Month: August 2026

Forty years ago, the Stockholm Document turned the political promise of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act into a more practical system of confidence-building. Amid the Cold War, Europe’s East and West did not disarm, abandon deterrence or begin to trust one another. Instead, they agreed that military competition could be made safer through prior notification, observation, information exchange and verification. The lesson was modest but durable: adversaries do not need trust to reduce uncertainty. That logic is now needed beyond the military sphere. Today’s world is not divided into Cold…

After two years of a cautious thaw, China and India are heading towards a pivotal test: can the relationship move beyond managed optics to meaningful engagement? President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are expected to cross paths next week at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Sources expect a short, tightly managed encounter on the sidelines of the August 31-September 1 summit that would set the stage for the main event – in India. The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed on Wednesday that Xi would…

Dozens of people were dead and hundreds of others – many of them foreign tourists – were missing on Wednesday night, hours after massive flash floods and landslides engulfed a border area between China and Nepal. Chinese state media reported that the disaster struck Nepal at around 9am, spilling over into Gyirong county in the Tibet autonomous region, causing “major casualties and missing persons” at a border checkpoint in the county, which is administered by the city of Shigatse. Footage circulating online showed a landslide descending on the Gyirong Port…

China has reminded its officials of their lifelong responsibility for serious environmental damage on their watch, tying green efforts more closely to performance assessments in the country’s push for higher-quality growth. The conditions and potential disciplinary action were outlined in revised rules released on Tuesday by the Communist Party and the State Council, China’s cabinet. Under the rules, officials will be held to account for serious environmental damage “regardless of whether they have been transferred, reassigned, promoted, left their jobs or retired”. The Central Organisation Department, the party body overseeing…

People in China reacted with frustration and disbelief after American consulates around the world began cancelling immigrant visa interviews – the latest setback for applicants waiting to enter the United States legally. A post by an immigration agent on the Chinese social media platform RedNote claimed that the US consulate in Guangzhou had abruptly cancelled all immigrant visa interviews on Tuesday. According to the agent, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak to the media, multiple clients scheduled for interviews later this week were notified…

South China Morning Post

China has tested a new variant of the YJ-18A anti-ship cruise missile bearing a black stealth coating, according to specialists who say the advanced finish on the ship-launched missile will improve its penetration ability. The coating was highlighted in footage released by state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday, which showed an extreme-performance test of a new type of anti-ship missile fired from a navy ship’s vertical launch system in unknown waters. China’s most active-duty shipborne missiles are painted in lighter colours, such as grey or white. China calls nuclear submarine missile…

As Washington increasingly turns away from the multilateral order it once helped build, Beijing is emerging as an advocate of international cooperation and rules-based stability. For some, the real surprise is that China’s rise is not challenging the world order but that its interests align with preserving it. When I met Foreign Minister Wang Yi in the corridor of a congress centre in Myanmar, he had just finished addressing more than 50 foreign ministers, emphasising the need for a multilateral, cooperative approach to our shared future. It was 2017, and…

00:00 00:00 1.00x South China Morning Post