Month: August 2025

Despite Washington’s framing of a key railway network in Angola as a strategic counter to China, the CEO of the Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) says the company is “a purely commercial entity” with “zero geopolitical considerations”. Advertisement In an interview with the Post, Nicholas Fournier, the newly appointed executive, said the company was just one part of the broader Lobito Corridor, which aims to increase economic activity along the route. LAR has strong commercial ties to China and serves as an important logistics provider for Chinese-owned mining companies while relying…

Japan’s latest naval drills signalled its desire to broaden military ties as uncertainties grow over US defence support, while also sending a message to China, analysts said. Advertisement Earlier this month, F-35B Lightning II fighters from the British Royal Navy’s 809 Naval Air Squadron conducted landings and launches on the Japanese destroyer-carrier JS Kaga as part of a multinational exercise in the Philippine Sea. The British Royal Navy and Royal Air Force, as well as the US Marine Corps, were present on the deck of the Kaga to assist with…

Global headlines continue to be dominated by wars, both of the physical kind characterised by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s siege of Gaza, as well as trade wars such as those provoked by US President Donald Trump’s tariffs. It is perhaps no surprise, then, that the resurgence of infrastructure wars has attracted relatively little international attention. Advertisement And yet Japan’s relaunch of a major land and maritime infrastructure initiative spanning East Asia, Africa, India and the Middle East, announced a few days ago, threatens to put Tokyo in competition…

Aromatic infusions of fermented and aged Puer tea have been popular in China for centuries, but later generations of enthusiasts came to value its investment potential even more, dubbing it a “drinkable antique”. Advertisement Chinese entrepreneurs and members of the country’s growing middle class long regarded the tea, produced in Yunnan province, as a wealth preservation investment rivalling stocks and real estate, but the market has come off the boil recently as the economy slows and investor appetite wanes. The Puer tea market has been much more volatile this year,…

Chinese defence researchers have unveiled a groundbreaking data link system that could decisively outpace Nato’s current military communications, tipping the balance of military power with high-speed warfare. Advertisement Engineered for the extreme demands of large-scale hypersonic combat – where aircraft scream through the skies at Mach 5 and missiles hurtle forward at Mach 11 – the new network achieves time synchronisation accuracy within five nanoseconds, dwarfing the performance of Nato’s flagship Link 16 system by two orders of magnitude. This leap, developed by the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC),…

China’s intensifying interest in the Arctic has aroused concerns in the US, which has been monitoring the progress of five Chinese icebreakers and research vessels since before they passed through the Bering Strait earlier this month. Advertisement The fleet is led by the domestically built Xue Long 2, one of the world’s newest generation polar research icebreakers and the first to adopt an intelligent hull and engine room design. Over the past five years, the Xue Long 2 has conducted nearly 10 scientific expeditions to both the Arctic and Antarctic.…

Award-winning HIV scientist Shan Liang, a tenured associate professor at the Washington University School of Medicine (WashU Medicine), has taken up a full-time role in Shenzhen, southern China’s tech and innovation hub. Advertisement He has joined the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation (SMART) as a senior researcher and will head its Institute of Human Immunology, according to an announcement on SMART’S official social media account on August 15. Shan has dedicated himself to studying the mechanisms of immunobiology of HIV infection and developing strategies to combat the virus…

Malaysia’s ban on exports of unprocessed rare earth metals this week signals that the Southeast Asian country has a realistic shot – on its own terms – at feeding the mineral-hungry United States amid its strained trade ties with the world’s dominant supplier, China, according to analysts. Advertisement Kuala Lumpur will bar exports of unprocessed rare earth minerals, which are globally prized raw materials used in a range of electronic hardware, to keep supplies onshore for investment in downstream industries, a Malaysian official said this week. The country’s minister of…