US military personnel in Taiwan, mainland China's ‘cure' to Hyperloop flaw: SCMP's 7 highlights
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
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Washington's disclosure that around 500 US military personnel are stationed in Taiwan signals more open and substantial defence support for the island – a pivot from a previously discreet partnership that is openly testing Beijing's red lines, according to analysts.
After spending 35 years in the United States pioneering research on the neural circuits that govern sleep and executive brain functions of the frontal cortex, neuroscientist Dan Yang has returned to China to join the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation (SMART) as a senior principal investigator.
Chinese ambassador to Canberra Xiao Qian said he hoped Australia would view issues around the leasing of Darwin port 'objectively'. Photo: Handout
China's ambassador to Australia has described the Australian government's plan to end a Chinese firm's control of the strategically located Darwin Port as 'questionable', saying the company should not be punished.
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South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
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Trump's attempt to calm foreign students adds to US visa confusion for Chinese
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South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Injured Mirror dancer's dad shocked by acquittal of 3 backstage staff in Hong Kong
The father of Mo Li Kai-yin, a dancer who was severely injured by a falling giant screen at a Mirror concert in Hong Kong, has expressed shock over the acquittal of three backstage staff members involved in the show by the District Court. In a letter posted online on Saturday, Reverend Derek Li Shing-lam said the acquittals were hard to accept given the suffering his son had endured. The court on Friday found the workers lacked a motive to deliberately understate the weight of stage equipment, including the screen that collapsed and injured Mo and another dancer during the Hong Kong Coliseum show on July 28, 2022. Inferior standards of work, shoddy stage design and an engineer's negligence were instead to blame for the screen's collapse, it found. Li wrote: 'I ask: If a driver with no experience crashes a car and causes severe injury or even death, can they also be acquitted on the grounds of being a 'novice'?' He went on to question 'where the scales of justice were tipping' and underscored his son's difficult journey towards recovery. 'How he has gritted his teeth to survive every time he was on the verge of life and death, and now, those who use 'lack of experience' as a shield, those supervisors who claim they 'did not read carefully' and hastily signed off – can a mere evasion wipe away tears of blood?
South China Morning Post
6 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Chinese general fires back at US defence chief over Shangri-La Dialogue remarks
A PLA major general leading the Chinese delegation at this year's Shangri-La Dialogue has accused the United States of 'destabilising the Asia-Pacific' – after US defence chief Pete Hegseth called for collective deterrence against what he characterised as Chinese aggression in the region. In a panel session at Asia's premier annual security conference on Saturday afternoon, Hu Gangfeng, vice-president of China's National Defence University, said Hegseth's address earlier in the day involved 'groundless accusations against China'. This came after the US defence secretary claimed that China was 'destabilising' the region as it 'harasses its neighbours' in the South China Sea while rapidly building up its military. Addressing Asia-Pacific defence chiefs in a morning session at the Singapore event, Hegseth also warned of a 'possibly imminent' risk that the People Liberation Army (PLA) would take over Taiwan by force. Hu said that some of Hegseth's claims were fabricated and 'aimed at stirring up trouble, creating division, inciting confrontation, and destabilising the Asia-Pacific'. 'Some countries are promoting exclusive and confrontational small circles and [have] drastically increased their military presence' in the region, Hu said, adding that China was opposed to 'the use of the Asia-Pacific waters as an arena for seeking hegemony'.
