Europe made a “misjudgment” in categorising Russia as its top security threat and instead the continent’s real danger lay in Europeans’ inner “demon”, according to China’s longest-serving ambassador to the US. Cui Tiankai, a former Chinese foreign vice-minister, also claimed Nato had outlived its relevance and argued that the transatlantic security alliance no longer served…
A strengthening Chinese yuan has added to a flurry of catalysts driving stocks in mainland China and Hong Kong to solid starts in 2026, with history suggesting the uptrend could hold. The CSI 300 Index of yuan-denominated onshore equities and the Hang Seng Index have risen more than 3 per cent this year after the…
The extreme precision of the US in its Venezuelan operation shows why nations must be able to execute a complex special surgical strike, according to analysts who said China had long pursued the capability but had yet to master it. In a complex joint endeavour integrating its air force, navy, intelligence agencies and space and…
Former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying is set to return to West Kowloon Court alongside eight co-defendants, as three judges hear mitigation arguments from defence lawyers in his high-profile national security case on Monday. The 78-year-old founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily is the most prominent figure yet to be convicted under the…
Chinese firms have signalled plans to launch more than 200,000 internet satellites, filing submissions with a UN agency just as Beijing accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of crowding shared orbital resources. A dozen or so submissions from various Chinese satellite players were filed with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the end of last month. The…
A top Hong Kong official has condemned attempts by external forces and “anti-China absconders” to “smear” the government ahead of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s mitigation hearing, saying the former media boss’ conviction showed that any plots to undermine national security will fail. Secretary for Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Erick Tsang Kwok-wai said on Saturday that such…
Fortnum & Mason, the upmarket department store chain that counts the British royal family among its regular customers, has announced that its flagship shop in Hong Kong will close by the end of the month. The British luxury goods brand, known for its speciality teas and food hampers, announced on Friday that the store, which…
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China’s Hurricane 3000 microwave weapon can ‘sweep and kill’ drone…
Hours before US helicopters landed at the compound of Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela said he had enjoyed a “pleasant evening” with Chinese diplomats. In a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping’s special envoy for Latin America, Qiu Xiaoqi, the two countries reaffirmed close ties and commitment to “building a multipolar world of development…
In a base-case scenario, bondholders may recover just 10.1 per cent of what they were owed, roughly half what already deeply distressed market prices suggested, the British bank said in a report. However, in a worst-case scenario, assuming lower proceeds from onshore assets and netting out intragroup balances, the estimated recovery would drop to just…