui TV.

“I envy this girl. She is so young, but already owns one million yuan!” added the woman resident.

Other top students receiving awards included one who was admitted to Zhejiang University and received 150,000 yuan (US$21,000), and another who was admitted to Hong Kong University who got the same.

Another graduate who is set to enrol at Huazhong Agricultural University in central Hubei province was granted 10,000 yuan (US$1,400), according to viral videos of the event.

A worker from the Dajiang school told the media that they awarded graduates based on the relevant ranks of the universities they will attend. The award policy is adjusted every year, she said.

In 2022, the value of prizes for students who made it into Peking University or Tsinghua University was half a million yuan (US$70,000).

Graduates admitted by average-level universities normally get around 3,000 yuan (US$420), the report said.

Universities in China enrol students according to the scores they attain in the national university entrance examination, known as “gaokao”, which takes place in early June each year.

Peking and Tsinghua universities ranked 14th and 17th in the QS World University Rankings 2026. They are equally regarded as the highest-ranking schools in China among the mainland public.

Schools across China value the number of graduates being admitted by these two institutions as it acts as a benchmark to measure the schools’ ability to produce high-scoring students.

Anecdotes suggest that in many secondary schools in eastern China, if a student is admitted by Peking or Tsinghua universities, their form teacher will get a bonus of 100,000 yuan (US$14,000) as well as honours that help with promotion.

A high school in Jiangxi province, eastern China, attracted attention in July after a teacher scolded three students online because they achieved high enough scores but did not apply for Peking or Tsinghua University.

Instead, the students chose lower-ranked universities that offered them majors with better job prospects.

Xiong Bingqi, a Shanghai-based education scholar, wrote in the Beijing News that the award scheme of the Dajiang school in Guangxi is just a marketing initiative to promote itself and enrol more elite students.

“Schools should not use high awards to instil the utilitarian perception in students that studying could lead to financial returns.”

“Schools should care for the long-term development of each individual student and guide them to make their own study and life plan,” said Xiong.

China unveils crewed tilt-rotor aircraft but how does it compare with US Osprey?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3322304/china-unveils-crewed-tilt-rotor-aircraft-how-does-it-compare-us-osprey?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese version of the US military’s Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft has been captured conducting what appears to be its maiden flight in a photograph that began circulating on social media in China on Monday.

The picture shows a white prototype tilt-rotor aircraft hovering in front of a residential building with its rotors positioned vertically, indicating that it was in helicopter mode.

The cockpit design suggests it is crewed, although it is unclear from the photo whether there is a pilot on board. If confirmed as manned, it would be China’s first crewed tilt-rotor aircraft.

No details were given of when the photo was taken, but the location was claimed to be near a facility belonging to Harbin Aircraft Industry Group, a subsidiary of state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC).

Another photo showed two apparently incomplete aircraft inside a hangar, with some mechanical structures exposed.

A tilt-rotor merges a helicopter’s vertical take-off/landing (VTOL) capability with the significantly higher speed, range and altitude of a fixed-wing turboprop aeroplane. Its proprotors pivot 90 degrees between helicopter mode and high-speed forward flight.

But this versatility brings with it significant mechanical complexity, resulting in high procurement and maintenance costs, as well as safety concerns.

A prominent example is the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, which has been widely deployed for transport and medical operations by US forces in the Middle East and Afghanistan.

Its VTOL capability, combined with high speed and long range, provides revolutionary tactical advantages. But it is also notoriously difficult to fly, expensive to maintain, and has a controversial safety record.

Unlike the V-22 Osprey, in which both the engine nacelles and proprotors tilt together, the Chinese prototype appears to have only the proprotors rotating while the engines remain fixed. This design could reduce mechanical complexity and improve system reliability.

The prototype also appears to be much smaller than the Osprey, which has a maximum take-off weight of 27 tonnes. Its nose and fuselage are also similar to Harbin’s Z-9 helicopter series.

AVIC exhibited a model of the aircraft at China’s premier air show in Zhuhai in 2023, where it was labelled for civilian uses such as transport and emergency rescue. However, just like the Osprey, it also has significant military potential.

Given the PLA’s limited inventory of non-helicopter VTOL aircraft, it could play a valuable role, especially for the navy’s growing fleet of aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships.

Meanwhile, another Chinese tilt-rotor aircraft prototype – the privately owned United Aircraft’s 6-tonne Lanying R6000 – has been undergoing ground tests since its completion last October.

According to the developer, the R6000 will be operated as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) for cargo transport or as a crewless passenger aircraft capable of carrying 6 to 12 people. It will have a cruise speed of 550km/h (342mph) and a range of 4,000km (2,490 miles).

Some Chinese UAVs have also adopted tilt-rotor configurations, such as the military drone Rainbow CH-10.

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Why are honeybees dying massively in the United States but thriving in China?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3322217/why-are-honeybees-dying-massively-united-states-thriving-china?utm_source=rss_feed

While the US suffered its largest recorded collapse in its commercial honeybee colonies, China’s bee population has reached a historic high, maintaining the country’s long-standing position as the world’s largest producer of apiary goods.

Around 62 per cent of managed colonies perished in a devastating wave of losses that swept across the US from June 2024 to January this year, to the alarm of the agricultural sector which relies on bee pollination for about one-third of its crops.

Scientists from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) identified the culprit in June: viruses spread by parasitic mites that have developed resistance to Amitraz, the long-relied-upon miticide, leaving colonies defenceless against infestations, according to a report in the journal Science.

In stark contrast, China saw a 25 per cent increase on the last survey to a record 15 million colonies last year, according to researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences’ Institute of Apicultural Research (IAR).

IAR professor Xu Shufa said that “the fundamental difference lies in management practices”.

“The US model relies on large-scale, clustered operations where single apiaries may contain thousands of colonies. Beekeepers typically transport hives to nectar-rich areas for extended periods, intervening minimally until honey harvest,” Xu said.

“China’s apiculture, however, is dominated by relatively small-scale farming and apiaries usually manage under 100 colonies, seldom more than 50, with farmers providing meticulous, hands-on care.”

Associate professor Wu Jiangli added that Chinese beekeepers cherished their bees. “They monitor colony health diligently, and even accidental harm to one or two bees during research draws their concern. This intensive management safeguards colony vitality.”

Beyond husbandry, pest control strategies also differ from the US – where every sampled mite in affected colonies exhibited Amitraz resistance, crippling large-scale management of the insects.

According to Xu, Chinese beekeepers – whose livelihoods depend directly on hive health – employ diverse, adaptive tactics, intervening early and rotating control methods.

These include organic pesticides, such as formic and oxalic acids, as well as pyrethroids and Amitraz. China’s apiarists also switched tactics promptly if one failed, a cross-protection approach that suppressed mite proliferation and slowed resistance development, the researchers said.

However, current miticides had limitations, Xu acknowledged. Improper or excessive use poses health risks to beekeepers from corrosive chemicals like formic acid, while residues could impair bee vitality.

“Developing effective miticides remains challenging. Inefficacy leaves mites alive, while excessive toxicity harms bees or leaves harmful residues,” he said.

The mites’ growing resistance to Amitraz, introduced over 30 years ago, is similar to penicillin’s ineffectiveness against superbugs. Overreliance on a single weapon will eventually lead to collapse, but globally new solutions are emerging.

In the US, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to register an RNA-based miticide developed by GreenLight Biosciences. Vadescana targets the calmodulin gene in varroa mites, disrupting mRNA synthesis and causing rapid paralysis and death.

Its key components degrade quickly in soil and water, minimising risks to bees and humans and making it a promising fit for US scale-based beekeeping.

However, these treatments mainly affect the mites found on adult bees. “A critical vulnerability remains,” Wu said. “When worker bees seal developing pupae in brood cells for protection, any mites trapped inside become unreachable by existing drugs.”

A team led by IAR associate professor Han Bin found that mites fed differently at various stages of the bee’s life cycle: consuming fat bodies in adults but feeding on the bloodlike fluid called haemolymph in the pupae.

“Traditional treatments, including RNA drugs, only act after pupae emerge as weakened adults, their immune systems compromised and lifespans shortened by prior mite feeding,” said Han, whose team is developing a drug aligned with the bee’s development.

“It expresses active compounds in different tissues as bees metabolise, concentrating in haemolymph when pupae are most vulnerable. This aims to kill mites inside sealed brood cells, producing healthier adult bees.”

The team’s work was published in January last year by Nature Communications. Following positive results in prototype testing, Han and his colleagues are advancing further field trials.

Xu said that more demonstration projects with the Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences were planned, as he noted that the tensions between economic imperatives and bee conservation remained stark.

While bees play a crucial role in food security, safeguarding them can occasionally take a backseat to economic priorities, Xu noted, citing the example of pine nut production – pesticides sprayed against caterpillars might inadvertently affect bees, but pine nuts generate more than 100 times the revenue of honey.

‘This is a global issue. Ecosystem health relies on bees, yet balancing economic and environmental benefits can be difficult,’ Xu said.

“American beekeepers’ concerns about bee colony numbers also stem in part from their primary business model,” Xu added.

Each February, 2.5 million hives – roughly 70 per cent of US colonies – are trucked to California for almond pollination – a monthly revenue stream of US$40,000 for a typical 2,000-hive operation, at US$200 per hive. Colony counts directly affect income.

Xu said there was an “eternal conflict” in the situation that saw migratory beekeepers moving hives across farmland where essential pesticides, particularly neurotoxic insecticides effective against pests, frequently poisoned non-target bees, no matter if it was in China or other countries.

Existing mitigation strategies rely on coordinating spray times with bee activity or the relocation of hives, but poisoning incidents remain frequent in the US.

“US mite outbreaks are partly due to a ‘green agriculture’ philosophy favouring delayed intervention,” IAR scientist Liu Hansuo said. “Chinese beekeepers prioritise proactive prevention or rapid treatment.”

According to Liu, a consensus is emerging globally. “Eradicating mites is unrealistic. The goal must shift to controlling infestation to maintain colony health,” he said.

“Bringing new pesticides to market still faces significant technical, financial and regulatory hurdles despite this urgent need.”

China’s exports, investments to Global South surge in ‘age of tariffs’: report

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322225/chinas-exports-investments-global-south-surge-age-tariffs-report?utm_source=rss_feed

China is accelerating its pivot to the Global South to reduce reliance on the United States, potentially creating “a new order of global commerce”, according to a new report.

Chinese exports to the Global South – covering most of the developing world – have doubled since 2015, with growth seeing a notable uptick after the US-China trade war during US President Donald Trump’s first term, S&P analysts said on Tuesday.

In the past five years, these exports have risen by 65 per cent – tripling the pace seen in the previous five-year period. By comparison, exports to the US and western Europe grew by just 28 per cent and 58 per cent respectively over the past decade.

“High uncertainties under US tariffs and China’s slowdown will continue to motivate Chinese firms to head to the Global South,” the S&P analysts said.

“The result could be a new order of global commerce where South-South trade becomes the new centre of gravity and Chinese multinationals emerge as the new key players.”

According to the report, China now exports about US$1.6 trillion to the Global South, more than 50 per cent higher than its combined exports to the US and western Europe at US$1 trillion.

Chinese firms have also stepped up investments in developing regions, particularly in manufacturing. Flows to the country’s four largest trading partners in Southeast Asia – Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam – have quadrupled over the past decade, averaging US$8.8 billion annually.

“These investments are likely to continue in the age of tariffs – not just to avoid new levies or secure resources, but to develop end markets and reduce reliance on US sales,” the analysts said.

“This diversification strategy may be one of the few feasible ways to manage the high uncertainties of the age of tariffs.”

The report pointed to Indonesia as the clearest example of how “Chinese firms could align their investments and operations with local development objectives”. The country had leveraged inflows of capital to rapidly develop its nickel industry and move further up the electric vehicle supply chain.

Similarly, Chinese carmakers had quickly expanded their market presence by capitalising on the energy transition in South and Southeast Asia, with sales growing thirteen-fold in Malaysia, doubling in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines, and rising by more than 50 per cent in India and Vietnam over the past three years.

Chinese expansion into the Global South has also been visible across other industries, including engineering, construction, machinery, equipment, consumer products and services.

“New US tariffs may not be the direct cause, but they serve as a common accelerant,” the analysts said.

The report also flagged risks for Chinese firms abroad, including unfamiliar business partners, less developed legal systems and infrastructure, as well as local concerns about Chinese firms potentially selling goods at excessively low prices to displace competitors – which could attract regulatory scrutiny and increase the likelihood of penalties or countervailing duties.

Despite these challenges, the S&P analysts said they expected the trend to continue as companies “look to diversify sales away from the US and expand to other markets with stronger growth prospects than at home”.

Hong Kong can’t afford to outsource its healthcare to mainland China

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/hong-kong-opinion/article/3322178/hong-kong-cant-afford-outsource-its-healthcare-mainland-china?utm_source=rss_feed

In recent years, Hongkongers have developed a new habit: going north for their medical check-ups. A 2024 survey found nearly one in three residents had sought medical care in mainland China. The reasons are as predictable as they are troubling: shorter queues, cheaper drugs and upfront prices.

If this trend sounds like a temporary release valve for a stressed system, think again. What we’re seeing isn’t a convenient side option; it’s an unofficial outsourcing of healthcare. Left unchecked, it may well hollow out the very system we’ve spent decades building.

Hong Kong’s public hospitals are, in some respects, victims of their own success. We boast one of the world’s highest life expectancies – a medical marvel, yes, but also a demographic time bomb. Ageing residents mean skyrocketing demand for healthcare. Add a chronic shortage of medical staff, and you get a system where booking a specialist is like winning the quota for a popular school.

Of course, private hospitals offer another route, if you’ve got the wallet for it. For many families, the price tag makes private treatment feel less like healthcare and more like luxury retail.

It’s little wonder Hongkongers are looking across the border. There, appointments are quicker. Prices are clearer. Even the apps are better. The booking experience in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, often feels more like ordering dinner on a delivery app than scheduling an MRI. Convenience matters. Right now, we’re losing that game.

But while Shenzhen may offer swifter consultation, relying on it is hardly a long-term solution. If enough patients and eventually professionals start drifting north, Hong Kong will lose its healthcare market share as well as its capacity to develop future talent, run clinical trials and innovate in medicine.

But before we panic, let’s be practical. First, Hong Kong desperately needs more hands on deck. That includes doctors and nurses, as well as the full suite of allied health professionals – physiotherapists, dietitians and Chinese medicine practitioners.

Hong Kong’s Primary Healthcare Office should be empowered to push care at the community level through early intervention. When chronic illnesses are managed early, emergency rooms breathe easier.

Second, it’s time to end the medical version of sticker shock. The government’s push to make private hospitals publish standardised fees is welcome. But let’s be honest: transparency is meaningless without accountability. We need a regulatory body with teeth, not just polite guidelines and consultation papers that gather dust. Otherwise, scepticism will remain.

Then there’s the pharmacy problem. Drugs on the mainland are often far cheaper – so much so that many patients are travelling across the border just to access medications.

But rather than demand that local prices match Shenzhen’s, Hong Kong should focus on accelerating access to safe, effective medicines.

That means expanding fast track approval channels, such as the “1+ mechanism”, which allows a drug approved by one major overseas regulator to be cleared locally without years of duplication. If a cancer therapy has already been given the green light abroad, why should Hong Kong patients wait for paperwork to catch up?

Make better treatments more accessible, sooner. Patients shouldn’t need a train ticket to afford the best option.

To be clear, this isn’t an argument against working with the mainland. Done right, cross-border cooperation can be a strategic asset. Done lazily, it becomes a crutch.

For example, Zhejiang province has a strong foothold in traditional Chinese medicine. Meanwhile, Hong Kong offers globally recognised clinical standards and world-class facilities. There’s a clear opportunity here: Hong Kong can serve as a certification and branding hub for Zhejiang’s traditional therapies while Zhejiang supports Hong Kong’s pharmaceutical supply chain.

Care for the elderly is another area where the mainland is outpacing us. By employing artificial intelligence (AI) and real-time data, Hangzhou in Zhejiang province has been able to dispatch ambulances that beat traffic jams. Elderly residents wear wristbands that monitor health and send alerts, helping to dramatically cut emergency response times. These aren’t futuristic gimmicks. They’re operational today.

For a city staring down the barrel of demographic decline, Hong Kong can’t afford to dismiss these models. With the right adaptation, it could ensure elderly care is not about crisis management, but preventive care and dignity.

All of this raises a question: what exactly is our healthcare vision? Do we want a system that patches holes as they appear, tolerates long queues and treats mainland medical tourism as an unofficial Plan B? Or do we want a system that earns back public trust, where care is timely, pricing is fair and innovation flows both ways across the border?

This is not about choosing between Hong Kong and the mainland. That binary is outdated. What Hong Kong needs is to rebuild its core system while leveraging smart, strategic cooperation – not out of desperation, but design.

Because when a city’s residents increasingly leave it to get well, that’s not just a health issue. It’s a credibility issue.

If Hong Kong wants to become a global medical innovation hub, as the government proclaims, it must get its fundamentals in order. Patients don’t judge ambition; they judge wait times, costs and results. So should policymakers.

The good news? We have the talent, infrastructure, and international standing to turn this around if we act now – cleverly, collaboratively and with more urgency. After all, healthcare systems, like patients, can only postpone treatment for so long before things get worse.

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Mainland Chinese tech firms using Hong Kong’s support to ease geopolitical risks

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3322278/mainland-chinese-tech-firms-using-hong-kongs-support-ease-geopolitical-risks?utm_source=rss_feed

Some mainland Chinese technology companies are choosing to take advantage of Hong Kong’s policies and government support to help mitigate geopolitical risks in their international expansion.

Insta360, a company listed in Shanghai that holds a 70 per cent share of the global panoramic camera market, is having its Hong Kong distributor open the company’s first multi-storey global flagship store in the city.

“To be able to enter the Hong Kong market is basically the first step for them to go international,” said Angus Yip, senior marketing manager for Vast World, Insta360’s exclusive distributor in the city.

“Many have this reaction: ‘If I can make it in Hong Kong, I should be able to make it in foreign countries’.”

Yip added that the corporate matchmaking service provided by the city’s trade promoter, the Hong Kong Trade Development Council, which involved scrutinising company backgrounds and assessing business needs, saved him a great deal of time when selecting appropriate partners.

For Insta360, this move represents a significant physical retail investment despite the fragile market, where total citywide retail sales increased by just 0.7 per cent in June. The flagship store will also serve as a hub to promote its technology in traditional sectors.

“Insta360 is committed to promoting the intelligent transformation of traditional industries in Hong Kong, such as construction engineering, through the integration of panoramic imaging and AI technology,” said Grace Sze, sales and marketing general manager for Vast World.

On August 12, United States President Donald Trump signed an executive order extending a tariff truce with China by 90 days to November 10. During this period, the existing 10 per cent “reciprocal” tariff on Chinese imports will remain in effect.

But the ongoing trade tensions have had a counterintuitive effect, according to Yip, who said the uncertainty had prompted firms to ship goods to Hong Kong as a strategic buffer.

“The US-China trade war is now implicating Hong Kong, more or less,” Yip said. “It has also caused many companies to decide earlier whether to prioritise shipping to Hong Kong … I feel that before every trade war, our cargo volume has actually increased.”

Another company leveraging Hong Kong for overseas expansion is ophthalmic medical device manufacturer Eyebright Medical.

The Shanghai-listed firm, which focuses on surgical treatment, myopia management and consumer vision care, is expanding in Hong Kong and overseas after establishing its international headquarters in the city.

For Eyebright Medical, Hong Kong’s value lies in its internationally recognised regulatory environment and research and development ecosystem, which have already facilitated its expansion into South Korea and Malaysia.

InvestHK, the government’s promoter of foreign direct investment, helped Eyebright explore business opportunities and expand its international network by inviting it to join Swiss Biotech Day and the city’s Belt and Road Summit.

Andy Wong, head of innovation and technology at InvestHK, said many mainland technology companies wanted to set up headquarters in Hong Kong before expanding globally, and last year the organisation helped more than 30 biotech-only companies establish businesses in the city.

“We will also see that there’s a double-digit growth for the number [of technology firms] going to set up in Hong Kong,” Wong said. “So there’s no doubt about this.”

With Hong Kong being the second largest biotech fundraising platform after New York, the government recently established the Innovation and Technology Industry-Oriented Fund, which would co-invest with the private sector in technology ventures, Wong added.

He also said that tax incentives and salary subsidies were available for hiring research and development staff.

Type 99A: China’s most advanced tank delivers firepower, agility and survivability

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3320318/type-99a-chinas-most-advanced-tank-delivers-firepower-agility-and-survivability?utm_source=rss_feed

China is preparing for a military parade next month to celebrate the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II, with the People’s Liberation Army expected to showcase its latest line-up of land-based weapons systems.

One of the systems playing a crucial role in Chinese ground forces is the Type 99A main battle tank (MBT), which incorporates multiple advanced technologies to enhance survivability and firing capability.

While China continues to focus on modernising its navy and air force, the appearance of the Type 99A in the September 3 parade would underscore the importance in modern warfare of land-based systems, which have received renewed attention amid the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Intended as a replacement for the second-generation Type 88 tanks, work on the Type 99 series, also known as ZTZ-99, began in 1989, with developer Norinco basing its design on the former Soviet Union’s T-72 chassis.

Since going into service in 2001, the Type 99 tanks have become China’s first mass-produced third-generation MBT, with around 1,300 units reportedly built. Like its Russian counterpart, the Type 99 series is equipped with a 125mm smoothbore gun.

In contrast to the Nato-standard 120mm guns commonly used in tanks such as the Leopard 2 and M1 Abrams, the Type 99’s 125mm calibre guns are seen mostly in countries formerly associated with the communist bloc during the Cold War.

The Type 99A weighs 55 tonnes, up from the original 51 tonnes, and is the latest variant of the Type 99 series, featuring an improved main gun, a larger turret and an integrated propulsion system.

Including the gun, the MBT is 11 metres (36 feet) long, 3.4 metres wide and 2.2 metres high. It is operated by three crew members: a commander, driver and gunner.

The Type 99A reportedly went into service in 2011 and was first showcased during the Victory Day parade in 2015, marking the 70th anniversary of the end of the “Chinese people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression”.

China does not export the Type 99A, although some of its technologies are mounted on the VT-4, Norinco’s MBT, which is built for overseas markets.

Of the 1,300 Type 99 MBTs produced in all, the PLA is known to operate about 700 Type 99A tanks, according to data from the London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The Type 99A MBT incorporates several hunter-killer capabilities, including an advanced targeting system with independent sights that allows a gunner to target an adversary while the commander is acquiring the next target.

The tank is also equipped with an improved fire-control system (FCS) that includes a third-generation thermal imager, meteorological sensors and a ballistic computer for gunners to aim and fire weapons at targets up to 5km (3.1 miles) away.

The FCS includes an independent panoramic sight, featuring a 360-degree rotating laser-ranging finding function that gives the tank commander increased first-round hit probability.

Significantly, the Type 99A features active protection systems (APS), such as the laser self-defence weapon system (LSDW) – unique to MBTs. This is designed to counter incoming threats by emitting a laser to target both ground vehicles and helicopters.

The Type 99A features an LSDW known as the JD-3 laser dazzler. Once the laser warning receiver receives enemy illumination, the system activates a low-intensity laser to locate the enemy’s laser, then intensifies the beam to blind the enemy gunner and damage or destroy its optic sensors.

The tanks also incorporate Explosive Reactive Armour (ERA) blocks. The modular panels are placed across the hull and turret and are designed to detonate upon impact from shaped charges or kinetic energy penetrators. The outward blast disrupts the incoming projectile, significantly reducing its penetration capability while protecting the underlying composite armour.

The tank’s main gun, the Chinese-made 125mm smoothbore ZPT-98, can fire a variety of ammunition, such as armour-piercing fin-stabilised discarding sabot, high-explosive anti-tank explosives, and gun-launched anti-tank missiles (ATGM).

A key type of ammunition used in the Type 99A is the GP125 ATGM, an explosive projectile with two or more stages of detonation. It is similar to the Russian Invar laser-guided ATGM with a tandem-shaped charge, a range of up to 5km, and an estimated penetration of 850mm (33.5 inches) at a zero-degree firing angle, regardless of distance.

The gun is capable of carrying up to 42 rounds of ammunition and can fire 10 rounds per minute, two more than the original design.

The Type 99A variant is also equipped with a more powerful engine – the 1,500 horsepower HP150 diesel motor, which provides 300 more horsepower than the original design. This results in a power-to-weight ratio of around 27.78hp/tonne, generating a top speed of 80km/h on-road and 60km/h off-road, with a maximum operational range of around 600km.

In military exercises, the Type 99A MBT has been used in various simulated conflict scenarios, particularly in high-altitude terrain, such as the Tibetan plateau, where China and India remain locked in a border dispute.

The 76th Group Army under the Western Theatre Command, based in Xining in Qinghai province, was one of the first PLA ground forces to receive the Type 99A.

In February 2021, after months of confrontations between Chinese and Indian forces over the Line of Actual Control near the contested Himalayan border region of Ladakh, the PLA reportedly deployed Type 99A tanks in the high-altitude Karakoram Mountain range.

Beijing does not release details about specific bases, troop groups or the kinds of weapons it operates; however, the Type 99A is known to be operating with the Northern Theatre Command’s 78th Group Army, based in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, and with the Central Theatre Command’s 81st and 82nd group armies, based in the northern province of Hebei.

As conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East reaffirm the importance of ground forces in modern warfare, the Type 99A MBT could serve as a cornerstone of the PLA’s ground operations, offering a combination of firepower, advanced protection systems and high mobility.

In offensive operations, the tank’s 125mm main gun, advanced fire control and its mobility enable it to lead armoured thrusts, destroy enemy vehicles and seize objectives on the battlefield.

In terms of defence, the APS and ERA strengthen the tank’s deterrence ability, enabling it to hold critical lines and counter ground and air threats.

The Type 99A is seen as a key component of China’s combined arms operations, working in conjunction with infantry, artillery and air support. Its situational awareness tools enable integration into a networked battlefield, allowing for coordinated attacks and defence, and providing direct fire support to advancing infantry.

The tank will also see another upgrade – the Type 99B variant was reportedly spotted last September with two APS projectile launchers and four fire control radars, designed to intercept and destroy threats, including drones.

Chinese husband discovers during wife’s abortion that child is his neighbour’s

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3321681/chinese-husband-discovers-during-wifes-abortion-child-his-neighbours?utm_source=rss_feed

A man from eastern China who discovered during his wife’s abortion that the child was his neighbour’s attacked her lover with a knife.

On August 10, the mainland media outlet Xiaoxiang Morning Post reported the case, citing China Judgments Online.

The husband, surnamed Chen, from Jiangxi province, reportedly often quarrelled with his wife.

The couple were close to their neighbour, surnamed Shao, who often visited them.

In 2022, while the three were working out of town together, the wife began a secret affair with Shao and became pregnant.

After learning it was an ectopic pregnancy, she decided on a termination.

An ectopic pregnancy can cause abdominal pain, heavy bleeding and even shock, and usually requires medication or surgery.

Chen took his wife to hospital, where she had the surgery that cost more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,400).

However, Chen already had doubts about his wife and claimed he always used protection.

Soon after, he found flirty chats with their neighbour Shao on his wife’s phone.

Shao admitted the affair and offered to pay 38,000 yuan (US$5,300) in compensation.

Last February, under the influence of alcohol, Chen went to his neighbour’s home with a knife to demand the unpaid 10,000 yuan.

He struck Shao five times in the head, and during the attack, Shao’s mother also suffered cuts to her forehead and hand when she tried to intervene.

Both Shao and his mother suffered minor injuries, an injury identification report found.

A court found Chen guilty of intentional injury but said there were two mitigating factors: his wife did not adhere to basic moral norms and Shao failed to follow the agreed resolution.

Chen was eventually sentenced to seven months in prison.

The case sparked much attention on mainland social media, with related posts attracting more than 69 million views.

One online observer said: “The ruling is fair. The cheating party should also bear responsibility.”

“In marriage, betrayal is the source of tragedy. Loyalty is the cornerstone of family stability,” said another.

“When a relationship goes wrong, the tools for damage control are the law and clear boundaries, not a knife,” added a third.

In a separate case, NetEase News reported that a man from central China used a drone to film his wife holding hands with her boss and used the footage to secure a divorce.

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Putin taps Brazil in China-linked peace push as Trump hosts Zelensky

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3322294/putin-taps-brazil-china-linked-peace-push-trump-hosts-zelensky?utm_source=rss_feed

As US President Donald Trump prepared for the arrival of his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia’s Vladimir Putin turned to another partner to discuss a possible path out of the war: Brazil.

The South American country’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva spoke by phone with Putin on Monday, the Planalto Palace said, as Moscow pressed its case for new diplomatic efforts over the conflict.

According to the official readout, Putin used the 40-minute call to brief Lula on his meeting in Alaska with Trump, which he described as “positive”. He also “praised Brazil’s role in the Group of Friends for Peace”, a joint initiative with China launched at the United Nations General Assembly in September.

The Kremlin also released a press statement, adding that “the presidents reaffirmed mutual interest in maintaining Russia-Brazil dialogue and closely cooperating within Brics”.

The Brazil-China proposal centres on direct dialogue between Moscow and Kyiv and an eventual international peace conference. Its framework stands in contrast to the Ukrainian president’s 10-point “peace formula”, first laid out in late 2022, which demands Russia’s full withdrawal from occupied territory and the restoration of Ukraine’s borders.

Moscow welcomed the joint initiative from the outset, with Putin describing it as “balanced” since it suggested Kyiv might have to cede land Russia now controls.

But Ukraine rejected the proposal last September, accusing Beijing and Brasilia of serving Moscow’s interests. Zelensky criticised the plan in his address to the General Assembly, warning it would give Putin room to prolong the war.

“If someone in the world seeks alternatives to any of these points or tries to ignore any of them, it likely means they themselves want to do a part of what Putin is doing,” he said.

He later called the proposal “destructive” and “just a political statement”.

“How can you offer ‘here is our initiative’ without asking anything from us?” the Ukrainian leader rhetorically asked in an interview with Brazilian news website Metrópoles.

A month later, however, Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said Kyiv was open to incorporating some elements of the Brazil-China initiative into Ukraine’s own formula. That shift followed months of pressure on Kyiv to broaden its diplomatic outreach as countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America showed interest in alternative frameworks.

Western governments have also expressed concern over the joint plan, pointing to China’s “no-limits partnership” with Russia, announced shortly before the invasion in February 2022. The agreement has since expanded into frequent joint military drills and technological cooperation. China has refrained from publicly condemning Russia, putting it under persistent criticism from the European side, while insisting that it has tightened dual-use product exports and calling for a political solution to the Ukraine crisis.

Brazil has presented itself as a neutral mediator. Lula has criticised Western sanctions on Russia as ineffective and illegitimate without UN Security Council approval, while insisting that dialogue remains the only way to end the war.

The Group of Friends for Peace, which also includes South Africa, Egypt, Mexico, Zambia and Indonesia, issued a statement at the UN emphasising its commitment to negotiations and to avoiding the use of weapons of mass destruction.

The competing peace tracks have underscored a widening gap between Kyiv’s demands and Moscow’s conditions. Putin has said Russia will not agree to talks unless Ukraine accepts the loss of territories under Russian control, including the Donbas region and Crimea.

China’s coastal provinces look to ride economic wave with offshore action plans

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322246/chinas-coastal-provinces-look-ride-economic-wave-offshore-action-plans?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s coastal provinces are leveraging their geographic advantages to align with the national strategy surrounding the marine economy, with plans to foster new growth in digitalised governance, offshore energy and tourism.

Since China incorporated the marine economy into its 2035 vision, 10 provincial-level regions, including Shanghai, have rolled out marine-focused economic development plans since last year, according to a summary by Founder Securities.

Southeast China’s Fujian province will advance its marine economic strategy in the coming 15th five-year plan (2026-2030), with a focus on emerging areas such as marine data platforms, the Fujian Daily reported on Monday.

“Fujian is striving to build a pioneering model for digitalised marine governance,” a local official from the provincial Department of Ocean and Fisheries was quoted as saying for the report.

The provincial marine data platform, which was launched in May, has aggregated around 15.9 billion data entries spanning fisheries, maritime transport and marine meteorology, according to the report.

Ultimately, the platform aims to serve as a hub for decision-making on Fujian’s marine affairs, including ecological protection and emergency response, according to previous media reports.

Fujian is also looking to expand its offshore energy production, which began about 10 years ago. By the end of last year, the province had installed 4.1 gigawatts (GW) of offshore wind and solar power, with an industrial estate hosting a series of leading enterprises.

Coastal provinces are incorporating far-sea wind power into their development plans, with 2025 seen as a potential starting year, and supporting policies are expected to be gradually released, according to Founder Securities.

Major construction is expected to begin around 2027, and China’s far-sea wind capacity could exceed 30GW by 2030, according to the note.

China’s tropical island province of Hainan rolled out a three-year action plan to boost marine tourism, aimed at generating more than 40 billion yuan (US$5.57 billion) in revenue and attracting 18 million visits by 2027, the local Hainan Daily newspaper reported on Monday.

In addition to building more tourist attractions and hotels, the action plan proposes promoting maritime tourism by expanding domestic cruise routes and exploring international cruise services to Asean countries.

Beijing has plans to transform Hainan into a free-trade port, as well as a centre for offshore financing and duty-free shopping that will lure tourists and businesses with an internationally competitive tax regime and relaxed visa requirements.

To achieve the goal, Hainan will have a separate customs regime by the end of the year, allowing around 6,600 types of goods into Hainan with zero tariffs, the government announced in late July.

Beyond tourism, Hainan also released a three-year plan last August to advance its broader marine economy, covering deep-sea oil and gas exploration, marine technology research, and shipping-related services, including finance, arbitration and seafarers’ training.

China’s marine gross domestic product exceeded 10 trillion yuan for the first time in 2024, accounting for 7.8 per cent of national GDP – a milestone the government called “a truly remarkable achievement”.

China’s involution problem is not just about supply but also demand

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3322265/chinas-involution-problem-not-just-about-supply-also-demand?utm_source=rss_feed

In economic policy documents, Beijing’s leadership used the term “involution”, in Chinese, in efforts to combat excessive competition in market segments such as photovoltaics and lithium batteries.

The authorities, who criticised the domestic dumping of products, have directed local governments to behave and stop offering unreasonable incentives that would lure enterprises into highly competitive segments.

The potential worst-case scenario for continued involution would be to drive many Chinese enterprises into a vicious cycle of low-price and low-quality competition. That would undermine China’s ambition to move up the value chain via “new productive forces”.

If profit margins are worth next to zero, businesses would have little to no resources for new investments.

As an unwanted phenomenon, involution is symptomatic of bigger problems. While no one wants to throw themselves into a self-defeating rat race, local governments and enterprises have engaged in excessive competition because they have no other options.

China’s economic slowdown represents one underlying reason for involution.

On Chinese social media, a popular topic online is “the period of economic upturn”, where many internet users have shared anecdotes about their lives during the economic heydays of the 1990s and 2000s.

They recalled the abundance of job offers, the steady increase in wages and the optimistic view that “tomorrow will be better than today”. While many of the stories shared may be overly romanticised, this topic reflected China’s altered economic reality.

During the start of Deng Xiaoping’s era of “reform and opening up”, the country’s per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in 1979 was US$184. That number grew more than 50 times over the following years to hit US$10,000 in 2019.

That extraordinary period of growth and prosperity benefited, literally, every household in the country. At the time, there were plenty of economic opportunities that people looked forward to.

From 2020 to 2035, China’s stated goal was to double its GDP and per capita income. That ambitious target, however, would be tough to reach considering far fewer opportunities today, compared with those in previous decades.

That rings particularly true for fresh college graduates. Earning a college degree today does not sufficiently guarantee a path to a solid professional career.

While the number of fresh graduates have grown from less than one million in 2000 to 12.22 million in 2025, there are fewer job openings available for these graduates. This has led to a “value depreciation of diplomas” and a textbook involution-style competition – the harder you work, the less you get ahead.

Still, economic slowdown alone does not necessarily lead to involution. China’s involution issue was created by the imbalance between supply and demand.

Local government officials, for example, have offered incentives to compete for investment inflows and provided subsidies to support inefficient projects. The reason? Their performance remained largely measured by production.

The behaviour of domestic enterprises, meanwhile, has distorted these incentive schemes. China continues to produce more than what consumers need, which shows “overcapacity” in the market – an accusation that Beijing has repeatedly denied.

In China’s defence, that was the result of “market choices”. Chinese manufacturers and suppliers are vastly more competitive than others in making high-quality and reasonably priced products for global consumers. Yet the other side of the coin is that Chinese businesses tend to expand production in spite of financial losses.

While China’s anti-involution strategy has been focused on the supply side, that has made up only half of the problem at best.

Involution also reflects insufficient demand, which in turn is caused by China’s unbalanced national income distribution and economic structure.

As Chinese households are too poor to boost overall consumption that would lift China’s GDP, enterprises have no recourse but to continue with involution-style competition to survive.