• How US nuclear sanctions on China backfired
• Why US allies are resisting China’s charm offensive on trade
• Signs of a new drone boat surface from China’s Victory Day parade rehearsal
• Ahead of Victory Day military parade, Chinese experts cast doubt on US aid during WWII
• Chinese woman spends grandchild’s US$8,600 tuition to fix wrinkles to ward off bad luck
• China must accept India is looking after itself
• China deliveryman saves trapped woman after seeing pillow with ‘110’ written on it
• Investigation under way into fatal bridge collapse in northwest China’s Qinghai province
• Chinese man sold by teenage lover to Myanmar fraud ring freed after family pays US$48,000
• Chinese team to delve into ancient history of Egypt’s Sekhmet Temple ruins
• British Airways committed to Hong Kong, mainland China routes: customer chief
• Chinese ownership of US farmland no threat to American security, envoy says
• Israeli hospital that pioneers lab-grown kidneys seeks China biotech funding
• Video of China mum walking ‘calm’ toddler with knife stuck in head to hospital goes viral
• Chinese smartphone maker Vivo challenges Apple Vision Pro with cheaper, lighter VR headset
• China bets on military industrial might to outproduce and outlast rivals like the US

How US nuclear sanctions on China backfired

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3322757/how-us-nuclear-sanctions-china-backfired?utm_source=rss_feed

When Sama Bilbao y León, director general of the World Nuclear Association – a global industry body based in London – toured China’s nuclear facilities this summer, she was left speechless.

“I couldn’t close my mouth in amazement,” she admitted, stunned by China’s advanced capabilities and “incredible” industrial scale.

This awe-inspiring progress exists despite stringent US sanctions – including the 2019 blacklisting of China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN) and the recent suspension of equipment licences – imposed over national security concerns.

Ironically, these very restrictions have backfired spectacularly. Instead of crippling China’s nuclear ambitions, the sanctions have forced Beijing to develop a fully self-sufficient nuclear ecosystem, achieving near-total domestic equipment production and rapid reactor deployment.

Now, as the US and Europe struggle with costly delays and atrophied supply chains in their own nuclear expansions, China’s sanctioned industry has become an unattainable benchmark of efficiency – and its exclusion threatens to stall the West’s own atomic energy revival.

“The current geopolitical situation at all levels is incredibly complex. But our position has always been that the nuclear industry is global, and we would like to see countries working together and sharing best practices and lessons learned,” said Bilbao y León.

The industrial leader, originally from Spain, has been calling on member countries to strike a balance between global cooperation and local participation to ramp up the supply chain.

The world is in a heated race to expand nuclear power capacity, with major countries – particularly the US and China – announcing ambitious goals recently, driven by concerns about climate change mitigation and energy security.

“Many countries are looking to triple or even quadruple their nuclear capacity, but achieving these goals will require rebuilding and reintegrating supply chains and industrial capabilities,” Bilbao y León told the South China Morning Post in an exclusive interview at the end of July.

“Everybody is taking note of what is happening in China,” she added.

History shows that supply chain bottlenecks have already stifled mega nuclear projects in developed countries. However, as geopolitical tensions intensify, Chinese technologies and suppliers are increasingly being scrutinised or even blocked, by the West.

Kevin Tu, a non-resident fellow at the Centre on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said that, ideally, other countries could benefit from collaborating with China across multiple areas – such as plant design, construction, equipment procurement and talent training – as Beijing had undertaken one of the fastest nuclear power build-outs in history in recent years.

But the reality is far more complicated. Given the sector’s highly sensitive nature, it “will inevitably become politicised”, making international cooperation with China difficult, Tu noted.

Philip Andrews-Speed, senior research fellow at the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, wrote in an email response to the Post that, “I think it is unlikely that any Western country – Canada, the US, Japan, South Korea, the UK or most EU member states – will choose a Chinese company as a vendor for a nuclear reactor for as long as distrust remains at current or higher levels.”

For example, last May, Hungary and China signed a nuclear energy cooperation agreement, encouraging capable Chinese enterprises to invest in Hungary. But Andrews-Speed pointed out that Hungary’s nuclear sector contracts have actually gone to Russia, their long-term nuclear technology supplier.

In 2022, China’s state-owned group CGN – which held a 20 per cent stake in the Sizewell C nuclear power plant project in Suffolk, eastern England – was forced to withdraw by the British government amid national security concerns.

Despite breaking ground on its first reactor almost 40 years after the US pioneered the tech, China is now building far more fission power plants than any other country. Around 10 new reactors have been approved by the Chinese government each year since 2022, putting China on track to overtake the United States and become the world’s largest generator of nuclear power by 2030.

According to data from the World Nuclear Association, seven of the 10 most recent projects to begin construction since last July belong to China, while the other three are from Russia, South Korea and Pakistan.

Thanks to the rapid development over the past three to four decades, “the entire industrial chain has been well-established”, said Zhao Chengkun, former executive deputy director of the expert committee of the China Nuclear Energy Association, with around 90 per cent of equipment domestically produced.

Meanwhile, China has established a robust system for cultivating a stable pool of skilled personnel, with a significant demand for professionals in the industry and related subjects in higher education, Zhao added.

Andrews-Speed, from the Oxford Institute for Energy Studies, echoed Zhao.

“China has built an almost complete supply chain for nuclear power, along with the skilled labour force needed to build and operate the world’s fastest-growing fleet of plants,” he said.

However, the story is different when it comes to countries like the US and France – which once dominated nuclear technology development. Due to historical reasons such as public opposition, rising costs and regulatory challenges, construction of large-scale nuclear power plants in these countries has stagnated for decades.

“US and most European countries have not consistently built nuclear power plants, particularly gigawatt-scale pressurised water reactors, for many years. As a result, their industrial supply chains and talent bases have weakened considerably over time,” Tu said.

From a pragmatic standpoint, developing a robust supply chain takes time and necessitates international cooperation. Partnering with Chinese manufacturers represented a viable option, Tu said, “if political trust is rebuilt and geopolitical tensions are eased”.

The progress made by China and the West in developing third-generation nuclear power technology reflects precisely the impact that supply chain maturity can have on project construction.

The Flamanville Unit 3 reactor in northern France is owned and operated by the French company EDF. The project began in 2007, with commercial operations initially scheduled to start in 2012.

However, it has been repeatedly delayed due to various factors. In 2023, for example, work was halted for several months due to issues with welds in the main secondary system. The reactor was finally connected to the grid by the end of 2024, and the project has cost at least five times more than originally anticipated.

The Plant Vogtle Unit 4 in the state of Georgia – one of the first new nuclear units to come online in the US in over 30 years – is based on Westinghouse’s third-generation plus AP1000 reactor technology. Yet the project also faced an overall delay of around seven years and cost overruns, partly due to manufacturing defects and delays in delivering critical components, such as the main pump.

In contrast, the Fuqing 5 unit in southeastern China’s Fujian province – the first Hualong One model to enter commercial operation globally – set a record for construction time. It began construction in 2015 and entered commercial operation in January 2021 at a cost 20 to 30 per cent lower than that of its foreign competitors.

Although the Hualong One design was modelled on foreign technology, this milestone project has greatly boosted China’s self-reliance in terms of its supply chain and workforce.

According to a 2021 report by Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, the project involved over 5,300 suppliers nationwide, with all core equipment produced domestically. The project also helped China to train professionals in the core technologies and construction of third-generation nuclear power plants.

China has exported at least 15 nuclear power units and research facilities worldwide. The K2 unit at the Karachi Nuclear Power Plant in Pakistan, which started operating in May 2021, is the first overseas nuclear power unit to use the Hualong One model.

In an article published in the prestigious journal Nature on July 28, several researchers from US institutes, including Harvard Kennedy School, examined how China had succeeded in avoiding the “cost escalation curse” faced by the nuclear industry through regulations and supply chain efforts.

China has been researching and developing its own reactor design based on French technology for two decades and has been producing simple components domestically for an even longer time.

Some Chinese-made nuclear components, such as tubes, ring cranes and charging pumps, cost half as much as their imported equivalents, according to the study.

In some cases, however, importing nuclear technologies is a more strategic choice, the author noted, citing the example of France’s deviation from the tried-and-tested US reactor design in favour of a national version in the 1980s, which hindered standardisation and caused construction costs to rise.

“As countries rush to expand nuclear capacities, they must combine affordability with safety, scalability, investor confidence and public trust. Without this, nuclear power will remain an expensive bet the world can ill afford,”the Nature article concluded.

Nuclear power is undergoing a global resurgence, with more than 30 countries pledging to triple global capacity by mid-century. Technology giants, including Amazon, Google and Microsoft, are also investing in nuclear power to fuel their energy-intensive AI data centres and reduce carbon emissions.

In May, the new German government dropped its long-held opposition to nuclear power. Denmark is also considering lifting its 40-year ban on atomic power to enhance its energy security amid the Europe-wide shift.

Also in May, US President Donald Trump signed executive orders to accelerate the construction of additional nuclear capacity with the goal of quadrupling the country’s installed capacity to 400 gigawatts (GW) by 2050.

The importance of nuclear power was also demonstrated in early July when Trump’s signature budget bill, officially known as the One Big Beautiful Bill, marked a striking shift towards fossil fuels and nuclear power.

The latest data from the World Nuclear Association shows that China currently has 58 operable reactors with a capacity of around 57GW. But according to a June report by the China Nuclear Energy Association, the country is set to build dozens of new reactors to raise its installed capacity to 200GW by the end of the next decade.

“Many countries have realised that there is a dire need for abundant, affordable, clean energy and electricity that is available 24/7,” said Bilbao y León.

For many countries, it is simply not possible to meet carbon emission goals in a cost-effective, timely manner without doubling down on nuclear power, and the quest for energy security and independence is increasingly urgent, she explained.

On top of that, as the world rapidly becomes more electrified, affordable new energy sources are needed to power industrial development and hi-tech sectors such as AI.

Andrews-Speed believes the issue for Western nuclear development is the ability to deliver projects on time and on budget – a management problem that will not easily be solved with China’s help only in the form of equipment and workforce. “But most Western governments would not allow a Chinese company to build one of their own reactor designs for them,” he said.

Nevertheless, he added that once Western companies get into the practice of building several reactors of the same design, they should become more efficient.

Why US allies are resisting China’s charm offensive on trade

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3322705/why-us-allies-are-resisting-chinas-charm-offensive-trade?utm_source=rss_feed

Geopolitical tremors from Washington’s trade wars against its closest allies – the European Union, Japan, South Korea, Canada and Australia – might have convinced Beijing of an impending realignment. China has seized the moment with a charm offensive, urging pragmatic cooperation amid tariff spats.

Beijing rightly condemns Washington for shredding the very World Trade Organization rules and post-war liberal order it crafted, calling for collective action against US coercion. Yet despite the tangible frustration – seen in the EU’s retaliation threat and Japan’s rhetorical condemnation – no ally has substantively defected or moved closer to China’s orbit.

This recalcitrance reflects not a fleeting opportunism but an unyielding anchor: centuries of shared identity, security integration and cultural allegiance bind these nations irreversibly to Washington’s strategic architecture.

Observe first the sterile harvest of Beijing’s courtship. While allies vocally decried US steel tariffs and agricultural levies, their response to China’s promises of mutual benefit remained clinically cautious. The hypocrisy is stark: they lament US violations of multilateral trade norms while refusing China’s appeals to jointly defend the system.

The charm offensive, framed as a shield against American pressure, secured no meaningful political alignment. Why? Economic pragmatism is being confronted with an immovable priority: foundational security.

Even with EU-China trade worth around US$1 trillion and as Berlin brokers climate deals with Beijing, allies instinctively safeguard US intelligence-sharing pacts and defence commitments. Their discontent fuels diplomatic appeals for restraint, never support for China-led confrontation. The gap between Beijing’s global ambition and geopolitical reality remains unbridgeable.

Beneath transactional politics lies a civilisational schism. For Europe, Canada and Australia, the legacy of Western colonialism still permeates elite consciousness.

This breeds quiet assumptions of cultural superiority, amplified by visceral fears that China’s rise threatens the liberal-democratic order that underwrote five centuries of Western dominance. The “yellow peril” trope, whether framed as historical bias or modern realism, persists: Beijing’s state-driven capitalism and surveillance model appear antithetical to Enlightenment values.

This unease transcends mere protectionism; it embodies an existential struggle to preserve Western institutional hegemony. Their double standard is revealing: America’s predatory behaviour is framed as regrettable aberrations, while China’s trade practices are cast as systemic threats. Trade disputes with Washington fade against this deeper dissonance – a chasm neither economic pragmatism nor diplomatic niceties can fill.

For Japan and South Korea, the US alliance defines sovereignty itself. Post-war rebirths forged in the crucible of American security patronage bind generations. US-educated leaders in Tokyo and Seoul dominate policy circles; integrated missile-defence systems link command structures; US-designed governance structures underpin social contracts.

China’s ascent here resurrects ancestral nightmares: visions of reverting to tribute-state subservience beneath Beijing’s suffocating embrace.

When semiconductors became a US-China battleground, South Korea’s chip giants lobbied against decoupling – yet doubled down on joint research and development with America. To Tokyo, its alliance with the United States is strategically indispensable, even amid Okinawa base controversies. The cost of US ties is trivial against the spectre of Chinese hegemony.

This allegiance hardens within intelligence redoubts. For Canada, Australia and New Zealand, the Five Eyes network with the US and Britain – born from Allied World War II code-breaking – epitomises a strategic DNA shared with Washington. Real-time sharing of cyber threats, terrorist plots and military movements cements a trust that transcends profits.

Abandoning this for China risks rupturing decades of interoperability: Canberra knows Beijing could paralyse its iron ore exports overnight, yet still bans Huawei Technologies from 5G grids. Why? Because Five Eyes fidelity reflects Anglo-Saxon civilisational kinship – a bond no lithium deal with China can replicate. Defiance here courts strategic suicide.

Economic hedging navigates – but never breaches – alliance boundaries. All these nations tread carefully: German carmakers lobbied against US tech bans; Australian universities hosted Confucius Institutes; Japan funnelled chip exports through Chinese factories.

They may see benefits in joining China’s WTO appeal against US tariffs and quietly invest in projects under its Belt and Road Initiative. But when Beijing framed US actions as a test of commitment to rules-based trade, allies demurred – prioritising alliance management over systemic defence.

When Beijing embargoed Australian coal or sanctioned EU legislators, Canberra sought US naval reinforcements while Brussels threatened to block the EU-China investment pact. Hedging insulates commerce; it never morphs into a confrontational alignment against Washington. The calculus is stark: trade with China enables prosperity, but alliance with America guarantees survival.

Thus endures the unbroken chain. The irony is profound: US allies condemn Washington’s predatory behaviour while enabling it, invoking the “rules-based order” against Beijing yet excusing America’s transgressions. While America’s economy is going through uncertainty under a tariff fallout, and China’s growing market dominates cleantech supply chains, Washington’s alliances remain its asymmetric advantage.

Decades of joint military exercises, educational exchanges and shared values (however frayed) forge bonds of steel that Beijing’s chequebook diplomacy cannot dissolve. China may control 85 per cent of rare earth refining and export artificial intelligence technologies globally, but it still lacks the cultural resonance to convert trade partners into strategic devotees.

Ultimately, hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue – and America’s allies pay it gladly. They chastise US predation while sheltering under its security umbrella; they lecture Beijing on rules they excuse Washington for breaking. This isn’t inconsistency – it’s strategy.

Alliances rooted in blood and belief outweigh grievances born of commerce. China’s trillions may buy ports and patents, but they cannot purchase the sentinel trust flowing through Five Eyes cables or binding F-35 pilots in joint drills. Until Beijing masters that currency, its charm offensives will remain echoes in a fortress it cannot breach.

---

Signs of a new drone boat surface from China’s Victory Day parade rehearsal

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3322970/signs-new-drone-boat-surface-chinas-victory-day-parade-rehearsal?utm_source=rss_feed

A new unmanned boat was spotted during rehearsals for next month’s military parade in Beijing, highlighting the growing importance of drone technology in China’s naval strategy.

According to photos and footage circulating online, the uncrewed vessel was transported on a heavy semi-trailer and features a number of obvious stealth designs, including angled surfaces, a faceted hull and concealed superstructure.

Online commenters said the structure would also have concealed antenna and radar, all aimed at reducing infrared, visual, and acoustic signatures.

The vessel appeared to be painted in the Chinese navy’s white-grey-blue camouflage and did not have a hull number. It is unclear if it is covered with radar-absorbent materials.

It has windows on its cockpit, suggesting it can also be operated by a crew.

In one online picture, the boat appears to be longer than the width of a four-lane road in Beijing, suggesting its length is probably over 15 metres (49 feet).

Rehearsals have been under way for weeks for a military parade in the capital to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, known as Victory Day.

The third major rehearsal started at 5pm on Saturday and ended at 5am on Sunday in Tiananmen Square, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The event on September 3 is expected to feature new strategic heavy weapons, with observers closely watching for the possible debut of new air-launched and sea-based nuclear-capable missiles.

“All the weapons and equipment in this parade have been selected from domestically made systems currently in active service, with a large proportion appearing for the first time,” Wu Zeke, deputy director of the parade leadership office, said on Wednesday.

The appearance of the uncrewed surface vehicle in China’s official military parade shows it has already entered military service.

The boat is much smaller than a surface stealth drone ship known as the “Killer Whale” that debuted at the Zhuhai air show last year.

The Killer Whale is a trimaran built by China State Shipbuilding Corporation (CSSC) and has a displacement of 500 tonnes.

It has a dual diesel and electric propulsion system, which allows it to reach a maximum speed of more than 40 knots (74km/h, 46mph) with a range of more than 4,000 nautical miles (7,400km, 4,600), according to the manufacturer.

CSSC describes the vessel as an “all-round warrior” that can carry a range of weapons – including rockets, anti-ship missiles and ship-to-air missiles – and is equipped with a take-off and landing pad for helicopters at the rear.

Images and footage of two extra-large uncrewed underwater vehicles have also been circulating online since last weekend’s rehearsal.

One was the AJX002, while an even larger one was kept under wraps.

The torpedo-shaped AJX002 is about 18 to 20 metres long with pump jet propulsion. It looks similar to Russia’s Poseidon autonomous nuclear torpedo, but it is unclear if it is nuclear armed or nuclear-powered.

Navies throughout the world, especially in the United States and China, have sped up research and development of these new kinds of platforms as they have played a big role in the Ukraine war.

The remote-controlled drones developed in Ukraine, which often look like speedboats without seats, can carry a large amount of explosives and have helped to cripple Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

The Pentagon has repeatedly said the US needs autonomous swarms of aerial and maritime drones to hinder a potential advance by Beijing across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan has also begun acquiring maritime drones of its own.

But there have been glitches in some of the US Navy’s drone experiments.

A test of two vessels built by US defence tech rivals Saronic and BlackSea Technologies off the California coast last month was meant to showcase the Pentagon’s top autonomous drone boats, but one vessel stalled unexpectedly.

As officials scrambled to fix a software glitch, another drone vessel smashed into the idling boat’s starboard side, vaulted over the deck, and crashed back into the water, according to Reuters.

Weeks earlier, during a separate navy test, the captain of a support boat was thrown into the water after another autonomous BlackSea vessel it was towing suddenly accelerated, capsizing the support boat.

Quoting anonymous sources, Reuters said both incidents stemmed from a combination of software failures and human error, including breakdowns in communication between onboard systems and external autonomous software.

---

Ahead of Victory Day military parade, Chinese experts cast doubt on US aid during WWII

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3322979/ahead-victory-day-military-parade-chinese-experts-cast-doubt-us-aid-during-wwii?utm_source=rss_feed

US aid to China during World War II was driven by Washington’s self-interest, and the dynamics between the two nations before 1949 was that of “coloniser and oppressed”, according to a top Chinese government-backed historical journal.

Another paper in the same issue of the periodical characterised Moscow’s wartime support as “offering fuel in snowy weather” while accusing the United States and its Western allies of trying to “erase” the Soviet Union’s contribution to the anti-fascist struggle.

The comments came two weeks before celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of China’s victory in the “people’s war of resistance against Japanese aggression” and the global victory over fascism.

It will feature a high-profile military parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on September 3, with Russian President Vladimir Putin among the headline guests and possible participation by Russian troops.

The articles were a rare instance of a strongly worded critique of wartime US-China relations from a Chinese academic institution with official ties.

They also highlighted the recent push by Chinese authorities and academics to rethink the so-called Western-centric narrative of World War II, while depicting the Communist Party of China and the Soviet forces as the backbones of the Pacific and European theatres, respectively.

“America’s ‘aid’ [during World War II] to China was fundamentally aimed at safeguarding its own interests in China and was by no means based on an equal relationship,” the Historical Review, a bimonthly journal supervised by the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS), said in this month’s issue.

The journal was launched in 2020 by the Chinese Academy of History, a national-level research institution established “under the personal guidance and kind care” of President Xi Jinping.

The article, which was available on the academic research database China National Knowledge Infrastructure on Wednesday, was an editors’ response to questions from a reader.

The reader, described as an anonymous employee of a company in Shanghai, asked whether the US had been more “benevolent” than other Western powers and sought guidance on how to interpret today’s US-China relations.

Washington did not demand territorial concessions from China but established the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship Programme for Chinese students and provided support to China during WWII, the reader said.

The journal quoted a “special commentator” as saying that in the initial phases of China’s war against Japanese aggression, the US gave China negligible aid due to its “isolationist” approach but provided Imperial Japan substantial “disguised” assistance.

Although Washington’s support for China increased after the 1941 Lend-Lease Act on aid and supplies to Allied nations, it came with “harsh” strings, according to the commentator. This included requiring Chinese troops to cooperate with US forces in Southeast Asia and tacitly permitting America’s “occupation” of northern Myanmar, then called Burma.

“After the war, the US actively backed the Kuomintang (KMT) reactionaries in launching a civil war and signed the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation, which appeared reciprocal but was in fact unequal, aiming to maintain influence in China through economic control and military intervention,” the article stated. The ruling KMT, or Nationalist Party, were beaten by the Communist Party in the Chinese civil war before retreating to Taiwan in 1949.

It said the US was “no different in essence” from other Western powers that colonised and exploited China.

“Undoubtedly, from the signing of the Treaty of Wanghia to the founding of the People’s Republic of China, relations between the US and China were those of a coloniser, the US, and the oppressed, China,” it added.

Signed in 1844, the Treaty of Wanghia was the first of the unequal treaties imposed by Washington on the Qing dynasty.

“Through various forms of ‘hidden colonialism’, the US grabbed economic, judicial and other privileges in place of territorial acquisition, gradually dismembering China’s sovereignty in modern times,” the article said.

It referred to the Open Door Policy, established by Washington in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, framing the American diplomatic initiative as a move to set rules for “carving up” the Chinese market. The policy called for equal trading rights among foreign powers in China and the preservation of the country’s territorial integrity.

The article also described the Boxer Indemnity Scholarship in the 1900s as “ill-gotten money” derived from the blood and sweat of the Chinese people.

The scholarship programme used surplus funds from the Boxer Indemnity paid by China as reparations for American losses during the 1900 Boxer Rebellion against foreign legations.

“The US used these funds to educate Chinese students in America with the aim of cultivating an elite class that would serve US interests,” the article stated.

The other related article in the journal characterised America’s support to China during WWII as “extremely limited and full of calculation”.

“In the early stages of the full-scale war of resistance [against Japan], the Soviet Union’s crucial aid was like offering fuel in snowy weather for China, which was struggling arduously,” said the article written by Zhang Zeyu, a professor of Marxism at South China Normal University.

Zhang said that over the past eight decades, the West had sought to “erase or even negate” the Soviet contribution due to its pursuit of global supremacy.

“For political motives, the US and Western countries have repeatedly belittled the Soviet anti-fascist contribution, erased its achievements and smeared the USSR as colluding with the Nazis. This is a distortion and defamation of history,” he wrote, using the initialism for the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

“The Soviet Union’s great contribution and important role in the global anti-fascist war cannot be nullified or misrepresented,’ he added.

Jiao Bing, an editor of Historical Review, also wrote in an article in the same vein in the journal’s latest issue. China and the Soviet Union “stood firmly on the right side of history, serving as the backbones” in resisting Japanese militarism in Asia and German Nazism on the European front respectively, he wrote.

This echoed the language in a signed article by Xi that was published ahead of his visit to Moscow in May for Russia’s Victory Day parade on Red Square.

In his article, the Chinese leader called for joint efforts with Russia to “uphold a correct historical perspective on WWII”.

“Any attempt to distort the historical truth of WWII, deny its victorious outcome or defame the historic contribution of China and the Soviet Union is doomed to fail,” Xi wrote in Russia’s state-run daily Rossiyskaya Gazeta on May 7.

Xi and Putin’s participation in each others’ World War II victory commemorations is interpreted as a sign of their solidarity as well as Beijing’s potential desire to stake a bigger claim on ending the war in Ukraine.

However, China has also emphasised its wartime camaraderie with the US as the two sides strive to stabilise ties ahead of a possible summit later this year between Xi and US President Donald Trump.

“The friendship between the Chinese and American people was forged amid the trials of blood and fire, and has gained new life and injected fresh impetus into bilateral relations over the years,” China’s ambassador to the US, Xie Feng, said at an event in Washington on Wednesday.

Chinese woman spends grandchild’s US$8,600 tuition to fix wrinkles to ward off bad luck

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3322355/chinese-woman-spends-grandchilds-us8600-tuition-fix-wrinkles-ward-bad-luck?utm_source=rss_feed

A 58-year-old woman in China spent 62,000 yuan (US$8,600) on wrinkle-removing treatment, believing it would stop her husband from cheating.

The woman from central China’s Henan province, surnamed Cui, went to a therapy centre in her residential compound on August 11.

The owner of the centre and another customer took Cui to a nearby plastic surgery clinic, suggesting that she should try out aesthetic medicine.

A surgeon told Cui that she had too many wrinkles on her face and that they would bring bad luck.

She was told that her crow’s feet meant that her husband was cheating on her and urged her to have them removed to block her husband’s “peach blossom luck”.

In Chinese, peach blossom luck means luck in romantic relationships.

Shd was also told that frown wrinkles between her eyebrows would bring bad fortune to her children.

Also, they said her nose was too flat and blocked her luck in finding wealth.

Cui said she did not have time to think through what the surgeon said because centre staff had already taken her phone, scanned the payment code and asked her to type in her password.

Before she realised, she paid 62,000 yuan to the clinic.

Cui said it was all her savings, which included the tuition fee for her grandson that she had been saving up.

The staff injected hyaluronic acid filler into her face and neck. According to a medical document Cui and her daughter acquired from the clinic, she received more than 10 procedures during one treatment.

Cui said she felt unwell the evening following the treatment. She could not open her mouth to eat and suffered from headaches and nausea.

Her daughter said she had been cheated by the clinic and demanded a refund.

An anonymous member of clinic staff rejected their request and suggested they take legal action.

Cui had reported the clinic to the local health inspection institute and was awaiting an official investigation.

China has been overhauling the medical industry to stop false advertising and unreasonable charges since 2019.

Several hospitals nationwide have been fined and ordered to suspend their businesses.

“To be honest, I do not think the procedures she received worked,” one online observer said, suggesting that Cui still had many obvious wrinkles.

“Many plastic surgery clinics use Chinese people’s superstition to trick them, and it works,” said another.

China must accept India is looking after itself

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3322748/china-must-accept-india-looking-after-itself?utm_source=rss_feed

The evolving dynamics between China and India, the world’s most populous nations and rising economic powers, are at a critical juncture. Recent developments have shown encouraging signs in bilateral relations, with both sides expressing a willingness to re-engage constructively.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi recently visited New Delhi, where he met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval. This has renewed the momentum of high-level exchanges and paved the way for Modi’s visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit at the end of August.

The shifting geopolitical environment has given the two countries a major strategic opportunity to achieve common understandings and reset bilateral relations. To do so, however, requires Beijing to adopt a pragmatic approach and view New Delhi as a partner in the reform of the regional and global order. Restarting talks on India’s participation in the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) can be a crucial step towards constructive collaboration in the longer term.

Notably, after President Xi Jinping and Modi met at the Brics summit in Kazan, Russia, last October, both countries have initiated discussions to restart direct air services, which had been suspended since 2020. This was followed by their agreement to lift travel bans on each other’s citizens. In July, Niti Aayog, a government think tank in India, proposed relaxing investment ownership restrictions on Chinese entities.

These overtures are particularly significant against the backdrop of global economic and political uncertainties. While US Vice-President J.D. Vance’s visit to India in April had raised expectations of a deepening strategic partnership against China at the time, President Donald Trump’s decision to raise tariffs on India to 50 per cent has encouraged Delhi’s pivot towards Beijing.

For far too long, China and India have viewed each other primarily through the lens of rivalry. This competitive dynamic is rooted in their shared self-perception as ancient civilisations with aspirations for regional and global leadership. The tension has been exacerbated by long-standing and unresolved territorial disputes, most notably the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, which resulted in casualties on both sides and a significant deterioration in relations.

The aftermath saw India ban more than 200 Chinese apps and tighten scrutiny of Chinese investments, further straining economic ties. The agreement to resume dialogue on territorial disputes following Wang’s visit is an important first step to rebuilding trust, ensuring that differing views on border demarcation will not have negative spillover effects on the overall relationship.

China’s perception of India as a potential ally of other superpowers – historically Russia, and more recently the United States – has also fuelled strategic mistrust. However, Beijing must come to terms with the reality that India’s policy of strategic autonomy and non-alignment means it seeks to secure its independent national interests, not simply align with one bloc against another.

Despite political and security tensions, economic relations between China and India remain robust. In 2024, China overtook the US to become India’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$118.4 billion. India is heavily dependent on Chinese raw materials and products, especially in sectors such as electronics, pharmaceuticals and renewables.

Although the Modi government launched the “Make in India” initiative in 2014 and the Production Linked Incentive in 2020 to boost domestic manufacturing capacity and reduce dependence on Chinese imports, the results have been mixed. While there has been some success in sectors such as electronics and pharmaceuticals, the overall impact has been limited, with only 37 per cent of production targets met by October 2024.

This downstream success but upstream failure in achieving manufacturing independence underscores the strategic interest for India in exploring a closer, complementary economic relationship with its neighbours, particularly in areas where supply chain integration is critical.

What China can offer is not just critical materials, manufacturing products or machinery but the know-how in reforming the domestic market and upgrading its industries. Among various multilateral frameworks, RCEP represents low-hanging fruit of mutual benefit that both China and India could lead. India withdrew from RCEP negotiations in 2019 over concerns about trade deficits, particularly with China, and the potential negative impact on domestic industries.

However, the agreement remains open for India’s future participation. Several RCEP members, including China, have appeared willing to address India’s concerns, including trade imbalances, by offering greater market access for Indian goods and services, reducing non-tariff barriers and engaging New Delhi in multilateral platforms such as Brics, the SCO and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank to build trust and align economic interests.

India’s partnership with the US and its participation in the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue are Delhi’s response to its complex relationship with China. A potential US-India trade deal would provide Delhi with greater leverage vis-a-vis Beijing, potentially addressing some of the imbalances in the bilateral economic relationship.

Nonetheless, however the US-India tariffs dispute pans out, India’s policy of strategic autonomy means it will continue to balance ties with all the major powers, seeking to maximise its own interests without becoming a pawn in other countries’ rivalries.

As two of the most important voices of the Global South, China and India have a shared responsibility to instil greater certainty in global governance. Their interactions within multilateral frameworks such as Brics, the SCO and potentially RCEP will significantly influence the future of multilateralism in a world mired by uncertainty.

China deliveryman saves trapped woman after seeing pillow with ‘110’ written on it

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3322343/china-deliveryman-saves-trapped-woman-after-seeing-pillow-110-written-it?utm_source=rss_feed

A driver in China who spotted a white pillow scrawled with the emergency number 110 in blood during a food delivery has helped rescue a woman who was trapped in her bedroom for 30 hours without food or water.

The incident unfolded on August 12, in Leshan, Sichuan province, southwestern China.

The delivery driver surnamed Zhang, a university student working a summer job, spotted a white pillow stained with dark red liquid and marked with the numbers 110 625, lying on the roadside near a residential compound.

Fearing someone was in danger, Zhang called the police.

With the help of a nearby hotel employee who recognised the design of the pillow, they traced it to a homestay on the 25th floor of Building 6.

The number 625 corresponded to the floor and unit.

Initially suspecting a violent crime or kidnapping, officers rushed to the scene.

However, after knocking and eventually forcing entry, they discovered that the homestay owner, a woman surnamed Zhou, had been accidentally locked inside the bedroom for 30 hours.

Zhou said that while cleaning the homestay, a sudden gust of wind slammed the bedroom door, trapping her inside due to a broken latch.

Her mobile phone was left in the living room, leaving her completely isolated.

Zhou tried kicking and banging on the door. She even stamped her feet and jumped around hoping to alert neighbours, to no avail.

She also hung a red suit out of the window and dropped foam boards from her bed to the ground below to attract attention. But still, no one noticed her signals.

With no access to water, food, or even a toilet for the entire 30 hours, Zhou suffered extreme mental distress and fear.

In a final act of desperation, she bit her finger and used her own blood to write “110 625” on a white pillow, which she then tossed out the window.

“When the police broke down the door, I was as excited as if I were seeing family,” Zhou told Red Star News after her rescue.

She tried to express her gratitude by offering Zhang 1,000 yuan (US$140), but he declined the offer.

“He is still a student, yet he refused to accept it. I was deeply touched. It made me feel the warmth of society,” she said.

Zhang said: “It was just a small act of kindness; anyone would have called the police.

His actions earned him the honorary title of Pioneer Rider from Meituan, the company he was working for, along with a 2,000 yuan reward.

Zhang has also been widely praised on mainland social media.

One person said: “Luckily, the delivery guy was sharp. He truly carried out a major feat.”

“He could have just delivered the food, but instead, he noticed something was off and acted decisively. This sense of responsibility is a comforting force in everyday life,” said another.

Investigation under way into fatal bridge collapse in northwest China’s Qinghai province

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3322967/investigation-under-way-fatal-bridge-collapse-northwest-chinas-qinghai-province?utm_source=rss_feed

Four people remained missing on Sunday after a railway bridge collapsed in the northwestern Chinese province of Qinghai, killing 12 people.

The central government has sent a task force to investigate the failure, which occurred on a section over the Yellow River at about 3am on Friday, according to state broadcaster CCTV.

The report said 16 workers were on the Jianzha Yellow River Super-large Bridge carrying out a tensioning operation when a steel cable snapped.

According to media reports, a resident nearby said he was woken by a loud noise “like an earthquake.”

A surveillance video showed the central part of the bridge falling into the river, and sparks flying off the top of the bridge as the cable broke.

The bridge spans 1.59km (about 1 mile) and its arch is 130 metres (426 feet), or about 40 storeys, above the river.

It has been described as the world’s largest-span double-track railway steel truss arch bridge.

It is part of the Sichuan-Qinghai Railway, a line under construction to connect Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, with Xining, the capital of Qinghai.

Officials from the State Council’s Work Safety Committee, the Ministry of Emergency Management, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission as well as the National Railway Administration have been sent to the site, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The search and rescue efforts involved more than 800 people and dozens of vehicles, boats and aircraft.

Qinghai Communist Party secretary Wu Xiaojun and Qinghai governor Luo Dongchuan were at the scene.

The Beijing News quoted the party secretary of Changyaoling, a village in Hubei province, as confirming that four of the workers who died were from the village. The remainder were believed to be migrant workers from other parts of Hubei.

He added that the local government had been in contact with the families of the victims.

Just two months ago, on June 14, the Qinghai Development and Reform Commission had declared that the China Railway Construction Bridge Engineering Bureau Group had completed construction of a temporary steel cable tower frame on the bridge.

The commission said the bridge had a continuous steel truss arch design, with two cable tower frames that stood 100 metres tall and weighed 1,800 tonnes each.

The structure had the longest span of its kind in the world, it said.

“Since construction began in November 2024, 39 segments of the main bridge’s steel truss arch have been completed,” the commission said.

“In the next phase, the project will … proceed with the installation of the remaining steel truss arch segments and the precise placement of the stay cables, ensuring the main bridge achieves closure as scheduled in August this year.”

Chinese man sold by teenage lover to Myanmar fraud ring freed after family pays US$48,000

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3322330/chinese-man-sold-teenage-lover-myanmar-fraud-ring-freed-after-family-pays-us48000?utm_source=rss_feed

A court in China will hear a case involving a 17-year-old girl accused of selling her 19-year-old boyfriend to a scam hub in Myanmar for 100,000 yuan (US$14,000).

The man, known as Huang, was released by the scam ring at the end of June after his family paid 350,000 yuan (US$48,000).

He was held there for nearly four months, during which time he received frequent beatings, leading to his deafness.

The case aroused widespread attention on mainland social media as Huang’s sister shared her brother’s plight online, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported.

Huang met his girlfriend, surnamed Zhou, at a billiards room in Guangzhou, southern Guangdong province, in October last year. Huang fell in love with her before moving into her rented flat.

Zhou told him she was from southeastern Fujian province and that her parents had investments across the country.

Since Huang is unemployed, Zhou persuaded him to find a job in Myanmar where her family also operates some business, she said.

On February 2, Huang flew to Thailand with Zhou without telling his family.

“It was only when we saw his post on social media that we realised he was in Thailand,” his sister said.

The couple then went to the border between Thailand and Myanmar, where they were picked up by an armed man who confiscated Huang’s passport and mobile phone.

Huang begged Zhou to give him his mobile phone to play with for a short while, and she agreed. He used it to send a cry for help to his family, who immediately called the police in China.

Huang said he was then taken to a compound called Kaixuan in Myanmar where his head was shaved and he was trained to carry out telecoms fraud schemes.

He had to work for 16 to 20 hours a day. But due to his failure to successfully swindle any victims, the managers at the compound often beat his waist with an iron stick and slapped his ears.

As a result, Huang became deaf and lost more than 10kg in weight.

The ringleader later decided to release Huang if his family could offer some compensation because they had paid 100,000 yuan to Zhou to buy him.

With the help of the Chaoshan Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar to negotiate a ransom, and the ringleader agreed to the amount of 350,000 yuan.

Huang returned to China in June. His girlfriend was arrested on her return to China after travelling in Thailand for ten days.

The case was originally scheduled to be heard at the end of July but has been postponed until an undisclosed date.

According to Huang’s sister, police officers told her the case was thorny because it is difficult to collect evidence in a foreign country.

“My brother, who was lovestruck, was completely brainwashed by his girlfriend,” Huang’s sister said. “This girl is only 17. Who could imagine she would do such evil things?”

Chinese team to delve into ancient history of Egypt’s Sekhmet Temple ruins

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3322720/chinese-team-delve-ancient-history-egypts-sekhmet-temple-ruins?utm_source=rss_feed

A team led by the Shanghai Museum will embark on a joint archaeological research project with Egypt in October at the Sekhmet Temple ruins, a complex on the west bank of the Nile River.

The temple is part of the ancient Memphis archaeological site dating back over 5,100 years, at a site that was then the capital of ancient Egypt and the home of the god Ptah.

For Beijing, the cooperation represents both an academic pursuit and a strengthening of bilateral ties, but international experts say China’s involvement could offer new insights into Egyptian history and challenge the West’s long-standing dominance of Egyptology.

Observers said the collaboration reflected deepening diplomatic ties and expanding cooperation beyond economics and politics.

The team selected the temple as the focus of the collaboration after surveying 10 sites during a research trip to Egypt in September last year.

The Shanghai Museum, which described the move as a milestone in cultural heritage collaboration, has assembled a joint excavation team led by deputy director Chen Jie.

The dig comes after the popular exhibition “On Top of the Pyramid: The Civilisation of Ancient Egypt”, which ran for a year at the museum and attracted more than 2.77 million visitors by the time it ended earlier this month.

As part of the joint project, personnel from various academic institutions, including Peking University, plan to leave for Egypt in October for a two-month excavation season. The project aims to investigate the origins of ancient Egyptian writing, social structures and religious beliefs, according to the museum.

Chinese archaeologists have already been involved in a long-running joint project in Egypt at the Temple of Montu in Luxor, a city on the east bank of the Nile.

Since late 2018, a team from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities has been excavating there, unearthing chapels, a human settlement and a mud-brick enclosure wall from the reign of Amenhotep III.

The Shanghai Museum said the joint excavation was not merely an academic exploration but a continuation of the Sino-Egyptian friendship.

“This marks a new chapter in the two-way cultural exchange between China and Egypt,” the museum said.

The Chinese ambassador to Egypt, Liao Liqiang, said on social media that the collaboration highlighted the deep friendship between the two countries and provided “a model for the preservation of global cultural heritage”.

Observers said the cultural diplomacy strengthened China’s soft power and fitted into its broader approach of promoting dialogue between ancient civilisations.

Christian Langer, an Egyptologist and assistant professor at the University of Georgia in the US, said the move to excavate ancient ruins in Egypt signalled that China was emerging as a global player, “on par with Western powers that have long dominated the scene of Egyptology”.

“It bolsters China’s global prestige,” Langer said.

He said that gaining such access meant that “diplomatic ties between China and Egypt are deepening and becoming more robust”, which would improve all other areas of cooperation.

Langer said China also had no history of colonialism or imperialism in Egypt, and Chinese researchers would probably not approach Egyptian history and heritage through the lens of Abrahamic religion, adding it could be a chance for “new insights coming through a Chinese prism”.

Salima Ikram, a professor of Egyptology at the American University in Cairo, said China was increasingly broadening its cultural scope, together with its economic and political agenda.

“I am delighted to have had three Chinese students and hope to have more,” Ikram said.

She noted that China’s archaeological cooperation with Egypt created ties that went beyond economics and politics and linked nations and people together.

“There are certain similarities between pharaonic Egypt and Chinese history, which resonate for both countries,” Ikram said.

Langer said China was interested in elevating Chinese confidence in their own culture and improving soft power abroad.

He noted that Chinese overseas archaeology also aimed to produce materials for comparative histories to make sense of China’s place in the world and its relationship with others.

“Archaeology in Egypt strengthens China’s Belt and Road Initiative due to Egypt’s position at a geostrategic chokepoint with the Suez Canal, which is vital for global commerce, and the intersection of Afroeurasia,” he said.

Nevertheless, China is a new entrant into Egyptian archaeology. For years, Western archaeologists have dominated the research and excavation of ancient ruins, leading to most major discoveries in Egypt.

Monica L. Smith, a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles, said it was encouraging to see new forms of teamwork developing after American and European teams had mainly worked across the world for more than a century.

“The research represents a logical and productive step forward in international diplomacy, education, technical achievement and cultural engagement,” she said.

British Airways committed to Hong Kong, mainland China routes: customer chief

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/transport/article/3322962/british-airways-committed-hong-kong-mainland-china-routes-customer-chief?utm_source=rss_feed

British Airways remains committed to the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese markets despite reducing its service to the city and halting flights to Beijing, its customer chief has said, stressing that the carrier will revisit its schedules once geopolitical issues change.

In an interview with the Post, chief customer officer Calum Laming emphasised that the airline had no intention of scaling back its presence in Hong Kong and on the mainland despite reduced services due to Russian airspace restrictions.

“Currently, the Beijing route is on pause and obviously with a number of geopolitical issues that are happening at the moment, particularly with the closure of certain airspaces, it makes our flights a lot longer,” he said.

“It’s not that we are withdrawing from the region or anything like that. This region remains of paramount importance to us.

“We, of course, keep a close eye on world events as we see hopefully things change and we’ll be able to revisit our network ... When the geopolitical issues lift, we will, of course, revisit it.”

The UK flag carrier last August announced that it would be pausing direct flights between London and Beijing from late October because of a Russian airspace ban.

Western countries announced the closure of their respective airspaces to Russian aircraft following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The Kremlin retaliated by restricting airlines from Europe and North America from flying over its skies.

British Airways currently runs daily flights to Shanghai and Hong Kong.

The service adjustment came after the London-based carrier rolled out plans in March last year to re-establish its presence in Asian markets such as Hong Kong, the mainland and Japan in the coming years.

The move is part of British Airways’ £7 billion (US$9.4 billion) transformation plan, the largest in its history, and includes new aircraft as well as enhanced services.

Laming stressed that British Airways still kept its teams based in Beijing while its cabin crew there were flying out of Shanghai instead.

He added the company had also formed a partnership with China Southern Airlines, which can fly over Russian airspace, allowing passengers of both carriers to redeem and collect their respective frequent flier currencies across both networks with more flight choices between the mainland and Europe.

Laming revealed that the Hong Kong-London route had recently become one of the most searched city pairs for the airline, underscoring the route’s popularity and the strong passenger interest in it.

He said the airline had dispatched a larger retrofitted Airbus A350-1000 with a new business class, Club Suite, to replace the original Boeing 787-9 for the route to offset the reduced service. The flatbed seat offers a suite door for greater privacy in a 1-2-1 configuration with 40 per cent more storage, including a vanity unit and mirror.

“So what we were trying to do is, if we are flying one, we’re going to fly a larger aircraft with more capacity with our brand new product as well … We’re trying to maximise an unfortunate situation,” Laming said.

He said the carrier remained committed to both the Hong Kong and mainland markets as the company was upbeat about the region’s air travel growth due to Beijing granting visa-free entry to certain European visitors.

“We’re certainly seeing a recovery in the marketplaces in Hong Kong, mainland China and the greater Asia region. We are seeing different growths in different areas,” he said.

“I will say the fact that we remain committed, despite the challenges of the extra flight hours, shows how important this area is to us … Both Hong Kong and mainland China remain key markets for us,” he said.

IAG, owner of British Airways and Spanish carrier Iberia, said this month that its net profit jumped 44 per cent in the first half of the year on “strong demand”.

Its profit after tax came in at 1.3 billion euros (US$1.5 billion) compared with 905 million euros in the first half of last year.

Group revenue increased 8 per cent to 15.9 billion euros in the January-June period, “reflecting strong demand for our network and brands”, IAG said.

Earlier, British Airways announced plans to expand a code-share partnership with Hong Kong’s flag carrier, Cathay Pacific, covering four additional routes served by the latter to Bangkok, Hanoi, Manila and Singapore.

Laming said the additional code-shares would allow passengers to enjoy the benefits of the Oneworld Alliance, one of the three largest global airline alliances, such as all the frequent flier recognition, the earning and burning of miles, and access to Cathay’s lounges for premium customers.

Chinese ownership of US farmland no threat to American security, envoy says

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3322959/chinese-ownership-us-farmland-no-threat-american-security-envoy-says?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top envoy in Washington has rejected suggestions that Chinese ownership of US farmland is a national security threat, saying such claims are “completely unfounded”.

Addressing a soybean industry event in Washington on Friday, Xie Feng, the Chinese ambassador to the United States, said Chinese investors owned less than 0.03 per cent of the total farmland in the US.

“How can it pose a threat to US food security as some have claimed?” Xie said, according to a transcript of his speech published by the Chinese embassy on Saturday.

“Restricting Chinese citizens and businesses from buying farmland is purely an attempt at political manipulation on the pretext of national security.”

“It is completely unfounded, and is aimed at hijacking China-US agricultural cooperation for a few individuals’ own agenda,” he said at an event held as part of the US Soybean Export Council’s global summit.

Xie’s address comes after the administration of US President Donald Trump announced plans last month to expand scrutiny of foreign ownership of American farmland – including by Chinese investors – to assess national security risks.

US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that under the National Farm Security Action Plan, “swift legislative and executive action” would be taken at “every level of government” to “ban the purchase of American farmland by Chinese nationals and other foreign adversaries”.

Rollins said American agriculture was “under threat from criminals, from political adversaries and from hostile regimes that understand our way of life as a profound and existential threat to themselves”.

However, critics of banning Chinese purchases of farmland argue that the efforts could subject Chinese-Americans and Asian-Americans to unfair extra scrutiny.

Chinese individuals or businesses own more than 112,000 hectares, or roughly 277,000 acres, of US farmland – less than 1 per cent of total foreign-held acreage – with none directly registered to the Chinese government, according to a 2023 US Department of Agriculture report.

During his speech, Xie warned that rising protectionism had “undoubtedly cast a shadow” over agricultural cooperation between China and the US.

American exports of agricultural products to China, its largest market, shrank by 53 per cent year on year in value terms in the first half of this year, according to data from the US Census Bureau.

Over the same period, US soybean shipments to China, its top buyer, also halved.

Chinese customs figures released on Wednesday also showed that in volume terms, China’s purchases of US soybeans in July fell by more than 11 per cent from a year earlier, when imports hit a record 11.67 million tonnes.

In contrast, China bought 13.9 per cent more soybeans from Brazil last month, with Brazilian supplies making up nearly 90 per cent of inbound shipments of the commodity in July.

The shift highlighted China’s “strategic adjustment” in sourcing amid the trade war with the US, the Chinese agricultural portal Cngrain said in a note on Wednesday.

In a letter to the White House on Tuesday, the American Soybean Association urged Trump to prioritise soybeans in US-China trade talks, calling for a deal that includes the removal of Chinese duties and major soybean purchase commitments.

“US soybean farmers are standing at a trade and financial precipice,” association president Caleb Ragland said in the letter. “US soybean farmers cannot survive a prolonged trade dispute with our largest customer.”

About a week earlier, Trump had called on China to “quickly quadruple its soybean orders”, a call that was soon followed by confirmation that Washington and Beijing had agreed to extend their tariff truce for another 90 days until November 10.

At the soybean summit on Friday, Xie said: “Agriculture should not be politicised, and farmers should not pay the cost of trade war.

“China is ready to work with the US side to … make good use of the economic and trade consultation mechanism, build consensus, clear up misunderstandings and strengthen cooperation.

“Just like their Chinese peers, American farmers are hard-working and kind-hearted people.”

He also called on agricultural associations and enterprises in both countries to work towards “restoring dialogue and cooperation mechanisms in the agricultural area” and to deepen the “integrated development of industrial chains”.

The last senior US-China government-to-government dialogue in agriculture was in January last year, when then-agriculture minister Tang Renjian led a Chinese delegation to Washington.

It was the first meeting of its kind since 2015.

Israeli hospital that pioneers lab-grown kidneys seeks China biotech funding

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3322904/israeli-hospital-pioneers-lab-grown-kidneys-seeks-china-biotech-funding?utm_source=rss_feed

An Israeli hospital that has achieved a breakthrough in cultivating kidneys in laboratories is seeking funding, including from China, to advance into clinical trials, according to the project’s lead researcher.

Sheba Medical Centre, in collaboration with Tel Aviv University, said it had successfully grown a synthetic 3D organ culture, or organoid, that was the first to survive beyond 34 weeks, marking a significant milestone in regenerative medicine. Previous attempts had not exceeded four weeks, according to Benjamin Dekel, director of Sheba’s paediatric nephrology unit and Stem Cell Research Institute.

The innovative potential of kidney organoids is substantial, according to Dekel. They allow researchers to model kidney diseases, facilitating a better understanding of their underlying mechanisms and enabling timely interventions. Furthermore, drug tests can be conducted on human-like kidney organoids instead of relying solely on lab tests performed on mice.

“I’m very, very optimistic about the path forward,” Dekel said. “It doesn’t involve cell transplantation, [but rather] the molecules [the organoid] secretes.” The biomolecule secretions possess properties that could help repair injured kidneys, he added.

Dekel is now focused on translating lab success into medical treatments.

“While we are making significant progress in understanding how these cells repair injured kidneys, translating scientific discoveries into clinical applications takes time,” he said.

“Once we have a clear understanding of which cells to use, the biomolecules they secrete, and how they aid in kidney repair in adults, we can begin moving towards clinical translation.”

Dekel recently returned from Beijing, where he delivered a talk titled “urine is gold” at the Institute for Regenerative Biology and Medicine under the Chinese Institute for Medical Research. He addressed potential solutions for chronic kidney disease, including an introduction to kidney organoid science for disease modelling.

When asked about potential collaborations with China, Dekel said, “We have a huge interest in Chinese and Hong Kong biotech companies, and I also think they have an interest in tackling problems such as chronic kidney diseases. We are open to commercialisation.”

“I’m a translational scientist, but I see that if you want to bring it to the clinical phases, you need commercial money and you need the big bucks,” said Dekel.

A study published in the Clinical Kidney Journal found that the prevalence of chronic kidney disease in China rose significantly from 6.7 per cent in 1990 to 10.6 per cent in 2019, totalling 150.5 million cases.

Video of China mum walking ‘calm’ toddler with knife stuck in head to hospital goes viral

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3322378/video-china-mum-walking-calm-toddler-knife-stuck-head-hospital-goes-viral?utm_source=rss_feed

A shocking video which shows a mother calmly taking her toddler daughter to the hospital with a fruit knife lodged in the child’s head has stunned social media.

The incident came to light on August 15 when a netizen posted a video showing a mother and her three-year-old daughter walking as if nothing had happened into Dongchuan People’s Hospital in Kunming, Yunnan province, in southwestern China.

According to reports, the girl’s mother, surnamed Hu, was changing bedsheets when she accidentally swung a sheet, causing a nearby fruit knife to fly off and strike her daughter’s head as she played.

However, a member of hospital staff said that the mother admitted to picking up the knife to “scare” her noisy daughter during a tantrum and accidentally struck the girl in the head.

The blade, estimated to be 15 centimetres long, became lodged in the girl’s skull just above her right ear. Part of the knife remained visibly exposed.

Hu tried to remove the knife but failed, and instead of calling an ambulance, she and her daughter went to the hospital.

A video shows the toddler calmly walking into the hospital with the knife embedded in her head. Her mother holds her hand as a member of hospital staff in a white coat guides them.

Medical staff successfully removed the knife, and the girl is in a stable condition in hospital.

The police have officially ruled the incident an accident, confirming there was no criminal intent involved.

An experienced but anonymous doctor told Chinese Business View that the knife became embedded without causing immediate fatal damage because of the softness of the child’s skull.

“If the girl’s mother had recklessly pulled the knife out, the risk would have been enormous. The correct action was to seek immediate professional medical help,” the doctor said.

The footage has taken Chinese social media by storm, leaving millions in disbelief and sparking widespread criticism of the mother.

One person said: “Is this mother even normal? The police better follow up on this.”

While another wrote: “Poor child, she even walked to the hospital calmly. Thank goodness she is OK.”

“A calm mother, a composed child, a steady doctor, and a shocked me,” said a third person.

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo challenges Apple Vision Pro with cheaper, lighter VR headset

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3322883/chinese-smartphone-maker-vivo-challenges-apple-vision-pro-cheaper-lighter-vr-headset?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese smartphone maker Vivo unveiled a mixed-reality headset that resembles Apple’s Vision Pro in name, design and interface, but weighs about 35 per cent less and is likely to cost one third as much.

The Vivo Vision is similar to the Apple gadget that is controlled with intuitive eye tracking and hand gestures, according to information published on Vivo’s website on Thursday.

But the Vivo device weighs 398 grams, much less than its US rival, which weighs at least 600g, addressing one of the most common concerns of high-end virtual-reality (VR) headsets.

The headset has two organic-light-emitting-diode displays, each with a resolution of 3,840 pixels by 3,552 pixels, which combined deliver 8K resolution. The product is powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon XR2 Plus Gen 2 Platform, which boosts the graphics-processing frequency by 15 per cent compared with its predecessor for crisp visuals and less jitter, according to the company.

The headset also offers two strap options: a solo knit band and a dual-loop band.

For now, the unit only works with certain Vivo phones and with computers running Windows 10 or later versions for screen projections.

The introduction represents a major step for Vivo into the VR industry, after it exhibited the headset in China’s southern Hainan province in March, without providing technical specifications. The Thursday announcement did not disclose a release date or pricing, but invited users to book demonstrations at certain bricks-and-mortar stores in 12 Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Vivo chief operating officer Hu Baishan told Chinese media earlier this week that the price could be brought down to roughly 10,000 yuan (US$1,393), or less.

If that is true, the product would be a threat to Apple, whose Vision Pro costs at least 29,999 yuan in mainland China.

This price-undercutting strategy mirrors that of Chinese hardware manufacturers in other sectors, such as smartphones, who offer comparable specifications at significantly lower prices.

In the second quarter, Apple ranked fifth in mainland smartphone shipments with a market share of 15 per cent, according to Canalys. Huawei and Vivo topped the list.

China is set to become one of the biggest markets for VR and augmented reality, with total spending surpassing US$10.5 billion by 2029, second only to the US, according to IDC.

China bets on military industrial might to outproduce and outlast rivals like the US

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3322933/china-bets-military-industrial-might-outproduce-and-outlast-rivals-us?utm_source=rss_feed

China is on a mission to turn its military into a modern fighting force. In the second of this , we look at how its massive defence industry can support China’s military goals, and during wartime could be further bolstered by the civilian manufacturing sector.

In the northeastern city of Shenyang, the future of China’s defence manufacturing capacity is rapidly taking shape – an enormous new aviation industrial complex that will eventually occupy an area about the size of 600 football fields.

Video of the site was aired on a provincial television news programme in early July, part of a feature about the provincial governor’s visit to the headquarters of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation. The firm, which owns the collection of new complexes, makes China’s main carrier-based fighter, the J-15, as well as the country’s most advanced J-35 stealth fighter and prototypes for a sixth-generation jet.

In the report, Wang Xinwei, governor of Liaoning province, pledged to build a “world-class aerospace city”.

Details of what the production lines would eventually look like were not revealed, and Beijing has been tight-lipped on such military facilities. However, the scope of the complex has raised eyebrows.

While the development of the military weapons used by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has seen rapid progress, the country’s industrial capacity to mass produce such weapons in the event of possible protracted warfare has also gained attention amid the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Beijing has maintained a massive defence industry to support its military goals, which during wartime could be further bolstered by the civilian manufacturing sector, experts have said.

They have pointed out that these strengths could be key to winning conflicts, including one in the Taiwan Strait, as rivals such as the United States see their defence industries bogged down by budgets and red tape.

“China’s defence industry remains formidable and has increased its incorporation of information and digital technologies. Impressive examples include China’s carrier programme, advanced surface ships, stealth aircraft, hypersonic missiles and satellite programme,” said Timothy Heath, a senior international defence researcher at the US-based Rand Corporation.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Arms Industry Database, at least four of China’s state-owned arms companies ranked among the top 25 globally in 2019, based on the value of arms sales. They included Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC), China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC), China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco), and China South Industries Group Corporation (CSGC).

The US Navy estimates that China’s shipbuilding capacity is roughly 230 times larger than that of America. According to a report by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in March, China’s largest state-owned shipbuilder constructed more commercial vessels by tonnage in 2024 than the entire US shipbuilding industry has completed since the end of World War II.

China’s leading position in global shipbuilding stretched to 14 consecutive years, according to a news release by BRS Shipbrokers in May 2024, with its top five shipyards – CSSC, COSCO, Jiangsu Hanjiang Group, Nantong Xiangyu and Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group – accounting for 62.9 per cent of the global order book.

China has the largest navy in the world, with a battle force of over 370 ships and submarines, including more than 140 major surface combatants, according to the Pentagon.

China launched its first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, in 2012. It has since built two more, including the Fujian – which is equipped with an electromagnetic catapult and expected to enter service this year. A fourth aircraft carrier – likely to be nuclear-powered – is reportedly being built in the northern port city of Dalian.

The Pentagon’s 2024 report said the PLA Air Force and PLA Navy’s fleet of aircraft together constituted the “largest aviation forces” in the Indo-Pacific region and the third largest in the world at more than 3,150 aircraft, around 2,400 of which were warplanes.

Meanwhile, the top Chinese military aircraft manufacturers are reporting significant increases in profit, with pledges to further expand production.

Several of AVIC’s core subsidiaries have reported strong financial results. Its Shenyang branch, the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation, said in 2023 that it aimed to invest 8.6 billion yuan (US$1.2 billion) to build a production site 4.2 sq km (1.6 square miles) in size over the next five years. It is believed to be the same one that appeared in last month’s news programme.

According to its 2024 annual report, AVIC’s Xian Aircraft Industrial Corporation, which produces bombers and large transport aircraft like the Y-20, recorded revenue of 43.2 billion yuan, up 7.2 per cent year-on-year.

AVIC Chengdu Aircraft Industry Group, manufacturer of the J-20 stealth fighter and a leading contender for China’s sixth-generation combat aircraft programme, reported 1.78 billion yuan in revenue, up 6.1 per cent over the previous year. The company said it had entered a new phase of “intelligent cost control” and high-autonomy manufacturing.

A senior researcher shed light on the new efficiencies in an interview with state broadcaster CCTV in July. Sun Cong, chief designer of the J-15, said the planes were “being made like mobile phones as the functions are now software-based, so the systems and software could be designed separately [to boost efficiency]”.

Despite China’s slowing economic growth, its defence spending has been stable, growing 6.8 per cent in 2021 to 7.2 per cent in 2025.

“With global instability and conflicts flaring up in multiple regions, maintaining stability requires a strong defence capability,” said Fu Qianshao, a military analyst formerly with China’s air force.

“That means accelerating the development and deployment of advanced weaponry, expanding production capacity, and ensuring that the most cutting-edge systems enter service to meet the needs of national defence.”

Fu said that China had sped up its weapons research and development timelines in recent years to meet military modernisation goals.

“The traditional model – where a new generation of equipment might take five to 10 years to design – no longer meets the demands of modern military modernisation,” he said.

China’s defence capacity is underpinned by its strong overall manufacturing base, which, according to a Rand Corporation report last year, accounted for around 25 per cent of global manufacturing output, half of which was considered dual-use.

Lu Li-Shih, a Taiwanese analyst and a former Taiwanese navy captain, credited the vigour to industrial initiatives such as “Made in China 2025” – a national plan launched a decade ago to upgrade the manufacturing sector – and military-civil fusion (MCF), which not only encourages greater civilian contributions to the military but also enables military state-owned enterprises to support the broader economy.

“Aircraft production lines in China are designed for dual use – when military demand rises, they produce military aircraft; when demand falls, they can switch to civilian production,” Lu said. “This is the essence of China’s military-civil integration.”

The MCF strategy is aimed at accelerating the integration of civilian and military industrial bases, promoting the mutual transfer of technologies and resources between the two sectors to enhance both national defence and economic development.

It was elevated to a “national strategy” in 2015. Since then, thousands of private companies have been urged to participate in defence procurement to support the PLA’s goal of achieving a “world-class” military by 2049.

The support China’s military receives from a strong industrial base contrasts sharply with recent trends seen in the US military.

In a keynote address in 2022, Cameron Holt, a retired US Air Force major general who was then deputy assistant secretary for contracting, said that the Chinese military was acquiring weapons “five to six times” faster than the US, according to a report in The National Interest.

It noted that while some US military hardware programmes may see rapid progress in their early stages, they could be hampered by budget adjustments – in essence, too much bureaucracy.

For instance, according to a July report by Breaking Defence, the engine system for the F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet was likely to face a two-year delay and would not be completed before 2030. The report quoted a US Air Force representative as saying that the hold-up reflected “supply chain challenges”.

The US Navy’s next generation attack submarine’s development was also expected to be “significantly delayed”, from financial year 2035 to 2040, according to a report to Congress sent by the Congressional Research Service in July. Such a delay could have an impact “on the future US ability to maintain undersea superiority and fulfil US Navy missions”, the report said.

Meanwhile, the next Ford-class aircraft carrier was facing a two-year delay – to March 2027 – USNI News reported in July.

Fu said American plans were not always adhered to. “Many US plans look good on paper but are abandoned before completion. Without a full development-production-sustainment cycle, it leads to massive waste in new weapons development. So even though the US has the world’s largest defence budget, its production capacity lags far behind China’s,” he said.

China’s supply chain was also a strength, he added.

“Manufacturing cannot operate without the support of a broad and complete industrial chain – for example, materials production is not strictly part of the defence sector, but is crucially related,” Fu said. “A comprehensive and self-sufficient industrial system is essential. Without it, even basic items like artillery shells cannot be produced independently,” he added.

China’s supply chain advantages include its near monopoly on rare metals that are critical for manufacturing various missiles and munitions. According to the Rand Corporation, 18 of 37 minerals relevant to defence applications are concentrated in China.

According to the 2023 CSIS report, the country was also the global leader in cast products and produced more than the next nine countries combined, including more than five times as much as the US.

Heath, from Rand, said the US defence manufacturing base had declined considerably as its supply chain was globalised to reduce costs.

“Chinese defence industries also often carry out dual-use production to include civilian-use platforms such as merchant ships to offset costs. US leaders are aware of the gap in defence industrial capacity and have debated ways to revise supply chains and restore some of the lost manufacturing capacity,” Heath said.

Research and development, and skilled personnel and engineering talent also matter. China’s R&D spending for science and technology has risen 10 per cent this year to 398.1 billion yuan, funding that will primarily benefit areas like semiconductors, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing.

However, China’s shortcomings in advanced chips remains a key gap with the US, as the country continues to rely on certain foreign capabilities – such as advanced semiconductor fabrication tools and software – to produce AI hardware.

Mainland China’s defence industrial capacity provides a potential advantage in military operations against Taiwan, according to think tank reports and analysts.

Recent regional conflicts highlight the importance of maintaining a robust stockpile. According to a CNN report on July 28, the US used up roughly 25 per cent of its high-end THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) missile interceptors during June’s 12-day conflict between Israel and Iran, raising concerns about its ability to sustain future missile defence operations.

The war in Ukraine has been a stark reminder that any protracted conflict today is likely to take the form of an industrial war, which would require a defence industry capable of manufacturing enough munitions, weapons systems and material to replace depleted stockpiles, according to a 2023 report by CSIS.

In nearly two dozen iterations of a CSIS war game that examined a US-China conflict in the Taiwan Strait, the US typically expended more than 5,000 long-range missiles in three weeks of conflict, the report noted.

In terms of anti-ship missiles, the CSIS report said, “in every iteration of the war game, the United States expended its inventory of long-range anti-ship missiles within the first week of the conflict”. It took nearly two years to produce a long-range anti-ship missile, according to the report.

While Beijing has never acknowledged having a timeline for military action against Taiwan, it has also never ruled out the use of force to reunite the island it views as part of China.

The United States, like most countries, does not recognise the self-governed island as an independent state. However, Washington is opposed to any attempt to take Taiwan by force and is committed to arming it for defence.

Beijing has intensified its military exercises around the island since August 2022 when then US house speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island.

“The defence industry provides China the ability to manufacture weapons and equipment to replace losses that are difficult for other militaries to replicate due to the lack of integrated defence industrial production networks,” Heath said.

Missiles and drones in particular are critical to modern warfare, and China has the ability to produce both in large numbers, an important factor in sustaining combat power, he added.

According to the Pentagon, China surpassed 600 operational nuclear warheads in its stockpile as of mid-2024 and will have more than 1,000 operational nuclear warheads by 2030, many of which will be deployed at higher readiness levels. China will continue to grow its force through at least 2035, it added.

“Parameters are important, but production capacity is even more crucial,” Chinese military analyst Du Wenlong said on his social media account in July, as he highlighted the role of mainland China’s pulse assembly lines in producing its warplanes and missiles.

Although Taiwanese analyst Lu believed that the mainland was likely to resolve the Taiwan issue swiftly – before US aircraft carriers could intervene – he argued that US forces were more likely than the PLA to face ammunition depletion.

He also said that PLA exercises near Taiwan were ideal for assessing its ammunition consumption levels, allowing estimates to be made during these drills and stockpiles to be prepared in advance.

The South China Morning Post has reported that the PLA has sent more military aircraft near Taiwan since William Lai Ching-te was sworn in as its leader in May 2024.

The aircraft have crossed the de facto median line more often and engaged in more operations, as observed in daily manoeuvres.