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News - South China Morning Post

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Beijing pushes Taiwan exchanges at Straits Forum...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

Beijing is seeking to expand people-to-people exchanges with Taiwan as it hosts hundreds from the island for an annual event, despite the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) banning Taiwanese officials from taking part. The Straits Forum, now in its 18th edition since 2009, is Beijing’s key platform for cross-strait people-to-people engagement, promoting exchanges in fields from culture to economics as part of its broader push for cross-strait integration. The main forum takes place on...

Paw patrol: Hong Kong airport dog unit to cover...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

Hong Kong airport’s security contractor has expanded its canine patrol unit to the newly relaunched Terminal 2, deploying its 20 dogs and their handlers to cover the upgraded facility as needed. Jacob Cheung Tat-keung, executive director of the Aviation Security Company (Avseco), said on Friday that operations at Terminal 2 had been generally smooth, although passenger numbers had increased as 15 airlines had moved in over the past few weeks. Cheung said the deployment of the dogs would

China’s chip design software firms back Huawei’s new...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

China’s chip design software industry is rallying behind Huawei Technologies’ ambitious new architecture aimed at producing chips that can rival leading global products, but analysts warn a steep uphill climb remains before local players can break the market stranglehold of US rivals. Empyrean Technology, a major Chinese electronic design automation (EDA) provider, became the latest supporter of the new chipmaking methodology. The company recently unveiled Argus, a new physical verification...

How to cope with parenting stress after mother and...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

Hong Kong is reeling from a double tragedy on Wednesday after a 48-year-old social worker jumped to her death from her 19th-floor home in Taikoo Shing after arguing with her 12-year-old daughter about “education problems”. Hours later, the girl also jumped from her living room. The South China Morning Post breaks down the sequence of events and examines how Hongkongers can cope with stress and maintain harmonious family relationships. 1. How did the tragedy unfold? First, a government social...

Chinese man detained for allegedly torturing, killing...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

A man in China who sparked public outrage for abusing and killing his adopted dogs has been detained for throwing objects from a height and vandalism. The period of administrative detention he was placed under lasts for as long as 15 days and it is the toughest penalty the police could impose in the case because of inadequate anti-cruelty to animals law in the country. According to the statement issued by the Police Bureau of Liangjiang New District of southwestern Chongqing on June 10, the...

Europe is blaming China’s economic rise for its own...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

As the European Union prepares tougher measures to counter what it sees as the “China shock 2.0”, a researcher with a Beijing-linked think tank has accused Brussels of clinging to a flawed narrative that China’s economic rise is an inherent threat to Europe. The criticism came as Beijing reportedly cancelled two high-level meetings with the EU in the Chinese capital this month, including a ministerial-level digital dialogue and a visit by a senior EU diplomat, according to the Financial Times

Hong Kong gazettes tax break for fund managers’...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

The Hong Kong government gazetted a bill on Friday that, if passed, would waive salary tax on fund managers’ performance-linked bonuses, so long as they meet certain requirements, in a move to introduce further tax reform to strengthen the city as a wealth management centre. The bill, which will be first read by lawmakers on June 24, may attract more fund managers and family offices to operate in the city, the government said. The measure would make Hong Kong the first major Asian financial...

Veteran Hong Kong actress Barbara Chan dies at 66

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

Hong Kong actress Barbara Chan Man-yee has died at the age of 66, five years after the death of her husband, actor Liu Kai-chi. Chan’s sons said that she died peacefully on Friday morning, surrounded by family at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin after an illness. The announcement did not specify the nature of her condition. Her husband died in the same hospital in 2021 after reportedly battling stomach cancer for several months. “In accordance with her wishes during her lifetime, the

‘Not a crackdown’: China regulators signal more...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

Chinese regulators are stepping up public enforcement against the nation’s corporate giants, marking a departure from the low-key approach adopted after a bruising 2021 tech crackdown. In recent months, agencies have summoned company representatives, launched high-profile investigations, and named and shamed offenders. However, while the uptick in activity has rattled investors, some analysts and observers contend that this does not herald a return to China’s heavy-handed campaign that...

China-EU tensions, Xi in North Korea, flatlining...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

China called on major nations to “foster a free and facilitative trading environment” ahead of two summits next week that may herald a trade war with the European Union.Vice-Premier Zhang Guoqing said China was “steadfastly expanding high-standard opening up” in a videoconference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney attended along with representatives from Brazil, India, Italy, Japan, South Korea,...

US-China vaginal microbiome differences challenge...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

Chinese scientists have uncovered differences between American and Chinese vaginal microbiomes, revealing that a bacterium closely linked to bacterial vaginosis and preterm birth is significantly more prevalent and virulent in American women. The study underscores the need for localised treatments and “fills a critical gap for Asian populations and provides a foundational platform for global vaginal microbiome research and microbe-host interaction studies”, according to the researchers. The...

Why US and China are watching Philippines’ Marcos Jnr...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr will travel to Russia next week for a summit with Moscow and Southeast Asian leaders, a visit analysts say will allow Manila to show it can fulfil its role as Asean chair and keep diplomatic channels open with major powers despite closer security ties with Washington. While the trip is unlikely to signal a shift in Philippine foreign policy, observers say it will be watched closely in Washington and Beijing for any concrete outcomes on energy,...

With Central Asia rising, John Lee’s visit was well...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

In their 2022 book Sinostan, Raffaello Pantucci and Alexandros Petersen saw Central Asia as China’s “inadvertent empire”. If that is true – and the five-country region embracing Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan (informally called the C5) certainly sits at the heart of China’s Belt and Road Initiative – then Beijing could not have chosen a less noticed corner of the world atlas. Unnoticed, perhaps, by almost everyone except Halford Mackinder, who in 1904

EU tech sovereignty may be ‘illusion’ as China, US...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

The EU’s concept of tech sovereignty may prove an “illusion” in a world where artificial intelligence is dominated by China and the US, a Chinese expert has argued, urging Beijing to seize the opportunity provided by Donald Trump to make its products “indispensable” to middle powers. The European Union rolled out its Technological Sovereignty Package last week in a bid to help the bloc become “a global leader” in artificial intelligence and protect its “digital independence”. The EU defined

China investigates 3 more officials over deadly Hunan...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

A series of emergency management and local government officials in central China’s Hunan province have come under investigation following a catastrophic fireworks factory explosion that killed 37 people last month. The provincial discipline inspection commission announced on Thursday that three senior figures within the emergency management system were under investigation for “serious violations of discipline and law”. The officials are Lei Min, deputy director of the safety production

Hong Kong restaurants eye 20% business boost as 1,000...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

Pet-friendly caterers in Hong Kong say a new licence allowing dogs in restaurants from July could lift business by up to 20 per cent, after 1,000 operators secured places in the scheme’s first ballot. The Food and Environmental Hygiene Department on Friday held a ballot to select 1,000 restaurants, after receiving 1,615 eligible applications since submissions opened last month. Lawmaker Chan Hoi-yan, who chairs the panel on food safety and environmental hygiene, officiated the draw in front

Hong Kong can be more than New York and Silicon...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

Hong Kong can be “more than New York and Silicon Valley combined” by positioning itself as a hub that integrates global financial depth with technological innovation and manufacturing capacity, the city’s finance chief has said. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said on Friday that Hong Kong had a unique edge over New York and Silicon Valley, thanks to advanced manufacturing capabilities that its American rivals lacked, which were the result of integration with the Greater Bay

Hong Kong retiree gets 40 hours of community service...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

A Hong Kong retiree has received 40 hours of community service for slapping a five-year-old boy who threw a tantrum and berated his domestic helper at a shopping centre earlier this year. Lok Kam-ming, 61, returned to Tuen Mun Court on Friday to be sentenced for what his lawyer described as an incident arising from the “unfortunate encounter” between him and a child whom he first met at Grand Yoho in Yuen Long on January 8. Lok, who pleaded guilty last month to assault occasioning actual

95% of overseas firms expect to sustain or boost use...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

The global business appetite for China’s yuan is strengthening as Beijing’s long-term campaign to internationalise its currency gains traction, according to a new industry white paper. More than 95 per cent of overseas companies expect to maintain or increase their cross-border yuan settlements over the coming year, according to the latest findings from Bank of China, one of the country’s leading state-owned lenders. The report, released this week, showed that 34.5 per cent of surveyed

Why India’s new envoy to China is visiting Tibet soon...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/06/12

India’s new ambassador to China has paid his first visit to Tibet in the latest sign of thawing relations between the two Asian neighbours. Vikram Doraiswami – who speaks Chinese and took up the post in Beijing last month – arrived in Lhasa, capital of the Tibet autonomous region, on Thursday, according to a statement posted on social media by the Indian embassy. The visit was to “review arrangements made by the local government for Indian pilgrims proceeding to Mount Gang Renpoche and Lake...

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