Month: August 2025

Images of a previously unknown stealth aircraft have started circulating on Chinese social media, triggering a debate about whether it is a new piloted warplane or a “loyal wingman” drone. Advertisement At least two photographs of the aircraft, taken from various angles on the ground, have been circulating since Monday. It is not clear from the pictures whether the plane had a cockpit or internal weapons bay. The images reveal a slimmer fuselage and smaller size compared with images of another plane thought to be the J-36 stealth fighter, suggesting…

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. Taiwan could run out of energy in 10 days under PLA blockade, report warns Taiwan would run out of natural gas supplies in about 10 days if Beijing blockaded the island, according to a report published by a Washington-based geopolitical think tank. 2. ‘Too far ahead’: can the US upskill to compete with China on rare earths? Multilateral moves to break Chinese dominance of…

As geopolitical tensions realign global power centres, the trilateral forum of Russia, India and China (RIC) is seeing renewed diplomatic interest. While Moscow has expressed optimism about reviving the grouping and Beijing seems to support the idea, New Delhi has walked a cautious tightrope between signalling openness and managing its strategic autonomy. Advertisement Against the backdrop of an increasingly transactional and multipolar world, the question arises: Can the elephant, the dragon and the bear truly dance together again, or is this just strategic choreography shaped by necessity? For Moscow, the…

Renowned mathematician Terence Tao says funding delays at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) have left his lab struggling to support graduate students and research projects. Advertisement Not only Tao, but the entire UCLA system and several other top universities have been impacted by federal funding cuts under President Donald Trump. The predicament in the US scientific community sharply contrasts with China’s active efforts to attract talented science and technology researchers, particularly mathematicians. “The suspension of my grant has a non-trivial impact on myself, and now gives me almost…

China’s Supreme People’s Court has released a series of court rulings to illustrate how a wide-ranging private sector law passed this year is safeguarding the rights and interests of entrepreneurs. Advertisement “The release of these cases demonstrates how the courts are applying the law to safeguard the private economy… and aims to boost public confidence – particularly among private business owners,” the court said in a recent statement. The 12 rulings, drawn from courts at various levels across the country, are also intended to guide the judiciary in their efforts…

China’s slumping property market may finally be reaching a bottom, as credit has resumed flowing to developers while the nationwide inventory of unsold homes has shrunk, analysts said. Advertisement The decline in China’s new home sales this year may slow to 7 per cent, Fitch Ratings said on Tuesday after revising its forecast from a previous decline of 15 per cent, due to the better-than-expected performance of the property market in the first half. The credit-rating agency also lowered its forecast of the sales drop by gross floor area to…