Two pro-democracy activists who were put on trial for organising an annual Tiananmen Square massacre vigil in Hong Kong have been sentenced to seven years in jail, in one of the city’s most significant national security cases. Chow Hang-tung, 41 and Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, were found guilty in August of incitement to subversion. The court found they had “incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power”. Chow and Lee were leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance,…
Day: September 10, 2026
Chinese-American electorate proves more fluid than expected, C100 survey finds
A survey of potential Chinese-American voters suggests a significant gender gap in party affiliation as well as a high level of willingness to vote across party lines, according to results released on Thursday. The data – from the Committee of 100 (C100), a civic group of prominent Chinese-Americans, and a University of Chicago polling firm – challenges the common perception that these citizens form a reliable voting bloc for the Democratic Party. Recently naturalised immigrants are more likely to vote Republican than the average among long-term US residents, the survey…
Putin arrives in India for Brics summit set to be dominated by Iran and Ukraine wars
Vladimir Putin has arrived in India’s capital of Delhi ahead of an 11-member Brics summit set to be dominated by wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, as well as economic challenges. The Russian president and his Iranian counterpart, Masoud Pezeshkian, were due to hold talks with India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, while Chinese leader Xi Jinping was also expected to attend the two-day meeting. Putin arrived at Palam air force Station in Delhi, where he was greeted by India’s minister of state for external affairs, Kirti Vardhan Singh, according…
Moonshot, DeepSeek secretly routed user requests to Claude, Anthropic claims
American artificial intelligence (AI) giant Anthropic has accused its Chinese AI rivals DeepSeek and Moonshot on Thursday of covertly routing customer requests to its Claude models, then showing users the responses as if they were from their own models. The new allegations mark a further escalation in US criticism of China’s AI industry practices. Earlier this week, three US government agencies, including the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), claimed that six Chinese companies were engaged in an industrial campaign to steal US model outputs,…
Tech, EV and aerospace executives likely to join Xi’s US trip to mirror Trump team
Beijing is weighing plans to send a group of top tech, electric vehicle and aerospace executives to accompany Chinese President Xi Jinping to Washington later this month, as the two sides race to finalise details for the closely watched visit. The South China Morning Post first reported on August 28 that Chinese and US officials were negotiating whether business leaders would join Xi’s delegation to the US. However, details about who might be included have not been previously reported. According to sources, while specifics of the delegation are still being…
China rebuts top US diplomat Marco Rubio over ‘Communist Party-backed projects’ in Peru
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held talks in Peru on Thursday on countering Beijing’s growing footprint around the strategic Chancay megaport, drawing a sharp response from China’s embassy in Lima, which defended its investments and took aim at Washington’s strict visa rules. Rubio met President Keiko Fujimori at the Government Palace, where she confirmed Peru would join the Shield of the Americas, a US-led coalition against organised crime. The Peruvian capital was the last stop of a three-day tour that also took him to Colombia and Ecuador. Fujimori, a…
Chinese scientists boost hydrogen fuel cell power fourfold with new design
Chinese scientists have developed a way to generate a fourfold increase in power output of hydrogen fuel cells, an advance that could broaden their use from road vehicles to space missions. Hydrogen is widely viewed as a promising clean energy source for a low-carbon future. Fuel cells convert the chemical energy in hydrogen directly into electricity, producing water as their only exhaust. In a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Science on Thursday, researchers at the Beijing Institute of Technology reported a major advance in proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs),…
The Russia-tied French billionaires opening UK’s first historical theme park – explainer
French company Puy du Fou is planning a £600m history-themed park in Oxfordshire. A Guardian investigation has found the company continued working with associates of Konstantin Malofeyev, a pro-Kremlin oligarch under sanctions, on plans for a theme park in Russian-occupied Crimea for longer than it had previously disclosed, and later explored projects in Iran and China. Business reporter Rob Davies explains his findings, including documents that raise questions about whether Puy du Fou’s activities tested the limits of EU sanctions imposed after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea. He also examines…
What the AfD’s Rise in Germany Means for China-EU Relations
The September 6 state election in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, resulted in a decisive victory for Alternative for Germany (AfD), which secured nearly 44 percent of the vote. It marked a stunning rise for the party, which is widely considered to belong to the far-right of the political spectrum. While the AfD’s performance is fundamentally a domestic political development driven by local grievances, energy costs, and other factors, this outcome offers an important, often overlooked perspective on the economic policy dialogue between the EU and China. The rapid ascent of Chinese firms…
Huawei racketeering trial enters second day of testimony
Key witnesses are expected to testify in Chinese tech giant Huawei Technologies’ landmark criminal case on Thursday in Brooklyn, New York, as it enters its second day of testimony. It comes after a US government lawyer told federal jurors on the opening day that Huawei engaged in criminal activities to achieve “growth at any cost”, while a lawyer for the company said that Huawei employees deemed to have broken company policies were punished for their actions. Brian Heberlig, of US law firm Steptoe, also said on Wednesday in his opening…