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Chinese demand for foreign luxury cars is waning as customers opt for more affordable Chinese brand models, often sold at big discounts, catering to their taste for fancy electronics and comfort.That is bad news for European carmakers like Porsche, Aston Martin, Mercedes-Benz and BMW that have long dominated the upper reaches of the world’s largest auto market.A prolonged property downturn in China has left many consumers with little appetite for big purchases. Meanwhile, the well-to-do are becoming increasingly shy about publicly displaying their wealth, said Paul Gong, UBS head of China Automotive Industry Research.Many car buyers have been swayed by…

With temperatures falling and holidays approaching, ski resorts across northern China are experiencing a surge in visitors from the south, a trend that is cheering airlines as well as resort operators including Malaysia-based Genting Group.Since the ski season opened on November 15, the Changbai Beautiful China Resort in the northeast province of Jilin, a complex owned by China Green Development Group, has welcomed more than 110,000 visitors, marking a nearly 40 per cent year-on-year increase. More than 80 per cent of these tourists came from southern China, significantly higher than in previous years. The peak season is expected to run…

Mounting US pressure on allies to bolster the first island chain’s defence in the western Pacific Ocean is raising concerns about South Korea’s possible but reluctant involvement in a conflict over Taiwan, analysts have said.In its recently released National Security Strategy (NSS), US President Donald Trump’s administration highlighted the importance of a “favourable conventional military balance” as an “essential component of strategic competition”, focusing on deterring conflict over Taiwan by preserving “military overmatch”.While the latest NSS pledged to build a military “capable of denying aggression anywhere in the first island chain”, it said that the US “cannot, and should not…

Washington’s latest national security blueprint may be one of its most consequential in years, yet it barely mentions Southeast Asia.Analysts say that absence speaks volumes, signalling a narrowing of American priorities that risks turning the region into a “bargaining chip” in the US-China rivalry.The National Security Strategy published by the White House on December 4 presents the Trump administration’s vision for restoring “American economic independence”, alongside preventing conflict in the Indo-Pacific, as the twin pillars of its “America first” doctrine.It calls for fairness and reciprocity in global commerce and for robust measures to “prevent war in the Indo-Pacific”. But Southeast…

Shanghai’s luxury retail market is set to become increasingly competitive, fuelled by a citywide shift as prime malls embrace experiential concepts to differentiate themselves.Hong Kong developer Hang Lung Properties on Friday said that it had secured a 20-year lease for the No 1038 West Nanjing Road commercial project – formerly known as Meilong Town – in partnership with Shanghai Join Buy Group.The project would be transformed into a mixed-use complex integrating retail, hospitality and office space, helping drive recurring revenue and increase the portfolio’s overall asset value, the developer said. Hang Lung said the move aligned with its strategy of…

Mary Roettger was just one of millions of Americans seeking a social media life raft when she warily logged onto China’s RedNote platform for the first time in January.As fears loomed over a threatened US ban on TikTok, the Florida writer braced for a clumsy, spam-filled experience full of “negative people”.Instead, she was struck by a starkly different culture. Roettger was “blown away with the amount of tenderness and excitement” of the online community suddenly before her.“That was new,” said the 27-year-old, who shared on RedNote her poems, pictures of her cat and videos taken during casual strolls. “It was…

In October, as Simon Li finished speaking at an international conference about embracing technological innovation in education, several Chinese history educators approached him with a potent, pressing question: could a virtual reality (VR) project about the 1937 Nanking massacre become the next pedagogical frontier?Li, executive director of the Hong Kong Holocaust and Tolerance Centre, recalled it as an electrifying moment. “They were genuinely energised, saying that such a programme could help students feel history without being flooded by it,” he said of the educators.He added that the concept of an “ethical empathy VR” had been circulating within academic circles for…

The Japanese government’s plans to tighten espionage and secrecy legislation have been welcomed as a necessary bulwark at a time of deepening national security concerns, although analysts fear that any revisions will be too broad and could be used to stifle free speech and media freedom.Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a long-time proponent of tightening rules on espionage and secrecy, was already formulating policies before she took office in October.On November 26, Takaichi told a Diet session that her government would consider new laws covering “spying prevention” and “speedily draft” them.And while Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) may head a minority…

China’s leading battery makers for electric cars – Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and Gotion High-tech – are adding momentum to the country’s efforts to build new-energy vessels, with their latest products supplied to large ocean carriers amid an accelerated decarbonisation drive.Chinese-made pure electric-powered container vessels were also set to extend Beijing’s lead over global rivals in shipbuilding, according to industry officials and analysts.CATL, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) battery producer, announced recently that its self-developed pure electric vessel would sail the oceans in three years, reinforcing the company’s ambitions of building itself into a global new-energy powerhouse.Gotion, backed by…

China’s leading battery makers for electric cars – Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) and Gotion High-tech – are adding momentum to the country’s efforts to build new-energy vessels, with their latest products supplied to large ocean carriers amid an accelerated decarbonisation drive.Chinese-made pure electric-powered container vessels were also set to extend Beijing’s lead over global rivals in shipbuilding, according to industry officials and analysts.CATL, the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) battery producer, announced recently that its self-developed pure electric vessel would sail the oceans in three years, reinforcing the company’s ambitions of building itself into a global new-energy powerhouse.Gotion, backed by…