The 13-year-old Chinese swimmer Yu Zidi set an Asian Games record as she scorched to gold on Sunday’s first full day of competition. The schoolgirl, who turns 14 next month, took the women’s 200m butterfly crown in a Games-record 2min 05.08sec. It was the first major title of her young career, less than two years out from the Los Angeles Olympics. “It was only so-so,” a smiling Yu said after receiving her medal. Yu Zidi competes in the women’s 200-metre individual medley heats at the Asian Games in Tokyo, Japan.…
Day: September 20, 2026
‘People had naive expectations’: How MeToo has changed in China
When Jasmine, a once active member of China’s MeToo movement, organises feminist activities in Beijing, she often does so under the guise of an art or cultural event. She avoids publicising them on social media, instead sharing details privately in her personal circle. It’s very difficult to imagine what happened during the MeToo period, she says, “when one survivor could speak publicly about her experience and trigger a broader discussion about sexual harassment.” On Friday Sophia Huang Xueqin the imprisoned journalist who helped to ignite China’s MeToo movement, was released…
Pacific island states are trapped in Cold War 2.0
In early July, China fired a test missile from a nuclear submarine into the South Pacific for the first time, a weapon capable of carrying nuclear warheads. Washington and Canberra were livid. The Pacific has long been the exclusive testing ground for such long-range missiles from the United States. How dare China! The reaction from Pacific island states was more measured. While leaders from Tuvalu, Palau and the Solomon Islands strongly criticised the test, the 18-member Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) failed to draft a united statement. Last month, foreign ministers…
US, China seek Xi-Trump summit deliverables in New York talks
The leaders are meeting at JP Morgan’s headquarters in the city to discuss possible economic outcomes for the summit and begin their long-awaited dialogue on artificial intelligence safety and governance. FULL EVENT: Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with US President Donald Trump Last week, the South China Morning Post reported that Washington and Beijing would fold AI discussions into a broader economic meeting. The two leaders agreed in Beijing in May to establish an intergovernmental dialogue on AI, which ran separately from the economic talks led by Bessent and He…
Yu, 13, wins record-breaking first major gold medal
Chinese schoolgirl Yu Zidi lit up the opening day of the Asian Games with a record‑breaking 200m butterfly gold medal secured by a performance she described as “only so‑so”. The 13‑year‑old claimed her first major gold in two minutes 05.08 seconds, an Asian Games record that took almost half a second off compatriot Zhang Yufei’s mark from three years ago. Yu, who is strongly tipped to make an impact at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, won by over three seconds in Tokyo from her team-mate Chang Mohan. “It was only…
Rare earth exposure causes 3-fold increase of health risk to China’s newborns: study
A new study finds that prenatal exposure to rare earth elements can raise the risk of low birthweight, with some substances increasing the danger by more than three times. Researchers tracked 4,891 pregnant women who gave birth at Wuhan Maternal and Child Health Hospital between 2012 and 2014. They measured the concentration of 13 rare earth elements including cerium, ytterbium, and lanthanum in urine samples collected from the mothers. South China Morning Post
New North Korea-Russia bridge delivers a powerful message to China
The recent opening of a new road bridge between North Korea and Russia may look like a modest infrastructure project. In reality, the 1km stretch across the Tumen River carries implications far beyond the movement of vehicles between two border towns. For China, it is a reminder that its influence over North Korea is no longer as secure as it once appeared and that Russia may be increasingly capable of challenging Beijing’s interests on its northeastern periphery. The bridge, inaugurated on September 7, is the first dedicated road crossing between…
Does Trump’s new AI Force signal tech race escalation ahead of Xi Jinping summit?
Experts said the proposed AI Force – whose exact structure remains unclear – could give Beijing a clear counterpart for AI safety talks, but warned it risked becoming an instrument of further technological containment and export controls targeting China. In a social media post on Saturday, Trump said that “the decimation, or destruction” of artificial intelligence (AI) was among the many hoaxes generated by the “Radical Left Democrats”. “I, as President of the United States, will not stand by and let this happen,” he said. South China Morning Post
CATL develops pick-up truck batteries for US despite trade barriers
Comments from Chinese company come ahead of President Xi Jinping’s visit to WashingtonFinancial Times
China needs US-style immigration policy to win tech rivalry with Washington: expert
China can learn from US immigration strategies to attract foreign talent and stay competitive in the intensifying global tech race, a Chinese public policy analyst has said. Li Mingbo, deputy dean of the Guangzhou Institute of the Greater Bay Area (GIG), said China must be more efficient in promoting its new K visas for young science and technology specialists from overseas, noting that the country lacked an immigration system tailored for hi-tech talent. “Although the US has tightened its visa policies, I think it still offers valuable lessons for China,…