Day: September 13, 2025

Taiwan’s reliance on imported energy is seen as its most critical weakness if a conflict breaks out with Beijing, and experts warn a prolonged blockade could paralyse the island within days. Advertisement Those concerns deepened after Taiwan shut down its last nuclear power plant in May, and an August referendum to restart it failed. As debate continues over renewables versus fossil fuels, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government has little room to manoeuvre. At the heart of the problem is Taiwan’s dependence on liquefied natural gas (LNG) and crude oil…

A technical innovation has allowed Alibaba Group Holding, one of the leading players in China’s artificial intelligence boom, to develop a new generation of foundation models that match the strong performance of larger predecessors while being significantly smaller and more cost efficient. Advertisement Alibaba Cloud, the AI and cloud computing division of Alibaba, unveiled on Friday a new generation of large language models that it said heralded “the future of efficient LLMs”. The new models are nearly 13 times smaller than the company’s largest AI model, released just a week…

Scientists have found critical gaps in Nasa’s development of space life support systems that could prevent the United States from competing with China in the pursuit of long-term manned space exploration and habitation. Advertisement While Beijing and Moscow have joined forces to establish a lunar research base, Washington’s limited support for bioregenerative life support research puts its space competitiveness at risk, a team of scientists including Nasa researchers has found. The team said that past research and policy decisions – such as funding and programme cuts – had created “critical…

The memorandum of understanding signed earlier this year between Hainan province and Hong Kong is more than a mere policy document. It’s a signal that two of China’s key gateways have entered a new phase of two-way coordination and shared ambition. Spanning multiple sectors such as finance, trade and investment, data, tourism and talent exchange, the memorandum underscores the deeply intertwined future of both places. Advertisement In August, China launched a cross-border asset management pilot in the Hainan Free Trade Port, giving overseas institutions and individuals access to financial products…

A popular mainland Chinese military magazine has detailed plans to counter Taiwan’s most advanced weapons in a conflict – including its newly acquired US-made Himars multiple rocket launcher – a weapon it says does not change the battlefield. Ordnance Science and Technology published an analysis article in August that focused on the performance of three weapons showcased by Taiwan during the annual Han Kuang military exercises – and potential countermeasures that could be used by the People’s… South China Morning Post