Month: August 2025

Brazilians now view the United States more negatively than positively for the first time in two years, according to a new survey released on Tuesday, while perceptions of China have improved. Advertisement The Quaest poll found 48 per cent of Brazilians hold an unfavourable opinion of the US, double the level recorded in early 2024 (24 per cent), while 44 per cent said their view was positive. China moved in the opposite direction, with 49 per cent now seeing it favourably, up from 38 per cent last year, and 37…

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his proposal to admit hundreds of thousands of Chinese students, saying the US is “honored” to host them and warning that the American college system would “go to hell” without them. Advertisement Facing growing anger from his political base, Trump dismissed criticism of the plan as “insulting” and pointed to his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping as part of a broader strategy of engagement. “We’re getting along very well with China, and I’m getting along very well with President Xi,” he said…

Calls are mounting for the European Union to fire its “trade bazooka” at Washington after US President Donald Trump threatened tariffs and export restrictions on countries applying digital laws and taxes to American firms. Advertisement In a late-night post on social media, Trump vowed to slap “substantial additional tariffs” and restrict the export of “technology and chips” to countries enforcing “digital taxes, legislation, rules or regulations”. While he did not name Europe directly, the American leader has previously railed against the bloc’s digital services and digital markets acts, aimed at…

Revived threats of tariff increases from US President Donald Trump over China’s supply of rare earth elements highlight the minerals’ importance in global manufacturing, analysts said – and show Beijing its dominance in this area remains a potent source of leverage in trade negotiations. Advertisement China will face “200 per cent tariffs, or something” unless it continues to ensure shipments of permanent magnets containing the minerals will reach the US, Trump said during a meeting with South Korean President Lee Jae Myung at the White House on Monday. He described…

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. Trump says China must ensure rare earth magnets or face 200% tariffs US President Donald Trump said on Monday that China must ensure the US supply of rare earth magnets or face 200 per cent tariffs, and that he will continue to allow Chinese students into the country. 2. Why China and US still invest in crewed military systems when they have drones Rapid…

Advertisement The Hangzhou-based start-up’s updated model, which supports an innovative data format called UE8M0 FP8, was “ushering in a booming domestic computing power chain”, Huatai Securities analysts said in a research note on Tuesday. That architecture showed that the synergy between mainland-designed software and chips would realise significant results, according to the report. FP8, known as floating-point 8, is a format that reduces precision to speed up AI training and inference by using less memory and bandwidth. UE8M0, another 8-bit format, is said to increase training efficiency, which reduces hardware…

China is set to unveil a new-generation, lighter tank during next month’s military parade, designed to better survive drone strikes and be more suitable for potential Taiwan operations, according to a Chinese analyst. Advertisement A new type of tank was recently spotted on Beijing’s streets during rehearsals for the September 3 massive military parade, which marks the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World War II. The vehicle appears to be a medium-weight tank, lighter than the third-generation Type 99A main battle tank (MBT), and is equipped with…

The first-half profit of China’s most valuable insurance company missed analysts’ estimates, as one-off revaluations of investments eroded the increasing sales of life and health products by Ping An Insurance (Group). Advertisement Interim net profit fell 8.8 per cent to 68.05 billion yuan (US$9.50 billion) from a year earlier, missing a 4.4 per cent increase that was expected by Bloomberg’s consensus estimate. The value of new business in Ping An’s life and health insurance divisions, a key measure of future growth, rose 39.8 per cent during the period to 25.96…

Taiwan on Tuesday cautioned its entertainers against echoing mainland Chinese propaganda, singling out Beijing’s military parade next week while reiterating that government employees and senior retired officers were forbidden from attending. Advertisement The warning was issued by the island’s Mainland Affairs Council ahead of the Victory Day parade in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on September 3 to mark the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II. “Taiwanese entertainers developing careers in mainland China must abide by cross-strait regulations, be mindful of public perception, and refrain from supporting the Communist…

Advertisement The huge Victory Day parade will be held in the heart of Beijing on September 3 to mark 80 years since the end of World War II after Japan’s surrender. Fighter jets will fly in formations simulating a “real-war scenario” and highlighting their joint combat operations, according to the Xinhua report on Monday. It said the aircraft on show would have capabilities ranging from early warning and command to precision strikes, and the formations would involve a mix of fighter jets with visible weapon payloads showing the integration of…