Year: 2025

Beijing on Friday imposed sanctions against 20 US defence firms and 10 industry executives in response to Washington’s massive arms sales package to Taiwan last week. Beijing’s foreign ministry said that these companies and executives had been sanctioned for their role in arming the island and pledged to continue with “resolute and forceful measures to steadfastly defend national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity”. “Anyone who attempts to cross the line and make provocations on the Taiwan question will be met with China’s firm response. Any company or individual who engages…

China has unveiled plans to tighten controls over e-cigarette production and investment to address concerns over fierce intra-industry competition and excess capacity, the latest step in the country’s broader effort to enhance its regulatory power over tobacco, a sector which enjoys a functional monopoly. The draft policy, released by the national tobacco regulator on Thursday, follows a State Council opinion issued earlier this month which placed e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches under stiffer oversight. As the e-cigarette industry grapples with challenges – including the slow exit of outdated capacity, structural imbalances…

Biomedical scientist Professor Chen Xiaoyuan denies allegations of sexual harassment and says he will appeal against the termination of his tenure by the National University of Singapore (NUS) over an alleged breach of staff conduct policies. The termination, confirmed to the South China Morning Post by NUS on Wednesday, followed an internal investigation into claims by a female PhD candidate who accused Chen of repeated verbal and physical misconduct since early this year. Chen broke his silence the following day, along with a series of posts by a group identifying…

00:00 00:00 1.25x South China Morning Post

Chinese surgeons have performed the world’s first operation to graft a patient’s torn-off ear onto her foot before putting it back in place. The woman’s ear was torn off in a workplace accident in April that also ripped away a large part of her scalp, medical news platform Med-J reported on Monday. Qiu Shenqiang, deputy director of the microsurgery unit at Shandong Provincial Hospital in Jinan, said the woman’s injuries had been caused by heavy machinery and left her with life-threatening injuries. Advertisement The scalp, neck and facial skin had…

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Pentagon says Chinese aircraft carriers, 6th-gen fighters make US ‘vulnerable’ A Pentagon report contends that China’s development of its aircraft carriers, sixth-generation fighters and nuclear arsenal illustrates Beijing’s “historic” growth in military power and has left the US “increasingly vulnerable”. 2. Second reusable rocket recovery…

China’s ruling Communist Party has vowed to keep up efforts to fight corruption next year after a record 63 high-ranking officials – known as “tigers” – were placed under investigation on suspicion of graft in 2025. During a meeting on Thursday, top decision-making body the Politburo also discussed a plan to improve conduct within the party, strengthen integrity and combat graft, official news agency Xinhua reported. It said officials at the meeting had agreed to “resolutely push forward the fight against corruption, not stopping for a moment, not yielding an…

China’s state-owned planemaker intends to supersize its flagship jet through a partnership with a major domestic carrier to meet rising market demand for bigger narrowbody types, according to sources. The Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (Comac) signed an agreement with China Eastern Airlines last week to deepen cooperation, including on a stretched variant of the single-aisle C919 that would be able to seat at least 200 passengers, the Post has learned. The deal positions China Eastern, the C919’s launch customer, to play a key role in the development, certification and…

Chinese drugmakers have signed a late-year burst of out-licensing agreements with overseas partners, underlining China’s growing role as a source of novel medicines as multinational pharma groups hunt for new assets. Jacobio Pharmaceuticals said it expected to receive an upfront payment of US$100 million from AstraZeneca, according to a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on December 21. The British-Swedish drugmaker was paying for exclusive rights to research, develop, register, manufacture and commercialise Jacobio’s experimental cancer therapy JAB-23E73 in markets worldwide, excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.…