Chinese authorities said the man who flew a small plane into Beijing’s tallest skyscraper last week was a 66-year-old who had mental health problems. The statement published on Thursday offered the most detailed official account yet of the highly unusual incident that occurred in Beijing’s central business district on the evening of 26 June. Beijing has some of the world’s strictest aviation control policies and planes are rarely seen flying over the capital. Drones and light aircraft are forbidden from flying over the city without permission. Despite this, a small…
Day: July 2, 2026
Suicide risk and the danger of Hong Kong’s children not feeling loved
The latest child suicide figures from the Education Bureau make for grim reading. For three academic years in a row, suspected suicide cases among primary and secondary school students have remained stubbornly high – 32 in 2023, 28 in 2024, and 31 in 2025. Despite a deluge of government resources, the three-tier emergency mechanism in secondary schools and public awareness campaigns, these numbers refuse to budge. We must ask ourselves a difficult question: why are we failing our children? Of course, suicide is a complex phenomenon with no single cause.…
What a seating chart might reveal about the future of China’s military leadership
Two Chinese generals were seated for the first time alongside top People’s Liberation Army officers in a high-profile ceremony this week – a clear sign that they have emerged as front-runners for the leadership of the world’s largest standing army. During an evening gala marking the 105th anniversary of the Communist Party’s founding on Monday, lieutenant generals Zhang Shuguang and Wang Gang were seated at the front of the section reserved for military leadership. At the event, attended by President Xi Jinping and other members of the Politburo Standing Committee,…
‘I have successfully defended my personal dignity’: woman wins rare MeToo court victory in China
A woman in China has won a rare legal victory in a workplace sexual harassment case. The woman, a former intern and employee at Beijing Grassland Alliance, an environmental NGO, was awarded 5,000 yuan (£554) in emotional damages, to be paid by her former manager, who the court ruled had sexually harassed her. The manager was also ordered to write an apology to her. The case is as a rare example of an employee winning a claim about sexual harassment in a country where the MeToo movement enraged millions of…
Which Trump will show up at Nato summit? Odds are it will be the fuming one
The Nato summit beginning on Tuesday in Turkey is expected to be low-key as European members track their progress towards increased defence spending goals and Beijing watches intently from afar. Low-key, that is, with one major caveat. Will the get-along US President Donald Trump show up, or the raging Trump who slammed the alliance, questioned its purpose and threatened repeatedly to take his military and head home? Early indications suggested it would be the raging one. “The United States spends more money on Nato than any other country, by far,…
From starry-eyed to sceptical: why young Chinese are turning away from the American dream
As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of its founding, it confronts a new world order dominated by its relationship with China. In this wide-ranging series, we examine the pressure points and possibilities in those ties, from hard tech to soft power. In this article, Jane Cai and Yuanyue Dang examine Chinese people’s changing attitudes towards the US. As the United States prepares to celebrate its 250th anniversary this month – marking its journey from a revolutionary experiment to a global beacon of opportunity – few relationships have mattered…
US lawmakers push for fewer tax breaks to reduce reliance on China technology
A growing number of US lawmakers see the tax code as a way to shift corporate America’s reliance on Chinese technology, framing economic ties as a national security risk, seen most recently in a congressman’s comments on Thursday. Representative Nathaniel Moran said on Thursday that business leaders must remember China is an “adversary”, arguing that the American business world remains trapped in a “toxic relationship” with Beijing. Speaking at a Hudson Institute event, Moran highlighted lawmakers’ plans to deny certain tax incentives through the US tax code to discourage businesses…
China signals openness to reducing gaping EU trade surplus as Brussels toughens stance
China told the European Union that it is open to exploring ways to cut its massive trade surplus with the bloc during talks in Brussels on Monday, according to multiple people briefed on the discussion. Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao signalled to EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic that China was willing to consider purchase agreements covering European goods. The discussions touched on lowering tariffs on EU-made goods, in a rare sign that China recognises that its billion-euro a day trade surplus has become a political problem. Related to that, Beijing…
Czech-Taiwan Ties Are Cooling in Rhetoric, Not Reality
When Prime Minister Andrej Babiš returned to power in late 2025, many assumed Czechia’s unusually warm relationship with Taiwan would cool with him. Under the previous government, Prague had become one of Taipei’s most enthusiastic partners in Europe. Babiš had criticized that posture as ideological indulgence that harmed Czech business interests in China, and the signals since have seemed to confirm a pullback. A closer look at what has actually changed, rather than what has been said, suggests a more precise reading: Babiš’s government has cooled the rhetoric while leaving…
Could China’s containerised aircraft launcher reshape rules of modern warfare?
The footage shows three eight-wheeled flat-top trucks driving on to what appears to be an airfield runway. Once aligned and connected via mechanical hinges, they form a continuous platform, along which a fixed-wing propeller drone accelerates and takes off. The Beijing Institute of Technology’s (BIT) school of mechanical engineering posted the video to social media on Tuesday – about six months after the system was first seen aboard the cargo vessel Zhong Da 79 at a Shanghai shipyard. The post appears to have been deleted. The late-December sighting attracted much…