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Industry

Typhoon Saudel: days of flooding trigger fatal landslide in central China

At least one person is dead and 11 are missing after the disaster struck a town in Suichuan county early on Saturday The landslide hit Gaoping, a town in a mountainous area of Jiangxi province, at around 4am on Saturday, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The accident followed days of torrential rain brought by the outer bands of Typhoon Saudel and a cold front. Floodwaters have inundated Suichuan county, where the landslide struck, trapping residents, triggering road collapses and severely disrupting essential public services. The local water supplier issued an emergency notice warning that raw water quality had reached unsafe levels as a result of the floods and advised residents to let their tap water settle in containers before use.

September 5, 2026

Industry

Taiwan’s opposition parties split over mayoral race, threatening 2028 election alliance

Dispute between TPP and KMT over tech hub candidates could have ‘butterfly effect’ and spill into other battlegrounds, analysts say A rupture between Taiwan’s two opposition parties over a mayoral race threatens to spill into November’s elections and erode the fragile trust underpinning their potential 2028 alliance. The KMT has nominated Hsinchu county councillor Wu Hsu-chih, while the TPP’s Chiu Chen-yuan, a former deputy mayor of Hsinchu city, registered on Thursday and vowed to stay in the race. “An election is like a battlefield. A seemingly insignificant split can produce a ‘butterfly effect’,” said Chang Yuan-hsiang, a political science professor at Soochow University in Taipei.

September 5, 2026

Industry

Chinese armed trainer jets drive away Philippine aircraft over Scarborough Shoal

At least three JL-10s carrying PL-5 missiles were involved in incident at disputed atoll in what could be a more cost-effective tactic The footage showed the Chinese jet’s electronic systems locking onto three Philippine aircraft, identifying their models as a BN-2A Islander utility aircraft, a C-208 single-engine turboprop and a PA-31T twin-engine turboprop. A green crosshair was also shown tracking one of the aircraft. “Philippine aircraft, you have intruded into the territorial airspace of China’s Huangyan Dao. Leave immediately, leave immediately. Otherwise, we will take measures,” a Chinese pilot was heard saying in both Chinese and English over the radio. Scarborough Shoal – a coral atoll which is known as Huangyan Dao in China and Panatag Shoal in the Philippines – has been a major flashpoint between the two countries in recent years. China has controlled the area since 2012 and released baselines for the territorial sea around it in 2024. The Philippines – which challenges the Chinese claim with occasional ship and aircraft activities in the area – filed its own territorial sea baselines for the shoal with the United Nations in July.

September 4, 2026

Industry

How natural disasters are putting China’s neighbourhood diplomacy to the test

Sudden Himalayan mudslides and Southeast Asian flooding potentially trigger diplomatic friction and highlight need to boost warning systems Cross-border disasters along China’s frontiers are putting Beijing’s neighbourhood diplomacy to the test as climate shocks grow and expose strategic vulnerabilities. Beyond the Himalayas, a wave of extreme weather also battered China’s southern frontiers, with torrential rain triggering severe flash flooding and landslides on China’s borders with Vietnam and Laos last week. The record floodwater level submerged economic zones and forced the closure of a crucial checkpoint between China and Laos, as well as several key highways and an airport in the developing Southeast Asian country, over the weekend. Liu Zongyi, a senior fellow and director of the Centre for South Asia Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, said dealing with climate-driven disasters would be a “new subject” for China’s foreign policy. Amid the bitter power rivalry with the US, China has in recent years shifted its focus to ties with neighbouring countries, which it sees as crucial to national security and a buffer against pressure from the West.

September 4, 2026

Industry

Despite rivalry, China-India coexistence is not a pipe dream

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping met at the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the encounter was short and carefully choreographed while the message was warm. Modi had earlier said that stable and predictable ties between the two nations matter for a multipolar Asia and world. The larger moment will come on September 12 and 13, when Xi is expected to visit New Delhi for the first time in seven years. He is likely to lead a...

September 4, 2026

Industry

China arrests 52 Singaporeans in Guangxi pyramid scheme crackdown

The detentions come amid a broader push by Beijing to curb illicit financial schemes and cross-border fraud networks Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Singapore Police Force revealed the arrests in a joint statement on Friday, noting that Chinese authorities were still investigating the cases. Sim Ann, Singapore’s second minister for foreign affairs, said consular officers from the country’s embassy in Beijing and its consulate in Guangzhou had visited all 52 detainees to check on their well-being, help with administrative matters and relay messages between the detainees and their families. Sim, who is also the second minister for home affairs, has met relatives of most of the detainees to offer support during what she called an “understandably difficult time”. While officials did not give details of the operations involved, multilevel marketing scams have repeatedly been targeted in police crackdowns in Guangxi. These include the long-running “1040 Sunshine” scheme, which dupes people into paying 69,800 yuan (US$10,390) on the false promise of a 10.4 million yuan return. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on police crackdowns targeting the scam as early as 2014.

September 4, 2026

Industry

Could Roman concrete have clues on how Pyramid of Giza was built – and saved?

Insights into how the ancient concrete grows denser could help create a low-carbon modern version and explain how the Great Pyramid endured An alternative scientific theory suggests the blocks might have been cast from an early form of concrete, but that idea has long faced a critical question: how could such an artificial material survive for more than 4,500 years, while some modern buildings could suffer wear and damage in merely a few decades? Now, a new study on nearly 2,000-year-old Roman concrete may provide a materials-science clue that breathes new life into the concrete hypothesis. Published in the peer-reviewed academic journal Science Advances in July, the research reveals that ancient Roman concrete not only resists decay but actually grows stronger over centuries through a self-healing process. A team led by Zhu Xiaohong of Beijing University of Technology, with collaborators from the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Michigan, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, analysed concrete taken from a communal latrine at Hadrian’s Villa in Tivoli, Italy.

September 4, 2026

Industry

Trade chief Greer ‘optimistic’ the US and China can stabilise ties

He expects announcements on Board of Trade and American agricultural sales when Chinese leader visits Washington later this month “I am optimistic. The Chinese very much want to have a stable relationship. That’s the word they use: stability. We’re in favour of that as well,” Greer said in an interview with Fox News on Thursday. He also said announcements on operationalising the US-China Board of Trade and incentivising US agricultural sales to China would be the likely outcome of the summit between Xi and US President Donald Trump in Washington, which confirms reports by the South China Morning Post. “We expect we’ll also have some deliverables on the Board of Trade that we’ve talked about,” he said. “We’re getting together with our Chinese counterparts,” he added. The creation of the Board of Trade was announced in May following Trump’s visit to Beijing, alongside a new Board of Investment, as mechanisms for managing business ties between the world’s two largest economies.

September 4, 2026

Industry

China’s Xi eyes Apec trilateral; no outrunning deadly Nepal floods: SCMP’s 7 highlights

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Xi, Trump and Putin may hold trilateral meeting at next Apec forum, Kremlin says A senior Russian aide suggested on Tuesday that Chinese President Xi Jinping, US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin could hold a...

September 4, 2026

Industry

China’s solar, wind innovations amid rapid green power buildout

Even as China installs new solar and wind power capacity faster than the rest of the world combined, it is setting new benchmarks for the technologies through innovation. This year alone, Chinese companies and researchers have generated the first electricity from high-altitude winds 4,000 metres above Earth, cleared the last hurdle to commercialising a cheaper and more efficient alternative to silicon solar panels, begun trials of the world’s most powerful floating and fixed-bottom offshore wind...

September 4, 2026

Industry

China stands to gain from US visa restrictions targeting African countries

The White House has slashed the number of places issuing visas on the continent at a time when Beijing is looking to open its doors The latest US visa restrictions on citizens of African countries are facing increasing criticism that they are not only punitive but also likely to backfire by driving those nations closer to China. Since August 1, visa services have been suspended in 25 African cities, forcing applicants to travel to other approved locations, sometimes in another country. Travellers from 30 African nations must also post a US$20,000 bond, which is refundable if they depart on time. Overall, Africa was the continent hardest hit by Donald Trump’s travel bans and visa restrictions. The State Department justified the latest policy by saying it was intended to strengthen “national security by promoting more uniform screening, vetting and adjudication standards”.

September 4, 2026

Industry

China-Singapore security team claims breakthrough in hacking Starlink terminals

Darknavy gains full administrative control over SpaceX’s user terminal allowing research into the system’s security programmes This gives researchers unprecedented freedom, according to the pot, by reopening a long-missing entry point for in-depth security studies of the Starlink satellite system. As newer satellites are gradually equipped with laser links, some satellites can also communicate directly with one another via laser, reducing reliance on ground stations while improving transmission speeds and expanding global coverage. The terminal acts as both an antenna and a router, making it a critical node for direct communication with the satellites.

September 3, 2026