Day: November 18, 2025

In Wufeng Tujia autonomous county, Hubei province, the rugged beauty of central China masks the region’s long-standing isolation. Its steep terrain and dense forests have long hindered transport, stifling growth and keeping communities cut off both physically and economically. Advertisement But a new force is now reshaping the landscape – with dynamite, drilling rigs and lines of code. The Yangcun Tunnel in Wufeng is part of a high-speed rail line designed to bring 350km/h (217mph) trains into one of China’s most geologically complex regions. It represents the world’s first high-speed…

China should add a quantitative target for consumption growth as part of its long-term modernisation goals to help sustain growth momentum as the country’s population declines, a prominent Chinese economist said. Advertisement “In addition to setting a gross domestic product growth per capita target through 2035, we should also establish a target for the household final consumption rate – meaning the share of household consumption in GDP should be increased as well,” said Cai Fang, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Currently, household consumption accounts for about…

While failing to see eye to eye is hardly new to Beijing and Tokyo, Sino-Japanese relations have been especially strained this month and are at risk of worsening even further. Advertisement The trigger for the downturn was Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments to the Japanese parliament on November 7 that the use of force against Taiwan could be perceived as a “survival-threatening situation”, which would permit Tokyo to deploy the Japan Self-Defence Forces. She has refused to retract her statement. The timing of the comments also has much to…

Xpeng’s CEO He Xiaopeng is among three corporate founders who have been shortlisted as finalists in the 2025 Business Awards organised by SCMP Live, in a reimagination of a series of accolades first introduced in 1990. Advertisement A total of 43 nominations were received for the awards in six categories, honouring the most noteworthy business owner, corporate executive, company, small-and-medium-sized enterprise (SME), start-ups and the best globalised brand. A discretionary award honouring lifetime achievement did not receive any nominations. Nominations were submitted by industry peers, and the winners picked by…

China turned a brief but intense India-Pakistan conflict in May into a live testing ground for its advanced weaponry and intelligence systems, and then aggressively marketed those results to undercut Western arms sales, a US congressional panel said in its annual report on Tuesday. Advertisement “Beijing opportunistically leveraged the conflict to test and advertise the sophistication of its weapons,” a new report from the bipartisan US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated bluntly. It highlighted the combat debut of systems such as the HQ-9 air defence network, PL-15 beyond-visual-range air-to-air…

Limiting AI use in military applications and ensuring global AI governance could ease collaboration and dialogue between China and the US as they vie for influence over the transformative technology, according to experts at a forum in Hong Kong on Monday. Advertisement Their remarks came as artificial intelligence is being increasingly adopted in the defence sector, including for weapon-related functions. It raises serious ethical and accountability concerns, further elevates the US-China AI race to a high-stakes geopolitical contest and adds to existing tensions over regulation standards, talent and access. Sun…