Taiwan condemns ‘dangerous’ planned Chinese navy drill with Indonesia to its east

China has reached a turning point in its energy story. For the very first time, coal supplied less than half the country’s electricity over a six-month stretch, according to officials who spoke on Thursday. Between January and June, coal made up 49.7 percent of total power generation. That figure came from Xing Yiteng, a senior official at the energy administration’s planning office. It marks a steep fall from 65.5 percent back in 2016, based on earlier government data. Clean energy sources picked up the slack. Renewables reached 41.2 percent of the total mix, crossing the 40 percent line for the first time ever. Wind and solar alone made up nearly a quarter of all power generated, a huge leap from just under 10 percent in 2020. The remaining share came from natural gas and nuclear plants. Despite this progress, experts warn that coal use in raw terms might actually increase this year. Electricity demand across China is rising quickly, driven by more electric vehicles on the road, a boom in AI-related data centers, and steady growth in exports. Beijing has pledged that coal use will peak no later than 2030, with wind and solar expected to reach 30 percent of the power mix by then. Gao Yuhe, who works as a project manager at Greenpeace East Asia, thinks that milestone might actually arrive two years early, by 2028. She credited this to the rapid spread of home solar systems paired with battery storage, along with more flexible electricity markets that make better use of renewable supply. China still burns far more coal than most major economies, mainly because it has large domestic reserves and limited natural gas access. For comparison, coal accounted for just 17 percent of America’s utility-scale power output last year, with natural gas covering 41 percent. China’s coal reliance, though, remains lower than India’s, where coal and lignite made up 69 percent of electricity generation last year. Interestingly, China still imported close to 500 million metric tons of coal last year, even with domestic output reaching 4.83 billion tons, mostly to supply power plants along the coast. If coal consumption keeps falling, major exporters like Indonesia, Mongolia, Australia, and Russia could feel the impact, depending on global price trends. Meanwhile, coal remains central to China’s coal-to-chemicals industry, where many facilities continue relying on cheap, locally produced coal to stay competitive.

Eight months after his tragic death, the remains of thirty-two-year-old former international student Bikram Lama are finally being prepared for repatriation to his family in Makwanpur, Nepal. Bikram, who had been sleeping rough near Sydney’s Hyde Park, passed away unobserved in December, prompting widespread public outrage and intense scrutiny over the systemic failures that leave non-residents trapped in homelessness. Following months of agonising waiting for his grieving seventy-one-year-old mother, Seti Maya Lama, the New South Wales coroner has released his body to a Sydney funeral service, allowing the family the opportunity to perform his final rites. The prolonged delay in returning Bikram’s body was initially prolonged by mandatory DNA verification procedures, but persistent backlogs within the New South Wales coronial system extended the ordeal for months after testing was completed. Legal experts and former judicial officials have highlighted the incident as evidence of flaws within the state’s coronial framework, citing a lack of dedicated police investigative units and poor inter-agency coordination. With financial assistance provided by community organisations, international students, and the Nepalese government, Bikram’s family is preparing to receive his remains, while frontline advocates continue to push for a formal inquest to address the underlying homelessness crisis.

China has strongly opposed a US decision to place several Chinese research institutions on a sanctions list. Beijing criticised the move on Wednesday. It accused Washington of using national security concerns to restrict scientific and technological cooperation between the two countries. A spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Commerce said Beijing would take necessary steps to protect the legitimate rights and interests of its research institutions. The spokesperson also said China wanted to maintain a stable environment for normal scientific exchanges and cooperation with international partners. Beijing accused the United States of repeatedly expanding the definition of national security. It said Washington had created discriminatory barriers against Chinese institutions. China also criticised what it described as the politicisation and weaponisation of scientific research. According to Beijing, such policies could damage cooperation between researchers and universities in both countries. The Chinese government said the US measures were against the broader global trend of international cooperation in science and technological innovation. Beijing urged Washington to withdraw what it called unjustified accusations against Chinese research institutions. China also called on the United States to correct its policies as soon as possible. It demanded fair, just and non-discriminatory treatment for Chinese research organisations. The dispute comes amid wider tensions between Washington and Beijing over technology, trade and national security. The United States has increasingly tightened restrictions on Chinese access to advanced technologies. Semiconductor manufacturing has become a major area of competition between the two countries. China is also working to expand its domestic semiconductor industry. Beijing aims to reduce its dependence on advanced foreign chips affected by US export restrictions. Last week, the US Department of Defence updated a list of foreign institutions it considers involved in “problematic activities”. The updated list included Chinese defence-related academies and several universities. Shanghai-based Fudan University was also among the institutions added to the list. The latest move is likely to add another point of tension to already strained US-China relations. Beijing has repeatedly opposed US measures targeting Chinese companies, universities and research organisations. Washington, meanwhile, has maintained that its restrictions are linked to national security and technology concerns.