Category: Pl

US warehouse retailer Sam’s Club has gained traction among Chinese shoppers by strengthening localisation and launching more China-tailored products, continuing to expand even as many foreign retailers have scaled back their mainland operations or exited the market. Instead of replicating its US model, Walmart-owned Sam’s Club has introduced products catering to local tastes, including copper gourd ornaments, ginseng and some traditional food items in the days leading up to the Lunar New Year holiday. Its stores have seen robust foot traffic, with some gift-box varieties such as nuts selling out.…

As China’s workforce heads into another year-end bonus season ahead of the Lunar New Year, the mood is colder than in previous cycles. Unlike a few years ago, when social media was flooded with posts flaunting outsized payouts, public talk of bonuses has largely faded from view. Long viewed by Chinese employees as a barometer of corporate prospects, industry momentum and even the broader economy, the year-end bonus packages for 2025 have become smaller, rarer and far more unevenly distributed, amid slowing growth, squeezed profit margins and heightened external uncertainty.…

China has been urged to build dual-use satellite application systems to increase the military use of commercial technology. The appeal by researchers from a university affiliated with the Central Military Commission – China’s highest command body – comes as space technology developed by private firms is increasingly being used for military purposes. For example, the US military has stepped up its use of technology from Elon Musk’s Starlink network and other commercial satellite companies, carrying out tests to help it build a more advanced and efficient command system. Advertisement Musk’s…

America’s increasing use of MQ-9 drones near China poses a challenge to Beijing and makes it more urgent for the People’s Liberation Army to improve counter-reconnaissance, according to military experts. The MQ-9 Reaper can carry out both reconnaissance and strike missions. It has been used for numerous high-profile operations, including the 2020 assassination of Iranian major general Qassem Soleimani. And it has been deployed as part of the US military’s surveillance network in the Indo-Pacific. Advertisement For China, the drone’s biggest threat is its high maximum altitude of up to…

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump faces rare pushback within his party over tariffs as polls slide Photo: AP President Donald Trump faced noteworthy pushback in February over his signature tariff policy in the US Congress while his popularity slipped and more lawmakers in his party appeared willing to risk his wrath. Read the full story here. 2. US Treasury chief…

Steve Durst, a US space entrepreneur who spent decades building rare bridges with China’s space sector despite restrictions on official cooperation, has died aged 82. Durst, who founded the non-profit International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA), was publishing on China’s astronaut training as early as 1980, when the country’s human space flight ambitions were still little known to the outside world. He died at his home in California last month, shortly after attending a workshop in Chiang Mai, Thailand. 01:57 China’s Chang’e-6 mission returns to Earth with first samples from moon’s…

Liu Hu, 50, a veteran Chinese investigative reporter, and his colleague, Wu Yingjiao, 34, were taken into custody on suspicion of “making false accusations” and conducting “illegal business operations”, police in Chengdu’s Jinjiang district said on February 2. In an article posted last month that has since been taken down, the two cited a source as alleging that Pu Fayou, party secretary of Pujiang county, which is overseen by Chengdu, had abused his authority to suppress private enterprises. Advertisement The reporters’ article said other county officials had been involved in…

China’s first man in space, Yang Liwei, has officially retired from active duty, but he has not stopped training and remains ready to don a spacesuit again if needed. He said in a CCTV interview on Saturday that the country’s first group of astronauts had been grounded in October according to regulations, but “if our motherland needs us, we can resume flights”. Yang, now a deputy chief designer for China’s crewed space programme, was the first Chinese national to reach Earth’s orbit in 2003. Advertisement On October 15 of that…

The Chinese region of Inner Mongolia expects to start work this year on two new “flexible” power plants mixing coal and green energy. The plants, which will provide power to the eastern economic hubs of Shanghai and Jiangsu province, mark a major strategic shift in the use of coal because the fossil fuel will now be used to plug gaps in the power generated by wind and solar energy rather than being the primary source of energy. Advertisement The autonomous region’s energy bureau said the National Energy Administration had approved…