Month: July 2025

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. How Trump’s latest tariffs on allies, rivals could fund his ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ As the ink on US President Donald Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill” barely dried, he turned his focus back to tariffs, ending a three-month lull in global trade tensions. 2. China’s exports accelerate in June as US trade truce creates opening China’s exports recorded a larger-than-expected acceleration in June, as…

Donald Trump’s recent spats with Elon Musk – which included threats to deport the South African-born billionaire – have prompted speculation that he might move his business empire to China. Advertisement That prompted Trump to write on social media earlier this month: “Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE.” Musk’s…

China’s central bank intends to carefully calibrate the intensity and pace of its “moderately loose” monetary policy implementation, taking steps to help the country’s economy grow by Beijing’s goal of around 5 per cent this year. Advertisement Zou Lan, deputy governor of the People’s Bank of China, said on Monday that the agency would closely monitor and evaluate the transmission and actual effects of previously implemented measures. And any future steps would be based on domestic and international financial and economic conditions, as well as the performance of financial markets.…

Advertisement Recordings of the pilots’ discussions with air traffic control suggest that an Air China passenger plane made an unexpected manoeuvre that put it on a potential collision course with an SF Airlines cargo plane. The manoeuvre had not been requested by air traffic control and the reason why the plane did this is yet to be explained. However, the recording shows that the air traffic controller had asked another plane in the area to stay at a higher altitude and one possible explanation is that the Air China pilot…

Taiwan’s navy on Monday live-streamed a minelaying drill to showcase its determination to block and delay a potential amphibious assault by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Advertisement The display was part of this year’s annual Han Kuang military exercise aimed at strengthening combat readiness for a potential cross-strait conflict. The drill, held off the Zuoying naval base in the southern port city of Kaohsiung, coincided with a separate urban warfare exercise in which military police armed with Stinger missiles carried out an underground redeployment – using the Taipei metro system…

China and India will restart mutual personnel travel and direct flights after more than five years of suspension, the two countries’ foreign ministers agreed in Beijing on Monday. Advertisement Transit between the world’s most populous neighbours has been cut off since 2020, first because of the Covid-19 pandemic and then a deadly border clash in the Himalayas. The announcement came as India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar is in Beijing, his first trip to China since 2020. The visit came as bilateral ties made some recoveries from the border incidents…

China’s fast-developing humanoid robot market segment is seeing demand from enterprises gather speed, as prominent start-ups AgiBot and Unitree Robotics have landed orders totalling 124 million yuan (US$17.3 million) from state-owned China Mobile, the world’s largest telecommunications firm by number of subscribers. Advertisement That order from China Mobile’s subsidiary in Hangzhou, capital of eastern Zhejiang province, involves the supply of 78 million yuan worth of full-size humanoid robots from AgiBot and 46 million yuan in smaller machines – with computational capability and nimble-fingered hands – from Unitree, according to a…

China will hold its first joint military training exercise with the Serbian military this month as defence ties deepen between Beijing and the Balkan country. Advertisement Chinese defence ministry spokesman Jiang Bin said on Monday that army special forces from China and Serbia would hold the joint training exercise Peace Defenders-2025 in Hebei in late July. “This will be the first joint training between the Chinese and Serbian militaries. It will help strengthen the combat skills of participating troops and deepen cooperation between the two militaries,” Jiang said. Similar joint…

As the ink on US President Donald Trump’s signature “One Big Beautiful Bill” barely dried, he turned his focus back to tariffs, ending a three-month lull in global trade tensions. Advertisement With the pause on April’s “reciprocal tariffs” expiring on July 9, Trump has announced new rates on 25 economies over the past week – including both neighbours and long-time allies. In this explainer, the Post wraps up the latest developments and explores what lies ahead. Which countries have received Trump’s tariff letters? The European Union and Mexico are the…