China-Europe rail link woes, Trump's unlikely online star: 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
subscribing
Last week, China's leaders made promises to support the China-Europe Railway Express – an overland freight link that has become a symbol of Beijing's ambitious drive to recreate the ancient Silk Road. But the reality is that traffic along the intercontinental rail link has been declining for months.
Nuclear physicist Liu Chang, who is conducting research that is considered crucial to achieving viable nuclear fusion energy, has left Princeton University for a position at Peking University in Beijing. Photo: Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL)
After more than a decade in the United States, nuclear physicist Liu Chang, whose research has been crucial in the journey to achieve fusion energy, has left Princeton University for a position at Peking University in Beijing.
China's third most senior official, Zhao Leji, has reappeared in public after missing the end of the country's main political event due to ill health. It was the first time in decades that the NPC closing meeting was not attended by all members of the Politburo Standing Committee.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
How hapless Chinese scientists became ‘agroterrorists' in the US
Its name sounds forbidding – Fusarium graminearum – though most of us would have no idea what it is. But if the bosses at the FBI and the US Department of Justice made a big show of announcing the arrests of Chinese nationals charged with trying to smuggle samples into the United States in a suspected act of agroterrorism, you would be scared too. One of the three suspects is even a card-carrying Chinese communist. Case closed. Here's what Kash Patel, director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, wrote in a long post on social media. 'The FBI arrested a Chinese national within the United States who allegedly smuggled a dangerous biological pathogen into the country,' he wrote. 'The individual, Yunqing Jian, is alleged to have smuggled a dangerous fungus called Fusarium graminearum, which is an agroterrorism agent, into the US to research at the University of Michigan, where she works.' It gets worse: the woman is a communist! 'Evidence also indicates Jian had expressed loyalty to the Chinese Communist Party and had received funding from the Chinese government for similar work on this pathogen in China,' Patel continued. 'Jian's boyfriend, Zunyong Liu – also charged in the complaint – works at a Chinese university where he conducts research on the same pathogen. 'This case is a sobering reminder that the CCP is working around the clock to deploy operatives and researchers to infiltrate American institutions and target our food supply, which would have grave consequences ... putting American lives and our economy at serious risk.' Doesn't that sound scary? But wait, there are almost 100 million citizens who are party members in China. It's a bit like saying an American suspect is a Democratic or a Republican Party member.
South China Morning Post
6 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
China's extreme heat shield breaks thermal limit on hypersonic flight
Chinese scientists have created a carbide ceramic capable of withstanding temperatures up to 3,600 degrees Celsius (6,512 degrees Fahrenheit) in an oxidising environment, exceeding current thermal limits on hypersonic flight Advertisement The development holds significant potential for applications in aerospace , energy and other extreme high-temperature fields. Modern hypersonic aircraft and advanced engines demand materials that can maintain structural integrity under extreme thermal conditions. However, most materials begin to fail well below 3,000 degrees. The heat shield tiles of SpaceX's Starship, for instance, could withstand temperatures around 1,371 degrees, according to some estimates. Metal alloys typically degrade at temperatures above 2,000 degrees, and while carbon-carbon composites can endure up to 3,000 degrees in inert environments, they begin oxidising rapidly in air at just 370 degrees, leading to a sharp drop in mechanical performance. Advertisement 'Our team has – for the first time globally – surpassed this long-standing limit through high-entropy, multi-component design,' said Chu Yanhui, a professor at South China University of Technology.
South China Morning Post
8 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Why China's officials are braced for yet another round of inspections to check their work
Chinese officials already have to deal with a series of inspectors knocking on their doors to keep tabs on their activities, but now they will also have a new group of 'performance observers' looking over their shoulders to check that they are not wasting government funds. Local officials in China are often castigated for spending money on 'white elephants' , such as flashy construction projects, in the hope these will provide a quick fix for the local economy and win favour with their supervisors. But in recent years, as local government debts mounted, the central government has been trying to rein in such excesses, with President Xi Jinping saying officials should prioritise quality development over rapid growth. Several provinces have started pilot programmes in recent months, especially after the Communist Party gave its austerity campaign a further push in March in an effort to cut waste and improve administrative efficiency. Local officials already face a raft of inspections, covering areas such as party discipline, their conduct and the environmental impact of their work, but the emergence of the new performance observers may be the result of regional party bodies taking the initiative. Although the central government has called for wasteful spending to be eliminated nationwide, it has not issued a public decree calling for the new inspection teams.
