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Chinese scientists and engineers have pushed far beyond a string of US military bases known as the second island chain, reaching a seamount in the western Pacific Ocean 2,000 metres (6,561 feet) below the surface to test a smart mining vehicle designed to harvest cobalt-rich deposits, gathering critical performance data. The robotic miner showed its ability to traverse rugged seabeds littered with cobalt crusts, autonomously adjusting its posture to avoid overturning or being...

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The ripple effects of the record-breaking US government shutdown have spread beyond Washington, denying US agricultural officials an opportunity to deepen cooperation with Chinese companies at a high-profile trade fair even as bilateral tensions show signs of easing. The Post learned on Thursday that, because of the shutdown, representatives from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) did not attend this year’s China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai. This marks the first absence of...

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TikTok owner ByteDance has launched a recruitment drive for senior specialists in embodied intelligence, signalling its growing ambition in the development of humanoid robots. Volcano Engine, the Beijing-based tech unicorn’s cloud computing division, was offering a monthly salary of 95,000 yuan (US$13,328) to 120,000 yuan, according to a job posting. It marked the company’s clearest move into humanoid robotics as it specifically sought humanoid specialists rather than general robotics...

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1. Chinese student boom helps create more university spots for Americans: study China’s university boom has helped boost US postgraduate education and local economies in college towns, according to a new study.
2. Chinese trade negotiator urges US to boost agricultural cooperation China’s key trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, has called on the US to create “a...

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In recent months, the European Union has been more Trumpian on China, renouncing part of its free-trade DNA in favour of increasingly protectionist policies. Just like its role model in Washington, the EU has tried to exact geopolitical and economic concessions from Beijing by escalating to de-escalate – a brinkmanship approach that seems to come straight from US President Donald Trump’s playbook in his trade war against China. But the recent trade detente reached by Trump and Chinese President...

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Multinational corporations including French beauty giant L’Oréal and Canadian sportswear brand Lululemon have pledged continued investment in China at the world’s largest trade fair in Shanghai, signalling confidence in the world’s second-largest economy amid signs of a consumer recovery. Speaking on the sidelines of the China International Import Expo (CIIE), L’Oréal chief executive Nicolas Hieronimus said “investing in China is investing in the future”, citing the country’s recovering luxury...

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With nearly one month before Hainan, China’s southern island province, launches a separate customs regime, President Xi Jinping has urged officials to ensure the process goes smoothly so the region can spearhead the country’s opening up. “The strategic goal of building the Hainan Free Trade Port is to establish it as a significant gateway leading China’s opening up in the new era,” Xi said on Thursday in Sanya, a city in southern Hainan, during his tour of the tropical island. “This is an...

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China recorded a year-on-year uptick of 8.5 per cent in marriage registrations over the first three quarters of 2025, a rare piece of positive demographic news as the country’s population continues to shrink and rise in average age. The increase suggests that a host of recently introduced pro-marriage policies are starting to pay off, but experts cautioned the number of marriages would still decline over the long term as the pool of younger adults dwindles. A total of 5.15 million couples...

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With Beijing signalling a restart of Nexperia’s chip exports to safeguard the global semiconductor industry, uncertainties continue to swirl around the resumption of deliveries from China, said a major German automobile supplier amid plans to reduce its production and slash working hours at individual locations. “Our task force is working intensively to secure our chip supply. The situation remains very tense across the industry,” a spokesman with German car-part supplier ZF Friedrichshafen told...

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China’s key trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, has called on the US to create “a favourable atmosphere” for agricultural cooperation between the two countries. “We hope the US will work together with China, with a focus on the broader picture, to create a favourable atmosphere for practical cooperation in areas such as agriculture,” Li told a visiting US agricultural trade delegation in Beijing on Tuesday, according to a statement published by the Ministry of Commerce on Wednesday. Li said there...

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In the 10th year since founding Pony.ai in the US, James Peng has completed the autonomous-driving company’s second share listing, with its debut on the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday coming less than a year after it started trading on the Nasdaq. “Because our home base is in China, I think listing in Hong Kong will definitely help us in terms of branding, in terms of the proximity to our home base,” Peng said in an interview. Based in Guangzhou and incorporated in the Cayman Islands,...

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During a whirlwind visit last month to Kuala Lumpur, US President Donald Trump oversaw a peace accord between Thailand and Cambodia and secured trade and critical minerals agreements with those two countries as well as with Malaysia and Vietnam. At the same time, US and Chinese negotiators met in the Malaysian capital, addressing trade disputes to pave the way for Trump’s summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Busan last week. The talks yielded progress on tariffs and rare earth exports. For...

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Beijing has criticised a cross-party group of New Zealand lawmakers for attending a reception held by Taiwan’s de facto embassy, saying they had violated the one-China principle. Last week, the Chinese ambassador Wang Xiaolong wrote to a number of parliamentarians who had attended the October 24 event at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office to mark the foundation of the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name. Wang warned them that their attendance breached New Zealand’s foreign policy and...

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Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has urged major greenhouse gas emitters to make stronger commitments in a meeting with Chinese Vice-Premier Ding Xuexiang ahead of this year’s Cop30 climate talks. Beijing has been trying to maintain a prominent role in global efforts to fight climate change. A source familiar with the discussions said the talks had been “brief and cordial”, with the Brazilian president using the occasion to thank Beijing for its diplomatic support over hosting the...

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China’s university boom has helped boost US postgraduate education and local economies in college towns, according to a new study. The country’s massive higher education expansion – which lifted annual undergraduate enrolment in China from about 1 million in 1999 to 9.6 million by 2020 – resulted in waves of students going abroad and produced measurable effects inside US universities, according to a team at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a non-profit based in Cambridge,...

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Chinese self-driving technology firm WeRide, fresh off raising HK$2.39 billion (US$307 million) in a Hong Kong share sale, plans to rev up commercialisation of autonomous taxis and expand into markets like the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Japan. Tony Han, founder and CEO of the Guangzhou-based company, said WeRide would deploy 10,000 robotaxis worldwide over the next few years, adding that its fleet could eventually grow to hundreds of thousands in line with the ultimate goal of “supplying...

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In a packed marble courtroom, the US Supreme Court on Wednesday opened what could be the most consequential trade ruling in a generation, grilling President Donald Trump’s administration over whether a 48-year-old emergency law effectively gave the White House virtually unlimited power over trade. At stake: US$90 billion already paid by American importers, trade deals with partners across the globe, billions more to come, and the delicate balance of power between Pennsylvania Avenue and Capitol...

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The delayed return of three astronauts on board China’s space station – while safety checks are carried out after a suspected small debris strike – came hard on the heels of a freshly baked meal of chicken wings and black pepper steak with the incoming crew. In the early hours of Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua reported that the six astronauts shared a meal prepared with a hot air oven brought by the incoming Shenzhou-21 crew, as part of efforts to improve living conditions in orbit. Also on...

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China has unveiled critical details of a revolutionary cargo ship under development: a nuclear-powered vessel that can carry 14,000 standard shipping containers. But what makes this ship truly groundbreaking is that it will be powered by a thorium-based molten salt reactor (TMSR) with a thermal output of 200 megawatts – matching the power level of the S6W pressurised water reactor used in the US Navy’s most advanced Seawolf-class nuclear attack submarines. Unlike traditional nuclear reactors...

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China’s start-up developers of artificial intelligence applications significantly lag behind their US counterparts in global recurring revenue, making overseas expansion the default strategy for these mainland firms, according to a new report. As of August, only four of the world’s top 100 AI apps from private companies by annual recurring revenue (ARR) were Chinese, according to a report jointly released last week by domestic research firm Unique Research and San Francisco-based consultancy...

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With US President Donald Trump’s unabashed claim of ending eight wars in eight months hogging the limelight, China’s handling of both intrusions along its border with Myanmar and the Cambodia-Thailand border dispute has gone relatively unnoticed. In stark contrast to America’s dramatic and forceful brokering of peace deals, Beijing has adopted a calibrated and generally reactive response to Myanmar’s border intrusions and supports Asean taking the lead on the Cambodia-Thailand border dispute...

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A senior Chinese general has called for the military to be prepared to “live a tight life” and cut costs on multiple fronts in an elaboration of the 15th five-year plan. The remarks by Qiu Yang, deputy director of the General Office of the Central Military Commission, were made in an article published last week and included in a supplementary reader for the Communist Party’s policy recommendations on the five-year plan covering 2026-2030. The recommendations were issued following the closing of...

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With China’s population expected to shrink over the next decade, an official publication has said an average annual economic growth rate of 4.17 per cent would be necessary to meet a headline target for long-term development by 2035 – providing greater clarity for what the government considers a success as it works to achieve the long-range benchmark. The latest proposals for the country’s next five-year plan – unveiled by the Communist Party’s Central Committee last month – do not specify...

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Taiwan’s participation in next year’s Apec summit in Shenzhen as a regional economy will depend on its adherence to the one-China principle, Beijing said on Wednesday, amid growing cross-strait tensions. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning was responding at a briefing to a Reuters question about Taipei’s claim that Beijing had imposed “numerous additional conditions” on its attendance at the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum. “Participating in Apec as a regional economy under the...

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The Chinese military’s top general has pledged to crack down on “fake loyalty” and “two-faced men” and to speed up weapons development in the next five years. General Zhang Youxia, vice-chairman of the Central Military Commission and a Politburo member, made the remarks in an article published as part of a collection supporting the Communist Party’s policy recommendations for the 15th five-year plan from 2026 to 2030. The articles – written by dozens of senior officials from all policy areas –...

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