Day: July 11, 2026

Typhoon Bavi made landfall in eastern China on Saturday night, the second major storm to hit the country in a week, causing thousands of flight and train cancellations while more than 2.4 million people were evacuated from areas in the path of the storm. More than 2,800 flights were likely to be cancelled by Chinese airlines as of 8pm on Saturday, the state news agency Xinhua reported. Shanghai’s Pudong and Hongqiao airports were set to cancel over 650 flights, about 30 per cent of their capacity, the local airport authorities…

Taiwan’s volunteer force has recorded an unexpected increase of more than 5,000 personnel over the past year despite the island’s worsening demographic decline. However, lawmakers and military analysts say the growth is driven more by government pay rises than by any apparent shift in young people’s attitudes towards military service. The figures, released by the defence ministry this week, brought rare good news to an armed force grappling with chronic manpower shortages. But critics warned that the increase masked deeper structural problems, arguing that boosting recruitment alone would not reverse…

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. Here, Khushboo Razdan looks at how books shape public perceptions and inspire lifelong connections between the US and China even as their geopolitical rivalry intensifies. Alexander Boyd was 14 when a book about China altered the course of his life. Raised in a house overflowing with books…

An “institutionalised” China-US G2 framework could offer a “structural guarantee” for global peace in a world beset by crises, a high-profile adviser to Beijing has said. Zheng Yongnian, a noted Chinese political scientist, said the world was faced with four intertwined challenges – geopolitical conflicts, increasingly “religionised” societies, imbalances in the global economy and the fading of the UN-centred governance system. He characterised this collective breakdown as a “crisis of modernity”. A pressing question was how to move beyond the US’ or European Union’s bilateral trade disputes with Beijing, to…

The ashes of Chinese researcher Wang Danhao have been returned to his home in China, nearly four months after he died by suicide following questioning by US law enforcement. The remains of the 31-year-old University of Michigan (UMich) semiconductor scientist – remembered by colleagues as a gifted, hard-working researcher with a bright future – are now with his mother, his only immediate family member, who raised him as a single parent, according to a source familiar with the matter. Both Wang’s mother and fiancée, whom he had planned to marry…

China’s landmark recovery of a reusable rocket has ignited heated debate on social media, with reactions ranging from awe at the rapid pace of Chinese space development to speculation over a more intense space race with the United States. This comes at a time of renewed optimism around the satellite sector, as commercial demand for internet constellations skyrockets. Instead of adopting methods pioneered by Elon Musk’s US-based SpaceX, the Chinese mission used a first-of-its-kind, sea-based net-and-cable system to allow for a more adaptable recovery. Reusing rocket boosters can significantly lower…

Scientists in northeast China say they have developed a “rapid and ultrasensitive” wearable dopamine sensor to monitor levels of the critical neurotransmitter. The smart patch could potentially be used for at-home tracking of conditions such as Parkinson’s disease and depression, according to the research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shenyang Institute of Automation. They said the patch – which uses microscopic needles to test fluid just beneath the skin – was painless and monitored dopamine levels in real time. “The innovation opens up entirely new technological pathways for…

The Chinese ambassador to India’s attempt at bridge-building has triggered a fierce nationalist backlash back home, including accusations that he has lost sight of his role. “The ambassador seems to have forgotten his actual job,” one social media user wrote this month of Xu Feihong, arguing that the envoy’s role was to make Indians more friendly towards China – not the other way round. Another took a xenophobic turn, accusing Xu of “letting hundreds of thousands, even millions, of Indian ‘cockroaches’ flood into China” and “polluting the country”. In June,…

The AI revolution points to higher economic growth for economies linked to the tech supply chain, with others being left behind. It also signals the potential for financial crises. Balancing these risks will be tricky. The relative optimism, displayed in a recent report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), may turn out to be misplaced. Certain economies in Asia and beyond that are doing well happen to be tied to the AI investment boom and the demand it is creating for infrastructure and hardware. AI hysteria is manifesting not just…