On December 16, Chinese President Xi Jinping, on receiving a work report from Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, said the city should proactively align with the country’s 15th five-year plan and better integrate into, and serve, the national development agenda. In recent days, discussion of the coming plan across the Hong Kong government…
On December 18, China made a bold move on the global economic chessboard. It launched a massive free-trade experiment by turning the entire island province of Hainan – an area, comparable in size to Belgium, whose gross domestic product was US$113 billion last year – into a duty-free customs zone. A new narrative has now…
Meta says ‘autonomous’ AI agent will help improve the lives of billions following rare deal amid US-China tech rivalry. Published On 30 Dec 202530 Dec 2025 Click here to share on social media share2 Share Tech giant Meta has announced it will buy artificial intelligence startup Manus in a rare crossover of US and Chinese…
Hong Kong authorities have questioned a World Bank report giving the city lower grades for business readiness, saying outdated data has led to unfair comparisons. The digital policy office said early on Tuesday that Hong Kong remained among the top 20 for “operational efficiency” and in the second quintile for “regulatory framework” and “public services”…
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. Pentagon says Chinese aircraft carriers, 6th-gen fighters make US ‘vulnerable’…
That underscored a sluggish state of affairs at Mao Geping, about two months after opening its first overseas location in the city, and the broader challenges faced by Chinese beauty – dubbed C-beauty – brands seeking to expand sales outside the mainland. The cosmetics firm was named after founder Mao Geping, China’s most famous make-up…
Landlords in Hong Kong and Singapore are expected to continue allocating space to flexible office operators as multinational corporations reshape the sector’s risk profile and fuel long-term demand, according to industry experts. A major driver behind this shift is the rapid change in who uses flexible workspaces. Global companies now represented 41 per cent of…
Hong Kong customs has, for the first time, uncovered a drug smuggling operation involving an underwater compartment of a large cargo ship, resulting in the seizure of HK$256 million (US$32.89 million) worth of suspected cocaine. The operation last month, supported by intelligence from mainland China and underwater robots, also disrupted what investigators believed was an…
Hong Kong’s 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium has been ranked the world’s No 3 in ticket sales in 2025, despite its debut nine months ago, with its operator saying the ranking cements the city’s status as “Asian events capital”. According to data compiled by Pollstar, a US-based trade publication for the concert and live music industry,…
Taiwanese brand Nap Tea drew long lines when it opened its first Hong Kong store in Mong Kok in February. The chain has since expanded aggressively, opening its ninth outlet in the city this month. “What truly surprised us was our breakthrough in quickly building a loyal base of repeat customers,” said co-founder Dan Lin….