Day: January 4, 2026

China’s top diplomat has accused the United States of acting like the world’s policeman and condemned US military strikes on Venezuela as a serious violation of international law and sovereignty. Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the remarks on Sunday during high-level talks in Beijing with Ishaq Dar, the deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Pakistan. Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar (left) and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Sunday. Photo: Xinhua Wang said the international landscape was becoming increasingly volatile, marked by growing…

Scientists in China have discovered fossils of a new mammal-like reptile species in Gansu province – the first of its genus to be found in both South Africa and China. The finding suggests that Late Permian (299 to 252 million years ago) tetrapods crossed the equator of the supercontinent Pangaea more often than expected, revealing an ecological corridor capable of supporting large animal migration. The new species of dicynodont, an extinct clade of non-mammalian therapsids – a group that includes mammals, their ancestors and close relatives – was identified by…

Hong Kong’s biotech fundraising momentum is expect to extend into 2026, as licensing deals and strong post-initial public offering (IPO) trading last year persuaded investors that China’s drug developers are worth backing again – even before they generate revenue. “Chinese innovation drugs expanding into overseas markets have become the industry mainstream, indicating the domestic innovation sector has entered its harvest phase,” said Felix Huang, head of equity at Oakwise Capital. “New trends in drug targets and novel therapies have also made biopharmaceutical stocks attractive.” Pharmaceuticals was one of the best-performing…

President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea, a key US ally in East Asia, arrived in Beijing at noon on Sunday for his first China trip since taking office. The four-day state visit comes at a moment when the global order is teetering, with old structures crumbling and a new world yet to emerge. Over 200 South Korean entrepreneurs, including the chairmen of Samsung and SK Group, are accompanying Lee on his trip, which includes two days each in Beijing and Shanghai. Advertisement Lee will attend a Korea-China business forum on…

Daniel J. Kritenbrink is a partner at The Asia Group. Previously, Kritenbrink served in the United States government as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs and ambassador to Vietnam. His diplomatic career spans three decades and includes assignments in Japan, China, Kuwait and Washington. In this interview, Kritenbrink discusses the many nuances of the US-China relationship, from cooperation to competition to rivalry, and argues both countries should weigh the positives and negatives of ties fairly to avoid a “white-hot” conflict. This interview first appeared in SCMP…

As 2026 dawns, China has signalled a renewed crusade: persuading its citizens to spend more, for their own benefit and for the country’s. Yet history offers a cautionary tale. China’s leaders have long harboured an ambivalent relationship with consumption as a growth engine, instead favouring production and investment. This time, though, the signals suggest a deeper resolve. The gravity of this pivot is underscored by Qiushi, the Communist Party’s flagship publication, which last month published an article based on President Xi Jinping’s remarks on consumption from 2015 to 2025. Xi…

US President Donald Trump issued a stark warning on Sunday to Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, saying she would pay a potentially larger price than her former boss, ousted Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, if she does not cooperate with the United States. In the early hours of Saturday morning, US forces staged a complex raid that saw Maduro and his wife seized from their home, jailed and airlifted to New York to face trial on “narcoterrorism” and illegal weapons charges. “If she doesn’t do what’s right, she is going to…

Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife were transported to New York by helicopter, ship and plane within hours of their capture for arraignment in a US federal court as the world woke up Sunday to a new era of brazen US military might. In a press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida shortly after the raid on Maduro’s compound in Caracas, US President Donald Trump held forth on the strength and precision of the US military, warned that other politicians could follow… South China Morning Post