Australia and Fiji have signed a major new defence alliance, further advancing the federal government’s strategy to limit China’s influence across the Pacific region. In a surprise move, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, and his Fijian counterpart, Sitiveni Rabuka, elevated Australia’s ties with Fiji to a formal treaty alliance. After 75 years of Australia only having formal alliances with the US and New Zealand, the Albanese government has now added two new agreements in less than 12 months, following a deal signed with Papua New Guinea in October. In Suva…
Day: July 5, 2026
China Frees Pastor Detained in Crackdown on Religion After Trump’s Urging
The pastor of a prominent underground church in China who was detained last year as part of a crackdown on religious activity was released on Friday, his daughter said, less than two months after President Trump raised his case with China’s leader, Xi Jinping. The pastor, Jin Mingri, who also goes by the name Ezra, was freed after more than 250 days in custody and allowed to leave for the United States. Mr. Jin, the pastor and founder of Zion Church, was detained in October and later charged with “illegally…
A Trump visit to Hong Kong would be a strategic masterstroke
If one word could capture the essence of Hong Kong, it would be resilience. Just two years ago, much of the international community had written off Hong Kong. A widely circulated newspaper commentary carried the headline: “It pains me to say Hong Kong is over”. Though the writer later changed his opinion, the piece captured the pessimism about the city’s future as a global hub. Hong Kong’s dramatic comeback is well documented. According to Boston Consulting Group, the city has overtaken Switzerland as the world’s largest cross-border wealth management centre,…
China wants to solve the hardest problem in robotics – making hands
Human hands – nimble, nerve-filled appendages that are the most flexible part of the human skeleton – are exceptionally complex. Many tasks that most people can do largely without thinking, from tying a pair of shoelaces to buttoning up a shirt, in fact require a complex set of neurological instructions and precise choreography. In thousands of years of human history, no machine has been able to truly replicate human’s greatest tool. But now, as artificial intelligence (AI) races forwards, some companies think they are close to surpassing this final but…
Wu Xinbo on why Trump’s ‘America first’ foreign policy may be driving China’s rise
Wu Xinbo is the dean of the Institute of International Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai and a leading Chinese researcher on the US. In this interview, he analyses how shifts in US foreign policy are changing the relationship between the two countries. This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here. As the United States celebrates its 250th anniversary, how do you assess US foreign policy and the future direction of its relations with China? Simply put, US foreign policy in…
China Raises Pressure on Taiwan With Expanded Coast Guard Patrols
China is opening a new front in its pressure campaign against Taiwan, sending ships to its east to drive home a political point: Beijing claims not only the island itself but also the seas around it. The China Coast Guard announced on Saturday that its ships would conduct “law-enforcement patrols” in the Western Pacific waters east of Taiwan, a self-ruled island of 23 million people that Beijing claims as its territory. The Western Pacific is crowded with commercial traffic and would be a vital arena if Beijing ever tried to…
Chinese Dreamcore Takes Over Gen Z Social Media Feeds
new video loaded: Chinese Dreamcore Takes Over Gen Z Social Media Feeds <img src="https://www.chinastrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/chinese-dreamcore-takes-over-gen-z-social-media-feeds.jpg" data-testid="betamax-poster" sizes="(width < 1024px) 100vw, (width Chinese Dreamcore is taking over the social media feeds of young people in China, who face falling wages and a dire job market. The memes and videos express a desire to return to simpler times. By Jiwoong Hong July 5, 2026 NYT
2 dead, 4 injured as northern China truck collision triggers huge chemical blast
Two people were killed and four others injured when a truck carrying ammonium nitrate collided with another vehicle and exploded on a national highway in northern China at around noon on Sunday, state news agency Xinhua reported. Authorities in Inner Mongolia autonomous region said the blast occurred at 11.27am on a section of National Highway 331 in Xilingol League, according to the report. Officials said a truck carrying hazardous chemicals collided with another transport vehicle, leaving two people dead and one injured. Three more people in other vehicles were injured…
Why the Indo-Pacific might be on the back burner at the Nato summit
Nato’s 32 member states will convene in the Turkish capital this week for an annual summit expected to be dominated by efforts to secure a fragile peace in Ukraine and the Middle East, with Indo-Pacific issues taking a back seat. Analysts said the conflicts in Ukraine and Iran, as well as Washington’s push for European allies to raise defence spending, could diminish discussion about the security alliance’s cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners, despite the Nato chief’s warnings about China’s ties with Russia. The July 7-8 gathering in Ankara will be the…
Beth McKillop obituary
Long before Korean film, television and music achieved global prominence, the curator and scholar Beth McKillop, who has died of metastatic breast cancer aged 72, was arguing that Korean artistic traditions deserved attention in their own right, rather than as a footnote to the histories of China or Japan. Through her work at the Victoria & Albert Museum and at the British Library, McKillop helped transform how Korean art was understood, introducing visitors, students and researchers to the country’s ceramics, books and design, and helping establish a field that is…