Joshua Wong was accused of conspiring with fellow activists to call for foreign sanctions against China and Hong Kong in 2020. The former teenage activist, who became a leader of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, is already serving a near-five-year sentence. He faces the prospect of many more years in prison after pleading guilty on Wednesday to the latest national security case brought by prosecutors. (26/09/02)
China highlights advanced wartime tech in defence mobilisation law update (South China Morning Post)
China has passed the first amendment to its national defense mobilization law in 16 years. It includes a focus on new technologies, with experts saying it could cover AI, drones, cyberspace, biotechnology and quantum technology. The law for the first time formally defines national defense mobilization as a rapid transition from peace to war by putting the country’s economic and social resources at the service of national defense. (26/09/01)
China warns of ‘consequences’ over Taiwan presence at Pacific Islands Forum (The Guardian)
China said it had serious concerns about Taiwan’s presence as a “development partner” at the annual Pacific Islands Forum on the Pacific island of Palau, warning of consequences. In response, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters: “The Pacific Islands Forum determines what happens here, not any other country”, a stance later echoed by New Zealand’s foreign minister. (26/09/01)
Xi Jinping’s Cairo trip marks ‘best ties in history’ as Egypt seeks to balance West (South China Morning Post)
Following the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit, Xi Jinping visited Egypt, his second trip in a decade and exactly 70 years after Beijing and Cairo began diplomatic relations. The two countries’ economic and military ties have expanded rapidly in recent years. With Egypt looking to diversify its defence relationships and advance its industrialization, and China viewing Egypt as a regional “pivot,” the meeting looks set to reaffirm their comprehensive strategic partnership. (26/08/31)
Career finance official moves into pole position to become Shanghai’s next mayor (South China Morning Post)
Zhu Zhongming, a finance official, has been appointed secretary of the Shanghai municipal government’s Communist Party group, positioning him to become the city’s next mayor. The move comes a year ahead of the next national party congress, which is expected to create vacancies at the top of Shanghai’s leadership and potentially allow him to rise through the ranks. (26/08/30)
China’s actors written out of dramas as AI doubles ready to take their roles (Financial Times)
Cost-effective advanced AI video generation programs, such as the Seedance 2.0 model, are now competing with Chinese actors and online influencers. In the first quarter of 2026, 95% of the 128,000 short dramas that were released on the Chinese internet were AI generated. The economic consequence of the trend could be dramatic. The traditional video industry employs 690,000 workers, but a three- to five-minute drama production now takes only a single person to produce it instead of five. (26/08/28)
Taiwan parliament rejects government military drone plan, passes own version (Reuters)
Taiwan’s opposition rejected the government’s T$210 billion plan to buy new military drones and passed their own instead, which caps annual spending at T$40 billion. Ongoing conflicts showed Taipei the importance of uncrewed weapons in modern warfare amid a rising threat from China. Premier Cho Jung-tai said the question is not whether the government is satisfied, but whether this will be enough for national defense. ($1 = 31.7340 Taiwan dollars) (26/08/27)
China’s Industrial Profit Growth Slows to Weakest This Year (Bloomberg News)
For the third month, growth in China’s industrial profits slowed to the weakest pace this year. This shows that companies are coming under pressure as domestic demand weakens and the earlier surge in oil prices fades, outweighing some benefits from the soaring global demand for AI-related goods. Consequently, companies could become more cautious, adding downward pressure on the economy. (26/08/27)
Cash-Strapped Chinese Cities Turn to Fines for Revenue, Study Shows (Caixin Global)
Local governments are increasingly relying on fines and asset confiscations to ease mounting fiscal pressures. Data from 279 prefecture-level cities from 2015 to 2023 show that confiscations grew steadily, averaging 14.7% of local non-tax revenue over the period. This reliance on punitive income harms the business environment by deterring new businesses from entering vulnerable sectors. (26/08/25)
China’s Youth Jobless Rate Climbs to 17.9% in July (Caixin Global)
China’s youth unemployment rate rose to 17.9% in July, its highest July reading in three years. While the rate typically peaks during the summer graduation season, unemployment among non-students aged 16 to 24 climbed 3 percentage points from June, exceeding the July readings of 17.1% in 2024 and 17.8% in 2025. (26/08/20)
China hits out at EU probe into JD.com bid for German retailer (Financial Times)
China has hit out at an EU anti-subsidy probe as “undue extraterritorial jurisdiction” and threatened retaliation if the EU persists. JD.com, China’s largest ecommerce retailer by sales, launched a €2.2bn bid for German electronics retailer Ceconomy in July last year. In May, the European Commission launched an in-depth investigation under its Foreign Subsidies Regulation into whether unfair subsidies were involved. (26/08/20)
Click Here For The Original Source.
