Day: May 2, 2026

As the closest mainland Chinese province to Taiwan, Fujian is a key site for Beijing’s messaging towards the island. In the second of a two-part series, Xinlu Liang looks at how the ancestral home village of William Lai Ching-te has become a focus for efforts to promote closer ties based on kinship and religion. The village of Xintian in Fujian province is usually a quiet rural backwater but that changed in November when popular Taiwanese YouTuber and bodybuilder Holger Chen Chih-han descended on the community. Chen, better known as “Gym…

Driven by intensifying competition in advanced manufacturing, the world is waking up to “China shock 2.0”. The first “shock”, associated with China’s accession to the World Trade Organization in 2001, focused on low-tech manufacturing. Of course, this latest “shock” isn’t framed as such by Chinese policymakers. They present it as an upgrade in export strength, often described as a shift from the “old three” of textiles, furniture and home appliances to the “new three” of electric vehicles, batteries and solar panels. What many abroad call “China shock 2.0” is a…

The US Democrats have pursued “selective Trumpification” since losing power in 2024, but their strategy of borrowing from the president’s agenda and mimicking his abrasive style risks undermining their branding as guardians of American institutions, according to a Chinese academic. Two years ago, the Democrats lost the presidency to Donald Trump, along with control of the Senate. That shut them out of power in Washington and left them struggling to regain momentum and political direction. According to Gao Hailong, a professor at the University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences…

In a Facebook post on Saturday evening, Lai said he arrived earlier in the day. The eSwatini government also confirmed his arrival on its own Facebook page. “Hello to my fellow citizens. I arrived earlier today in our diplomatic ally eSwatini,” Lai wrote, adding that his foreign affairs and security teams had spent days securing a revised route that allowed the delegation to reach the southern African kingdom. Advertisement He said the visit aimed to deepen cooperation in areas including the economy, agriculture, culture and education, and to strengthen bilateral…

A top US medical anthropologist believes the United States and China must transcend geopolitical tensions and spur a global revolution in “social technology” to survive the looming ageing crisis. Arthur Kleinman, a physician-anthropologist with joint appointments at Harvard University and Harvard Medical School, proposed that the US learn from China’s recent efforts to build a long-term care insurance system, while in return China can take lessons from the US nursing home model. “We have never had societies with such a large number of people living into the old age period,”…

China Eastern Airlines apologised to passengers on Saturday after one of its aircraft struck a boarding bridge on arrival at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport. The Shanghai-based airline said “a mechanical malfunction occurred” as the flight from Chengdu was taxiing slowly towards its gate and the aircraft hit the bridge. The collision was minor and all passengers on board the aircraft were safe, it said. Advertisement “The flight crew immediately handled it according to established procedures,” China Eastern said, adding that passengers disembarked in an orderly manner. “The cause of this…

When asked about the trip to Beijing, Trump told reporters on Friday: “It is going to be amazing. The visit with China and Chairman Xi [Jinping] – that’s going to be great. “We have the trip with China coming up. And I think it will be an amazing event.” Advertisement Trump had initially planned to visit Beijing in late March, but put the trip back to May 14 and 15 after starting the war against Iran. Chinese analysts said the trip would be crucial for the two countries to manage…

At the December premiere of the Chinese-dubbed 1957 Billy Wilder classic Witness for the Prosecution in a Shanghai cinema, dubbing artist Qiao Zhen voiced a more immediate mystery: “Do you still enjoy Chinese-dubbed films?” When audience members, mainly nostalgia-seeking fans, responded with applause and shouts of “Yes!”, the 83-year-old veteran became emotional, offering a moving defence of his art form. “Several years ago we felt this profession had fallen into a low point,” he told the audience. “So many people ignored dubbed films, unwilling to watch the translated or dubbed…

Taiwanese opposition leader Cheng Li-wun is preparing to visit the United States in June, aiming to leverage the political momentum from last month’s meeting with Communist Party leader Xi Jinping in Beijing. Cheng, who heads the main opposition party Kuomintang, will also test her message on the Taiwan Strait in Washington. In recent media interviews Cheng has outlined an agenda that goes beyond traditional party outreach, promoting what she calls “a new road map” for cross-strait stability – one that she argues aligns with US interests while preserving Taiwan’s strategic…