45 h. ago ‘Japan is back’ in Central Asia with new summit on AI, minerals and transport

Japan will host the leaders of five Central Asian countries in Tokyo this week, a meeting analysts say is meant to show that “Japan is back” as an active player in a region where global powers are competing for influence, minerals and transport routes. The summit with Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, scheduled for Friday and Saturday, is also expected to consolidate Tokyo’s long-standing but “often underestimated role” in Central Asia as a trusted and non-coercive...

Politics

52 h. ago China cements global lead in smart vacuums as Picea acquires Roomba maker iRobot

Chinese robotics manufacturers are set to cement their dominance in the global smart vacuum market with Picea Robotics’ acquisition of Roomba maker iRobot, after the US firm’s proposed sale to Amazon.com last year fell through due to regulatory hurdles. China-based suppliers held the top five spots for worldwide smart robotic vacuum shipments in the first three quarters of 2025, led by Roborock with a 21.7 per cent market share, equal to 3.8 million units, according to data from research firm...

Politics

7 d. ago China to keep high fiscal deficit ratio in 2026 to buoy spending plans: analysts

China is expected to set its fiscal deficit ratio at around 4 per cent of gross domestic product in 2026, analysts said, adding the affirmation of a more prominent role for fiscal policy at this week’s central economic work conference indicates a selective approach to increasing government expenditures. In a statement issued after the annual conference ended on Tuesday, officials called for maintaining a “necessary deficit size, total debt and expenditure volume”. The December meeting of...

Politics

8 d. ago How China is cementing its central role as the architect of green tech

In the first three quarters of this year, China added 310 gigawatts of renewable energy capacity, up 47.7 per cent year on year and accounting for 84.4 per cent of all new power installations in the country, according to the National Energy Administration. This progress is more than climate leadership or capacity building; it involves a holistic reconstruction of the energy system. China is replacing the 20th-century fossil fuel order with a 21st-century “electro-industrial order” where power...

Events

8 d. ago Opinion | How China is cementing its central role as the architect of green tech

Opinion | How China is cementing its central role as the architect of green tech  South China Morning Post

Events

3 w. ago Kyrgyzstan’s Renewable Pivot and the Strategic Weight of China’s Rising Role

Kyrgyzstan’s Renewable Pivot and the Strategic Weight of China’s Rising Role  The Times Of Central Asia

Politics

3 w. ago How China turned a cement factory into a haven for mathematicians

Even as the bombs fall in Ukraine, precisely following trajectories defined by equations, Ukrainian and Russian mathematicians, among others, gather in sunlit rooms beside tranquil Yanqi Lake in an industrial estate north of China’s capital. Here, at the Beijing Institute of Mathematical Sciences and Applications (Bimsa), they debate string theory over coffee, co-author papers on quantum fields and lose themselves in problems that stretch across centuries while some of their countries engage in...

Politics

4 w. ago China Carbon Prices Rise as Metals and Cement Enter the National Trading Scheme

China Carbon Prices Rise as Metals and Cement Enter the National Trading Scheme  CarbonCredits.com

Politics

4 w. ago Beijing launches historic preservation campaign to cement South China Sea claims

China has launched a campaign to preserve historical sites on the disputed Woody Island, or Yongxing Island in Chinese, as Beijing looks to cement its territorial claims in the South China Sea. A team of conservation scientists and technicians from the Hainan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology spent six days reinforcing a monument that marked China’s takeover of the Paracel Islands, known as the Xisha Islands in China, after World War II, according to the government of the...

Politics

last month China Carbon Price Jumps on Addition of Metals, Cement Sectors

China Carbon Price Jumps on Addition of Metals, Cement Sectors  Bloomberg.com

Politics