Deng Xiaoping’s legacy, Singapore PM’s National Day Rally speech: 7 highlights

From China celebrating Deng Xiaoping’s 120th birthday to Hong Kong’s “haunted” flats, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent reporting

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Published: 12:30pm, 23 Aug 2024

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. Feeling increasingly unwelcome, Chinese pupils sour on US universities

“We know that Chinese students, especially PhD students, are increasingly feeling unwelcome in the United States,” Rory Truex, an assistant professor with Princeton University’s Department of Politics, said. “This population is incredibly talented and important to the American scientific and research enterprise, but unfortunately they have been branded as potential threats.”

2. Laser weapon spotted on Chinese navy ship as PLA and US boost drone defences

China’s Type 071 amphibious transport dock ship has a flight deck and a hangar. Photo: Handout

China has installed what appears to be a laser directed-energy weapon on an amphibious ship, according to social media posts, as the People’s Liberation Army and rivals such as the US race to develop weapons that can thwart drones, satellite networks and other hi-tech systems.

3. How did Singapore PM Lawrence Wong fare in his first National Day Rally speech?

The personable style of new Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his first National Day Rally speech was well received, but experts cautioned that the reset in social safety net policies he outlined could seem incremental rather than the radical change some had anticipated.