Day: June 21, 2025

Big city lights? Too dull, say bright-eyed Chinese travellers who prefer to dream of far-flung locales – areas more likely to drain their life alongside their bank account. And oh, what a thrill. Advertisement Chinese tourists eyeing overseas excursions are increasingly turning their gaze to remote areas – generally away from urban settings and run-of-the-mill tourist destinations that comprise the photo posts of more traditional travellers, and towards off-the-beaten-path locations that, in many cases, wowed them on social media. They are often pitched as once-in-a-lifetime experiences that allow people to…

Several Chinese ambassadors from West African nations have bid farewell to their host countries in recent weeks. Advertisement While some analysts suggest their departure could be routine rotations for diplomats, one said it could be a subtle message sent to Sahelian regimes amid rising tensions over resource nationalism and security concerns. In Senegal, a new Chinese ambassador, Li Zhigang, was welcomed in May, replacing Xiao Han, who had served for around four years. In Guinea, Huang Wei is concluding his seven-year tenure as China’s envoy, with Prime Minister Amadou Oury…

Hong Kong is at risk of splitting up into two economies. On one end, Hong Kong’s financial, professional and business services are being revived on the back of China’s resurgent, tech-driven economy and the shifting balance of power between Washington and Beijing. Advertisement Credit rating downgrades, poor responses to auctions of US Treasuries and slower growth as predicted by the World Bank – lowered to 1.4 per cent in June from 2.3 per cent in January – have sent the mighty US dollar on a downtrend and a flight of…

The appearance of a senior Taiwanese officer at a military exercise in Alaska has attracted widespread attention on the island, where many see it as a signal that there may be closer defence cooperation with the United States in the future. Advertisement Analysts said the move also suggested the US would stick to its security commitments despite US President Donald Trump’s transactional approach towards Washington’s allies in the region. The exercise, Red Flag Alaska 25-2, is one of the US Air Force’s largest annual air combat drills designed to sharpen…

China has successfully tested a home-grown operating system in space, marking a major step towards reducing reliance on foreign software and boosting the performance of future small satellites. Advertisement More than 1,000 hours of in-orbit testing were conducted aboard the Dalian-1 Lianli CubeSat to evaluate how satellite subsystems performed under the OpenHarmony real-time operating system (RTOS) – a lightweight version of Huawei’s open-source operation platform, according to a team of researchers from the Chinese cities of Dalian and Xian. With OpenHarmony, the suitcase-sized satellite, which was released from China’s Tiangong…

A former UN secretary general has called for an overhaul of the United Nations to better confront global challenges as “some powerful nations” seek to undermine the institution. Advertisement Ban Ki-moon, who was secretary general of the United Nations from 2007 to 2016, said in Hong Kong on Tuesday that the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza showed the need for a multilateral response. “The illegal Russian war against Ukraine and the horrific war in Gaza represent one of the most dangerous moments for global security, and challenges to multilateralism, in…

China’s most advanced aircraft carrier, the Fujian, is expected to have the ability to carry out “deck load strikes”, a type of swarm attack that could help the country’s navy gain a first-mover advantage in combat, according to state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday. Advertisement A deck load strike refers to the ability to rapidly launch a large number of aircraft at once. This tactic was used by the US Navy during the Vietnam war for shock effect. While military experts had speculated that the Fujian would be able to carry…

Manoeuvres around Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army have become a routine affair, but their tempo and intensity have steadily increased in recent years. Advertisement What were occasional sorties before 2020 have evolved into a well-coordinated campaign designed not only for combat training but also for strategic signalling. But not all PLA operations around Taiwan are the same. They fall into three main categories: near-daily aerial patrols, combat-readiness patrols, and large-scale joint forces exercises – each varying in scale, intensity and purpose. So what kind of signals do each of…