Simone McCarthy - China Writer, CNN Digital Worldwide
Simone McCarthy
China Writer, CNN Digital Worldwide
Simone McCarthy is the China Writer for CNN Digital Worldwide.
Latest
Massive warehouse explosion in Uzbek capital leaves one dead and scores injured
Sep 28, 2023
At least one person was killed and 162 people were injured in a massive warehouse explosion in the Uzbekistan capital Tashkent early on Thursday morning, health officials said.
Where is China’s defense minister? Beijing keeps silent
Sep 28, 2023
China has declined to comment on its defense minister’s whereabouts as questions swirl over his status a month after he was last seen in public.
China has poured billions into Africa’s infrastructure. Is it now tightening the tap?
Sep 27, 2023
The inauguration of two new electricity-generating units in Zimbabwe’s Hwange power station last month was not an unfamiliar scene when it comes to major infrastructure projects in Africa.
China declines to address WSJ report foreign minister was removed over extramarital affair
Sep 20, 2023
China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday declined to address a report its former foreign minister Qin Gang was ousted from his position over an alleged extramarital affair.
Russia and China hail their cooperation ahead of Putin’s expected Beijing visit
Sep 19, 2023
Russia and China’s top diplomats discussed strengthening their international cooperation during a meeting in Moscow on Monday ahead of an expected landmark visit from Russian President Vladimir Putin to Beijing in the coming weeks.
Top US and Chinese officials meet in Malta for ‘substantive and constructive’ talks
Sep 18, 2023
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi and US national security adviser Jake Sullivan met for talks in Malta, as the world’s two leading economies seek to stabilize relations and potentially smooth a path for leaders Joe Biden and Xi Jinping to meet in November.
The West fears a closer Russia and North Korea. China may not
Sep 15, 2023
A rare meeting between Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un at a space launch center in the Russian Far East earlier this week has triggered alarm from countries from South Korea and Japan to Ukraine, the United States and its partners in Europe.
Putin talks military cooperation with Kim as North Korean leader endorses Russia’s war on Ukraine
Sep 14, 2023
Vladimir Putin has said Russia is considering and discussing some military cooperation with North Korea, following a summit at which that country’s leader Kim Jong Un appeared to endorse Moscow’s war on Ukraine.
Blue-water ambitions: Is China looking beyond its neighborhood now it has the world’s largest navy?
Sep 02, 2023
China has built the world’s largest naval fleet, more than 340 warships, and until recently it has been regarded as a green-water navy, operating mostly near the country’s shores.
China is launching an ‘unprecedented’ crackdown on corruption in its health industry as economic woes pile up
Aug 25, 2023
China has launched a sweeping anti-corruption campaign targeting its hospitals, pharmaceutical industry and insurance funds as it grapples with mounting economic challenges and long-standing public frustration about high costs in the behemoth health care sector.
India’s Modi and China’s Xi agree to ‘intensify efforts’ to deescalate border issue following rare meeting
Aug 25, 2023
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed to “intensity efforts” to deescalate tensions at their contested border, in a rare face-to-face meeting since a deadly clash strained relations more than three years ago.
A key Russia-friendly bloc may decide to expand. Who stands to benefit?
Aug 22, 2023
Members of the BRICS economic group of major emerging economies are meeting this week in South Africa for a summit that could determine the future of the bloc – and how hard it pushes back against a world order it sees as unfairly dominated by the West.
China wants to limit minors to no more than two hours a day on their phones
Aug 21, 2023
China is proposing new measures to curb the amount of time that kids and teens can spend on their phones, as the country takes aim at internet addiction and tries to cultivate “good morality” and “socialist values” among minors.
Xi Jinping is building a dream city. Devastating floods raise questions about his plan
Aug 18, 2023
On a gray day in late February 2017, Chinese leader Xi Jinping gathered with a handful of close advisers to survey crop fields and polluted wetlands some 100 kilometers (62 miles) south of the capital Beijing.
About
Simone McCarthy is the China Writer for CNN Digital Worldwide. Based in Hong Kong, she writes breaking news, analysis and feature stories on China’s politics, society, and foreign affairs. She is also a contributor to CNN’s three-times-per-week Meanwhile in China newsletter.
Before joining CNN in 2022, McCarthy covered China and health security at the South China Morning Post, where she drove coverage of the Covid-19 pandemic and China’s response to the outbreak. Her work was subsequently honored at the WAN-IFRA Asia Media Awards in 2021. Prior to this role, she was a contributor to the US-based outlet SupChina, where she wrote feature stories on social trends and technology from Shanghai.
McCarthy is from Martha’s Vineyard in the US. She has a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University School of Journalism and a Bachelors in Literature with a concentration in French from Yale University. She has studied Mandarin Chinese at Shanghai Jiaotong University, Beijing’s Tsinghua University and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she continues her studies of the language.