Day: August 29, 2025

Japan is expected to deploy the US-made Typhon missile system for the first time during joint military exercises with the United States next month, according to Japanese media. Advertisement Analysts view the move as a strategic signal against Beijing, especially in the event of a conflict over Taiwan. The Chinese foreign ministry criticised the move on Friday, saying Beijing firmly opposed “the US deployment of the Typhon intermediate-range missile system in Asian countries”. “The deployment of the system in Japan will further undermine the legitimate security interests of other countries.…

In the second instalment of the two-part series on the outlook for the Hong Kong and mainland Chinese stock markets, Zhang Shidong and Yulu Ao look at the catalysts that could underpin the rally. Read part one here Advertisement When Chinese stocks hit a 10-year high this week, Jian Shi Cortesi saw it as a sign that the rally could continue as overseas investors returned to the nation’s onshore and offshore equities, which are worth a combined US$20 trillion. The Switzerland-based investment director at GAM Investments expects a further uptick…

Hong Kong’s once sprawling and diffuse network of state-backed research labs has undergone a surgical transformation – streamlined, repurposed and laser-focused on Beijing’s strategic technology ambitions. Advertisement In a move emblematic of China’s broader overhaul of its national scientific apparatus, the city has dismantled underperforming labs, rebranded legacy institutions and launched three cutting-edge facilities dedicated to quantum materials and climate resilience – all under tightened alignment with national priorities. This quiet revolution is part of a nationwide push since 2022 to convert China’s bloated system of State Key Laboratories (SKLs)…

While US President Donald Trump this week said he would allow 600,000 Chinese students into the United States, members of Congress in his Republican Party are increasingly moving to dismantle many of the long-standing partnerships that would make their arrival possible. Advertisement On the day Trump said the US would welcome more Chinese students, Temple University in Philadelphia announced it was ending its partnership with the China Scholarship Council, the main Chinese government body funding study abroad for Chinese nationals. On Monday, Temple’s president, John Fry, said that the school…

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday signalled a further warming of ties with Beijing, urging the two Asian giants to collaborate in shaping a multipolar world, even as New Delhi remains wary of China’s growing military might and tries to finesse its own recent estrangement from the White House. Advertisement “Stable, predictable and amicable bilateral relations between India and China, the two largest nations on Earth, can have a positive impact on regional and global peace and prosperity,” he told the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, in an interview.…

The Spanish government has intervened at the eleventh hour to cancel a contract that would have boosted the use of Chinese tech giant Huawei’s fibre optic equipment across the country, citing “strategic autonomy”. Advertisement The €10 million (US$11.69 million) contract had been greenlit by the relevant public utility on Monday, only for Spain’s digital transformation ministry to move at the last minute to nix it, El País reported, for “reasons of digital strategy and strategic autonomy”. Madrid had been under fire from Brussels and Washington for doubling down on its…

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s coming visit to China – his first in over six years – for a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II could reinvigorate Beijing-Pyongyang ties and signal a broader strategic realignment, according to observers. Advertisement For the first time, Kim will appear alongside Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin at Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on September 3, in what analysts said would be a rare show of unity and a calculated act of defiance against US-led pressure.…