Month: July 2025

The American sixth-generation fighter jet programme is expected to face development delays stemming from supply chain challenges, according to government documents and media, as the US-China rivalry over advanced aircraft grows. Advertisement Military news site Breaking Defence reported on Thursday that the engine system for the F-47 sixth-generation fighter jet was likely to face a two-year delay and would not be completed before 2030. Citing 2026 budget documents released in June, it said development of the engines was expected to be completed in early 2030. The original timeline estimated it…

Foreign spies have been using China’s postal system to “steal” rare earths, the country’s top security agency has warned, adding that it is cracking down on the smuggling channels. Advertisement In a statement posted on its social media account on Friday, the Ministry of State Security cited various tactics used by an unnamed country that it said could not produce its own rare metals and was stealing the minerals to shore up its own supplies. The ministry said it had discovered that a foreign contractor had been shipping the restricted…

Already the world’s busiest shipping port, China’s financial centre Shanghai is now positioning itself as a world-class shipbuilding hub, with an eye on high-value models such as those designed to transport liquefied natural gas (LNG) and containers. Advertisement The Shanghai municipal government has unveiled plans to augment its shipyards on Changxing Island, situated across the southern mouth of the Yangtze River and near the Yangshan Deep-Water Port. The Yangshan facility, a component of the Port of Shanghai, holds sea trials for large vessels. Hi-tech ships such as LNG carriers and…

China trimmed its US Treasury holdings for a third straight month in May, amid escalating trade tensions with Washington and mounting concerns over a sweeping tax and spending bill. Advertisement Beijing’s holdings fell to US$756.3 billion from US$757.2 billion in April, according to US Treasury Department data. That was the lowest level since March 2009, based on figures compiled by Wind. The decline has continued since March, when China dropped to third place among foreign holders, behind Japan and the United Kingdom. In May, China and the US agreed to…

Beijing has issued a warning to Chinese students planning to study in the Philippines, its competitor in a highly contentious territorial dispute over the South China Sea, citing recent safety concerns and a string of criminal cases targeting Chinese nationals. Advertisement In a statement released on Friday, China’s education ministry urged students to “carefully assess security risks” and “strengthen safety awareness” before heading to the Southeast Asian country. “Recently, public security in the Philippines has been unstable, with frequent crimes targeting Chinese citizens. The Ministry of Education reminds all students…

After spending years studying advanced infrared sensors, a group of Chinese researchers has produced a device that could be used to build a surveillance network more powerful and effective than the proposed US missile defence system known as the “Golden Dome”. Advertisement The Chinese technology, which is capable of unprecedented detection speeds 20,000 times faster than conventional technology, was inspired by nature’s most sensitive heat seeker – the fire beetle. Infrared sensing technology is vital for detecting objects in challenging settings where smoke, fog or dust may obscure conditions. It…