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The adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) as a practical tool is far outweighed by overinflated hype around it. The trending topic of AI is being driven by pundits with seemingly minute-by-minute hot takes, advice and products to sell. However, as the AI bandwagon picks up pace, there is an urgent need for a more thoughtful, independent conversation about preparing for a new reality. The Microsoft/LinkedIn 2024 Annual Work Trend Index trumpets aggressive conclusions such as “Employees want AI...

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There’s a new gold rush in Southeast Asia, but the prize is not quite so shiny – think green and spiky. A retired police chief is chasing it. Someone else just built a flashy new house with the income earned from it. Cashew and coffee plantations are being flattened to make space. Sorting and processing sheds dot the roadsides. We’re talking about Vietnam’s production of durians for China’s voracious consumer market – and the risks that come with it. To get a closer look, take a road trip with...

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Beijing has protested to Tokyo over Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s contact with a former senior Taiwanese politician on the sidelines of the Apec summit in South Korea, describing the action as “egregious”. Takaichi posted photos of herself meeting Lin Hsin-i on social media on Friday and Saturday, referring to him as “senior adviser to the Presidential Office of Taiwan”. In the comments she said she hoped the “practical cooperation between Japan and Taiwan will deepen”. In a statement on...

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Nexperia China moved to reassure customers that production will continue uninterrupted, saying it has secured new wafer suppliers and can meet client demand through to the end of the year and beyond. The Chinese division of the semiconductor maker said it had “multiple contingency plans” in place, according to a bilingual statement published early Sunday. The announcement followed a decision by its Dutch headquarters a week earlier to suspend wafer shipments to its assembly plant in Dongguan,...

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Since the Nobel Prize began recognising exceptional achievements in science, literature and peace in 1901, only five scientists from Europe and the United States have been double recipients of this prestigious award. Could a Chinese scientist have joined their ranks? Chen-ning Yang, who died in October aged 103, shared the Nobel for physics with Tsung-Dao Lee, nearly seven decades ago. Yang’s long-time friend Chen Fong-ching, an honorary professor at the physics department of the Chinese...

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China and Iran should strengthen “wise and balanced” cooperation to jointly counter modern challenges and shape a new world against unilateralism and hegemony, according to Tehran’s top envoy in Beijing. Describing ties with China “decisive” to regional peace, Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said the strategic partnership between the two countries had gone beyond a bilateral level and could improve the roles of Asian countries in global decision-making. “From a strategic perspective, the Iran-China...

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Much to the relief of markets, US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping finally met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea. The friendly meeting indicates both sides prefer a mode of “controlled” confrontation. The bilateral relationship remains confrontational, nonetheless. Some give and take on trade certainly helps to de-escalate tensions, but China has no illusions about the US’ fundamental hostility. Trump prides himself on his...

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A Chinese military journal has revealed the surprising cost-effectiveness of China’s mass-produced suicide drones, positioning them as a major threat in modern warfare and an especially appealing acquisition for potential customers such as Pakistan. The latest issue of Ordnance Industry Science Technology has revealed that the Feilong-300D reconnaissance and attack drone, which debuted at the Zhuhai air show last year, could be priced as low as US$10,000 per unit. The report provided the first...

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Alibaba Group Holding on Friday unveiled a 2 billion yuan (US$281 million) investment as part of a programme that will see a network of Taobao-branded convenience stores across China support the operations of the firm’s instant commerce and on-demand delivery business. Rather than establishing Taobao Shangou’s own bricks-and-mortar shops, the programme would primarily provide existing convenience stores with a tech facelift, leveraging Alibaba’s digital infrastructure, according to Hu Qiugen,...

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The European Union welcomed China’s suspension of expanded rare earth restrictions imposed last month, even as crisis talks in Brussels on Friday appeared to yield no relief for European firms still constrained by the original export controls. After a full day of talks in the Belgian capital, the European Commission described the pause in controls – announced following US-China talks in South Korea on Thursday – as an “appropriate and responsible step in the context of ensuring stable global...

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A wave of humanoid robot launches in China this year has shaken up the market with eye-catching low prices – though some industry insiders warn the trend might not be financially tainable and could be driven more by hype and capital than by genuine technological progress. Beijing-based Noetix Robotics launched presales for its child-sized humanoid Bumi last week, selling more than 200 units at 9,998 yuan (US$1,408) each within the first three hours. Five hundred units were sold in the first two...

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US President Donald Trump’s call to “immediately” resume testing of nuclear weapons, citing Beijing and Moscow’s rapid nuclear build-up, could drive China to “accelerate” its own efforts to develop its strategic forces, according to analysts. On Thursday, Trump posted on social media that he had instructed the Pentagon to start testing US nuclear weapons “on an equal basis” with Russia and China because of “other countries’ testing programmes”. “That process will begin immediately,” Trump said...

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A cutting-edge radio telescope built through a long-term partnership between China and Argentina was due to begin peering into the heavens in a few months, but the project is instead staring at lengthy delays – mired in political friction between Beijing and Washington. Perched at the top of a mountain, the China-Argentina Radio Telescope (CART) has been described as a celestial “lighthouse” for Earth’s southern sky. Once operational, the largest single dish telescope in Latin America is...

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Just three hours after lift-off, a trio of Chinese astronauts – and four mice – have arrived at the Tiangong space station for China’s first in-orbit mammal study. The Shenzhou-21 crew was launched aboard a Long March-2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert at 11.44pm Beijing time on Friday, according to the China Manned Space Agency. About 10 minutes into the flight, the spacecraft separated from the rocket and entered its planned orbit with high precision. The...

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China’s decision to host next year’s Apec summit in the innovation hub of Shenzhen reflects Beijing’s “resolve to uphold openness”, according to analysts. Highlighting the southern city’s spectacular growth over the past few decades, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced the decision at the end of the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea, on Saturday. “Located on the Pacific coast and adjacent to Hong Kong, Shenzhen has transformed from a backward...

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Rare earths will remain an “important card” for China in its relations with the United States, despite the Group of Seven’s commitment to challenge Beijing’s dominance of the critical minerals, according to a Chinese observer. At a meeting in the Canadian city of Toronto on Friday, G7 energy ministers agreed to establish a critical minerals production alliance. The plans include more than two dozen new investments, partnerships and measures to accelerate and unlock C$6.4 billion (US$4.57...

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China’s Ministry of Commerce on Saturday said it is looking to exempt some Nexperia orders from an export ban that it imposed after the Netherlands seized control of the Chinese-owned Dutch chipmaker. “We will comprehensively consider the actual situation of enterprises and grant exemptions to exports that meet the criteria,” a ministry representative said in a statement. According to the ministry, exemptions were being considered to stabilise the supply of Nexperia chips in global supply...

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Wingtech Technology, the Chinese owner of Nexperia, has named experienced general counsel Sophie Shen Xinjia, a Columbia Law School graduate, as its president amid a Sino-Dutch dispute over control of the Netherlands-based chipmaker. Shen’s tenure as president would be in line with that of Wingtech’s 12th board, which was formed in January and will expire by January 2028, according to the company’s filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange on Friday. She replaced Zhang Qiuhong, who served as...

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Apec member economies have pledged to strengthen economic cooperation to navigate fast-changing global conditions, capping a two-day meeting in the South Korean city of Gyeongju. In a joint declaration on Saturday, they warned that the Asia-Pacific region stood at a “pivotal juncture”, and the “global trading system continues to face significant challenges”. “We reaffirm our shared recognition that robust trade and investment are vital to the growth and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region, and...

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung held talks on Saturday, discussing ways to advance practical cooperation between the two countries and the progress on the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. They met on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Gyeongju, South Korea. It was the first one-on-one meeting between Xi and Lee since the latter assumed office in June. The meeting took place at Gyeongju National Museum, the same...

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Political leaders like to perform on the global stage and there is no greater “performer” in this regard than US President Donald Trump, who has just been swinging across Asia, doing deals while posing as the best buddy of every national leader he met. That kind of showmanship may impress people at home and possibly win more political support, but it hijacks the need for genuine diplomacy and international cooperation in both an economic and political sense. Two cases in point are the most...

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In 2021, when most of his peers were settling into retirement, 64-year-old Li Ming chose a different path. The law professor – already retired from a leading Beijing university – boarded a six-hour flight from the bustling capital to Tumxuk, a small city deep in western Xinjiang. Li has remained there since, teaching multiple courses to hundreds of students at a local university as part of China’s Silver Age Teaching Programme – a sweeping state policy that mobilises a growing pool of retired...

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Details of the first joint Russian-Chinese submarine exercise have been published in a military magazine, which said the two countries had shared sonar data and carried out rescue exercises. The exercise in early August involved two Kilo-class diesel-electric attack submarines, the Russian Volkhov and Chinese Great Wall 210, with two Russian surface ships providing support throughout the exercise. The 15-day exercise took place after the Joint Sea 2025 exercise involving the two navies in the...

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China will host next year’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meeting in its southern city of Shenzhen. The announcement was made on Saturday by Chinese President Xi Jinping as world leaders wrapped up this year’s Apec meeting, held in the South Korean city of Gyeongju. Shenzhen is one of nine cities in China’s Guangdong province that make up the Greater Bay Area, which also includes the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Beijing has in recent years sought to transform...

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US President Donald Trump hailed his high-stakes meeting on Thursday with Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a “great success”, marked by progress on thorny trade issues. Trump agreed to reduce America’s fentanyl-related tariffs on China by 10 percentage points and cut the overall tariff rate on Chinese imports from 57 per cent to 47 per cent. It was agreed Beijing would resume buying US farm products including soybeans and delay by one year the implementation of its most sweeping export controls on...

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