Day: August 23, 2026

“History doesn’t repeat itself but it often rhymes.” This famous quote, widely attributed to Mark Twain, keeps playing in my mind as China mourns the death of former premier Zhu Rongji and reflects on his legacy. It was early afternoon on August 12 when I received a message from a friend on the mainland that made my heart sink: “Our much-respected Premier Zhu left us this morning!” As we anxiously waited for the official confirmation that would launch us into a frantically busy news day, my mind went back to…

Chinese archaeologists will carry out their first joint field project in South America by exploring sites dating back thousands of years in Peru as Beijing steps up its efforts to deepen cultural ties with the region. The Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said it had signed a cooperation agreement with the Caral Archaeological Zone of the Peruvian Ministry of Culture and the Professional School of Archaeology at the National University of San Marcos to explore sites related to the Caral civilisation. The collaboration will include…

Next time you spot a vivid orange-yellow crust spreading across a rock in your garden, on a country wall or along a hiking trail, take a closer look – you might be standing on a fortune. A Chinese research team has found that a humble lichen could serve as a visible field indicator of unknown rare earth deposits around the world. The researchers said the lichen’s distinctive colour made it easy to spot on exposed rock, and the discovery could be combined with unmanned aerial vehicles and hyperspectral remote sensing…

China’s historic Chang’e-7 mission to drill for ice near the moon’s south pole has been delayed, the country’s human space flight programme authority said on Sunday. The Chang’e-7 – carrying an orbiter, a lander, a rover and a hopper – was expected to lift off aboard a Long March 5 rocket from the Wenchang spaceport in southern China’s Hainan province as early as Monday. The China Manned Space Agency said on Sunday evening that the mission would be postponed following a comprehensive assessment to adhere to principles of safety and…

The United States may want the world to choose sides in the AI race with China, but in Africa, many businesses are pursuing a more pragmatic strategy: using Chinese models where they offer better value or flexibility, while keeping their options open. For example, when African insurtech platform Curacel expanded the range of artificial intelligence (AI) models powering its internal infrastructure, it did not look only to Silicon Valley. Instead, the Nigeria-based firm – which provides AI-powered claims and fraud-detection infrastructure to African insurers and fintech companies – added GLM-5.3,…

The latest US AI and supply chain initiatives are doomed to fail, according to a prominent political scientist who also argued that efforts to restrict US companies’ access to low-cost Chinese models would backfire. Instead, he argued, the United States and China should collaborate on driving global economic development to generate the external demand needed to sustain long-term growth. “US frameworks such as Pax Silica, the chip alliance and the rare earth alliance explicitly target a third party, which is bound to fail,” Zheng Yongnian, dean of the School of…

China has stepped up its offensive against a US-born school of thought on China’s last imperial dynasty, accusing it of providing “theoretical ammunition” for attempts to divide the country. The denunciation comes as online debates over the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) continue to give rise to inflammatory rhetoric, and as Beijing’s ethnic policies and historical narratives are increasingly becoming an arena for international political competition. An article published by the state-run China Ethnic News last Monday warned that New Qing History was “seriously eroding the historical foundations of the community for…

The United States has pledged to take an “America First” approach to the latest round of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation talks, which are taking place in China weeks before President Xi Jinping’s visit to America. The US State Department said: “US leadership in Apec is a key dimension to pursuing America First policies that foster prosperity and advance economic growth in the United States and across the region by breaking down barriers for US business, boosting fair and reciprocal trade and supporting American job growth.” It added that the delegates, led…