Day: July 20, 2025

Why China is surging ahead of Trump’s US in green energy race

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As US-China tensions continue, one contrast stands out sharply between the big power rivals – their approach to energy and climate issues. Advertisement Even as the Trump administration cripples green energy endeavours with executive orders and the “Big Beautiful Bill”, China is building on its title as the world’s largest renewable energy investor. According to the State Grid Energy Research Institute, China is expected to bolster its national power grid by a record 500 gigawatts (GW) of renewable energy capacity this year. The energy debate unfolds with the rapidly warming…

Japan’s Ishiba loses majority in historic defeat

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Japan’s Liberal Democratic party, the political bloc that has governed the country almost exclusively for 70 years, has lost its majority in both houses of parliament for the first time. The LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, emerged from Sunday’s pivotal election to the 248-seat upper house at least two seats short of the figure needed to retain a majority.  The result of the election, which was fought against a…

Caught between a fossil fuel past and a green future, China’s coal miners chart an uncertain path

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Gazing over the remains of his home, Wang Bingbing surveys a decades-old jujube tree flowering through the rubble, and the yard where he and his wife once raised pigs, now a pile of crumbled brick. In the valley below, a sprawling coalmine is the source of their dislocation: years of digging heightened the risk of landslides, forcing Wang and his family out. To prevent the family from returning, local authorities later demolished their home. “We really didn’t want to leave,” Wang’s wife, Wang Weizhen, says ruefully. Wang’s life is the…

China’s SpinQ sees quantum computing crossing ‘usefulness’ threshold in 5 years

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Quantum computing is poised to reach a tipping point in three to five years by becoming useful for solving real-world problems, as computers harnessing about 500 qubits become a reality, according to Chinese start-up SpinQ. Advertisement Founded in 2018 and based in Shenzhen, SpinQ has two main product lines: small-scale nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum computers with about three qubits for educational use and industrial-grade superconducting quantum computers with up to 20 qubits. In 2020, SpinQ launched the world’s first programmable desktop NMR quantum computer. In 2023, it shipped a…

Extreme weather drives food price surges across the globe

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. From potatoes in Britain to onions in India, weather extremes driven by climate change are driving short-term food price surges globally, research has found. A study led by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center directly links dozens of climate extremes to sharp food price spikes, highlighting the increasing vulnerability of food systems to environmental shocks. Previous studies have examined how high temperatures, which cause waning yields and supply shortages, drive general food…

Sean Stein on why US businesses are walking a tightrope to stay in China

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Sean Stein is president of the US-China Business Council (USCBC), a Washington-based non-profit organisation that promotes trade between the world’s two largest economies. The council represents more than 270 American companies doing business in China. Advertisement He most recently served as board chair of the American Chamber of Commerce in China and is chair emeritus of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. Before that, he served for nearly three decades as a diplomat, including as US Consul General in Shenyang and Shanghai. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus.…

FirstFT: Japan’s prime minister signals intent to stay on despite election setback

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This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters here Good morning and welcome to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter: Japan’s ruling party dealt election blow Why AI groups are spending on top experts Inside India’s powerful Hindu-nationalist movement We start with Japan’s upper house election — an exit poll published yesterday suggested a heavy setback for the ruling Liberal Democratic party. The latest: Japan’s…

Australia should not sabotage its own efforts to boost ties with China

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Chinese media outlets were keen to accentuate the positives of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to China. However, sections of the Australian media played up the idea that China was attempting to drive a wedge between Australia and the United States and members of the Australian opposition criticised the visit, calling some of Albanese’s stops “indulgent”. Advertisement The visit achieved much in some areas, but otherwise made little progress. Despite reported efforts by Elbridge Colby, US undersecretary of defence for policy, to seemingly sabotage the visit, Albanese deftly refused…

Japan’s PM Ishiba signals intent to stay on despite election blow

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Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba appeared determined to battle on in office on Sunday, despite a heavy setback for his Liberal Democratic party in an election fought over the rising cost of living and immigration. Speaking as results started to emerge in Sunday’s election for just over half the seats in the upper house, Ishiba told reporters that he would “continue to take responsibility for national issues”. An exit poll published after voting ended suggested the ruling LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, would lose their combined majority in the…

Japan’s PM Ishiba signals intent to stay on despite forecast election blow

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Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba appeared determined to battle on in office on Sunday, despite a heavy setback for his Liberal Democratic party in an election fought over the rising cost of living and immigration. Speaking as results began to emerge in Sunday’s election for just over half the seats in the country’s upper house, Ishiba told reporters that he would “continue to take responsibility for national issues”. An exit poll published after voting ended suggested that the ruling LDP and its coalition partner, Komeito, would lose their combined majority…