https://www.scmp.com/rss/523029/feed The latest news and top stories on Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of the Global Times from 2005 to 2021. A former foreign correspondent covering the Bosnian War, he is a political commentator and one of China’s key opinion leaders. His work often involves nationalistic commentary and defending Beijing’s policies. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Fan Chen Fan Chen The US naval blockade of Iranian ports is not a tactic to force China to pressure Iran into a peace deal, according to analysts. Rather, the US aimed to end the war through showing its maritime supremacy over the world’s most vital energy chokepoint, they argued. Washington began to enforce the blockade on Monday, drawing threats of retaliation from Tehran. It remains unclear how fully the blockade can be enforced. The US Navy currently has at least 15 ships in the region, including an aircraft... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3350087/us-trying-pressure-china-hormuz-blockade?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3350087/us-trying-pressure-china-hormuz-blockade?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Apr 2026 22:00:08 +0000 Yuanyue Dang Yuanyue Dang A Chinese consulate in Russia has issued a rare reminder to Chinese nationals about a new, little-discussed Russian law requiring foreign men under 65 applying for long-term residency to agree to do at least a year of military service for Moscow. In a notice on its social media account on Sunday, the Chinese consulate in Vladivostok advised Chinese nationals to “take note of” new regulations on the processing of Russian long-term residence permits. It said that under these provisions, foreign... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3344760/why-china-reminding-its-male-citizens-russia-about-moscows-military-service-law?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3344760/why-china-reminding-its-male-citizens-russia-about-moscows-military-service-law?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Feb 2026 12:03:20 +0000 Meredith Chen Meredith Chen Relatives, colleagues and residents gathered in a county in central China on the weekend to pay tribute to six firefighters who died after putting out a blaze during the Chinese New Year holidays. The firefighters were killed on Thursday afternoon when their truck ran off a cliff in Xinhua county, Hunan province, as they were returning from extinguishing a house fire in the hills. A seventh firefighter in the truck was injured and transferred to a hospital in the capital city of Changsha that... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3344251/tributes-paid-6-firefighters-killed-central-china-after-truck-veers-cliff?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3344251/tributes-paid-6-firefighters-killed-central-china-after-truck-veers-cliff?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 22 Feb 2026 09:30:08 +0000 Lijia Zhang Lijia Zhang “Rural heating problems in Hebei cannot wait any longer” declared a recent report in Farmers’ Daily. It described a disturbing reality in parts of northern China: elderly villagers who would rather shiver through freezing temperatures than turn on their heaters, because they simply cannot afford the cost. For many urban readers, this may sound implausible. For millions of rural elderly, it is routine. On the surface, the problem appears to be a side effect of China’s well-intentioned... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3339618/without-pension-reform-china-leaving-its-rural-elderly-out-cold?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3339618/without-pension-reform-china-leaving-its-rural-elderly-out-cold?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 15 Jan 2026 01:30:09 +0000 Yuanyue Dang Yuanyue Dang In the daytime the temperature in northern China often stays below freezing, but for many rural villagers the prohibitive cost of heating means that they have little choice but to endure the cold. “We dare not turn on the heating during the day,” one woman from Guan county in Hebei named Wang said. The 75-year-old’s home is around 70km (43 miles) from the centre of Beijing, but running the heating all day would cost between 60 and 90 yuan (US$8-13), an expense that could soar over the course of... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3339631/north-china-farmers-pay-heavy-price-winter-beijings-clean-air-success?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3339631/north-china-farmers-pay-heavy-price-winter-beijings-clean-air-success?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 13 Jan 2026 01:00:16 +0000 Jane Cai Jane Cai A little over a decade ago, a diplomatic row with Japan would have been enough to bring people out into the streets in China or at least stir a patriotic retail boycott. In 2012, for instance, tensions boiled over after Tokyo bought and then nationalised three of the Diaoyu Islands, a group of eight uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that Japan calls the Senkakus. China and Japan have a long-running territorial dispute over the islands and authorities appeared to tolerate the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3338502/why-china-turning-down-nationalist-heat-its-row-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3338502/why-china-turning-down-nationalist-heat-its-row-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Jan 2026 22:00:09 +0000 Meredith Chen,Phoebe Zhang Meredith Chen,Phoebe Zhang A wave of online discussion blaming China’s last imperial dynasty for national historical sufferings has prompted official criticism after touching on sensitive questions, and ignited debate over historical narrative, nationalism and social governance. What began as a fringe literary interpretation of an 18th-century classical novel has evolved in recent weeks to become a viral internet topic, known as the “1644 historical perspective”. The main claim – which has exposed sharp divisions online –... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3337326/fringe-view-chinas-history-sparks-official-rebuke-after-going-viral-online?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3337326/fringe-view-chinas-history-sparks-official-rebuke-after-going-viral-online?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 23 Dec 2025 06:00:23 +0000 Yuanyue Dang Yuanyue Dang A Japanese singer’s concert in Shanghai was abruptly halted on Friday, triggering accusations of heavy-handed restrictions amid spiralling tensions over Tokyo’s comments on Taiwan. Maki Otsuki was midway through her performance at an anime event when the sound system was turned off, with organisers telling her to leave the stage. Otsuki, known for singing the theme song of the popular anime series One Piece, has “returned home safely”, according to a statement published on Monday on her official... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3334770/debate-and-backlash-china-after-japanese-singer-maki-otsuki-halted-mid-show-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3334770/debate-and-backlash-china-after-japanese-singer-maki-otsuki-halted-mid-show-shanghai?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 01 Dec 2025 09:24:47 +0000 SCMP 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. Trump talks to Japanese PM hours after his overnight call with China’s Xi Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed “the close cooperation” between Tokyo and Washington in a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, hours after Trump spoke by phone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. 2. China sends emergency return vehicle to space... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3334126/trump-talks-japans-pm-china-launches-replacement-spacecraft-scmp-daily-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3334126/trump-talks-japans-pm-china-launches-replacement-spacecraft-scmp-daily-highlights?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Nov 2025 13:15:08 +0000 Yuanyue Dang Yuanyue Dang A former editor of a Chinese nationalist newspaper has called on official media to manage public expectations properly and refrain from using “harsh language that does not reflect the actual situation” when criticising Japan. Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of Global Times, affiliated with Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, said some social media accounts run by official media had used “harsh language that does not reflect the actual situation” when criticising Japanese Prime... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3333996/former-editor-hu-xijin-urges-restraint-official-medias-criticism-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3333996/former-editor-hu-xijin-urges-restraint-official-medias-criticism-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 25 Nov 2025 01:00:27 +0000 Yuanyue Dang Yuanyue Dang A former Chinese state media editor and vocal supporter of the government has called for greater tolerance for free expression. On Monday, Hu Xijin, the former editor-in-chief of Global Times, a tabloid owned by Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily, wrote on social media that society “should be as open as possible within the constitutional order under [the Communist Party’s] leadership”. “There should be a collective consensus respecting individual rights on the Chinese internet,” Hu... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3328973/former-state-media-editor-warns-against-collective-silence-chinese-social-media?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3328973/former-state-media-editor-warns-against-collective-silence-chinese-social-media?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Oct 2025 10:14:37 +0000 Dewey Sim,Yuanyue Dang Dewey Sim,Yuanyue Dang Tensions between Beijing and Tokyo may escalate further with Sanae Takaichi poised to become Japan’s next leader, observers warn, citing her controversial positions on the Taiwan issue and Japanese wartime history. Takaichi, a former internal affairs minister known for her conservative views, was chosen to lead Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) on Saturday in a run-off vote against more moderate candidate Shinjiro Koizumi. The victory sets her up to be Japan’s fifth prime minister in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3327888/what-will-rise-sanae-takaichi-mean-chinas-ties-japan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3327888/what-will-rise-sanae-takaichi-mean-chinas-ties-japan?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Oct 2025 12:45:22 +0000 Yating Yang Yating Yang A renowned university in China has been slammed after it decorated chairs at an event in a way that resembled the Japanese flag. Photos from Wuhan University in Hubei province, central China, showing rows of white seats adorned with circular red stickers went viral on Chinese social media. The resultant backlash prompted the prestigious institution to issue a public apology. The incident unfolded while the university was holding orientation ceremonies for newly admitted undergraduate and... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3324849/china-little-pinks-slam-university-decorating-white-chairs-red-dots-japan-flag?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/article/3324849/china-little-pinks-slam-university-decorating-white-chairs-red-dots-japan-flag?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 16 Sep 2025 06:00:11 +0000 Shi Jiangtao Shi Jiangtao The protracted war in Ukraine has emerged as a global watershed, redrawing alignments and shifting geopolitical alliances across continents. For China, it is also a moment of reckoning – a revealing lens that highlights the tensions within Beijing’s foreign policy, where strategic pragmatism often clashes with its declared principles. As Ukraine marked its Independence Day on Sunday, President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to his counterpart, Volodymyr Zelensky, in a highly unusual... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3323233/has-ukraine-war-left-china-facing-strategic-foreign-policy-test?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3323233/has-ukraine-war-left-china-facing-strategic-foreign-policy-test?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Aug 2025 12:58:30 +0000 Yuanyue Dang Yuanyue Dang China’s worst food safety scandal in almost two decades, in which hundreds of children suffered lead poisoning, has prompted fresh questions about the quality of local governance. On Sunday, the authorities in the northwestern province of Gansu said 10 local officials were under investigation over the incident in the city of Tianshui. One political scientist, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the slow response to the incident showed how local officials “try to avoid taking... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3319051/chinese-kindergarten-lead-poisoning-scandal-raises-fresh-questions-over-local-governance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3319051/chinese-kindergarten-lead-poisoning-scandal-raises-fresh-questions-over-local-governance?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 22 Jul 2025 04:00:08 +0000 Zoey Zhang Zoey Zhang A former editor in China has called for gender-neutral punishment and criticised a university for expelling a woman who had casual sex with a man. The backlash follows the expulsion of a 21-year-old Chinese student, surnamed Li, after her alleged sexual involvement with a Ukrainian gamer. Li reportedly had a one-night stand with a 37-year-old Ukrainian ex-Counter-Strike player, Danylo Teslenko, known as “Zeus”, while he was in Shanghai for an event last December. Teslenko shared their intimate... https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3318547/top-china-editor-slams-school-ousting-woman-casual-sex-demands-equal-penalty-man?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3318547/top-china-editor-slams-school-ousting-woman-casual-sex-demands-equal-penalty-man?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 17 Jul 2025 10:00:10 +0000