India has reportedly signed a deal to buy Russian missiles that target support aircraft as its arch-rival Pakistan and China continue to integrate their aerial weapons profiles. Russia has cleared the export of around 300 R-37M ultra-long-range air-to-air missiles in a US$1.2 billion deal, according to media reports. Malaysia-based news platform Defence Security Asia said deliveries of the missiles could begin within 12 to 18 months. India is also developing its own Astra Mk 2 and Mk 3 missiles,...

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Chongqing, also known as ‘the most confusing city’ has become one of China’s most popular tourism attraction spots in recent years. Many Chinese and international social media content creators have hopped on the viral trend of making videos about the city’s bewildering, mountainous urban landscape. The South China Morning Post’s Llewellyn Cheung travelled to Chongqing to meet a local content creator and tourism experts to find out what the city is really like beyond the viral trends, and why its...

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In the world of mathematics, the United States is becoming an outlier. The International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) – the world’s most important mathematics conference and the venue for awarding the prestigious Fields Medal – is facing worldwide opposition because the US is hosting this year’s event in Philadelphia in July. More than 2,300 mathematicians from at least 76 countries have signed an online petition to “move the 2026 ICM out of the US” and “commit not to participate in the ICM...

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In the latest move as the US and Iran circle each other warily and the world holds its breath, US President Donald Trump on Saturday ordered his negotiating team not to travel to Pakistan for talks on ending the eight-week war that has upended the global economy. Trump told his son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff to stay put and avoid wasting more time until Tehran stepped up. Vice-President J.D. Vance, who presided over the first round of talks earlier this month, remains...

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After an hour’s drive through the jungle of Borneo, you reach more jungle. Your rental van from the Balikpapan city airport shakes precariously, navigating a partial bridge washout. A roadside sign admonishes against poaching the endangered sun bears. By hour three you’ve arrived at Indonesia’s new capital, which is due to start taking over from gridlocked, polluted and seaward-sinking Jakarta in 2028. Welcome to Ibu Kota Nusantara, known locally as just Nusantara or IKN. Eventually, if all goes...

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A new wave of South Korean content creators is descending on Chinese cities, cameras in hand, transforming the streets of Shanghai, Shenzhen and beyond into lively backdrops for travel vlogs and lifestyle videos. Dubbed the “Korean v-blogger influx” by some online users, their ranks have swelled since China extended its unilateral visa-free policy for South Korean passport holders for another year, allowing stays of up to 30 days for tourism, business and family visits. Introduced in 2024 and...

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When US special forces raided Caracas and abducted president Nicolas Maduro and his wife in early January, the Venezuelan capital was hit by widespread power outages and communication blackouts. Yet, within hours of the attacks, connectivity began to return – not from paralysed ground infrastructure, but from space. Elon Musk’s Starlink, a subsidiary of SpaceX, activated communications services across Venezuela via its vast constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites on terminals residents...

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As one of the world’s largest automotive glass producers, and the subject of an Oscar-winning documentary, Fuyao Glass is a familiar name in the United States. Now, its founder has warned he is prepared to shut down his American plants if trade friction and tariffs cause severe losses. Responding to questions regarding geopolitical risks at the company’s annual general meeting, Cao Dewang said that the company would not engage in loss-making ventures. “How much in duties you want to impose is...

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From Taiwan to Tibet, French President Emmanuel Macron has touched Beijing’s nerves on a range of sensitive issues over the past few weeks. On a trip to Japan earlier this month, he and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi “emphasised the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and urged a peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues through constructive dialogue”. The irritation for Beijing was less about the language and more about the timing, with the joint statement coming...

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In a prelude to a possible second round of peace talks in Pakistan, Iran ramped up its rhetoric against the United States on Saturday, warning of retaliation if the US kept up its shipping blockade. Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the operational centre of the Islamic Republic’s armed forces, warned of a “severe reaction” if the US continued its “naval blockade, maritime piracy and robbery in the region”. Iran’s defence ministry also said that much of the country’s missile strength...

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A Chinese naval video has fuelled speculation that its next aircraft carrier is likely to be nuclear-powered. The film Into The Deep was released on Wednesday to mark the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Highlighting the continuity of China’s maritime ambitions, from coastal defence to a “blue-water” navy capable of deep-sea operations, the film also included footage from real-life drills in the western Pacific and the use of advanced equipment. It also...

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With bad loans and repayment collateral in focus, Chinese banks are increasingly using satellites to evaluate their clients’ terrestrial assets, mounting a hi-tech offensive to safeguard against rising credit risks. China Merchants Bank and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank started making use of satellites this year, following a 2022 launch by Ping An Bank and a 2020 move into satellite remote-sensing technology by Zhejiang E-Commerce Bank. Furthering the trend, the Postal Savings Bank of China...

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China’s official media has released a series of guidelines for would-be civil servants, warning them to dress modestly. Candidates were told they should wear “light and elegant” suits, and men were advised to get a haircut. Women were told to have clean nails, avoid jewellery, complicated make-up and make sure their hair did not cover their ears or eyes. Competition for civil service jobs – traditionally seen as an “iron rice bowl” because of the security they offer – has intensified in recent...

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China would see India’s attempt to expand defence industry cooperation with South Korea in artillery and anti-aircraft guns as “inevitably sensitive” given Beijing’s border dispute with New Delhi in the Himalayas, according to analysts. After meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday as part of his three-day visit to India, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung announced that Seoul and Delhi had agreed to upgrade their economic cooperation, focusing on vital sectors such as...

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More than 4 million small parcels from China have arrived at the freight airport in Liege, Belgium, every day since the beginning of the year. On the receiving end, the Belgian customs inspection team at the airport has only 80 members. Belgium’s top customs official, Kristian Vanderwaeren, said the airport, close to the Netherlands, Germany and France, was built, in part, to cater to e-commerce platforms such as Amazon, Shein, Temu and Alibaba. But the “explosion” in the number of small parcels...

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The idea of a token economy is gaining traction. The concept is still nascent, loosely defined and easy to dismiss as just another piece of artificial intelligence jargon. It is no surprise Chinese policymakers are quick to jump on the bandwagon. But in the Chinese context, there is a more concrete policy logic that deserves attention. It reflects an emerging attempt to reframe how energy, infrastructure and digital services interact, and in doing so, how China positions itself in the next phase...

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Mozambique and China have agreed to map the vast, untapped deposits of critical minerals buried beneath the African nation’s resource-rich northern provinces, as Maputo seeks Chinese capital and security expertise to unlock one of the continent’s most coveted – and conflict-ridden – resource frontiers. The announcement was made in a joint statement issued after talks between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Mozambican counterpart Daniel Chapo in Beijing on Tuesday. The geological survey will...

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In the southern tech hub of Shenzhen, a simmering rivalry between DJI and Insta360 has transformed their shared neighbourhood into a high-stakes corporate battleground. Both companies have long been hailed as the city’s poster children for Chinese innovation. DJI dominated the skies as the world’s undisputed leader in consumer drones, and Insta360 captured the niche market of panoramic cameras. Now they find themselves locked in a crosstown struggle for market supremacy that some say could...

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Another day, another big humiliation for William Lai Ching-te. The Taiwanese leader effectively had to cancel a visit to eSwatini, the island’s last partner in Africa, for the celebrations of the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession to the throne and his 58th birthday. Taiwan said the visit was “postponed” after the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar cancelled their previously approved overflight permission without warning. Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)...

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DeepSeek has finally released its much-anticipated next-generation foundational artificial intelligence model, the open-source V4, which it said was competitive with leading US closed-source models from the likes of OpenAI and Google DeepMind. The Hangzhou-based AI start-up released two versions of the model on Friday, with the V4-pro model boasting 1.6 trillion parameters, making it the company’s biggest-ever model by that metric, while the smaller V4-flash model has 284 billion...

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Community members and activists have gathered on the University of Michigan campus to pay tribute to Wang Danhao, a semiconductor researcher from China who took his own life after being questioned by US federal agents. About 30 people attended the vigil, organised by peace advocacy group Code Pink to mark one month since Wang died. They formed a circle around an altar set with candles, flowers, incense and his portrait, sharing memories of his life and research, as well as their reactions to the...

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China’s military mouthpiece has urged the People’s Liberation Army to speed up integration of artificial intelligence and said AI-driven warfare was at a “turning point” – as seen in the US-Israeli campaign against Iran. In a commentary on Thursday, PLA Daily pointed to the use of AI in the Middle East war and said it was the first time the technology had been integrated into the entire cycle of operations – from analysis of intelligence to target identification, planning and assessment. “This...

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Beijing is intensifying its enforcement against tax evasion, extending its reach into consumption taxes, which have been positioned as a critical source of stabilising local government finances that have been hit hard by the nation’s prolonged property crisis. Earlier this month, the State Taxation Administration (STA) released details of eight tax-violation cases involving sectors such as gold jewellery, alcoholic beverages and refined oil. The enforcement actions spanned multiple regions,...

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Faced with US-China rivalry and an uncertain future even beyond Donald Trump’s presidency, middle powers are building fluid coalitions and partnerships to hedge against American and wider unpredictability, according to a leading Southeast Asian affairs scholar. Traditional US allies are asserting greater autonomy and forming their own networks to hedge against risks – a shift that is creating openings for smaller neutral states to further diversify their partnerships, while mitigating the danger...

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Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi is expected to travel to Pakistan on Friday, according to sources in Islamabad and the country’s state broadcaster, fuelling optimism for a second round of talks between Washington and Tehran. According to a source, Araghchi will travel with a “small team”, arriving by Friday night, Pakistan time. Earlier, Araghchi had a phone call with Pakistan’s army chief, Asim Munir. A Pakistani official told the South China Morning Post that the Pakistani foreign...

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