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Chinese EV makers hunt for idled plants in Europe as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers, from BYD to Leapmotor, are voraciously seeking out manufacturing assets in Europe as the global energy crisis creates surging demand for battery-powered vehicles. Their pursuit of idled European assembly facilities owned by big names like Stellantis and Volkswagen is disrupting the pecking order in the global automotive industry, as the Chinese carmakers’ design and manufacturing heft sees them morph into international players. “China’s EV assemblers are...

Chinese tourist banned from Thailand for life after...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

A Chinese tourist has been barred from returning to Thailand for life after he allegedly kicked and damaged automated passport control gates at Bangkok’s main airport, in a case that comes amid a wider Thai crackdown on foreign visitors accused of disorderly behaviour. The 30-year-old man, identified by Thai media as Zheng Liwei, was accused of damaging two automatic gates at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday afternoon while trying to pass through passport control for a flight to China. The...

‘Panic’ over capacity crunch in mature node chips...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

The global AI boom is driving orders back to Chinese foundries as overseas rivals shift production towards high-margin AI chips and high-bandwidth memory, creating a shortage in mature-node semiconductors, according to the head of China’s top contract chipmaker. “AI demand has directly pushed power-management and other mature capacity into shortage,” said Zhao Haijun, co-CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation (SMIC), during the company’s first-quarter earnings call on...

Putin follows Trump to China, Xi hosts US president,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

Russian President Vladimir Putin will travel to China next week, days after US counterpart Donald Trump concluded a visit that was heavy on ceremony and light on substance. Putin’s one-day trip will take place on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post said, citing unidentified sources. It is unlikely there will be any elaborate parades or welcome ceremony for the routine visit, according to the report (see SCMP Plus Xi meeting tracker). This will be the first time that China has hosted

Finland warns of drone scare near Helsinki, fighter...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

Finland warned the public of drones possibly entering its airspace, for the first time near the capital city Helsinki, in the early hours of Friday. Flights were disrupted at the country’s biggest airport, Helsinki-Vantaa, and about 1.8 million residents of southern Finland were told to remain indoors after overnight Ukrainian strikes on Russia near Finland prompted concern that unmanned aircraft had strayed into the country. The emergency warning was issued at 3.49am local time and

Gunfire, farce and fugitive Philippine Senator Bato...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

The Philippine Senate has witnessed political coups, scandals and the occasional shouting match. It had never, until this week, seen a sitting senator sprint down its corridors in a muddy olive shirt, knocking aside female investigators like bowling pins, to avoid an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity. That was Monday. By Wednesday night, gunshots were ringing out in the building that houses the upper chamber of the country’s Congress. “I worked in the Senate for 15

Xi-Trump summit: can ‘aspirational’ new vision for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

President Xi Jinping’s new formula for China-US relations is “aspirational”, but the “real test” will be ensuring the two powers can work together despite their deepening rivalry, a leading Chinese political observer has cautioned. During his much-anticipated summit with US President Donald Trump in Beijing on Thursday, Xi said that the two leaders had “agreed on a new vision of building a constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability”, according to the official Chinese...

Xi-Trump summit aside, 2 meetings in Asia matter for...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

Most readers of foreign news pages this weekend will be assuming that US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing has been dominating everyone’s attention. But across Asia, Trump, with his massive business entourage, was not the only act in town this week. At least two other major sets of meetings should not be overlooked. First, in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hosting foreign ministers from the 10 Brics economies and a growing

Top Singapore-based physicist relocates to China...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

Stephen Lin Er Chow, a physicist who designed a groundbreaking copper-free superconducting oxide capable of high-temperature superconductivity, has joined Zhejiang University from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Last year, at 27, Chow published the findings in the journal Nature, marking the first top-tier publication for the NUS lab since its establishment two decades ago. Confirming that he had joined Zhejiang University full-time, Chow said: “I really like Hangzhou’s living...

Thailand unearths Southeast Asia’s largest dinosaur,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

A new giant dinosaur weighing about 27 tonnes has been unearthed by researchers in Thailand, making it the largest ever found in Southeast Asia. According to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday, the 27 metre (88 foot) long plant-eating beast is believed to have meandered through what is now Thailand between 100 and 120 million years ago. It likely weighed at least 10 tonnes more than Dippy the Diplodocus Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, lead researcher “Our dinosaur is

‘Tell good stories of Hong Kong’ amid global turmoil,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

The local media should contribute to telling good stories about Hong Kong amid global turbulence as the city formulates its first five-year blueprint to align with national development, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has said. He spoke at the Newspaper Society of Hong Kong’s annual press awards ceremony on Friday, where the South China Morning Post took home eight prizes. Lee said the local media was not only a witness and a recorder of events, but also needed to contribute to the progress

Former Wang Fuk Court representative and wife held...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

A man who previously represented residents of fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po has been arrested, along with his wife, on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud and money laundering, the South China Morning Post has learned. Sources revealed on Friday that Jason Kong Cheung-fat, a director of Ace Interior Design & Engineering Company, and his wife, Rosanna Cheung Yeuk-lan, who is also a director of the firm, were arrested a day earlier. The couple are suspected of borrowing hundreds of...

Xi Jinping meets foreign leaders: tracker, May 2026

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

US President Donald Trump wrapped up his visit to China on Friday, the first by a US leader in nine years. The three-day trip, originally scheduled for March, had been postponed as due to the Iran war. Following Trump’s departure, Russian leader Vladimir Putin will pay a one-day visit on Wednesday, the South China Morning Post reported exclusively. His trip will mark the first time Beijing has hosted the leaders of the two powers in the same month. Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will...

Hong Kong urged to shift from role as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

Hong Kong must evolve beyond acting solely as a “superconnector” and reposition itself as a “super value-adder”, a leading think tank has said, urging the city to strengthen its role in global supply chains and align with national development amid geopolitical and technological shifts. In a 216-page report released on Friday, the 2022 Foundation – founded by Fung Investments chairman Victor Fung Kwok-king – outlined a road map for Hong Kong’s next phase of economic growth. It highlighted the...

‘King of the North’ Burnham takes first step to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

Before he even entered the race, Andy Burnham was the favourite to unseat Keir Starmer as Britain’s prime minister. The mayor of Greater Manchester led opinion polls and was the front runner among bookmakers and Polymarket. Late Thursday, the biggest obstacle fell away: Labour MP Josh Simons quit the House of Commons, clearing the way for Burnham to win a seat in Parliament, a requirement for the top job. Arriving in London this week as Starmer’s government wobbled, Burnham has kept a low...

In 2021, China becomes the third country to safely...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

Beijing joins Mars club after ‘nine minutes of terror’ By William Zheng This article was first published on May 16, 2021 After seven months of space travel, three months in orbit and “nine minutes of terror”, China has become the third country in the world to safely land a rover on Mars. The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said its rover Zhu Rong – named after the Chinese god of fire and war – successfully landed on Mars yesterday after “nine minutes of terror”,

China blogger drives 1,300km overnight to help...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

A Chinese blogger drove 1,300km to take a fellow university student to her hometown to see her dead mother for the last time before her funeral. Both students are in grade four at North Minzu University in Yinchuan of Ningxia Hui Autonomous in northern China. On the evening of May 7, the female student was told that her mother had died suddenly. The reason for the mother’s death was not released, Dahe News reported. Since the female student’s home is located in a mountainous region, she had...

Hong Kong inquest finds rare gastroscopy complication...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

A 29-year-old Hong Kong man died of misadventure linked to a rare complication following a gastroscopy at a public hospital two years ago, an inquest has found. The Coroner’s Court on Friday ruled that Lui Pak-to died of cerebral oedema, or brain swelling, triggered by the procedure at Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam on February 29, 2024. Coroner Raymund Chow Chi-wei cited expert evidence indicating it was undesirable that Lui had to wait four hours and 40 minutes for a brain scan after...

As Trump wraps up China trip, what will he and Xi...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

US President Donald Trump concluded a “landmark and historical” visit to China on Friday afternoon after Chinese leader Xi Jinping hosted him at Zhongnanhai in the heart of Beijing and held small-group talks in the morning. Trees and roses The ancient trees and roses at Zhongnanhai drew Trump’s eye and sparked some light-hearted banter between the two leaders. As they strolled through the Chinese leaders’ compound, Xi pointed out ancient trees, some of them a few hundred years old. “They live...

Hong Kong maintains 2026 growth forecast at 2.5% to 3.5%

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/15

The Hong Kong government has maintained its full-year growth forecast at between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent after the city’s economy expanded by a stronger-than-expected 5.9 per cent in the first quarter. But rising oil prices linked to the war in the Middle East could push inflation higher in the coming months, the government economist warned as the Census and Statistics Department released growth data on Friday. The economy grew by 5.9 per cent year on year in the first quarter, after expanding by

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