Science
Technology
China’s 582-tonne fusion magnet is not a weapon — yet
China’s 582-tonne superconducting magnet is not a weapon; it is a marker of integrated technological power. The real strategic weight lies in how its dual-use foundations could reshape energy, security and supply-chain leverage for generations to come, argues researcher Tahir Mahmood Azad.
Tahir Mahmood Azad
08 Sep 2026
Politics
Fudan targeted as universities become casualties of the tech war
Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have been placed on a US national security list, while China has targeted a European university. The moves signal a new era in which academic research is increasingly treated as a security risk. Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei reports.
Sim Tze Wei
18 Aug 2026
Politics
Why Xi gathered China’s top scientists in Beidaihe
China’s annual Beidaihe retreat has put basic research and frontier technologies centre stage, offering a rare glimpse into President Xi Jinping’s priorities as Beijing seeks breakthroughs in critical technologies. Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Chen Jing finds out.
Chen Jing
06 Aug 2026
Economy
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
How China’s changing the brain-computer interface race
By taking a semi-invasive approach to developing brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) — systems that link brain signals to computers — China is moving ahead of the US in commercialising BCI applications. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Liu Sha examines this development.
Liu Sha
20 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
US’s biotech scrutiny tests China’s drugmakers abroad
A proposed US bill to tighten scrutiny of biotech investment in China is casting a shadow over cross-border drug licensing, threatening a fast-growing partnership model that has fuelled innovation and global drug development.
Caixin Global
10 Jul 2026
Technology
How China’s quantum race threatens nuclear deterrence
China’s rapid advances in quantum technology are reshaping military competition and challenging the foundations of nuclear deterrence, forcing the US and its allies to confront a new era of strategic instability, says researcher Tahir Mahmood Azad.
Tahir Mahmood Azad
06 Jul 2026
Technology
[Big read] The returnees: Inside China’s AI talent reversal
From Silicon Valley to Beijing and Shenzhen, a growing number of AI researchers are returning to China, reshaping careers, companies and the global balance of tech talent. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Liu Sha examines this high-stakes return and what drives it.
Liu Sha
26 May 2026
Politics
From exception to rule: Top scientists reshape China’s party leadership
Academicians from China’s top scientific bodies, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), are increasingly entering the CCP’s leadership, reshaping elite governance and driving the country’s rapid, innovation-led technological rise, observe academic Li Cheng and pre-doctoral fellow Zhao Xiuye of the Centre on Contemporary China and the World in Hong Kong.
Li Cheng, Zhao Xiuye
17 Apr 2026
Economy
China’s beauty brands shine online as foreign rivals falter
China’s beauty upstarts are seizing the spotlight as foreign brands stumble in a fiercely competitive market. With digital savvy, localisation strategies and “self-developed” formulas, they are rewriting the rules of China’s cosmetics game. Will China’s cosmetics market become a battlefield foreign brands can no longer win?
Caixin Global
20 Feb 2026