On Wednesday, China is holding a military parade in the capital, Beijing, to mark 80 years since the end of the second world war. But it’s not just about the past, the parade says a lot about the forces reshaping the world today, and in the future. At the parade, Chinese leader Xi Jinping will be flanked by the leaders of some of the world’s most heavily sanctioned nations – Russia, North Korea, Iran and Myanmar – and a host of other leaders of the global south but notably almost…
Month: August 2025
China’s Xi Jinping addresses world leaders as SCO summit begins
This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. New users who download our updated app get a seven-day free trial. China is hosting the annual Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the northern port city of Tianjin, to be attended by dozens of world leaders and chiefs of international organisations. On Monday, President Xi Jinping kicked off the official meeting with leaders of SCO member nations including Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra…
Will China boost defence posture as Vietnam deepens footprint in Spratlys?
Beijing may be prompted to fortify its defences in the disputed South China Sea, observers have warned, after new satellite images showed Vietnam had stepped up island-building in the Spratly Islands. Advertisement Vietnam occupies the most features on the contested Spratlys, which China claims as the Nansha Islands. Rival claimants over all or part of the archipelago include Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei. Satellite images released on August 22 by the US think tank Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) showed all 21 Vietnamese-occupied features had been expanded to…
Young Chinese are seeking their fortune in Southeast Asia. Will they find it?
Kent Cai, a Chinese entrepreneur based in the eastern province of Zhejiang, made a major life decision earlier this year by moving abroad to pursue a PhD. Advertisement While this is not uncommon, his destination of choice might appear unusual – he did not, as many of his peers, relocate to the United States or Europe. He went to Malaysia. Upon arriving on campus in Kuala Lumpur to study the application of AI-driven tools in media production, Cai noticed he was not the only one to make such a move.…
As China’s military closes gap on US, economic security becomes the new frontier
As next-generation tanks and fighter jets roll past the Gate of Heavenly Peace in Beijing to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, many in China will be swept up in a sense of national pride. Advertisement The Chinese leadership has set a target for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to emulate the American military – often described as the greatest fighting force in history – by 2049. The futuristic hardware on show by the PLA will prompt optimism at home that China is on track…
Geoffrey Hinton on preventing an AI takeover and the ‘worrying’ China-US rivalry
Geoffrey Hinton is a British-Canadian computer scientist often called the “godfather of AI” because of his revolutionary neural network models inspired by the structure of the human brain. His research brought about a paradigm shift that enabled today’s machine learning technology. He won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Physics with John J. Hopfield of Princeton University. Advertisement Hinton holds the title of university professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. A company he co-founded with two graduate students was acquired by Google in 2013. He joined Google Brain, the company’s…
Putin, Modi and Erdoğan among leaders in China for talks with Xi
The leaders of more than two dozen nations arrived in China on Sunday for a showpiece summit that seeks to challenge US-led, western-dominated blocs. Xi Jinping personally welcomed several leaders, including the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan. Xi is also expected to hold talks with Vladimir Putin, with whom he is closely allied under what they have termed a “limitless” partnership. The bilateral meetings are being held on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin. The SCO is a…
Multipolar arms race takes ballistic missile threat to new levels
War is just one press of a button away, and the likelihood of that happening – even if accidental – is not insignificant. The advancement of ballistic missile capabilities has opened up new battle spaces. Just as during the Cold War, today’s adversaries can hold each other’s populations hostage under the threat of nuclear war. Advertisement As we mark 80 years since the second world war ended, it is becoming easier to fathom our world at war again. However, while it may be true the “long peace” was more an…
Why likely US-Taiwan joint arms production may ring alarm bells in Beijing
Joint US-Taiwan weapons production could threaten regional stability and also face challenges, analysts in mainland China have warned, after a senior American senator played up the prospects for such cooperation. Advertisement According to Reuters, US Senator Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate armed services committee and a strong advocate for Taiwan, said on Saturday that he expected “joint production and joint efforts” on weapons production between the two sides as Taipei had pushed for. Wicker’s remarks to reporters came as he wrapped up a two-day visit to Taiwan with fellow…
China launches tiny Mexican satellites in rare North American rocket contract
Mexico has become the second country in North America to send satellites into orbit using a Chinese rocket – more than half a decade after Canada blazed the trail. Advertisement Two satellites from ThumbSat, a start-up based in Tijuana, just across the border from San Diego, were among a batch of seven launched into sun-synchronous orbit earlier this month by Beijing-based CAS Space on board its solid-fuel Kinetica-1 rocket. ThumbSat hailed the launch of its femtosatellites – each weighing less than 100 grams – as Mexico’s first commercial mission to…