Day: September 6, 2025

Scientists in China and the US have harnessed the energy released by collapsing bubbles to create a robot launching system which could be used for targeted drug delivery or exploring hard-to-reach spaces. Advertisement The method works by rapidly heating light-absorbing materials with a laser, causing water droplets on the surface around the material to boil, triggering the formation of vapour bubbles. Once these bubbles grow to a certain point, they suddenly collapse – rapidly releasing energy and creating a strong force that can launch millimetre-scale jumpers 1.5 metres (5 feet)…

After four years leasing out private holiday accommodation beside the sea in the west of Guangdong province, a downturn in demand has led Chen Mei to regret getting involved in the industry. Advertisement “I thought domestic demand would rebound quickly after the [Covid-19] pandemic, but price wars have actually intensified across the industry, squeezing profits year by year,” she said. “I’ve begun scaling back operations. If I could choose again, I wouldn’t have invested in the industry.” Chen’s downbeat sentiment mirrors the broader struggles of China’s private holiday accommodation sector,…

The two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit that concluded in Tianjin on September 1 was a significant diplomatic triumph for President Xi Jinping and Beijing. The forum sought to burnish China’s geopolitical profile as a reliable interlocutor and an alternative voice for stability in global governance. Advertisement SCO summits tend to be low-key and do not garner much notice. This time, though, China used the opportunity to signal it had arrived at the global high table at a time when US credibility and reliability are in tatters thanks to the…

An abrupt decision by American artificial intelligence firm Anthropic to restrict service to Chinese-owned entities anywhere in the world has cast uncertainty over some Claude-dependent overseas tools backed by China’s tech giants. Advertisement After Anthropic’s notice on Friday that it would upgrade access restrictions to entities “more than 50 per cent owned … by companies headquartered in unsupported regions” such as China, regardless of where they are, Chinese users have fretted over whether they could still access the San Francisco-based firm’s industry-leading AI models. While it remains unknown how many…

China’s grand military parade highlighting new space, cyber and information warfare branches underscored the country’s push to weave advanced technologies into its combat strategy, according to analysts. Advertisement In a show of military strength and modernisation, Wednesday’s parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of Japan’s defeat in World War II unveiled the People’s Liberation Army’s most advanced weaponry and its latest command structure reforms. The spectacle featured formations not just from the PLA’s traditional branches – the Army, Navy, Air Force, Joint Logistics Support Force and Rocket Force –…

There is a major divide in the American heartland. Advertisement US farm states are facing a drop in exports of key commodities as Beijing turns to alternative suppliers, primarily in Brazil, as a result of Donald Trump’s trade war. Some farmers, however, want to give the US president the benefit of the doubt that his go-slow approach to Beijing will eventually bear fruit in the form of more orders from China as well as other trading partners. Others fear that no combination of new markets will replace the world’s biggest…

China’s anti-corruption campaign in the financial sector may not immediately boost confidence given the prevailing uncertainties, an analyst has warned. Advertisement However, it is believed that over time the drive could put the country on a cleaner governance path and help to attract overseas investors. Beijing’s intensified anti-corruption drive has seen high-profile figures like Yi Huiman, the former head of China’s securities watchdog, placed under investigation. He is being investigated by the Communist Party’s disciplinary unit as Beijing’s long-standing campaign extends from banking to the stock market. Yi Huiman was…

Russia has pledged to deepen Arctic cooperation with China, while Beijing said it was ready to work with Moscow on artificial intelligence (AI), in a continued deepening of ties days after the leaders of the two countries met in the Chinese capital. Advertisement At the Eastern Economic Forum in its eastern economic hub of Vladivostok, Russia also pledged to deepen its energy and financial infrastructure ties with China and offer a mutual visa-free travel agreement. According to Russian news agency Tass, President Vladimir Putin said Moscow and Beijing could work…