Author: Media Library

Trump’s China-savvy spokeswoman, Hong Kong trail emergencies: 5 weekend reads you missed

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We have put together stories from our coverage last weekend to help you stay informed about news across Asia and beyond. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump’s new spokeswoman is a ‘devoted fan’ who lived in Beijing and speaks Chinese 2. Hong Kong hiker dies, Singaporean teen discharged after 2 trail emergencies 3. How a museum masterpiece’s life-size replica sparked rare US-China collaboration 4. Why Malaysian doctors are turning down… South China Morning Post

Volkswagen boss backs EU plan to bolster domestic European industry

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The boss of Volkswagen has backed EU proposals to boost its domestic industry, arguing European carmakers need to be able to “compete under comparable conditions” with Chinese rivals. Oliver Blume said “Made in Europe” rules from the EU “must reward real value creation in Europe”, speaking in Paris before the motor show this week. The rules are aimed at countering the rapid rise of Chinese brands in Europe in the automotive sector and other important manufacturing industries. Lower-priced Chinese manufacturers have prompted a crisis in several industries. Volkswagen is among…

China Expands Its Military Reach by Building a Base in Laos

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China has begun operating a new air force base in Laos, marking another step in Beijing’s efforts to establish military footholds abroad and project power into Southeast Asia. Satellite images released this week revealed that eight small military aircraft had arrived at the China-Laos Joint Logistics and Training Center, which officially opened late last month at Ban Keun, about 30 miles north of the Laotian capital, Vientiane. The satellite images, first reported by Reuters, showed a 1.2-mile runway at Ban Keun that could be extended, opening the possibility that the…

Hangzhou is doubling down on tech – minus the viral hype

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A year ago, a Unitree robot kickboxing could light up social media. When DeepSeek released its latest open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model, developers around the world rushed to test it. This year, however, Hangzhou’s latest technology bets have barely made a ripple. The city’s “New Eight Steeds” – eight deep-tech companies in fields ranging from smart glasses and inference graphic processing units (GPUs) to compute-in-memory chips and space computing – are a very different proposition… South China Morning Post

How a museum masterpiece’s life-size replica sparked rare US-China collaboration

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For anyone who has visited the Chinese galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, there is one work that stops them in their tracks. Stepping into Gallery 206, home to Chinese Buddhist art, visitors are met by a monumental wall – over 15 metres wide and 7.5 metres tall (nearly 50 feet by 25 feet) – covered in a Buddhist assembly so vast and majestic that it momentarily erases the Manhattan bustle outside. Here stands the Medicine Buddha, a 14th century Yuan dynasty (1279-1368)… South China Morning…

China’s Bid to Define the ‘Global South’

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In the leadup to the U.S.-China summit in September 2026, President Xi Jinping attended the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and the BRICS summit in Delhi. He also visited the Middle East — all between August and September. What is notable is that in speeches delivered at both the SCO and BRICS summits, Xi made heavy use of the term “Global South.” This reflects China’s positioning of the SCO and BRICS as gatherings of the Global South, even though Russia and Turkey are among their members. How,…

Are Chinese military aircraft already using a new joint air facility in Laos?

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Chinese military aircraft may already be using a new joint aviation facility in Laos, with satellite imagery showing twice as many K-8/JL-8-family trainer aircraft there as the Laotian air force is assessed to possess. Eight of the two-seat trainer and light-attack aircraft were visible at Ban Keun Airport in commercial satellite imagery taken on September 30, according to Reuters, which first reported the images. More than two dozen military and support vehicles were also visible. The image was… South China Morning Post