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From cash handouts to reimbursed procedures, local governments across China are throwing money at in vitro fertilisation and related fertility treatments in a bid to coax couples into having children. But some experts warn that the hi-tech push ignores the low-tech reality: raising a family is simply too expensive, and fertility subsidies cannot reverse China’s demographic decline. Jingmen, a city in central Hubei province, is the latest to join the fray, announcing subsidies of up to 10,000...

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Shenzhen’s main railway station handled a record 116.6 million passengers in the first 11 months of 2025, as China’s major cities continue to see a boom in rail ridership and travel between Hong Kong and mainland China picks up steam. The total passenger flow at Shenzhen North Railway Station between January and November was up 8.8 per cent compared with the same period last year, according to data from China State Railway Group cited by local media. Shenzhen North is one of the two largest...

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One of China’s newest main battle tanks, the Type 99B, is an upgraded model designed to perform better in high-altitude and cold weather operations, according to state media – suggesting it could be sent to the Himalayan border with India. The tank is the latest of the Type 99 armoured vehicles and was among the military hardware unveiled during China’s huge Victory Day parade in Beijing in September. State broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday that the upgraded model has a raft of new features....

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Retrenchment appears to be the buzzword following the Trump administration’s release of its new National Security Strategy (NSS). Under the heading “Balance of Power”, the report states that “the US rejects the ill-fated concept of global domination for itself”. And under “burden-sharing and burden-shifting”, it says that “the days of the US propping up the entire world order like Atlas are over”. The document asserts a “‘Trump corollary’ to the Monroe Doctrine” and vows to “restore American...

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The global air travel market has bounced back to pre-pandemic levels, with the industry upbeat about 2026 and the Asia-Pacific region expected to lead worldwide traffic growth, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) said on Monday. Load factors in Asia-Pacific were projected to hit an all-time regional high of 84.4 per cent next year, according to IATA, which represents some 370 airlines, accounting for more than 80 per cent of the world’s air traffic. Passenger demand was strong,...

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The Communist Party chief of Henan province has made an impromptu visit to the famed Shaolin Temple, whose former abbot was rounded up on corruption charges earlier this year, and called for a clear boundary between the temple and business. Liu Ning made the comments during his first inspection of the temple on Sunday, nearly five months after former abbot Shi Yongxin – known as “the CEO monk” – was abruptly removed, according to a report by the official Henan Daily. In an “in-depth exchange”...

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Beijing has accused Manila of organising a “premeditated” provocation and dangerous manoeuvres near a disputed reef in the South China Sea, and Washington of making false statements that have escalated tensions in the region. Manila said Philippine fishing boats near Sabina Shoal had been targeted with water cannons by Chinese coastguard ships in an incident on Friday, while Beijing said Philippine personnel had threatened Chinese officers with knives. Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo...

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Saudi Arabia has pledged to deepen its hi-tech cooperation with China in areas such as new energy and artificial intelligence. “Saudi Arabia is willing to further deepen cooperation with China in areas including oil and gas, new energy, artificial intelligence and high technology, to bring greater benefits to the peoples of both countries,” the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The pledge came at a time when the kingdom is facing growing...

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Top Japanese diplomat on Monday spelled out Tokyo’s position on Taiwan as set out in a 1972 joint communique in a bid to lower the temperature of the diplomatic crisis with Beijing. In a parliamentary session, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi repeated its position on Taiwan stated in the document that established and normalised diplomatic ties with Beijing and severed ties with Taipei – language Beijing has repeatedly urged Japan to restate in recent weeks. More to follow …

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Home prices in mainland China continued to decline at a rapid pace in November, posing challenges for policymakers who have vowed to stem a years-long downturn. New home prices fell 0.4 per cent month on month on average across 70 cities, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. The decline eased slightly from a 0.5 per cent fall in October, but it was among the steepest in more than a year. Prices slipped 2.8 per cent year on year in November, compared with a...

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China’s currency appears poised to break through the psychological 7.0-per-dollar barrier next year, fuelled by US Federal Reserve rate cuts and thawing trade tensions, with some bulls betting that the yuan could strengthen to 6.8. Analysts and onlookers are increasingly optimistic, with some citing the potential for a relatively weaker US dollar and pointing to signs that Beijing’s policy support is stabilising the world’s second-largest economy. Guan Tao, a former senior official with China’s...

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In an attempt to solve the global fertility crisis, Chinese scientists have developed a balm for testicles they say can boost sperm activity. The lotion they developed for external application significantly enhanced sperm quality in both animal trials and in vitro studies, regardless of whether the decline in function was caused by exposure to heavy metals, plasticisers, heat stress or natural ageing, the researchers said. The study, conducted by researchers from several domestic institutes,...

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CMOC Group, one of China’s biggest miners, extended its push into precious metals with a US$1 billion deal to buy the Brazilian operations of Equinox Gold. It will take full ownership of two Equinox entities – Leagold LatAm Holdings and Luna Gold – that control several mines or deposits in the South American nation. Equinox will receive US$900 million in cash, plus a contingent payment of as much as US$115 million one year after the deal closes, CMOC said in an exchange filing on Monday. The...

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The world has not slid into a simple US–China bipolar order but has become “two superpowers and many strong powers”, veteran Peking University scholar Wang Jisi has warned, pointing to a relationship plagued by structural confrontation, deep misunderstandings and rising risks of conflict. In a wide-ranging virtual conversation on Friday at the University of Hong Kong’s Centre on Contemporary China and the World (CCCW), Wang voiced concerns about America’s inward turn under US President Donald...

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China’s economic indicators logged a further slowdown in November, with consumption and investment showing renewed signs of strain, while the property downturn continued to weigh on overall momentum. Retail sales, a key gauge of consumer spending, grew in November by 1.3 per cent, year on year, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. The figure fell short of the 2.92 per cent forecast from financial data provider Wind and marked a drop from October’s 2.9...

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Beijing has imposed sanctions on Shigeru Iwasaki, former chief of the Joint Staff of the Japan Self-Defence Forces, saying he had “colluded with separatist forces” in Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday. It comes after Beijing lodged a protest with Tokyo in March over the appointment of Iwasaki as an honorary adviser to the Executive Yuan, the Taiwanese government’s highest administrative body. The “countermeasures” include freezing Iwasaki’s movable and immovable assets and...

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Liu Cixin is the most influential contemporary science fiction writer in China. He is best known for his trilogy that starts with The Three-Body Problem, for which he won a Hugo Award for best novel in 2015. The trilogy earned international acclaim and has been adapted for television in both Chinese and English. Born in 1963 and raised in Shanxi, Liu started his working life as a computer engineer at a power plant in the central province. Inspired by British sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke, Liu...

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The odds seemed impossible: a shoestring Chinese start-up founded in 2023 with just 1 million yuan (US$142,000) taking on Elon Musk – tech legend, disrupter in space and CEO of Tesla – who is valued at half a trillion dollars. But in less than two years, EngineAI Robotics, led by CEO Zhao Tongyang, created the T800 – a robot that delivers Bruce Lee-style roundhouse kicks with the force of a small car – and, under the instruction of smiling engineers and scientists, tried it first on the boss...

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A proposal to invite Taiwan to next year’s US-led Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) military exercises has been removed from defence policy legislation progressing through Congress, raising concerns in Taipei that Washington’s political calculus may be shifting. Some analysts have warned that the removal of language approved by the US Senate in the 2026 National Defence Authorisation Act (NDAA) could even pave the way for Beijing’s return to the world’s largest naval exercise. For the first time, the...

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China will expand its national healthcare insurance programme next year to fully cover all out-of-pocket expenses related to childbirth, according to state media reports. It is the country’s latest bid to lift birth rates and avert a looming demographic crisis that threatens to undermine long-term growth prospects. The pledge to widen the medical insurance coverage was unveiled at a national healthcare security conference in Beijing on Saturday, state news agency Xinhua reported. According to a...

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Just days after Chinese ambassador Yang Renhuo met Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embalo to donate airport security inspection equipment, the West African nation was hit by a military coup that ousted Embalo. The November 26 coup marked yet another military takeover along Africa’s “coup belt”, adding Guinea-Bissau to nations like Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Niger and Gabon that had recently seen leaders toppled. The political turmoil has raised the stakes for China’s vast economic...

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The recently released US National Security Strategy (NSS) marks a sharp geographic and political turn. It moves the western hemisphere to the top of the agenda and pushes Asia – and with it, visible China-centric “great power competition” – down a notch. This does not mean China no longer matters. Rather, it means Washington now sees China partly through the lens of what it is doing in the Americas instead of only what it is doing in the Indo-Pacific. This shift is not accidental. It is a...

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China has set a deadline for local governments to settle the outstanding payments they owe to companies, calling it essential for improving the country’s business environment amid an economic slowdown. All arrears less than 500,000 yuan (US$70,870) must be cleared by the end of the year, said Xiao Weiming, deputy secretary general of the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s top economic planner. “The biggest step in improving the business environment right now is clearing...

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When I woke up with a sore throat and fever in Beijing earlier this month, the last thing I wanted to do was go to a hospital. Even though the nearest public facility is just a 15-minute walk from my flat, I didn’t have the energy to leave my bed, let alone endure the long queues, crowds and cumbersome procedures that come with a hospital visit. In fact, I suspected I had contracted the virus that was causing my symptoms from a trip to that very hospital four days earlier, as it was the only...

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With temperatures falling and holidays approaching, ski resorts across northern China are experiencing a surge in visitors from the south, a trend that is cheering airlines as well as resort operators including Malaysia-based Genting Group. Since the ski season opened on November 15, the Changbai Beautiful China Resort in the northeast province of Jilin, a complex owned by China Green Development Group, has welcomed more than 110,000 visitors, marking a nearly 40 per cent year-on-year increase....

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