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South China Morning Post
an hour ago
- South China Morning Post
Could hi-tech China revive the US rust belt – and steady superpower ties?
China could draw on its innovation in advanced manufacturing to improve business – and overall – ties with the United States amid a fragile trade truce, according to a prominent American political scientist. Advertisement In an interview, Robert Pape, a professor at the University of Chicago, also said China could 'rise peacefully' to be the world's leading superpower through its strength in innovation if it continued 'moderate responses' to US President Donald Trump 's foreign policy – while America grappled with domestic fractures and a rise in political violence. Pape, who specialises in international security affairs, pointed to what he called the 'Wuhan model' – integrated university-industry clusters in second-tier Chinese cities that focus on advanced manufacturing, which he said opened up possibilities for reinvigorating rust-belt cities in the US. Political scientist Robert Pape visited some of China's biggest tech firms last month. Photo: LinkedIn 'They're integrating university research in private industry. But it's not just happening in Stanford and Silicon Valley or Harvard, MIT and the Boston area. This is happening in a second-tier city,' Pape said. He made the remarks after a 10-day trip to China last month when he visited some of the country's big tech firms in cities including Wuhan, Hangzhou and Shenzhen. Wuhan – capital of central Hubei province and home to a hi-tech manufacturing cluster known as Optics Valley – has traditionally been seen as a second-tier city but in recent years has moved into the ranks of the 'new first-tier cities' as its innovative and industrial strength has grown. Advertisement Pape's visit took place amid a temporary de-escalation of the US-China trade war following separate talks in Geneva and London in June.
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Is proposal to recognise same-sex partnerships in Hong Kong dead on arrival?
A proposal by the Hong Kong government to recognise same-sex partnerships in line with a top court ruling may hit a dead end amid mounting opposition in the legislature, with one legal expert saying authorities may consider a rejection as closing the file on the controversy. Failure to enact the legislation could mean that same-sex couples would continue to be barred from having their relationships officially recognised in the near future and invite more judicial challenges, lawyers warned on Friday. The Court of Final Appeal found the government was violating the Bills of Rights when it ruled in favour of a judicial challenge by activist Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit in 2023. It gave the government two years to draw up laws setting out 'core rights' of same-sex couples, but did not outline what they might be. On Friday, lawmaker Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, the convenor of the key decision-making Executive Council, said she and five other members of her New People's Party would vote in favour of the 'very practical and basic' proposal by the government, a day after several major political parties voiced opposition to the plan in the Legislative Council. In a paper submitted to Legco on Wednesday, the Constitutional and Mainland Affairs Bureau proposed allowing same-sex couples to apply to have their relationship recognised in Hong Kong if they had first registered it in another jurisdiction. The move would grant same-sex couples some rights, such as those related to medical and after-death matters, although some LGBTQ activists described the proposal as conservative and vague.
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China's top diplomat on Ukraine war, US-Vietnam deal in spotlight: SCMP daily highlights
Catch up on some of SCMP's biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the European Union's top diplomat on Wednesday that Beijing did not want to see a Russian loss in Ukraine because it feared the United States would then shift its whole focus to Beijing, according to several people familiar with the exchange. The passage of a sprawling budget bill has raised concerns over the long-term debt of the United States, which analysts said could compound already heightened worries over the reliability of the country's currency as a safe-haven asset. Tasting glasses of aged French cognac brandy are poured in France. Photo: Shutterstock China has decided to levy anti-dumping tariffs on European brandy, mostly produced in France, for the next five years – an announcement made while Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on his European tour seeking to resolve trade disputes and improve ties amid a reshuffle of global trade dynamics introduced by the United States.
