appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

SCMP

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. Trouble in orbit? China’s Starlink rival faces long delays amid rocket shortage
A Chinese mega-constellation of communications satellites is facing serious delays that could jeopardise its ambitions to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink for valuable orbital resources.
2. Why expectations are so low for both China and EU ahead of Beijing summit
The return of Donald Trump was supposed to bring Europe and China together. Yet, EU leaders will touch down in Beijing late on Wednesday for a summit with the lowest expectations in recent memory.
3. US Treasury chief says trade talks with China to continue next week in Sweden

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that he would meet his Chinese counterparts in Sweden next week to continue trade talks between the two countries, suggesting the current pause in sky-high tariffs aimed at each other could be extended.
4. Is this new tailless UAV China’s answer to next-generation drone warfare?
A new video circulating online shows what appears to be a Chinese tailless drone flying in formation with a turboprop, offering a rare glimpse at the country’s progress in developing collaborative combat aircraft.
5. China is building the world’s biggest hydropower dam. Why is India worried?

On the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau, China envisions a future powered by the roaring waters of the Yarlung Tsangpo, also known as the Brahmaputra. The river will be the site of a mega dam – the world’s most ambitious to date – that promises to bring clean energy, jobs, infrastructure and prosperity to the region.
6. Beijing plans big expansion of tariff-free access to Hainan from December

China’s tropical island province of Hainan will have an independent customs regime by the end of the year, the central government announced. Starting from December 18, a separate customs zone will be established in Hainan, which Beijing wants to transform into a free-trade port, as well as a centre for offshore financing and duty-free shopping that will lure tourists and businesses with an internationally competitive tax regime and relaxed visa requirements.
7. Sanctioned German China expert visits Beijing in sign of easing restrictions
The head of a German think tank sanctioned by Beijing four years ago has returned from a trip to China, suggesting that travel restrictions on the organisation may be easing. Mikko Huotari, the executive director of the Mercator Institute for China Studies was in Beijing from July 14 to 17, after being invited by a leading Chinese think tank.


China turns African port into tourist spot, students rethink Hong Kong: 5 weekend reads

Trump urged Xi to help end Ukraine war; China’s tech sanctions list: SCMP’s 7 highlights

Sharla Cheung’s film career, rise and fall of Hong Kong comics: 7 Lifestyle highlights

Chip prodigy returns to China, coal waste used for critical minerals: 7 science highlights

SCMP Highlights

China’s Starlink rival faces woes, new Chinese tailless drone: SCMP daily highlights

China launches the Qianfan Polar Orbit 06 satellite group into space on January 23, 2025. Photo: Xinhua

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that he would be holding trade negotiations with Chinese officials in Stockholm, Sweden next week. Photo: JIJI Press via AFP

China’s new mega dam project is being built on the Yarlung Tsangpo river, shown here in 2021, near Nyingchi city in the Tibet autonomous region. Photo: AFP

Xiuying Port in Haikou, the capital of south China’s Hainan province, on Tuesday. Photo: Xinhua

India to issue first tourist visas to Chinese nationals in 5 years

India suspended tourist visas in 2020. Photo: Shutterstock 

China’s drone warfare exercise, warning over spy souvenirs: SCMP daily highlights

Live operations across six phases of the futuristic battlefield scenario covered reconnaissance, AI planning, infiltration, aerial attack, elimination and anti-access, state media report says. Photo: CCTV

Key rings, backpack charms, necklaces and earrings are among the items that might contain hidden spy functions, according to China’s Ministry of State Security. Photo: Shutterstock

Latest photos offer the clearest view yet of the fifth-generation J-35 stealth fighter expected to be deployed aboard the Fujian, China’s first carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults designed to launch heavier aircraft with higher payloads. Photo: Handout

A journalist interacts with a robot on Thursday at the China International Supply Chain Expo in Beijing. Photo: Xinhua

China confirms exit ban on US exec; high-speed rail to get upgrade: SCMP daily highlights

Atlanta-based executive and US citizen Chenyue Mao has been banned from leaving China owing to a “criminal case”, according to China’s foreign ministry. Photo: Shutterstock

Chenyue Mao, an Atlanta-based executive at the Wells Fargo and a US citizen, has been banned from leaving China. In response, Wells Fargo has suspended all business travel to China. Photo: Handout


A volunteer holds leaflets as he stands near a 600km High Speed Maglev model showcasing at the National Railway Test Center during a tour by delegates to the World Congress on High-Speed Rail held in Beijing on July 9, 2025. Photo: AP

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Nanoscience and the National University of Singapore are working on a cancer treatment that uses nanotechnology to attack tumours. Photo: Shutterstock

The new guidelines follow a series of military corruption scandals. Photo: Handout

China trims US Treasury stockpiles again, Panama Canal warning: SCMP daily highlights

Chinese yuan and US dollar banknotes. Photo: AFP

China’s overall marketisation index, a measure of the strength of the country’s market forces, is on the decline. Photo: Xinhua

The fire beetle, which is equipped with a specialised organ allowing the insect to detect faint infrared radiation from hundreds of kilometres away, has inspired Chinese technology that experts say could see applications in missile defence. Photo: Shutterstock

Chinese farmer Zhang Shengwu pilots his homemade submarine in a river in Hanshan county, in China’s eastern Anhui province. He built his own “Big Black Fish” -- a homemade submarine that stay underwater for 30 minutes at a time. Photo: AFP

US-China trade deal clues, Emirates flight diverted to Taiwan: SCMP daily highlights

US trade representative Jamieson Greer, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, China’s Vice Premier He Lifeng and China’s international trade representative Li Chenggang discuss trade relations and tariffs in Geneva on May 10, 2025. Photo: Keystone/EDA/Handout via Reuters

The flight was diverted to Kaohsiung International Airport in Taiwan on Monday. Photo: Handout

Artemisia is cultivated in northwestern China to help control desertification. Sage sandbrush has been mass planted since the 1950s but is blamed for causing allergies in northern China. Photo: CCTV

News

China

From low expectations for an upcoming China-EU summit to India’s worries over a new hydropower dam, here’s a round-up from today’s coverage


From low expectations for an upcoming China-EU summit to India’s worries over a new hydropower dam, here’s a round-up from today’s coverage.


China’s Starlink rival faces woes, new Chinese tailless drone: SCMP daily highlights

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From low expectations for an upcoming China-EU summit to India’s worries over a new hydropower dam, here’s a round-up from today’s coverage

1. Trouble in orbit? China’s Starlink rival faces long delays amid rocket shortage

From low expectations for an upcoming China-EU summit to India’s worries over a new hydropower dam, here’s a round-up from today’s coverage