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Will China arm Iran during its ceasefire with US and...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

China has assured the United States that it will not supply weapons to Iran during the current ceasefire in the Middle East conflict, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Thursday, as Washington stepped up pressure on Tehran to agree to a broader peace deal brokered by Pakistan. Speaking at a Pentagon briefing, Hegseth said Beijing had conveyed the assurance directly, amid heightened concerns in Washington about external support for Iran during the fragile pause in fighting. “Trump has a...

What does Japan’s role in a US-Philippine military...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Japan’s most extensive participation to date in a counter-landing and missile defence exercise in the Philippines signals its “priorities” in deterring Beijing in a Taiwan contingency, according to analysts.Japan’s Joint Staff announced on Tuesday that its Self-Defence Forces (SDF) would deploy about 1,400 personnel, multiple warships and aircraft, as well as Type 88 anti-ship missile systems for the Balikatan exercise, an annual large-scale joint military drill between the Philippines and

Trump-Xi summit worries, tariffs tested, diaspora...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Trump-Xi summit shaped by uncertainty, not strategy: experts The lead-up for the consequential Trump-Xi summit has been compressed and rather disjointed given the Middle East war and Trump’s preference for making last-minute decisions based on his “gut”. One source told the South China...

Ex-lawmaker convicted in Hong Kong 47 trial struck...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

A former lawmaker and doctor who was previously imprisoned for conspiracy to commit subversion has been struck off Hong Kong’s register of medical practitioners, becoming the first national security-related disciplinary case to involve the profession. In a ruling handed down on Thursday, the Medical Council ordered that specialist urologist Dr Kwok Ka-ki, 64, be removed indefinitely from the General Register, which took immediate effect upon publication in the government gazette. Kwok, once a...

Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority bars all contractors’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority has suspended all contractors’ access to patient data after a major leak affecting more than 56,000 patients, and is considering barring the company involved from bidding for future projects. But the authority on Thursday declined to say whether it would terminate the firm’s existing contracts or discipline any staff, citing an ongoing police probe. The authority confirmed earlier this month that personal data of more than 56,000 patients at United Christian...

Give officials more power to probe suspected animal...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Hong Kong’s ombudsman has urged the government to empower conservation officers to enter people’s homes to investigate suspected animal cruelty cases, describing existing procedures as “ineffective” with less than 1 per cent of reported cases resulting in prosecutions. A report released on Thursday on the Office of the Ombudsman’s latest direct investigation operation also called for strengthening penalties against illegal animal traps, describing current fines as “no deterrence” against the...

Can Japan’s US$10b energy shield oust China’s...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Japan has pledged US$10 billion to its Asian neighbours in energy support, in what analysts say is a strategic bid to counter China’s regional influence and position itself as a reliable partner as the Iran war upends global oil markets and supply chains. However, one observer argued that the move’s impact might be limited, given Japan’s inability to alter the ground realities in the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries’ instinct for strategic hedging over picking sides. Unveiled by...

Chinese tech giants, AI ‘godmother’ Li Fei-Fei race...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

A wave of companies, from the start-up launched by artificial intelligence “godmother” Li Fei-Fei to the largest Chinese tech firms, are racing to introduce their latest approaches to world models – an emerging field aimed at extending AI beyond language processing to learning from and comprehending physical reality. Alibaba Group Holding on Thursday unveiled Happy Oyster, which it called an open-ended world model designed for real-time and “flowy” virtual world creation and interaction,...

Trade tensions make rest of world less keen to invest...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Trade tensions between the US and China have made companies around the world less keen to invest in either country, with the United States almost twice as unpopular, according to a new report from Allianz Trade. The report, based on an annual survey by the Paris-based international insurance company, said US-China decoupling had not materialised, but investment intention towards China had dropped “significantly” to 24 per cent of survey respondents, down from 53 per cent a year ago. The

Hong Kong students as young as 6 should ‘feel proud...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Hong Kong authorities expect students as young as six to “feel proud to be Chinese” and to have a basic understanding of national affairs, according to a revamped guide on values education stressing patriotism. The 2026 Values Education Curriculum Framework, published by the Education Bureau on Thursday, applies to all government, aided, special and private schools, as well as those under the Direct Subsidy Scheme. The framework was prepared by the Standing Committee on Values Education,

In Cameroon, Pope Leo assails ‘tyrants ravaging’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Pope Leo blasted leaders who spend billions on wars and said the world was “being ravaged by a handful of tyrants”, in unusually forceful remarks in Cameroon on Thursday after US President Donald Trump attacked him again on social media. Leo, the first US pope, also decried leaders who used religious language to justify wars and urged a “decisive change of course” in a meeting in the biggest city ‌in Cameroon’s anglophone regions, where a simmering conflict going back nearly a decade has left...

China’s PBOC raises leverage ratios for foreign...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Beijing has raised the limit on banks’ overseas lending – a move that analysts say will support Chinese firms in outbound investment expansions while helping to stabilise the yuan. Regulators raised the overseas-loan leverage ratio for foreign banks in China and their joint ventures with Chinese lenders from 0.5 to 1.5 on Wednesday, according to a statement published by the central bank and the foreign exchange regulator. In a separate statement, the regulators said that the new rules would...

Why India is rankled by Pakistan playing mediator in...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

The quiet conclusion of US and Iranian backchannel engagements in Islamabad left more than diplomatic ambiguity. It crystallised a striking image: a financially strained, politically volatile Pakistan briefly positioning itself as a facilitator in one of the world’s most combustible rivalries. Substantive or symbolic, the episode underscores a deeper churn in West Asian geopolitics – one in which agility trumps credibility. Pakistan’s role was not incidental. Islamabad offered itself as a...

Owner of luxury Hong Kong home fined HK$110,000 over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

The owner of a luxury home at a seaside estate in Hong Kong has been fined HK$110,000 (US$14,039) for building illegal structures and a swimming pool following a government crackdown triggered by a record-breaking rainstorm and an investigation by the South China Morning Post. Sunset Boulevard Company, which owns House No 76 at Redhill Peninsula, the luxury low-rise estate in Tai Tam, was sentenced at Eastern Court on Thursday. The private firm, founded in 1995, lists Hong Kong resident Marc...

China’s Qingzhou robotic craft tests space debris...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

China’s prototype Qingzhou robotic cargo spacecraft successfully conducted capture and towing operations on “non-cooperative” space targets, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday. The progress paves the way for so-called orbital tow trucks capable of clearing space debris and derelict satellites. The prototype spacecraft launched last month also conducted a suite of in-orbit experiments designed to sustain long-duration missions, according to CCTV. These included automated metal...

Europe running low on jet fuel, stoking fears of...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Europe has “maybe 6 weeks or so [of] jet fuel left”, the head of the International Energy Agency said on Thursday in a wide-ranging interview, warning of possible flight cancellations “soon” if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war. IEA executive director Fatih Birol painted a sobering picture of the global repercussions of what he called “the largest energy crisis we have ever faced”, stemming from the pinch-off of oil, gas and other vital supplies through the Strait of Hormuz. “In the...

Malaysia and Australia strike energy supply pledge to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Malaysia and Australia pledged on Thursday to keep oil and gas flowing between them as the Iran war’s continuous squeeze on global fuel supplies compels regional countries to deepen energy trade cooperation. Across Asia, governments have been scrambling for alternatives after crude oil and gas shipments from the Middle East were disrupted following Tehran’s move to choke access to the Strait of Hormuz in response to US-Israeli strikes against Iran that began on February 28. The disruption has...

Chinese drone exposes Indonesia’s ‘insufficient’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

The recent discovery of a Chinese underwater drone in Indonesia’s waters serves as a wake-up call for Jakarta to strengthen its undersea defence capabilities, analysts have said. Indonesia, however, is likely to remain silent on the find and resolve the issue through “quiet diplomacy”, according to observers. Last week, an Indonesian fisherman found a Chinese unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) in the Lombok Strait, a key waterway leading to Australia. Marked with the letters “CSIC”, the drone

Hong Kong police arrest 5 over shoplifting syndicate...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Hong Kong police have arrested five people accused of stealing more than 445 items of clothing worth HK$113,000 (US$14,400) from multiple outlets of Japanese retail chain Muji. Officers from Yau Tsim police district said they had received a string of shoplifting reports since earlier this year that involved large quantities of apparel taken from a retail chain, with a source naming the business as Muji. The Japanese retail chain is known for its minimalist “no-brand quality goods”...

TSMC targets over 30% revenue surge in 2026, ramps up...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/04/16

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) expects a revenue surge of more than 30 per cent in 2026 as the world’s largest contract chipmaker “pulls in all equipment” to ramp up supply, as management downplayed the impact of memory price hikes and Middle East tensions. During its first-quarter earnings call on Thursday, company executives voiced optimism for the year ahead anchored by the global AI frenzy, attributing the expected revenue surge to strong demand for artificial intelligence

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