Day: January 11, 2026

The extreme precision of the US in its Venezuelan operation shows why nations must be able to execute a complex special surgical strike, according to analysts who said China had long pursued the capability but had yet to master it. In a complex joint endeavour integrating its air force, navy, intelligence agencies and space and cyber units, the US military’s elite Delta Force special mission unit completed its precision raid in Caracas – from infiltration to exfiltration – in less than three hours, abducting Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his…

Chinese firms have signalled plans to launch more than 200,000 internet satellites, filing submissions with a UN agency just as Beijing accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of crowding shared orbital resources. A dozen or so submissions from various Chinese satellite players were filed with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the end of last month. The biggest projects – CTC-1 and CTC-2 – were for 96,714 satellites each and filed by the newly established Institute of Radio Spectrum Utilisation and Technological Innovation. 01:11 SpaceX launches another test flight of its mega…

Chinese authorities have again stressed that hiking on the deadly Aotai Line in northwestern China is illegal after three more people died on what Chinese media has described as the country’s “most dangerous hiking route”. “It is strictly forbidden to conduct unauthorised hiking traverses and similar activities [on the Aotai trail],” the General Administration of Sport’s mountaineering management centre said in a notice on Friday. “Recently, five individuals undertook an unauthorised crossing of the Qinling’s Aotai Line, resulting in three fatalities and attracting public attention.” The Aotai Line in Shaanxi…

China pledged to deepen cooperation and exchanges with Tanzania on Friday as its top diplomat toured the region, promising that Beijing would “always stand together” with Africa. Wang Yi also called on Tanzania to work with China to uphold international law and multilateralism, in what one observer said would be the Chinese foreign minister’s key message to Africa amid Washington’s apparent retreat from the rules-based international system. Wang will wrap up his six-day tour of the continent on Monday. His trip featured stops in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Lesotho. He initially…

China is set to supercharge the advanced J-20 stealth fighter with avionics upgrades on its radar, engines and AI integration to cement the fifth-generation jet’s pivotal position in aerial warfare, a military analyst told state media. The Mighty Dragon, China’s answer to the American F-22 “Raptor”, was also effectively operating alongside the country’s stealth attack drone and early warning aircraft, military commentator Zhang Xuefeng told state broadcaster CCTV in a programme released on Saturday. Sunday marks the 15th anniversary of the Chinese home-grown jet’s maiden flight in Chengdu on January…

China’s vast outbound travel market is set for further growth in 2026, boosted by the spread of visa-free policies for Chinese nationals and a stronger yuan. But visits to Japan could plummet by nearly 50 per cent amid a political dispute between Beijing and Tokyo, according to analysts and industry insiders. Mainland Chinese travellers are expected to take about 165 million to 175 million cross-border trips in 2026, up from an estimated 155 million last year, the travel marketing and technology firm China Trading Desk said on Thursday. That includes…

European immunologist Andrew Macpherson has officially taken up a full-time position at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei in the central province of Anhui. Macpherson, widely regarded as one of the foremost authorities in gastrointestinal mucosal immunity, joins USTC from Switzerland, where he was a professor of immunology at the University of Bern and director of the gastroenterology department at Inselspital Hospital. Advertisement He won the Per Brandtzaeg Distinguished Scientific Achievement Award in 2022 and his recruitment signals China’s ambition to lead in life sciences…