South China Morning Post
Zhu Rongji reforms fuel China’s economic transformation
Month: August 2026
China’s travellers raise alarm over error-filled tourist signs in public spaces
A highway operator in Gansu province, northwestern China, apologised on Wednesday after a service area sign for the hot water room, mistranslated in English as “open water rooms”, was shared on social media. Similar translation errors, as well as spelling mistakes, on signage at public facilities have repeatedly drawn attention, including an incident in late March, when a passenger at an airport in the southwestern city of Guiyang discovered multiple misspellings. The mistranslation of the bilingual sign at the Yuanyang service area on the Lianyungang-Khorgos Expressway was revealed in a…
Chinese yeast factory boosts cancer drug production speed 1,000 times
A research team at Zhejiang University has cracked a molecular puzzle, turning ordinary yeast into a powerful factory for an expensive cancer drug and boosting its production by a thousand times. The anticancer drug vinblastine has long been sourced exclusively from the Madagascar periwinkle plant. But it takes 2 tonnes of dried leaves to yield just 1 gram of vinblastine, making it more expensive than gold by weight. This extreme scarcity has kept the drug costly and its supply unreliable for decades. After years of work, a team led by…
Taiwan says it was hit by ‘abnormal’ AI-assisted cyber-attack
Taiwan says it detected AI-assisted cyber-attacks on government agencies that came from overseas last month, a new kind of threat that has been reported as “first-of-a-kind breach”. The Ministry of Digital Affairs (MDA) said its cybersecurity monitoring units detected the “abnormal attack” targeting government agencies, which began on 20 July. The National Institute of Cyber Security issued a series of warning alerts while it investigated. The Financial Times quoted Dream – an Israeli AI company that detected the intrusion – as saying the attackers used open-source AI agents to build…
US-China rivalry takes flight over scramble for contracts at Ethiopia’s Bishoftu airport
Ethiopia’s new US$12.5 billion mega-airport project has thrust the nation into the heart of a geopolitical tug of war between the United States and China. Ethiopian Airlines, Africa’s largest carrier, is developing the massive Bishoftu International Airport, located 40km (25 miles) southeast of the capital Addis Ababa to serve as a primary hub for African trade and travel. The project has triggered intense competition between would-be contractors from around the world, but Chinese state-owned enterprises and joint ventures make up roughly half the shortlisted bidders. These include major players such…
Nirupama Rao and Lin Minwang on India-China fault lines
South China Morning Post
Nearly 200-country study shows China’s Belt and Road Initiative cuts debt and corruption
A study analysing data from hundreds of countries and regions suggests China’s Belt and Road Initiative is linked to better governance and economic development, according to researchers from Nanjing University. They found the trade and investment scheme – which spans Africa, Asia, Europe and beyond – was also associated with improved corruption control and that it reduced debt risks. The team – from the university’s Centre for Asia-Pacific Development Studies and led by Mao Weizhun – said their findings challenged characterisations of the trade and infrastructure initiative as a “failure”,…
With Hollywood struggling in China, can the Odyssey draw a crowd?
The Odyssey, Christopher Nolan’s summer blockbuster juggernaut, has overcome an onslaught of attacks from the world’s richest man and stared down criticism from a classicist who translated the poem, to become one of the year’s most celebrated and highest-grossing films. But this week, the film faces one of its biggest challenges yet. Released in China on Friday, Nolan’s latest epic will test whether Hollywood blockbusters can still draw audiences in China, a market that is increasingly dominated by domestic films. For now, the signs are good: the Odyssey is set…
Zhu Rongji, Former Premier Who Transformed China Into a Market Economy, Dies at 97
new video loaded: Zhu Rongji, Former Premier Who Transformed China Into a Market Economy, Dies at 97 <img src="https://www.chinastrategy.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/zhu-rongji-former-premier-who-transformed-china-into-a-market-economy-dies-at-97.jpg" data-testid="betamax-poster" sizes="(width Zhu Rongji, the former Chinese premier, died in Beijing on Wednesday at the age of 97. He helped guide China toward a market-based economy in the 1990s and later into the World Trade Organization that skyrocketed the country’s exports. By David Cheung August 12, 2026 NYT
US charges 11 over sham marriages involving Chinese nationals and American soldiers
US prosecutors have charged 11 people over an alleged decade-long network that arranged more than 1,000 sham marriages, primarily for Chinese nationals seeking green cards, including matches with at least 14 active-duty American soldiers. About 11 of the soldiers, who were stationed at a US Army base in Kentucky, were paired with Chinese citizens between May 2023 and August 2025, according to a 21-page indictment unsealed on Wednesday in federal court in New York. The indictment did not identify the military installation or the soldiers, who were allegedly recruited by…