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News - South China Morning Post

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How to prevent war with China: return Taiwan to the...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

A publisher kindly offered me an opportunity to interview Eyck Freymann, a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University, and to review his new book, Defending Taiwan: A Strategy to Prevent War with China. I think I must decline. I am sure he is a great scholar and thinker but I already have too many unread books on the shelves demanding my attention, a constant accusing presence reminding me what a slow and lazy reader I am. And Taiwan? I don’t think I want to waste time engaging with the

New rules of expansion: Chinese firms urged to ‘go...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

As dwindling domestic profits push more Chinese firms onto the global stage, industry titans – forerunners who know what such a shift entails – are offering crucial advice for navigating challenges abroad. “The most important thing is to become a local company,” said Zhu Lei, chief marketing officer for air conditioner giant Gree Electric Appliances, which was among the first Chinese companies to enter the Latin American market. The advice comes as Chinese firms are expected to ramp up their...

China’s plan to internationalise yuan quietly takes a...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

As of January, Zambia has begun collecting taxes and royalties from Chinese mining firms in yuan, and will cycle the currency directly back to Beijing to fund imports and service loans. Experts said the shift reflected the southern African country’s urgent need to ease a US dollar shortage and manage debt, rather than geopolitical alignment, but also a quiet advance for China’s long-term strategy to internationalise its currency. It had also created a tangible blueprint for other

Nearly 1,800 Chinese among thousands held in huge...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Cambodia has carried out a massive raid on scammer gangs, detaining more than 2,000 people amid pressure from China to crack down on its online fraud industry. Nearly 1,800 Chinese nationals were among those held, according to the Cambodian interior ministry. A ministry statement said that Cambodian police had conducted a large-scale enforcement operation on Saturday morning at an online fraud compound in Bavet, the largest city in the southeastern province of Svay Rieng, which borders...

Beijing must be clear-eyed about its national...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

US President Donald Trump is bringing back the law of the jungle to the world as he systematically dismantles the post-war rules-based international order built and forged by the United States and its allies. His speech last month at Davos, Switzerland, contained a blunt message: the US was done “keeping the whole world afloat”, where “everybody took advantage of the United States”. Trump is unabashed about what he wants. He flexed American muscle and ignored international norms by abducting...

Hong Kong back in global IPO spotlight after...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Nearly 100 companies filed new listing applications in Hong Kong in January, marking a strong start to 2026 for initial public offering (IPO) activity. A total of 95 companies applied to list on Hong Kong’s main board, while one sought a place on the Growth Enterprise Market, which primarily served smaller and growth-stage firms, according to a report from Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) on Friday. The 96 applications were more than triple the 29 recorded a year earlier, and roughly...

France’s Capgemini to sell US subsidiary under...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

French IT company Capgemini will sell its US ‌subsidiary Capgemini Government Solutions, it said on Sunday, after coming ‍under pressure to explain a contract the latter signed with US immigration enforcement agency ICE. French lawmakers, including Finance Minister Roland Lescure, had asked the company to shed light on the contract amid concern over the tactics used by ICE agents following the fatal shooting of two US citizens in Minnesota last month. “Capgemini considered that the usual

Adidas concerned after woman complains fitting room...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Adidas has expressed concern over a woman’s complaint about a staff member and other customers opening the curtain of a fitting room at a Hong Kong branch on two occasions while she was inside, saying it would review its facilities and store operations. The German sportswear giant issued a response on Sunday, four days after the woman took to social media to complain. The company wrote in an online post that its Hong Kong branch was “concerned” about the alleged incident. “We are concerned

Israel’s China envoy calls to deepen historical ties...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Israel’s ambassador to China has hailed the historical connections between the two countries and called for closer socioeconomic ties in a rare column for Chinese state media. Eli Belotserkovsky’s signed Chinese-language article for state news agency Xinhua comes amid global conversation over the Board of Peace, US President Donald Trump’s newly created body to tackle the Palestinian issue. The Jewish and Chinese civilisations had amassed rich historical wisdom and knowledge over millennia,...

PLA Navy warns off foreign jets with jamming missiles...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

State media has released rare footage of one of the PLA Navy’s most advanced destroyers warning off foreign aircraft near Taiwan with electronic jamming missiles. The footage, part of a series by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV on the country’s naval power, involved the Yanan, a Type 055 guided-missile destroyer. CCTV said it was the first time the Yanan had been shown using “electronic countermeasures” in “waters near Taiwan island” to warn off foreign aircraft. The report did not specify

Pakistan says it has killed 145 ‘Indian-backed...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Pakistani police and military forces killed more than 100 “Indian-backed terrorists” in counterterrorism operations across the restive southwestern province of Balochistan over the past 40 hours, government officials said on Sunday, a day after coordinated suicide and gun attacks killed 33 people, mostly civilians. The raids began early on Saturday at multiple locations across Balochistan, and left 18 civilians, including five women and three children, and 15 security staff dead, authorities...

Hong Kong tourism minister aims for more than 50...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Hong Kong’s tourism chief has struck an upbeat note on visitor arrivals over Lunar New Year and has expressed confidence that numbers will cross the 50 million mark by the end of the year. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui said she was optimistic about a year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals over the Lunar New Year “golden week” holiday in mainland China, which runs from February 15 to 23 this year. She noted that a larger gap between Christmas and Lunar New

Was General Zhang Youxia one of the ‘big rats’ eating...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

In its latest efforts to reinforce the Communist Party line in China’s armed forces, the PLA Daily took aim at one particular invasive species: “big rats”. The rats were eating away at the PLA’s budget and undermining combat readiness, the military mouthpiece said, adding that they had to be eradicated. “[We] must take strong and forceful measures to crack down on corrupt practices that undermine the building of combat abilities, and thoroughly investigate and root out those ‘big rats’ who...

Soaring Hong Kong rents: tenants pay more – and fight...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

For business owner Tracy Sung, flat-hunting in Hong Kong was complicated by two things – her pets and the intense competition in the rental market. Sung, who used to live in a 500 sq ft flat in Happy Valley, had to offer more than the landlord’s asking price to secure an 800 sq ft property in Tseung Kwan O. The 28-year-old is paying about HK$35,000 (US$4,480) a month for her new home, compared with HK$28,000 previously. The neighbourhood in Hang Hau offered what she considered the most...

Viral video of Chinese man extracting gold from SIM...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

A man in southeastern China who extracted 191 grams of gold from discarded SIM cards has sparked a sales frenzy. However, the man has warned of the serious safety risks involved in the process. Known online as “Qiao”, the man hails from Huizhou, Guangdong province, and specialises in refining precious scrap metal. On January 20, he posted a video showcasing his gold refining process, which gained more than five million views. In the clip, Qiao pours used SIM cards into barrels filled with...

Hong Kong’s spending should not grow faster than...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Hong Kong’s spending should not grow faster than its income, even though the city’s finances are improving, Paul Chan Mo-po has said, adding that the market expects the government to invest more to boost the economy. But the finance chief on Sunday also painted a rosy picture for the city’s retail sector, revealing that sales figures for December, set to be released on Tuesday, would show continued growth. Retail sales in November 2025 were provisionally estimated at HK$33.7 billion (US$4.3...

SHKP posts another Sierra Sea sell-out as Hong Kong...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Hong Kong’s largest developer by market capitalisation, sold all 350 units released on Sunday in its Sierra Sea project, marking a fifth consecutive sell-out and underscoring returning buyer appetite in the world’s most expensive property market. The batch at phase 2B included 244 two-bedroom and 106 three-bedroom units, with discounted prices ranging from HK$4.6 million (US$590,000) to HK$9.74 million, according to sales documents released on Wednesday. The...

Myanmar junta pledges to remove former civil servants...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

Myanmar’s junta called for ex-civil servants who quit their jobs in protest over the coup five years ago to report back to work, pledging to remove absent state employees from “blacklists” on Sunday. After the military snatched power in a coup on February 1, 2021, tens of thousands of public workers, including doctors and government administrators, left their posts in a surge of civil disobedience. Some found private employment, while others joined pro-democracy rebels defying the military in

Hong Kong road accident scam reports double to over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

The number of suspected scams involving unusually high and belated compensation claims for minor or non-existent traffic accidents in Hong Kong has doubled to more than 70 in less than a week, according to the security minister. Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung told a radio programme on Sunday that the increase was recorded after publicity efforts by the force. Authorities on Tuesday said they had recently received reports of drivers facing sudden massive civil claims, long after...

China’s deflation near-miss isn’t the economic story...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/01

China did not slip into outright deflation last year and that in itself matters. When weak global demand, geopolitical frictions and a prolonged property correction weighed heavily on sentiment, consumer prices stayed marginally positive. The latest data suggests an economy not in free fall but navigating a transition towards more balanced and sustainable growth, albeit at a subdued pace. December’s inflation figures underline this point. Consumer prices rose by 0.8 per cent year on year, the...

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