Year: 2023

Clashes between China’s coastguard and the Philippine navy around the Second Thomas Shoal have intensified in recent months, prompting the Philippines to step up plans to strengthen its occupation of the land feature with a potential “civilian structure” like a lighthouse or research centre. The Philippine congress recently allocated funding under its 2024 national budget for the project. But Mao said the Second Thomas Shoal was an uninhabited reef and the establishment of any permanent structures would be a significant change to the status quo. “[Building a permanent structure] would…

“Due to continued stream of imported cases of JN.1 and the mass movement of people before and after the Lunar New Year, the JN.1 variant is likely to become a prevailing variant in the country, and that will cause an increase in Covid-19 cases,” Li Zhengmao, from the National Administration of Disease Prevention and Control, said on Friday. Li added that China was bracing for an uptick in multiple respiratory diseases during the winter. “[The rise in JN.1 cases] will increase the risks of severe cases and deaths among elderly…

The EH216-S model aircraft, which is designed and manufactured by EHang, has reportedly completed over 42,000 successful flights, and has a top speed of 130km/h (81mph). 01:15 Drone food deliveries take off in China’s tech city, Shenzhen Drone food deliveries take off in China’s tech city, Shenzhen “[The demonstration] not only sets a significant benchmark for the airworthiness certification of innovative eVTOLs in China and globally, but it also marks a groundbreaking milestone in the commencement of commercial operations for urban air transportation,” added Li. The flight route is preset,…

By 2026, China will have more than 300 “typical” data applications, a few data application demonstration zones and an array of “innovative and influential” data providers and third-party agencies, according to the draft plan. The final document has yet to be released. Beijing launches AI platform to meet country’s rising demand for computing power “We aim to fully utilise the value of data and provide solid support to high quality [economic and social] development,” NDA deputy head Shen Zhulin said in Beijing on Friday. “We selected 12 industries and sectors…

He had disappeared from the public eye in late August and no reasons have been given for his removal. Li, was the first Chinese defence minister to be placed on a US sanctions list – because of arms sales from Russia – and was the second government minister abruptly removed from his post this year. US defence secretary to meet Chinese counterpart ‘when that person is named’ The foreign minister Qin Gang has also disappeared from view and was replaced by his predecessor Wang Yi in July. Both Li and…

Willingness to get married and have children continued to fall in China last year, with a significant drop also seen in the interest to raise a second child, an official yearbook on population and employment statistics for 2022 showed. Over 51 per cent of people aged between 25 and 29 in China remained single in 2022, up from 48.7 per cent for the previous year, the 2023 China Population and Employment Statistical Yearbook showed. The unmarried rate for the thirty-something age group also rose mildly, according to data based on…