https://www.scmp.com/rss/520879/feed Lucie Qian Xia is a writer and policy adviser. She holds a doctorate from the University of Oxford, and has served at the Delegation of the European Union to China in Beijing and the UN Representation Office to the EU in Brussels. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Lucie Qian Xia Lucie Qian Xia Constructed around 256 BC, Dujiangyan is the world’s oldest irrigation system that is still in use today. Long before the invention of gunpowder, the system was using natural topographic and hydrological features to divert water from the Min River for irrigation and flood control without the use of dams. To this day, the ecological engineering feat irrigates 668,700 hectares of farmland in the Chengdu plains of southwestern China. It was in the tranquil, lush mountains surrounding Dujiangyan... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3336207/france-china-sees-civilisational-partner-polarised-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3336207/france-china-sees-civilisational-partner-polarised-world?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Dec 2025 21:30:08 +0000 Lucie Qian Xia Lucie Qian Xia The 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the European Union and China should have been a celebratory occasion to reflect on the past and chart the course for the future. The 25th EU-China summit should have provided a space for such a commemorative moment, allowing both sides to display diplomatic pageantry and the symbolism of a forward-looking relationship. Instead, an initial two-day summit was watered down to a single-day event in Beijing on July 24, where President Xi Jinping and... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3320293/eu-china-engagement-shouldnt-be-reduced-couples-therapy-session?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3320293/eu-china-engagement-shouldnt-be-reduced-couples-therapy-session?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 01 Aug 2025 21:30:08 +0000 The dust had barely settled on the recent EU ambassadors’ conference in Brussels when the European Union had to respond to US President Donald Trump’s announcement of a 25 per cent tariff on steel and aluminium imports, which it denounced. The brewing trade war between the United States and the rest of the world has made an era marked by global power shifts even more volatile. Some warn of the dangers of a “G-zero” world, when no power or group of powers is willing and able to drive a global... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3298262/amid-threats-free-trade-china-and-france-must-rise-above-differences?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3298262/amid-threats-free-trade-china-and-france-must-rise-above-differences?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 16 Feb 2025 12:30:09 +0000