Day: September 1, 2026

The latest trade war between the United States and Canada marks a turning point with key lessons for China and other major US trading partners as well as risks, say analysts and former trade officials, as US President Donald Trump continues to put his blunt stamp on global institutions. The breakdown in ties between Washington and Ottawa, one of the largest trade relationships in the world, opens one more front in the president’s disruptive path that could fuel a backlash and further distrust to Beijing’s benefit. “Should Canada succeed in…

Not even the world’s fastest sprinters could have outrun the devastating floodwaters that struck a border crossing between China and Nepal last week, according to one of the first peer-reviewed assessments of the disaster. This is almost twice Usain Bolt’s average speed when he set the 100 metres world record of 9.58 seconds in 2009 and 50 per cent higher than his top speed. In a paper posted online on Tuesday by the Chinese-language journal Yangtze River, the team used digital models and frame-by-frame analysis to reconstruct the event, which…

As Starship, the world’s largest and most powerful rocket, gears up for an attempt to finally reach Earth’s orbit, experts say the risk of an in-flight catastrophe – and a cloud of debris – “needs to be of concern”. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is expected to launch the Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy booster for the launch system’s 14th test flight and first orbital test flight later this month. According to one aerospace expert, if the Starship’s upper stage explodes in orbit it could produce debris on a scale larger than…

In a rare display of interoperability, a Chinese YY-20 aerial tanker has been pictured refuelling a French-built Egyptian Rafale fighter – showing a versatility analysts say could enable closer multinational air operations and improve the tanker’s potential for export. The photo, released by the Egyptian military on Monday, showed mid-air refuelling during the Eagles of Civilisation 2026 joint exercise, which began last month and is being held at several airbases across Egypt. The YY-20, also referred to as the YU-20, is the aerial-refuelling variant of China’s Y-20 strategic transport aircraft,…

Award-winning Swedish chip expert Henry Homayoun Radamson has died in Shanghai at the age of 63. Radamson, who moved to China in 2016, was working as the chief scientist at the Guangdong Greater Bay Area Institute of Integrated Circuit and System. The institute said on Tuesday that he died from a “sudden illness” on August 12. In 2023, Radamson was awarded the Chinese Government Friendship Award, which recognises those who have made outstanding contributions to China’s development. He was best known for his research into nanotechnology and its use in…

China has made the first amendment in 16 years to its national defence mobilisation law to include a fresh focus on new technologies – a move experts said would cover AI and drones. Analysts said the inclusion would make it possible to rapidly convert emerging infrastructure, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and unmanned systems, into defence capabilities. The revised law, passed by the top legislature on Friday, says that “the state promotes the application of advanced technologies in national defence mobilisation and develops national defence mobilisation forces in emerging fields”,…

The US threat of sanctions on China because of Beijing’s relationship with Iran isn’t credible. The artificial intelligence bubble and its own precarious bond market make the US more vulnerable to a shock than China. Even if the US risks massive self-harm and kicks major Chinese institutions off SWIFT, the global messaging system enabling dollar-based cross-border payments, it will merely accelerate the yuan’s rise. China’s trading partners can easily switch to the perfectly functional yuan payment system, the Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS). The US talking up economic war on…