Latest news with #WangWen
South China Morning Post
09-05-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Why some Chinese academics say it's time to rethink WWII history
Chinese academics are calling for the 'Western-centric' version of World War II to be rewritten by pushing back the start date nearly a decade and placing Chinese forces firmly on the front line against fascism. Advertisement Instead of Germany's 1939 invasion of Poland marking the beginning of the global conflict, some academics at a second world war history seminar in Beijing on Tuesday said it should be Japan's 1931 invasion of Manchuria, which escalated into a full-scale war in China in 1937. 'This historical perspective that marks 1939 as World War II's starting point … diminishes and undermines China's role in the war,' said Wang Wen, executive dean of the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University. This year is the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war and countries around the globe are marking it with their own commemorations. In Moscow this week, Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend a Victory Day parade in Red Square , marking the surrender of Nazi Germany to the Soviet Union in 1945. Advertisement
South China Morning Post
12-03-2025
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
China will lead the world in smart manufacturing by 2030, report says
China's ambitious 'Made in China 2025' industrial strategy has put the country on track to become a global leader in smart manufacturing within the next few years, though breakthroughs are still needed in several bottleneck technologies, according to a new report by Beijing's Renmin University of China. Advertisement The Made in China 2025 project, launched a decade ago, aimed to propel China to the forefront of a slew of hi-tech industries, including aerospace, electric cars, robotics and telecommunications. Though Beijing has become reluctant to publicly name-check the policy in recent years amid global pushback – especially from the United States – the strategy nevertheless helped China achieve remarkable progress in several key areas, said Wang Wen, dean of Renmin University's Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies. Beijing has not published an official assessment of 'Made in China 2025', but a calculation by the Post last year found that 86 per cent of the targets laid out in the plan had been achieved. At a US congressional hearing on 'Made in China 2025' in February, US experts expressed alarm at China's fast progress in advanced manufacturing and warned that America risked 'losing the next industrial revolution'. Advertisement The Chongyang report comes at a time of intensifying US-China economic rivalry, as US President Donald Trump attempts to pressure manufacturers of high-end products to reshore production to America by weaponising tariffs. For Wang, the Chinese government should stick to its guns by continuing to build on its manufacturing strengths while advancing independent technological innovation. If it does so, the future looks bright, he said.
