Innovation
Technology
How China is funding its AI ambitions without US capital
China’s hard tech sector once relied heavily on US and other overseas capital. As geopolitical tensions closed that funding channel, Beijing built a multi-tier domestic capital system that is now reshaping how Chinese AI and semiconductor companies grow, exit and attract private investment, opines technology specialist Yin Ruizhi.
Yin Ruizhi
13 Aug 2026
Politics
[Video] Bilahari Kausikan: How to navigate the new world order
Bilahari Kausikan, in an interview with ThinkChina editor Chow Yian Ping, examines how US-China rivalry is reshaping the global order, why China’s “China dream” narrative of national rejuvenation remains powerful but limiting, and how a more fluid, multipolar Asia will test the nimbleness of smaller states such as Singapore.
Chow Yian Ping
12 Aug 2026
Technology
Kimi K3’s lesson: The AI race won’t be won by containing China
China’s Kimi K3 shows that export controls alone cannot preserve US leadership in AI. The next phase of competition will depend less on slowing rivals than on strengthening America’s own innovation ecosystem. US academic Sarah Kreps weighs the issue.
Sarah Kreps
07 Aug 2026
Technology
Why China’s biotech rise is harder to contain than AI
China is emerging as a biotech powerhouse, but its rise is entwined with US drugmakers through research, licensing and supply chains, making decoupling far more difficult than in AI. Academic Chen Xiangming and biopharma industry practitioner Leon Tang analyse the situation.
Chen Xiangming, Leon Tang
05 Aug 2026
Technology
Why hyper-efficient Singapore is Asia’s most AI-anxious society
A survey across Singapore, Malaysia, Taiwan and mainland China found Singapore leads the region in AI adoption, but also records the highest levels of anxiety over job displacement, deepfakes and AI dependence. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Lee Si Min tells us more.
Lee Si Min
04 Aug 2026
Economy
Can China’s slowing economy sustain its tech ambitions?
China sees technological self-reliance as the key to future growth. But with a slowing economy, can Beijing sustain the investment needed to achieve its high-tech ambitions over the long term? Economist Min-Hua Chiang examines the issue.
Min-Hua Chiang
31 Jul 2026
Technology
How China split Silicon Valley over AI
Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang’s push for open-weight AI has generated fierce debate in Silicon Valley. Behind the divide lies China’s rapid AI advance, reshaping competition, security concerns and Washington’s AI strategy. Lianhe Zaobao China news editor Yang Danxu gives an analysis.
Yang Danxu
29 Jul 2026
Technology
China’s real space race is not against SpaceX
China’s recovery of a Long March 10B orbital-class rocket booster shows it is starting to achieve reusability. Once it can launch satellites at lower cost and replicate it, it can control the orbital economy, observes technopreneur Akhmad Hanan.
Akhmad Hanan
22 Jul 2026
Economy
How Mercedes, BMW and Audi hope to win back China
China’s EV boom has disrupted Mercedes, BMW and Audi’s dominance in China, forcing them into a radical reset. As Chinese rivals accelerate, will the German trio abandon decades of engineering tradition to match the speed of China’s auto market?
Caixin Global
17 Jul 2026
Technology
Is China a threat, or just out-engineering everyone?
Inverting Joseph Needham’s questions about the failure of modern science in China gives us a framework to understand China’s advances in science and innovation today, especially its edge in AI, says academic Erik Baark.
Erik Baark
13 Jul 2026
Technology
Winning the AI race without an OpenAI
Countries don’t need to build the next OpenAI to lead in AI. The real advantage lies in embedding AI across the economy, institutions and public services faster than everyone else, argue researchers Laurence Liew and Willie Shi.
Laurence Liew, Willie Jianzheng Shi
02 Jul 2026