Month: April 2026

Writing in Foreign Affairs, Tsinghua University’s Da Wei argued that China wants Europe to function as an independent pole in a changing global order, but that Europe lacks “a more independent soul”. He is half right. Europe has the assets for independence. What it lacks is the strategy. Europe and the United States face the same rival but carry different exposures. Since 2018, the US has cut its direct imports from China. Europe’s have grown harder to unwind. What appears to be decoupling is… South China Morning Post

China is testing a prototype nuclear reactor that can be carried on a truck, according to a leading scientist. He described the reactor, which has been in development for several years, as the “world’s first 10-megawatt vehicle-mounted nuclear power unit” and said the team behind it was now seeking opportunities to put it to use. This output would be enough to power a medium-sized AI data centre. “The ‘nuclear power bank’ we proposed exemplifies the new generation of nuclear energy systems,” Wu Yican, the chief scientific adviser to the Institute…

A Taiwanese army officer has been punished for screening The Eight Hundred, a mainland Chinese war film depicting Kuomintang forces fighting Japanese troops during World War II. The punishment has triggered a political row on the island over Beijing’s state-led messaging to sway opinions in Taiwan as well as historical interpretation and military education on the island. The controversy emerged after ruling Democratic Progressive Party lawmaker Wang Ting-yu revealed during a legislative meeting on Monday that a battalion commander in the Taiwanese army’s 153rd Brigade had ordered the film be…

A leading ratings agency that previously expressed concerns about China’s local debt woes has cast a vote of confidence in the world’s second-largest economy, raising the country’s sovereign credit outlook to “stable” from “negative”. This week’s move by Moody’s Ratings was closely watched, as energy shocks from the US-Israel war in Iran have exacerbated concerns about the global economy’s trajectory. The agency had dropped China’s sovereign rating from Aa3 to A1 in 2017, its first downgrade for… South China Morning Post

China’s maritime rescue authorities have expanded their ability to carry out deep sea search and rescue operations beyond 4,000 metres (13,100 feet), according to state media. People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece, credited the development of hi-tech equipment for the shift, which it described as “marking the formal transition of China’s transport rescue and salvage forces” to being able to carry out practical operations at such depths. The Nanhai Rescue Bureau, the body responsible for search and rescue operations in the South China Sea, “completed multiple live-operation drills, with actual…

Foreign forces are using social media to spread the notion that young Chinese people should be “lying flat” and not working hard as they seek to undermine China’s development, the country’s top anti-espionage agency warned. In recent years, anti-China forces have been trying to magnify social anxiety by continuously “promoting negative notions” that effort is futile and hard work makes no gain, the Ministry of State Security said in a WeChat post on Tuesday. The intention was to “erode the spirit of perseverance among China’s youth and even undermine the…

Thalassaemia is the most common genetic blood disorder in the world. China currently has 30 million thalassaemia gene carriers, while the global total reaches 350 million. Severe thalassaemia patients could confront a stark reality: regular blood transfusions, potential organ transplants, even the risk of premature death. If two carriers of the gene marry, their children have a 25 per cent chance of developing the disease. Advertisement The therapy used CS-101, a base-editing drug developed for thalassaemia patients by scientists at ShanghaiTech University using transformer Base Editor (tBE) technology. Advertisement Five…