Month: August 2025

Beijing has vowed to defend its maritime rights after a US report that Vietnam has sped up its island-building efforts in the contested Spratly Islands this year. Advertisement In a report on Friday, the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI), part of the Washington-based Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), said Vietnam had ramped up construction on multiple reefs in 2025. Responding to the report on Monday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said the islands “are China’s inherent territory”. “We firmly oppose construction activities by the relevant country on…

Cambricon Technologies became the costliest stock in mainland China’s equities market, as the Beijing-based chipmaker replaced the liquor distiller Kweichow Moutai in a sign of the rising significance of artificial intelligence (AI) in the world’s second-largest capital market. Advertisement Trading under the symbol 688256 in Shanghai, Cambricon’s shares jumped 11.60 per cent on Monday to a record 1,384.93 yuan, giving it 579.38 billion yuan (US$81 billion) in market value. The stock has more than doubled in price this year and surged fivefold in the past 12 months. At that price,…

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky a message to mark the country’s independence day on Sunday – the first public congratulations sent by Beijing since the Russian invasion of February 2022. Advertisement Xi’s message, which Zelensky posted on social media, said: “Over the past 33 years since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China-Ukraine relations have developed steadily, and cooperation in various fields has yielded remarkable results. “I stand ready to work with you to guide our bilateral relations towards steady and long-term development and bring greater…

China’s express delivery industry is responding to a broad government push to limit downward price spirals by raising courier fees in e-commerce hubs, a move analysts said could ease pressure in the short term, though weak demand could cause the fierce competition between firms to persist. Advertisement After several local postal administrations made changes to their fee structures, the minimum delivery surcharge in Yiwu, Zhejiang province – the world-renowned centre for the production of small commodities – rose by 0.2 yuan (0.3 US cents) at the end of July. And…

China is banking on artificial intelligence (AI) to become a new growth engine, and there are projections that it could add several trillion yuan to the economy by 2035 amid a national push for computing power and a unified data market. Advertisement Beijing is knitting together a national computing network. At the China Computing Power Conference held in Datong, Shanxi province, over the weekend, officials announced that 10 provinces and municipalities – from Shanghai and Zhejiang in the east to Qinghai and Xinjiang in the west – had joined a…

China and Mongolia are joining forces to build an ecological security barrier to combat desertification and sandstorms, which may involve an expansion of the Chinese “Great Green Wall” across their shared border. Advertisement The project is the latest in joint efforts to help slow the spread of desertification in the Mongolian Plateau. With nearly 80 per cent of Mongolian land degraded, the country’s battle with desertification has consequences that extend beyond its borders, posing challenges for the wider East Asian region. The Gobi Desert, spanning a vast swathe of northern…

Beijing has urged that the Iran nuclear issue be resolved through political and diplomatic means as Tehran faces new economic sanctions. Advertisement Chinese foreign vice-minister Ma Zhaoxu and Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi spoke by phone on Sunday, during which Ma was described as having voiced China’s hope that all parties concerned would “remain committed to resolving the issue through political and diplomatic means and actively create conditions for an early resumption of dialogue and negotiations”. “China will continue to uphold an objective and fair position, actively promote peace…

Beijing urged Seoul to move bilateral relations forward on “the right track” when China’s top diplomat Wang Yi met South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s special envoys on Sunday. Advertisement “The relationship between [China and South Korea] is at a critical juncture for improvement and development,” the Chinese foreign minister told the visiting delegation led by former South Korean National Assembly speaker Park Byeong-seug. The meeting on Sunday coincided with the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between the two neighbours. It is the latest sign of efforts to…