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North Korean leader Kim Jong Un receives a send-off as he departs by train from Pyongyang for a visit to Russia on Sunday.
COMMENTARY
Sep 15, 2023

North Korea’s newfound confidence is a dangerous and challenging thing

It is increasingly clear that Pyongyang has been emboldened by the formation of a new anti-U.S. bloc, prompting it to reach out to Beijing and Moscow.
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel (left) laughs as he welcomes Saint Vincent and the Grenadines' Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves during the G77+China summit at the Convention Palace in Havana on Friday.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 16, 2023

G77+China summit in Cuba calls for new global order

The grouping of developing and emerging countries representing 80% of the world's population kicked off a summit in Cuba on Friday.
Models of military equipment and a giant screen displaying Chinese leader Xi Jinping are seen at an exhibition at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing last October.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 17, 2023

In risky hunt for secrets, U.S. and China expand global spy operations

The rival nations are taking bold steps in the espionage shadow war to try to collect intelligence on leadership thinking and military capabilities.
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang holds a copy of China's constitution during a news conference at the Media Center of the National People's Congress in Beijing on March 7.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 19, 2023

China ousted foreign minister over affair in U.S., report says

Top officials in China were told in August that a Communist Party inquiry into Qin uncovered "lifestyle issues.”
For all the scrutiny at home, many of China’s richest new grads are turning their backs on their lives abroad. Sometimes, they’re responding to the lure of China’s potential. Other times, it’s the alienation they feel overseas.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 22, 2023

China’s wealthy youth flock home as tensions with U.S. rise

For all the scrutiny at home, many of China’s richest new grads are turning their backs on their lives abroad.
A pilot run toward a F-16V fighter jet for an evening take off as part of a combat readiness mission at the airbase in Hualien, Taiwan, in August last year.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 23, 2023

Taiwan defense chief says China drills risk 'getting out of hand'

The increased frequency of China's military activities around Taiwan recently has raised the risk of an accidental clash.
Light from the opening ceremony of the 2022 Asian Games in the sky over the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Centre Stadium in Hangzhou, China on Saturday.
MORE SPORTS
Sep 24, 2023

China opens Hangzhou Asian Games with dazzling ceremony

Spectators in the city's 80,000 capacity stadium let out a huge roar as Chinese leader Xi Jinping was introduced and sat with visiting dignitaries.
International investors are investing more money into hotels because of Japan's post-pandemic tourism boom.
BUSINESS / Economy
Sep 24, 2023

Singapore is Japan’s top property investor in 2023, report says

International investors are also attracted to Japan's low borrowing costs, and putting more money into hotels because of a post-pandemic tourism boom.
Gold has often been seen as the quintessential "anti-dollar” — a place to turn for those who distrust fiat currency.
BUSINESS / Markets
Sep 25, 2023

Yields spike and gold shrugs. What’s driving bullion now?

As inflation-adjusted rates soared this year to the highest since the financial crisis, bullion has barely blinked.
Amgen's office in South San Francisco, California
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 25, 2023

Big Pharma bets on AI to speed up clinical trials

AI is playing a sizeable and growing role in human drug trials.
A worker in a factory that makes seats for BMW in Shenyang, China, on Sept. 11. China, facing an economic slump, wants to make its industrial northeast more productive, turning to policies that some economists say have outlived their time.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 27, 2023

Slowing and in debt, can China’s industrial heartland be revived?

The country, facing an economic slump, wants to make its northeast more productive, turning to policies some economists say have outlived their time.
TikTok can advertise to more than 100 million users in Indonesia, but they now need to go on a different app or site to buy.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 28, 2023

TikTok’s e-commerce ambitions stall as global backlash grows

Complaints about how TikTok is squeezing local players has stalled the Chinese-owned social media platform's e-commerce ambitions
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meets Russian President Vladimir Putin on  Sept. 13.
WORLD / Politics
Sep 28, 2023

Mystery Russian plane in Pyongyang stokes concerns of arms deals

Data from FlightRadar24 indicates the plane returned to Russia on Thursday after having been on the ground in North Korea for about two days.
Indonesian President Joko Widodo launches the China-backed high-speed railway connecting Jakarta and Bandung called "Whoosh," at Halim station in Jakarta, on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 2, 2023

Indonesia launches Southeast Asia's first high-speed rail

Indonesian President Joko Widodo hailed the bullet train "Whoosh" as "a symbol of our modernization."
A Palm Sunday procession makes its way toward a government-sanctioned Catholic church in Youtong village in China's Hebei province
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 2, 2023

The Holy See shows how to deal with China

In China, the relationship between politics and religion is unique, and the Holy See has adopted a sophisticated approach to diplomacy with Beijing.
U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping meet on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Nusa Dua, Indonesia, last November.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 7, 2023

Biden says meeting with Xi in November is a 'possibility'

Washington and Beijing are edging closer to setting up a Biden-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco from Nov. 16-17.
A portion of a Microsoft data center that supports the Pentagon, and is next door to a bitcoin mine operated by Chinese-owned Bit Origin, in Cheyenne, Wyoming, on Sept. 29. Aside from the intelligence-gathering concerns over Chinese bitcoin mines in the U.S., the energy sucking facilities can also put immense pressure on power grids.
WORLD
Oct 14, 2023

Across U.S., Chinese bitcoin mines draw national security scrutiny

Microsoft reported one site in because of its proximity to a nuclear missile base. Other cryptocurrency facilities have ties to the Chinese state.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the 43rd ASEAN Summit in Jakarta on Sept. 6
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Oct 23, 2023

U.S. and China visits put Australian PM’s diplomatic skills to test

There has been a significant easing in tensions between Australia and China since Anthony Albanese’s election.
U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel speaks during an interview at the ambassador's residence in Tokyo on Monday.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 30, 2023

U.S. military begins Japan seafood purchases to counter China ban

China, which had been the biggest buyer of Japanese seafood, says its ban is due to food safety fears.
Toyota President Koji Sato speaks  next to an FT-3e electric vehicle at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Oct. 25.
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 1, 2023

Toyota raises profit forecast 50% on weak yen, record sales

With an unprecedented 5.6 million vehicles sold in April-September, Toyota is on track for its 11.4 million-unit goal.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to reporters in Melbourne last month.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Nov 4, 2023

Australia's Albanese set for state visit in China as ties thaw

It is the first such visit by an Australian leader in seven years as the two nations look to shore up their relationship.
Kawasaki's Kyohei Noborizato (left) fights for the ball with Pathum United's Danilo during their Asian Champions League match on Tuesday in Kawasaki.
SOCCER
Nov 8, 2023

Second-half goals see Kawasaki stay perfect in Asian Champions League

The win has Kawasaki Frontale a step closer to the Asian Champions League last 16.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 8, 2023

China and Australia agree to mend ties. But will this impact security?

As the two nations agree to put bygones behind them and boost communication, questions remain over how this will impact security tensions in the region.
Germany, which likely plays a key role in determining Europe’s China strategy, unveiled its 64-page strategy on China on July 13.
COMMENTARY / World / Geoeconomic Briefing
Nov 14, 2023

Germany’s China strategy is epoch-making but ambiguous

While attempting to protect its interests, Berlin has had to deal with business circles attempting to avoid damaging ties with Beijing.
The world’s carbon footprint is split into three roughly equal portions: China, all developed nations and the rest of the world.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 10, 2023

How China’s downturn could save the world

The world’s carbon footprint is split into three roughly equal portions: China, all developed nations and the rest of the world.
Charles Q. Brown Jr.
JAPAN / Politics
Nov 11, 2023

Top U.S. general doubts China's Xi planning to take Taiwan by force

Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the Chinese leader would "try to use other ways to do this.”
A Self-Defense Forces officer talks to participants in an information session at Camp Nerima in Tokyo on Aug. 7. The SDF raised the maximum age for new recruits to 32 from 26 in 2018 but has still struggled to attract them.
WORLD
Nov 23, 2023

Asia’s aging soldiers force U.S. allies to widen recruitment drive

In some branches of Japan's Self-Defense Forces, more positions are now being opened up to retirees.
U.S. President Joe Biden greets Chinese President Xi Jinping before a meeting during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation leaders week in Woodside, California, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Nov 16, 2023

Biden and Xi agree to pick up the phone to avert crisis. But now what?

Agreed measures are unlikely to be enough to improve bilateral ties, as neither side appeared willing to tackle fundamental differences head on.
Children and their parents wait at a hospital in Beijing on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Science & Health
Nov 23, 2023

WHO asks China for more data on respiratory illness outbreak

Northern China has reported an increase in "influenza-like illness" since mid-October when compared to the same period in the previous three years.
If we let writers and translators be replaced by AI tools such as ChatGPT, we lose control over language and how it shapes us.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 30, 2023

When we abandon language to AI, we abandon our humanity

Not only does AI threaten writers' and translators' jobs, giving it control over how we shape and are shaped by language is detrimental to who we are.

Longform

After the asset-price bubble crash of the early 1990s, employment at a Japanese company was no longer necessarily for life. As a result, a new generation is less willing to endure a toxic work culture —life’s too short, after all.
How Japan's youth are slowly changing the country's work ethic