China

Labrador lost on China beach found 1,500km away 3 months later, reunited with owner

A pet dog in China has been miraculously found 1,500km from home and reunited with her owner three months after she went missing. September the Labrador was lost on August 13, at a beach in Qingdao, in eastern China’s Shandong province. According to her owner, surnamed Gao, the dog walked out by herself while playing in her garden. By the time she noticed, September was already missing. She checked the surveillance footage from a nearby beer festival and discovered September walking away with… Source link

China

Netherlands suspends state seizure of Chinese chipmaker Nexperia

Dutch government’s move pauses dispute that threatened car production around the world Nexperia row shows how China is weaponising EU relationship Business live – latest updates The Netherlands has suspended its seizure of the Chinese-owned chipmaker at the heart of a six-week dispute between the EU and China that threatened to halt car production at sites around the world. The Dutch minister of economic affairs, Vincent Karremans, said in a statement on Wednesday that the government would suspend its decision to take supervisory control of Nexperia as a gesture of “goodwill” to Beijing. Continue reading… Source link

China

Xiaomi open-sources AI model spanning autonomous driving and robotics

Xiaomi has open-sourced a new foundation model that integrates autonomous driving and embodied artificial intelligence, as the Chinese smartphone and electric-vehicle (EV) manufacturer seeks to enhance its AI capabilities. MiMo-Embodied, which comes after Xiaomi’s first large language model MiMo launched in April, was described as the “first open-source vision-language model” that combined autonomous driving and embodied AI tasks. Technical reports and project files are available on platforms… Source link

China

China’s power play: MI5 warns of relentless espionage attempts in Britain

Alert says Beijing trying to recruit British sources in parliament, even if potential gains may be unclear An unexpected connection on LinkedIn. An offer of work from a headhunter, most likely a young woman, based in China. The chance to earn perhaps £20,000 part-time writing a handful of geopolitical reports for a Chinese company peppered with “non-public” or “insider” insights. Payment in cryptocurrency or cash preferred. It may seem obvious, on this telling, that something about this approach would be amiss. Nevertheless, China’s powerful ministry of state security (MSS) still considers it worthwhile to deploy recruitment consultants to try…

China

Petition filed in Japan against K-pop Aespa singer’s post of atomic bomb image

More than 103,000 people have signed an online petition demanding that K-pop girl group Aespa be banned from taking part in a New Year music event in Japan over an image posted by one of its singers that protesters claim depicts the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The petition, on Change.org, points out that the singer posted a picture of an “atomic bomb model light” on a social media site with the message, “I bought a cute light! What do you think?” Even though the post was in May… Source link

China

Trump’s plan to impose semiconductor tariffs may be delayed, sources say

Officials are reportedly taking their time on US president’s long-promised chips plan to avoid a rupture with China US officials are privately saying that they might not levy long-promised semiconductor tariffs soon, potentially delaying a centerpiece of Donald Trump’s economic agenda. Officials relayed these messages over the last several days to stakeholders in the government and private industry, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter and a third person briefed on the conversations. A fourth person following the matter also said the administration was taking a more cautious approach to avoid provoking China. The discussions have…

China

Could Osaka be Japan’s second capital? Takaichi appears to demur on ally’s plan

When Japan’s then incoming leader Sanae Takaichi was scrambling in October for a new coalition partner so the Liberal Democratic Party could remain in power, she seemed open to requests put forth by the Japan Innovation Party in return for its support. One of the key demands of the JIP was that Osaka should be officially elevated in status to the nation’s “second capital”, with additional infrastructure for the city to enable it to become the seat of government in the event of a natural disaster… Source link

China

Unlikely thaw: Trump, New York City mayor-elect Mamdani find harmony – for now

After weeks of traded insults, New York City’s newly elected democratic socialist mayor, Zohran Mamdani, and US President Donald Trump concluded their first in-person meeting on Friday. The duo praised each other and pledged cooperation, with the “America first” leader sounding unexpectedly impressed with the young New York politician. “Some of his ideas are the same as my ideas,” Trump said after what may ultimately go down as one of the more unexpected political encounters of the decade. “He… Source link

China

UK holds talks with LinkedIn on clamping down on Chinese espionage

Government wants social media platforms to be less attractive for foreign agents after recent intelligence warnings The government is holding talks with LinkedIn on how it can clamp down on prolific Chinese espionage activity after a rare interference alert was issued by MI5. The National Protective Security Authority, which is part of the UK’s security services, is speaking to social media platforms about making them less attractive for foreign agents, a government official told the Guardian. Continue reading… Source link

China

Trump wants Ukraine to accept peace deal with Russia by Thursday

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday that Ukraine faced losing its dignity and freedom or Washington’s support over a US peace plan which endorses key Russian demands and which Donald Trump said Kyiv should agree to by Thursday. The US president told Fox News Radio he believed next Thursday was an appropriate deadline for Kyiv to accept the plan. In a solemn address to the nation which he delivered in the street outside his office, a location he uses only rarely for major addresses,… Source link

China

‘The English person with a Chinese stomach’: how Fuchsia Dunlop became a Sichuan food hero

The author has been explaining Sichuan cuisine to westerners for decades. But ‘Fu Xia’, as she’s known, has had a profound effect on food lovers in China, too Every autumn in the mid-00s, when I lived in China, my friend Scarlett Li would invite me to Shanghai to eat hairy crab. Named for the spiky fur on their legs and claws, the crabs are said to have the best flavour during the ninth month of the lunar calendar. They’re steamed and served whole, with a dip of rice vinegar spiked with ginger. The most prized specimens come from Yangcheng…

China

US ‘biggest recipient’ of China debt; Beijing’s warning: 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. 1. China has lent more to US than any other country since 2000, report finds China’s lending since the turn of the century has been “vastly” larger than previously understood, with loans and grants increasingly going to developed countries including the United States – the largest recipient – according to a new report by an American university research… Source link

China

Brother Wang, a global manhunt and the Chinese-Mexican drug nexus

Alleged trafficker Zhi Dong Zhang escaped via a tunnel in Mexico before flying to Cuba and reportedly Russia but now finds himself on trial in a Brooklyn courtroom The China-Mexico fentanyl pipeline: increasingly sophisticated and deadly Like so many great escapes, it involved a tunnel. One night in July, in the Mexico City neighbourhood where he was under house arrest, Zhi Dong Zhang snuck through a hole into the property nextdoor and escaped from under the noses of the soldiers guarding him. Continue reading… Source link

China

Chinese text at factory event in Kedah sparks double-standard accusation

A senior official in Malaysia’s northern state of Kedah has defended the use of Chinese characters on a foundation stone for a tyre plant, after the inscription drew criticism in a country where public displays of Chinese text can become flashpoints over national identity and political loyalty. The controversy began after photos circulated of a foundation stone bearing Chinese characters at the groundbreaking ceremony for Prinx Tire Malaysia, the local subsidiary of Chinese tyre maker Prinx… Source link