PODCAST

News - South China Morning Post

All the latest breaking news from Hong Kong, China and around the world

All Episodes

3 suspects arrested over military drills appear in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Hong Kong police have brought more defendants to court from the city’s first arrests over alleged illegal drills, charging three men with conspiracy to subvert state power. Wong Kit-lun, 20, Tang Ngai-pok, 23, and Chan Hiu-chun, 23, appeared at West Kowloon Court on Thursday after each being charged with one count of conspiracy to commit subversion under the Beijing-imposed national security law. Wong received an additional charge of possessing child pornography. A police spokesman said the...

Hong Kong’s economic figures look good but business...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Hong Kong’s latest quarterly figures look better than many observers expected. Despite the disruption caused by the war in the Middle East and an unsettled global backdrop, growth has been steady, markets have remained buoyant and visitors have been returning. On the surface, the numbers point to a resilient economy despite heightened global geopolitical tensions and elevated risk. Yet in conversations with many business leaders overseas, there is a quiet unease that has not yet entered the...

Eric and Lara Trump – the new US first family faces...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

US President Donald Trump’s second son Eric, who oversees the family business empire, met the top Chinese leader as he accompanied his father on a state visit to Beijing. Eric and his wife Lara posed for photos with Chinese President Xi Jinping before they attended a state banquet on Thursday evening. The younger Trump and the Chinese leader were also seen chatting during a visit to the Temple of Heaven in the afternoon. The executive vice-president of his father’s businesses, Eric oversees...

Cathay Pacific moves forward Hong Kong boarding gate...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Hong Kong flag carrier Cathay Pacific Airways will move forward its boarding gate closure times by five minutes and will start boarding passengers five minutes earlier to help ensure on-time departures. The airline said on Thursday that, from June 1, its boarding gates at Hong Kong International Airport would close 15 minutes before departure. The carrier’s boarding time will also be brought forward by five minutes. Cathay explained that late-arriving or no-show passengers were a key cause of...

China’s expanding industrial strategy

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

China’s industrial policy is becoming more systematic and pervasive, shifting from targeting specific sectors towards covering all layers of production, a recent report by the US Chamber of Commerce and Rhodium Group released on Monday has found. The strategy, as laid out in the latest 15th five-year plan, now covers additional frontier technologies, such as biomanufacturing, embodied intelligence and intelligent driving. Coverage has likewise expanded under the country’s “Made in China

China’s Silk Road Express, best things to do in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

We have selected seven lifestyle stories from the past seven days that resonated with our readers. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. What is China’s luxury Silk Road Express train like? We ride its new route A resplendent train cuts a fine figure at platform two of Chengdu West Railway Station. Its elegant exterior, unlike the other austere carriages trackside, features striking hues of celadon blue and red, and hand-painted gilded lettering. This

High stakes, low odds: why 1MDB’s Jho Low unlikely to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Fugitive financier Jho Low’s request for a pardon from US President Donald Trump has reopened a central question left by Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal: whether the man alleged to have helped orchestrate one of the world’s biggest financial frauds will ever face trial. Analysts say the request appears unlikely to succeed because Low has never appeared in a US court, stood trial or accepted responsibility – and a pardon cannot erase charges he faces in Malaysia and Singapore. But the attempt has

Hong Kong government issues buy-back offer letters to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Hong Kong authorities have formally issued buy-back offer letters to homeowners at the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, giving them until August 31 to decide whether to accept the deal under a long-term resettlement plan. The letters were sent to all homeowners on Thursday, including those who had previously said they would not sell their flats, the South China Morning Post has learned. The government has earmarked HK$6.8 billion (US$870 million) to acquire flats damaged in last

Hong Kong delays plan to lower age bar for health...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Hong Kong authorities have delayed plans to lower the age threshold for mandatory medical certification for taxi and other commercial vehicle drivers, as well as require annual check-ups, with legislative proposals now expected in the second half of the year. “The government is carefully reviewing the views of various stakeholders to finalise the details and refine the legislative proposals,” a Transport Department spokesman said in response to the South China Morning Post on Thursday. He

China first female expert tree climber, once afraid...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

China’s first internationally certified female professional tree climber has turned a fear of heights into a career spent high in the canopy, pruning urban trees.Yu Yanling, a former track athlete from Xiamen in southeastern China’s Fujian province, was once afraid of heights. Now in her 30s, she has climbed trees as tall as 60 metres. She discovered the sport by chance at university, after seeing students suspended from branches by ropes and witnessing the joy it brought them, according to

Malaysian minister rejects claims Chinese nationals...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Malaysian Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail has dismissed allegations that citizenship was arbitrarily granted to Chinese nationals, calling the claims “malicious slander” and fake news intended to incite public sentiment. He said the accusations were irresponsible and should not be weaponised for political purposes, especially at a time when the government is focused on helping the people navigate the global supply crisis. He said he had repeatedly clarified the matter in parliament

China-US summit ‘remarkable’ but is it enough to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

The US-China summit is “extremely important” to arrest the downward spiral of relations between the two countries, according to Li Cheng, a leading Chinese academic. But a summit would not be enough to change the overall structure of ties, which had been fraught for years, Li said on Thursday as US President Donald Trump began the first full day of his state visit to Beijing – the first by an American leader since 2017. The two presidents began the day with two hours of talks at the Great

Iran’s ‘anti-American’ rhetoric tests India’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Iran’s top diplomat, Abbas Araghchi, is expected to rally support for Tehran’s war against the US during the Brics foreign ministers’ meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, amid a fragile ceasefire with its adversary. India, which holds the Brics chair this year, is hosting the gathering from the expanded bloc that now includes Iran and the United Arab Emirates – countries at odds over the conflict launched by the United States and Israel on February 28. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov is

Top-rated air cons in Hong Kong vary by 33% in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

The cooling efficiency of 13 air conditioner models bearing Hong Kong’s top energy label can vary by up to 33 per cent, the consumer watchdog has found. The Consumer Council on Thursday released test results for 13 models of 1.5-horsepower inverter split-type air conditioners, finding “substantial differences” in energy-saving performance among units with a Grade 1 label and calling for improved grading standards. “Apart from the Grade 1 energy label, [consumers] can also check the annual

Calls grow to hire locals as graduate jobs decline...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Hong Kong industry leaders have called for priority hiring of local graduates and greater participation in overseas exchange programmes to address a shrinking job market, after full-time graduate vacancies plunged to about 31,000 last year. Their remarks were made on Thursday after the city’s labour minister revealed that vacancies suitable for university graduates fell from about 80,000 in 2022 to around 31,000 in 2025 – a drop of 61 per cent. “If local graduates face significant

‘Miraculous’ rescue off US coast as 11 survive crash...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

All 11 people aboard a private plane that crashed at sea off central Florida survived the wreck and were rescued from their lifeboat hours later by a US Air Force Reserve team, US Coast Guard and US Air Force officials said on Wednesday. “For all those people to ‌survive is pretty miraculous,” US Air Force Major Elizabeth Piowaty, commander of one of the aircraft involved in the rescue, told reporters at a news briefing a day after Tuesday’s crash. The ill-fated plane, a twin-engined

Lead Microsoft AI scientist Li Hongzhi joins China’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Li Hongzhi, an award-winning former head of GenAI at Microsoft Asia, has joined Tongji University, one of China’s leading universities. Li started his first job at technology giant Microsoft immediately after obtaining his PhD from Columbia University. For more than 10 years, he worked at Microsoft Research – the company’s subsidiary responsible for basic and applied research in computer science, software engineering and hardware design. Li was the head of Microsoft AI Asia’s GenAI Group

Thucydides Trap, personal touches – all you need to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Chinese President Xi Jinping has begun closed-door talks with his American counterpart Donald Trump following an elaborate welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Here are some highlights from Thursday morning. High-level reception Beijing pulled out all the stops for Trump. The welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People featured a military display, a 21-gun salute, and both national anthems played by a Chinese military band. Dozens of Chinese schoolchildren jumped

‘A flying White House’: Trump’s Air Force One fuels...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

Even before US President Donald Trump touched down in Beijing on Wednesday, the first act of the China-US summit was playing out in the skies above the Chinese capital. Hundreds of professional photographers and residents lined up across various points near Beijing Capital International Airport to capture one of the most recognisable symbols of the American presidency – Air Force One. Within minutes of its appearance, Chinese social media was flooded with videos and photos of the aircraft’s...

Trump’s trillion-dollar business delegation arrives...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/05/14

The business executives accompanying US President Donald Trump on his state visit to Beijing this week are the wealthiest such delegation to visit China – holding a combined personal net worth of over US$1 trillion – an indication of continued interest in the country’s lucrative market despite strained bilateral ties. With Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s last-minute addition to the delegation, 17 executives from the technology, finance, aerospace and semiconductor sectors have joined Trump, who

23,390 results