Day: October 4, 2025

With gold prices dancing near a never-before-seen US$3,900 an ounce, Chinese investors and consumers are finding themselves caught up in a whirlwind of excitement and trepidation – frustrated by missed opportunities, wary of the record-high rally, and scrambling to decide whether to buy, sell or hold their glittering assets. Advertisement After topping US$3,800 an ounce for the first time last week in a surprise surge that has continued this week, gold is keeping market participants on their toes. Yue, a Guangzhou-based engineer and an individual investor, saw what looked to…

A social media account run by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has strongly criticised the production and sale of toys depicting Japan’s World War II biological warfare unit, accusing them of promoting a distorted version of history. Advertisement “On issues of national sentiment and historical justice, there is no room for opportunism or ambiguity,” the account named Junzhengping said in a post on Thursday. It was referring to several building block sets sold on Chinese e-commerce platforms that have since been removed from sale. The toy blocks were modelled on…

After a week-long gathering of leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York, its president struck a positive tone on Monday. Advertisement Annalena Baerbock, the former German foreign minister, said there was a collective will to “choose the right path at the crossroads”. “If high-level week is any indication, this house is fulfilling that purpose – the United Nations is still relevant,” she said. But 23 years after Kofi Annan spoke of the UN’s “fork in the road”, when he was secretary general, the organisation remains adrift. Annalena Baerbock,…

A Chinese military journal has described the People’s Liberation Army’s latest underwater unmanned systems as “disruptive” and highlighted their intelligent capabilities. Advertisement An author writing in the journal’s latest issue identified only as Tang Yi stated that the unmanned systems operated below 90 decibels to evade enemy sonar detection. In addition, the equipment can be integrated with “submarine-launched missiles, smart mines and even mother-daughter unmanned underwater vehicles”, according to the article, “forming a multilayered strike network”. Last month’s parade commemorating the 80th anniversary of China’s victory over Japan in World…

China has disclosed an incident last year in which one of its J-16 aircraft locked onto and expelled two unnamed foreign stealth fighter jets of a type that has not appeared near the country’s coastal waters since. Advertisement State broadcaster CCTV on Friday aired an interview with Li Chao, a pilot from the People’s Liberation Army’s Western Theatre Command, who recounted the event that happened during a coastal training exercise last year. Without naming any country, Li said the foreign forces had “clear intentions … of intersecting and provoking us”…

Tensions between Beijing and Tokyo may escalate further with Sanae Takaichi poised to become Japan’s next leader, observers warn, citing her controversial positions on the Taiwan issue and Japanese wartime history. Advertisement Takaichi, a former internal affairs minister known for her conservative views, was chosen to lead Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Saturday in a run-off vote against more moderate candidate Shinjiro Koizumi. The victory sets her up to be Japan’s fifth prime minister in five years and first female leader. China’s foreign ministry described the election result…

In the run-up to National Day, a week-long celebration viewed as a litmus test for the strength of China’s domestic consumption, a fiery feud between a celebrity entrepreneur and one of the country’s best-known restaurant chains has drawn widespread attention to cost-saving practices in the food industry. Advertisement The drama began on September 10, when influencer Luo Yonghao – a former teacher known for his outspoken views – blasted the popular Xibei restaurant chain on social media, claiming his “disgusting” meal featured pre-made food sold at premium prices. Luo used…

Speculative fiction, which encompasses sci-fi and other futuristic literature, is emerging as a strong vehicle for China to project soft power in a competition with the US over the imagined future. Advertisement The genre may help China and the Global South challenge Western views of colonialism, capitalism and future tech, according to Chinese scholars of literature and culture. “Speculative fiction, as a genre that imagines the future while critiquing the present, has long been dominated by Euro-American discourses, and traditional science fiction studies have likewise focused primarily on the texts…