Phoebe Zhang

5 days ago | scmp.com | Phoebe Zhang |Kandy Wong

Beijing has urged the international community to step up efforts to de-escalate the conflict between Iran and Israel, warning that the fallout could damage the global economy as Tehran threatens to block the Strait of Hormuz – one of the world’s most important shipping routes. A blockade of the strait, which handles roughly 20 per cent of global oil and gas flows, could dramatically push up oil and natural gas prices, risking a global energy and trade crisis, analysts said.

1 week ago | scmp.com | Phoebe Zhang

It was an ordinary day. I was having lunch in the cafeteria at my college in the United States when a round of applause suddenly broke out. Before I realised what had happened, TVs were switched on and the news showed the local government announcing that same-sex marriage had been recognised in the state of Iowa. Students jumped on the table, cheering and waving rainbow flags. It would have seemed strange to me only a few years earlier.

2 weeks ago | scmp.com | Phoebe Zhang

A think tank in Taiwan has started a two-day war game with retired US and Japanese generals to simulate the island’s defence in the event of a military attack from the Chinese mainland. The Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation, which organised the tabletop exercise, said the aim was to “identify the defence issues that Taiwan urgently needs to strengthen and provide recommendations for the government”.

3 weeks ago | scmp.com | Phoebe Zhang

A new university under the Chinese military’s mysterious Information Support Force plans to offer training in artificial intelligence (AI), unmanned operations and other key technology, according to its first public enrolment notice. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Information Support Force Engineering University in the central city of Wuhan will offer 10 undergraduate majors in information and intelligent technology, according to a Thursday report by state broadcaster CCTV.

3 weeks ago | scmp.com | Phoebe Zhang

Indonesia is considering buying Chinese-made J-10 fighters, the model that downed a French-built Rafale warplane during the recent conflict between India and Pakistan. Antara, Indonesia’s national news agency, reported on Wednesday that the country’s deputy minister of defence, Donny Ermawan Taufanto, had said that China had offered to sell the jets during a recent visit to an arms fair in China by Mohamad Tonny Harjono, the country’s air chief marshal.