Day: May 22, 2026

Scientists in Shanghai have used stem cells to create the world’s first laboratory-grown sinoatrial node – the tiny structure that acts as the heart’s natural pacemaker. Capable of beating autonomously, the organoid is a breakthrough that researchers say could transform cardiac disease research and drug screening. The heart’s ability to beat continuously and rhythmically depends on the sinoatrial node, which is nestled inside the right atrial chamber. China turns to AI to ease overstretched healthcare system Acting as the heart’s “master conductor”, the node continuously sends out electrical signals regulated…

Hong Kong will send its first astronaut to the Tiangong space station, the China Manned Space Agency announced on Saturday. Lai Ka-ying, a police chief inspector and tech expert with a doctorate in computer science, will join the Shenzhou-23 mission as a payload specialist. She will become the fourth female astronaut to enter the Chinese space station. The Shenzhou-23 crewed spacecraft is targeting a launch at 23:08 tomorrow. Advertisement According to the agency, she will work alongside two astronauts Zhu Yangzhu and Zhang Zhiyuan. Zhu, the mission commander, previously served…

Chinese President Xi Jinping viewed the Thucydides Trap as the “best diagnosis” of the challenge Beijing faces with Washington when he raised the concept with US leader Donald Trump this month, signalling an awareness that their current path risked conflict, an eminent American political scientist said. “My impression is that he sees this as the best diagnosis of the challenge he and President Trump face,” said Graham Allison, the founding dean of Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government. “He understands that business as usual [and] diplomacy as usual…

When Marco Rubio was confirmed as US Secretary of State last year, fireworks of optimism went off in New Delhi. Given his years as a senator championing a pro-India, staunchly anti-China posture, policymakers anticipated an unprecedented alignment. However, as Rubio arrives in India on Saturday for a four-day visit spanning Kolkata, Agra, Jaipur and New Delhi, he enters a relationship strained by transactional politics, structural deadlock and mounting strategic unease over Washington’s recent moves. While the Indian Embassy in Washington has hailed Rubio’s trip as a “new chapter” in bilateral…

Two Chinese nationals were indicted on charges of conspiracy to launder money for drug cartels, the US Justice Department announced on Friday. Ruhuan Zhen and Hongce Wu allegedly hid the source of illegally obtained funds on behalf of various criminal groups operating across borders, including the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG). The two remain at large, the Justice Department said. Advertisement According to court documents filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, Zhen, Wu and their co-conspirators allegedly used a variety of “secretive and clandestine”…

The original think tank paper was published in Chinese. SCMP Plus members can read an English translation here. A Chinese state think tank has offered a detailed road map to steer China and the US towards peaceful coexistence, as the competition between the two powers has entered a new strategic stalemate. In a paper published on May 13 – the same day US President Donald Trump arrived in Beijing for a high-stakes visit – the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (Cicir) outlined Beijing’s approach to managing the rivalry, introducing…

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s coming trip to New York and Canada is expected to lay the groundwork for President Xi Jinping’s state visit to the US and warmer ties with Ottawa. China’s foreign ministry said on Friday that Wang would chair a high-level meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on May 26, followed by a visit to Canada from May 28 to 30. The New York leg of Wang’s trip follows less than two weeks after the Beijing summit between Xi and US President Donald Trump.…

On the face of it, US President Donald Trump’s China visit can be characterised by five Bs: beef, beans, Boeings, a board of investment and a board of trade. No wonder Trump rated his visit a “12 on a scale of one to 10”. Just the 200 Boeing aircraft China has agreed to buy is worth the presidential visit. China has achieved no less. Compared with beef, beans and Boeings, the boards of investment and trade that both sides agreed to set up are perhaps more significant. With this institutional…