Day: July 4, 2025

As the United States vows to curb China’s dominance in shipbuilding – despite its domestic capacity being nearly nonexistent – South Korea and Japan are looking to benefit from the rivalry and reclaim their competitive edge. Advertisement South Korea’s president, Lee Jae-myung, who took office a month ago, campaigned on supporting the industry – which he described as being “in major crisis”. “Shipbuilding has been a core industry driving Korea’s exports and creating jobs,” he said in a social media post on May 14. “I will create a maritime power…

Last month’s Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) defence meeting served not only as a curtain-raiser for the bloc’s summit in the autumn, but also as a test of Beijing’s broader ambition to promote a Global South-empowered multipolar world order. Advertisement Like Brics – the grouping of developing countries established by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – the Global South-oriented SCO is a showcase for China’s home-ground diplomacy. Beijing has increasingly relied on these platforms to denounce hegemony and unilateralism while presenting itself as a defender of the Global South…

China could draw on its innovation in advanced manufacturing to improve business – and overall – ties with the United States amid a fragile trade truce, according to a prominent American political scientist. Advertisement In an interview, Robert Pape, a professor at the University of Chicago, also said China could “rise peacefully” to be the world’s leading superpower through its strength in innovation if it continued “moderate responses” to US President Donald Trump’s foreign policy – while America grappled with domestic fractures and a rise in political violence. Pape, who…

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China tells EU it does not want to see Russia lose its war in Ukraine: sources Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the European Union’s top diplomat on Wednesday that Beijing did not want to see a Russian loss in Ukraine because it feared the United States would then shift its whole focus to Beijing, according to several people familiar with the exchange. 2.…

US President Donald Trump’s stance on Taiwan will be pivotal to the success of a long-awaited potential next visit to Beijing, according to a prominent Chinese scholar. Advertisement When he is in China, Trump “should say very clearly that the US does not support Taiwan independence”, said Wu Xinbo, dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, who added it would not be new for a US president to say that. Wu said that the national security teams from both Washington and Beijing should meet face-to-face…

New images of China’s J-20A stealth fighter have begun circulating on Chinese social media, with the photographer claiming the jet, also known as the Mighty Dragon, is rehearsing for a September military parade debut. Advertisement The photos of the J-20A were shared on Wednesday alongside photos of the J-35, another fifth-generation Chinese stealth fighter. In recent weeks, advanced aircraft have repeatedly been seen flying in formation across the country, including several identified as J-20A jets, according to social media posts. China will hold a grand military parade on September 3…