Beijing should remain alert to the continued solidarity between the US and its regional partners in countering China, despite their trade tensions with Washington, Chinese observers have warned. They cited this week’s meeting of Indo-Pacific Quad partners as the latest example of such unified signalling. The top diplomats of the United States, Japan, Australia and India, meeting in Washington on Tuesday, agreed to deepen cooperation on Indo-Pacific maritime security and introduce a critical...

Beijing’s top envoy has called for China and Europe to join forces against “unilateralism and bullying” in a thinly veiled swipe at the United States, after meeting European Union leaders in Brussels. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday, before sitting down for marathon political talks with the bloc’s top diplomat Kaja Kallas that were expected to run over dinner. “The world today...

A People’s Liberation Army (PLA) landing ship has appeared unusually close to northern Taiwan, raising tensions ahead of the island’s biggest military exercise of the year. The Type 072A tank landing ship was spotted on Friday as close as 60 nautical miles (111km or 69 miles) northeast of the Taiwanese city of Keelung, a key naval base and northern maritime gateway to Taipei, Taiwan’s defence ministry confirmed on Tuesday. Chiu Chun-jung, chief of staff of Taiwan’s navy, said that the ship had...

Baidu, one of China’s artificial intelligence (AI) champions, said it is using the technology to upgrade and make the most significant changes to the company’s core internet search service in a decade. Beijing-based Baidu has now enlarged the mobile app’s search bar and turned it into a “smart box” that supports long text input and handles more tasks than simple text-based queries and information retrieval, according to the company’s statement on Wednesday. This search box is capable of handling...

Ahead of Amazon’s annual Prime Day sales event, Chinese sellers are already walking a tightrope as they try to strike a balance between staying competitive and adjusting to Washington’s tariffs. Gloria Gu, an Amazon seller based in Zhejiang province, said her outlook for this year’s summer event – extended this year to a record four days, July 8-11 – was “not optimistic”. Her company mainly sells household consumables – low-margin products that are highly price-sensitive. “Depending on the item,...

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. 1. The EU-China reset that never was: summits begin but divisions remain After much talk of patching things up, a grand rapprochement has failed to materialise, with Beijing seen to be playing a “waiting game”. 2. US Senate, passing Trump bill, bars energy tax credits for China-linked firms The US Congress is poised to bar companies with ties to China from...

Mainland China is on track to surpass Taiwan in semiconductor foundry capacity by 2030, according to a report from Yole Group, underscoring Beijing’s progress in its push for chip self-sufficiency amid ongoing US tech restrictions. The mainland’s share of global foundry capacity is projected to reach 30 per cent by the end of the decade, up from 21 per cent in 2024, the French market research firm said. Taiwan is currently the market leader with a 23 per cent share last year, while mainland...