Month: March 2026

While China appears better prepared than other countries to deal with the shocks brought by the US-Israel war on Iran, its economy would still come under pressure in the short term if its regional partners suffer, an executive with a global consultancy has said. “China might be more resilient, but China is not resilient to a demand shock,” said Denis Depoux, a global managing director at consultancy Roland Berger. “For example, if the economy is slowing down in Southeast Asia, if people stop using their cars because the government is…

As the US-Israeli war on Iran continues, China’s top legislator, Zhao Leji, has told the Boao Forum for Asia – a high-level gathering of governments and business leaders – that power politics should be rejected in favour of economic development and conflicts should be resolved through negotiations. “The people of Asia, having endured the scourge of war and chaos, deeply understand the value of peace and stability,” said Zhao, chairman of the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, China’s top legislative body, at the forum’s plenary session on Thursday. “We should…

A Chinese military research team has released what it described as the first publicly available visible light-infrared ship detection data set, a resource that could sharpen maritime target recognition for drones, missiles or surveillance systems operating at night or in environments where radar is degraded or suppressed. The dual-modal ship detection (DMSD) data set contains more than 2,000 paired visible and infrared vessel images and nearly 20,000 annotated instances, according to the peer-reviewed study published in January by the Chinese-language Journal of Radars. Ship recognition at sea is markedly harder…

At least 10 weight-loss injections and oral pills are lining up for regulatory approval in China, in a market projected to reach about US$14 billion by 2030. Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster semaglutide, which generated about US$35 billion in global revenue last year, lost patent protection in China on March 20, clearing the way for rivals. The rush comes as China’s drug regulator accelerates approvals of innovative therapies, helped by a surge in out-licensing deals with global pharmaceutical giants. Advertisement Notable applicants included Hengrui Medicine, China’s largest listed pharmaceutical firm by revenue,…

South China Morning Post

A Chinese commercial satellite has completed a refuelling test in low Earth orbit using a flexible “octopus tentacle” robotic arm, advancing efforts to extend spacecraft lifespans and develop in-orbit servicing abilities. The Hukeda-2, or Yuxing-3 06, demonstration satellite used its flexible arm to carry out compliance control and refuelling tests after blasting off from Jiuquan in China’s northwestern Gansu province last week, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday. The arm can curl, twist and wrap around objects to work in tight, complex spaces, with a nozzle-like tip at one end…

The US-Israeli war in Iran could weaken the US dollar’s historic dominance in the oil-rich Middle East and bolster a “petroyuan” alternative backed by China’s currency, according to analysts at a leading European bank. Fallout from the nearly month-long conflict was testing the “foundations of the petrodollar regime”, while damage to Gulf economies “could encourage an unwind in their foreign asset savings”, Deutsche Bank analysts said in a research note published on Tuesday. “If the Gulf moves closer to Asia in its trade and investment relationships and eventually prices less…