Day: May 5, 2025

Migratory pests from mainland Southeast Asia, thriving under El Niño, are partially driving rice yield losses in southern China, a study led by Peking University has found. Advertisement The researchers said the new findings were crucial for ensuring food security in the region through collaborative, international pest control strategies. The scientists found that during El Niño years, warm, humid weather created favourable breeding conditions in the pest source region, while wind gusts helped them migrate to southern China. The team from Peking University, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, Potsdam…

A new battle in China’s e-commerce war has erupted in the form of “instant commerce”, a combination of online shopping and extremely fast delivery, as technology giants Alibaba Group Holding, JD.com and Meituan open a new phase of competition for consumers’ wallets. Advertisement Chinese consumers are set to be spoiled by new services offering “instant satisfaction” while shopping on China’s leading e-commerce platforms. Consumers in Beijing or Shanghai can order a cup of iced tea via a smartphone app and expect it on their doorstep within an hour. Even better,…

The US House of Representatives intensified its legislative push against Beijing on Monday, advancing a slate of China-related bills targeting industrial espionage, export controls, national security threats and alleged human rights abuses. Advertisement At the same time, lawmakers moved to deepen US ties with Taiwan and protect Falun Gong practitioners. In a show of bipartisan consensus on China-related legislation, all bills were passed by voice vote. The bills had stalled in the Senate during the last Congress and must now win passage there, before they can head to the White…

One man’s waste is Ma Long’s treasure. Advertisement And in the new-energy era, his map leads to exhausted lithium-ion batteries – veritable troves of reusable resources that are supercharging profits at Ma’s company, a maker of solid-waste-recycling equipment in central China. Pricey components such as lithium – a silvery-white alkali metal aptly nicknamed “white gold” – along with other materials such as cobalt and nickel, hold their value beyond the life of the batteries powering China’s massive electric-vehicle (EV) industry. “There is huge potential in the business of new-energy waste,…

Between US President Donald Trump’s April 2 volley of tariffs and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s three-country stop in Southeast Asia just two weeks later, most of the Asia-Pacific’s attention was captured by the implications of these contrasting developments. Advertisement But what happens on the ground in smaller countries offers a more interesting composite of local dynamics that can defy reductive geopolitical narratives. The recent controversy in Malaysia involving the publication of the country’s flag in a local Chinese-language newspaper during Xi’s trip to Kuala Lumpur is just such an example.…