Beijing is stepping up efforts to challenge the Western concept of the “tribute system”, arguing that foreign frameworks distort ancient Chinese diplomacy and misrepresent the country’s contemporary global rise. China is redoubling efforts to define its own practices, experiences and ideas through original, home-grown social science language rather than through what it says are Western conceptual lenses. The theory was forged and made popular in the US decades ago as a means to interpret both...

Taiwan is conducting its first-ever mobile network throttling exercise this week to test how the public responds to wartime communications disruptions, a new civil defence measure that has sparked criticism over the government’s preparedness. The exercise, held in central Taiwan on Monday and planned for northern Taiwan on Thursday, will simulate severe mobile network congestion by reducing 4G and 5G bandwidth for 30 minutes. About 17 million people, or 73 per cent of the island’s population,...

New Delhi has issued names for 27 locations in Arunachal Pradesh on its official maps, including sensitive sites near the disputed border with China, in a move that an analyst warned could complicate efforts to repair bilateral ties. The Indian government announced the move on Friday, just a day after officials from the two countries held a working-level consultation in New Delhi to discuss border management and reaffirm the need for peace along the Line of Actual Control. Beijing has long...

A China Southern Airlines flight was forced to abandon its departure and return to the gate at Shenzhen airport over the weekend after the Airbus A321 aircraft was struck by lightning while taxiing. Flight CZ3209, bound for the city of Wuxi in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, was waiting on the ground during a heavy thunderstorm on Saturday afternoon when the incident occurred, according to a report by The First Scene, a news portal under Shenzhen Media Group. The incident came to light on...

China’s central government has invited dozens of scientific, technological and academic experts to its annual summer retreat, highlighting how the country is focusing on innovation and breaking through “chokepoints” amid fierce competition with the US. According to state news agency Xinhua, the Communist Party’s Central Committee and the State Council, China’s cabinet, invited 60 experts to the seaside resort of Beidaihe from August 1 to 7. The list of invitees – who represented fields including...

Residents in Beijing have been warned not to go outside unless it is absolutely necessary as the capital and multiple other cities are on high alert for the arrival of Typhoon Dolphin, which is travelling north. In Beijing, a red rainstorm alert – the second highest – was issued on Monday for a number of districts, with rain expected to continue over the next three days. According to the city’s forecaster, the rain will get increasingly stronger with the most concentrated period expected to be...