https://www.scmp.com/rss/519184/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Igor Patrick Igor Patrick The US military is monitoring 23 Chinese port projects and 12 space-enabling facilities across Latin America and considers every one of them “a potential dual-use asset” that could support Chinese military operations, the top US commander for South America told Congress on Tuesday. General Francis Donovan, head of US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), made the disclosure during a House Armed Services Committee hearing on US military posture in the western hemisphere. Asked by Lance Gooden, a... https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3346940/us-military-tracks-23-chinese-port-projects-latin-america-general-tells-congress?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/us/diplomacy/article/3346940/us-military-tracks-23-chinese-port-projects-latin-america-general-tells-congress?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Mar 2026 21:08:51 +0000 Mia Nurmamat,Carol Yang Mia Nurmamat,Carol Yang Maritime tracking data showed that no ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday, marking the first full day without any confirmed commercial traffic in either direction since February 28, when the US and Israel began military strikes on Iran. Crossings dropped to zero, below the previous seven-day average of 2.57 daily transits, according to maritime analytics firm Windward. Although no vessels entered the waterway that day, about 400 ships sailed in the Gulf of Oman on Friday, it... https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3346755/no-ships-cross-strait-hormuz-first-time-conflict-began-data-shows?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3346755/no-ships-cross-strait-hormuz-first-time-conflict-began-data-shows?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Mar 2026 09:30:14 +0000 Wang Xiangwei Wang Xiangwei US President Donald Trump is bringing back the law of the jungle to the world as he systematically dismantles the post-war rules-based international order built and forged by the United States and its allies. His speech last month at Davos, Switzerland, contained a blunt message: the US was done “keeping the whole world afloat”, where “everybody took advantage of the United States”. Trump is unabashed about what he wants. He flexed American muscle and ignored international norms by abducting... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3341790/beijing-must-be-clear-eyed-about-its-national-interests-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3341790/beijing-must-be-clear-eyed-about-its-national-interests-abroad?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Feb 2026 12:30:10 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Somalia and the African Union reacted angrily on Friday after Israel formally recognised its northern region of Somaliland as an “independent and sovereign state” – the first country to do so. Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, has for decades pushed for international recognition, which has been the main priority for President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi since he took office last year. But a Somali foreign ministry statement warned the decision was a “deliberate... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3337854/israel-becomes-first-country-formally-recognise-somaliland-independent-state?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3337854/israel-becomes-first-country-formally-recognise-somaliland-independent-state?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 26 Dec 2025 17:18:22 +0000 Jevans Nyabiage Jevans Nyabiage A Chinese naval fleet including a guided-missile destroyer, missile frigate and comprehensive supply ship set sail earlier this month from a port in eastern Qingdao, heading to the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters. It was the 48th escort task group to be sent to the region in a Chinese navy programme that has been helping to protect commercial ships and counter Somali piracy since 2008, when there were numerous attacks by Somali pirates. Since 2013, however, there have been very few Somali pirate... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3330194/why-does-chinas-navy-still-sail-gulf-aden-despite-lack-somali-pirate-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3330194/why-does-chinas-navy-still-sail-gulf-aden-despite-lack-somali-pirate-attacks?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 26 Oct 2025 07:00:08 +0000 Enoch Yiu Enoch Yiu The Hong Kong Green Building Council recently started issuing international certificates for buildings overseas, which is expected to enable more international developers to secure local funding for sustainable projects, boosting the city’s role as a regional green finance hub. A non-profit-making body focused on promoting the development of eco-friendly structures, the council has extended its Building Environmental Assessment Method (BEAM) Plus certification programme to foreign markets. The... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3327913/hong-kong-strengthens-green-finance-hub-role-new-global-building-certificates?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3327913/hong-kong-strengthens-green-finance-hub-role-new-global-building-certificates?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 05 Oct 2025 23:30:09 +0000 Reuters Reuters Ethiopia officially inaugurated Africa’s largest hydroelectric dam on Tuesday, a project that will provide energy to millions while deepening a rift with downstream Egypt that has unsettled the region. Ethiopia, the continent’s second most populous nation with over 120 million people, sees the US$5 billion Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) on a tributary of the Nile as central to its economic ambitions. The dam’s output has gradually increased since the first turbine was turned on in 2022,... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3324951/ethiopia-opens-africas-largest-dam-amid-egyptian-protest?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3324951/ethiopia-opens-africas-largest-dam-amid-egyptian-protest?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 09 Sep 2025 17:01:15 +0000 Alice Li Alice Li At this year’s meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), President Xi Jinping said China will launch 10 additional Luban Workshops in the organisation’s member countries over the next five years, providing training slots for 10,000 individuals. Named after the ancient architect and inventor Lu Ban, the project is somewhat low profile compared to others in Beijing’s infrastructure-heavy Belt and Road Initiative. But the vocational education programme has quietly expanded across... https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3324058/chinas-xi-jinping-wants-more-luban-workshops-worldwide-what-are-they?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3324058/chinas-xi-jinping-wants-more-luban-workshops-worldwide-what-are-they?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 02 Sep 2025 11:00:15 +0000 Jevans Nyabiage Jevans Nyabiage When more than two dozen officers from the Somali National Armed Forces were awarded Chinese training scholarships this month, Beijing’s ambassador to Somalia Wang Yu assured them and the rest of the country that “China will not be absent” in helping the East African country achieve peace. Since the 1991 overthrow of president Siad Barre, Somalia has been plagued by civil war and conflict with extremist groups such as al-Shabab. The training aims to help Somalia build a self-reliant defence... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3323696/new-model-peace-china-takes-its-global-security-initiative-africa?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3323696/new-model-peace-china-takes-its-global-security-initiative-africa?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 30 Aug 2025 10:00:12 +0000 Zhang Tong Zhang Tong China has unveiled Mazu, an AI-powered weather warning system named after a Chinese sea goddess and designed to help developing nations prepare for natural disasters. Mazu is one of the most revered Chinese deities in Southeast Asia, sometimes conflated with the Virgin Mary. The Multi-hazard Alert Zero-gap and Universal (Mazu) system was purpose-built for global reach, according to China’s national weather service. The initiative, which was unveiled at the World Artificial Intelligence... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3319955/china-says-new-mazu-weather-warning-ai-will-help-developing-nations-prepare-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3319955/china-says-new-mazu-weather-warning-ai-will-help-developing-nations-prepare-disaster?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 29 Jul 2025 08:00:11 +0000 Liu Zhen Liu Zhen China’s defence ministry has denied using lasers to target a German plane over the Red Sea as the two countries continue to trade barbs over the alleged incident. The German foreign ministry said on Tuesday that a People’s Liberation Army warship had shone a laser at a German surveillance plane “without reason or prior contact”, and Berlin had summoned the Chinese ambassador to protest. But on Thursday the defence ministry told the South China Morning Post the accusation “was completely... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3317607/beijing-denies-german-accusation-pla-laser-targeted-aircraft-patrolling-red-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3317607/beijing-denies-german-accusation-pla-laser-targeted-aircraft-patrolling-red-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 09 Jul 2025 20:32:10 +0000 Agence France-Presse Agence France-Presse Berlin on Tuesday said the Chinese military had targeted a laser at a German aircraft taking part in an EU-led mission to protect marine traffic in the Red Sea. “Endangering German personnel and disrupting the operation is entirely unacceptable,” the foreign ministry said on social media. The German aircraft was targeted “without reason or prior contact … during a routine operation” over the Red Sea while taking part in the European Union’s Aspides mission, a spokesman for the German defence... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3317463/berlin-says-chinese-ship-targeted-german-plane-laser-over-red-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/europe/article/3317463/berlin-says-chinese-ship-targeted-german-plane-laser-over-red-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 08 Jul 2025 22:27:13 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press Eight men deported from the United States in May and held under guard for weeks at an American military base in the African nation of Djibouti while their legal challenges played out in court have now reached the Trump administration’s intended destination, war-torn South Sudan, a country the State Department advises against travel to due to “crime, kidnapping, and armed conflict”. The immigrants from Cuba, Laos, Mexico, Myanmar, Vietnam and South Sudan arrived in South Sudan on Friday after a... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3317163/us-completes-deportation-8-men-south-sudan-after-weeks-legal-wrangling?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/africa/article/3317163/us-completes-deportation-8-men-south-sudan-after-weeks-legal-wrangling?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 06 Jul 2025 20:11:46 +0000 Associated Press Associated Press A divided US Supreme Court on Monday allowed the Trump administration to restart swift removals of migrants to countries other than their homelands, lifting for now a court order requiring they get a chance to challenge the deportations. The high court majority did not detail its reasoning in the brief order. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by the other two liberal justices, issued a scathing dissent. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin suggested third-country... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3315558/supreme-court-allows-trump-restart-deportation-migrants-away-home-countries?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3315558/supreme-court-allows-trump-restart-deportation-migrants-away-home-countries?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Jun 2025 22:25:27 +0000 Fiona Sun Fiona Sun A charity led by a former Hong Kong leader that offers overseas aid will promote traditional Chinese medicine treatments in the African nation Djibouti this year and plans to expand its operations to at least two more countries, its head has said. GX Foundation CEO Emily Chan Ying-yang said on Thursday that the charity was cooperating with Djibouti’s Ministry of Health to introduce traditional Chinese medicines registered in Hong Kong to the country to support local primary health services. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3312352/hong-kong-charity-aims-bring-traditional-chinese-medicine-african-nation?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3312352/hong-kong-charity-aims-bring-traditional-chinese-medicine-african-nation?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 29 May 2025 14:37:00 +0000 Reuters Reuters Food rations that could supply 3.5 million people for a month are mouldering in warehouses around the world because of US aid cuts and risk becoming unusable, according to five people familiar with the situation. The food stocks have been stuck inside four US government warehouses since the Trump administration’s decision in January to cut global aid programmes, according to three people who previously worked at the US Agency for International Development and two sources from other aid... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3310676/us-aid-cuts-leave-food-millions-including-biscuits-grains-oil-decaying-warehouses?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3310676/us-aid-cuts-leave-food-millions-including-biscuits-grains-oil-decaying-warehouses?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 May 2025 10:21:51 +0000 Chinese rail contractors are consolidating their foothold in East Africa as part of a twin effort to improve the region’s connectivity and tap into its abundant reserves of strategic minerals. Last week, a consortium of Chinese companies won a US$2.15 billion deal to build a railway line linking Tanzania’s main port of Dar es Salaam with Burundi’s nickel mines. It was the third contract of its kind to be awarded to firms from China and will take 72 months to deliver, including a 12-month... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3297451/africas-expanding-rail-links-benefit-chinese-contractors-and-mineral-needs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3297451/africas-expanding-rail-links-benefit-chinese-contractors-and-mineral-needs?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Feb 2025 04:00:09 +0000 In February 2022, amid Ethiopia’s deadly Tigray War, Beijing appointed veteran diplomat Xue Bing as China’s special envoy to the Horn of Africa, assigning him the difficult task of mediating disputes in a region that was in dire straits. For two years, from November 2020 to November 2022, thousands of people were killed and millions displaced after forces from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front attacked the Northern Command of the Ethiopian National Defence Force. Many Chinese companies that... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3295988/chinas-strategy-peace-horn-africa-slow-going-will-it-ever-reap-rewards?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3295988/chinas-strategy-peace-horn-africa-slow-going-will-it-ever-reap-rewards?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Jan 2025 22:00:07 +0000 Beijing has stepped up public health assistance to its strategic African partner Djibouti – home to China’s only overseas military base – with a new focus on dengue fever and plans for the country’s first traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) centre. Djiboutian Health Minister Ahmed Robleh Abdilleh, a medical doctor and also a TCM advocate, has pledged to “serve as an ambassador for promoting the culture of Chinese traditional medicine”. Abdilleh made the pledge during a meeting with the director... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3292427/chinas-health-bonds-strategic-african-partner-djibouti-grow-closer-over-tcm?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3292427/chinas-health-bonds-strategic-african-partner-djibouti-grow-closer-over-tcm?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 29 Dec 2024 06:17:27 +0000 This live blog has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Get faster notifications on the latest updates by downloading our app. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s speech to open the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit (FOCAC) on Thursday shed light on how Beijing plans to expand ties with the continent amid an intensified rivalry with the US-led West. Billed as Beijing’s biggest diplomatic event in years,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3277231/china-africa-summit-xi-jinpings-speech-shed-light-expanding-ties-amid-us-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3277231/china-africa-summit-xi-jinpings-speech-shed-light-expanding-ties-amid-us-rivalry?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 05 Sep 2024 01:50:17 +0000 Natalie Wong Natalie Wong A Hollywood visual effects firm and a UK-based video content production agency have joined the Hong Kong leader’s efforts in publicising a policy address consultation and hailing the city’s achievements in attracting talent. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu appeared in a video touting his policy blueprint, highlighting his government’s achievements in attracting talent and promoting innovation amid economic challenges. The six-minute video released on Friday featured a couple who, after working... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3275673/hollywood-uk-based-creative-agencies-tapped-publicise-hong-kong-policy-address?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3275673/hollywood-uk-based-creative-agencies-tapped-publicise-hong-kong-policy-address?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 23 Aug 2024 09:59:05 +0000