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Currency dealers celebrate in front of a screen showing South Korea’s benchmark stock index during a ceremony celebrating it breaking 7,000 points at the Hana Bank headquarters in Seoul on May 6. The market value of South Korea’s Samsung Electronics smashed past US$1 trillion for the first time on May 6 as the firm rides an AI chip boom that has sent Seoul’s Kospi stock index to record highs. Photo: AFP
Stocks

Macroscope | Global stock markets are bubbling along on unjustified optimism

Hype around AI and some tech companies has inflated stock prices and left investors ebullient despite the rising risk of a market crash.

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Mainland China

Being Chinese | How to deal with this ‘very Chinese time’ in Western lives

US-China relations

As I see it | Beijing had already won before the Trump-Xi summit even started

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Diplomacy

Outside In | Xi-Trump summit aside, 2 meetings in Asia matter for global trade

As Trump travelled to Beijing for the kind of bilateral dealmaking he prefers, two groups have continued their multilateral efforts.

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US tech bosses and officials attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14 as US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping arrive. Photo: AP
US tech bosses and officials attend a welcome ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14 as US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping arrive. Photo: AP
Brics

Opinion | Brics is less a structure than a sentiment

Despite lacking geopolitical alignment, Brics captures a prevailing mood among emerging economies that won’t fade away any time soon.

2026 Xi-Trump summit

Macroscope | Trump-Xi summit puts US vulnerabilities on display

China weaponising rare earths turned the tables on Trump, showing how unprepared Western governments and firms were for a full trade war.

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China economy

Opinion | Why the world needs China to save more, not less

The IMF assumes China should save less. China’s saving is key to financing the developing world’s need for green infrastructure.

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Workers head towards the connection point of the Chinese and Laotian sections of a shared power project on February 5. If China consumes more and saves less, there would likely be less global capital formation. Less infrastructure would be built abroad. Photo: Xinhua
Workers head towards the connection point of the Chinese and Laotian sections of a shared power project on February 5. If China consumes more and saves less, there would likely be less global capital formation. Less infrastructure would be built abroad. Photo: Xinhua
US-China relations

As I see it | US’ scientific self-harm will only help China

While Washington slashes funding for the sciences, Beijing is clinching its lead in everything from patent applications to publications.

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US-China relations

Opinion | US maximum pressure tactics unlikely to work with China

As the Trump-Xi summit approaches, China will be going into negotiations with a new diplomatic posture.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Trump has few cards to play against Iran and in China

The impasse over the Strait of Hormuz is a long chess game across multiple arenas, not easily solved by a naval blockade or a mere poker bluff.

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People walk past an anti-US billboard, depicting President Donald Trump and the Strait of Hormuz, in Tehran on May 11. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters
Diplomacy

Opinion | Just because Brics isn’t a coherent bloc doesn’t mean it’s impotent

The grouping has a future, not as a binding structure demanding policy alignment but as a tool for members to enhance leverage and maximise options.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Illustration: Craig Stephens
Diplomacy

Opinion | Latin America is reassessing the benefits of warm ties with Beijing

From Honduras to Cuba and Venezuela, leaders are taking a more transactional view of what relations with Beijing really bring.

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Middle East

Opinion | The problem no one is naming as the UAE dramatically exits Opec

The fighting over oil production quotas was the symptom. Security realignment is the disease.

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US-China relations

Opinion | China shouldn’t view a tired US as signifying a Europe ready to pivot

As fractures within the US’ network of alliances deepen, China’s strategic window opens a little wider, with some key caveats.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
China economy

Opinion | Rise of China complicates ‘authoritarian’ vs ‘democratic’ binary

As China’s trajectory exposes the limitations of labels inherited from another era, understanding how governance systems work is more important.

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A large screen shows news footage of China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe collecting a sample from the far side of the moon, in Beijing, China, on June 4, 2024. Photo: Reuters
A large screen shows news footage of China’s Chang’e-6 lunar probe collecting a sample from the far side of the moon, in Beijing, China, on June 4, 2024. Photo: Reuters
US-China relations

Opinion | China’s challenges in engaging with the US during the Middle East war

China needs the global system to succeed. So it must not get entangled with Iran nor jeopardise US relations over Taiwan.

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United States

Opinion | Thanks to Trump, the gloves are off. There may be no new global order

With the UN, IMF and World Bank mired in old power structures, universities could be the platform to shape how the global future unfolds.

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China-EU relations

Opinion | China unsurprisingly puts its own interests first. Can Europe do the same?

As Beijing seeks to influence Europe, Brussels must shape on its own competitiveness agenda and policy aims for engaging with China.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Illustration: Craig Stephens
China economy

Outside In | Prepare for ‘China shock 3.0’ to the global food economy

Imagine China applying the same industry policy playbook for electric cars, solar panels and AI to agriculture and food self-sufficiency.

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Asean

Opinion | Why China’s warning over military blocs is finding listeners in Asia

For regional governments, strategy is about preserving options. China has read this instinct carefully and given it a diplomatic vocabulary.

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Banking & finance

Macroscope | Australia’s interest rate rise signals growing hawkish stance in Asia

Reserve Bank of Australia is less an outlier than a harbinger of global monetary trends in the wake of war-induced supply shocks.

A pedestrian walks past a petrol station with fuel prices on display in Williamstown, Australia, on March 26. Photo: AFP
The Philippines

Opinion | US allies in Asia are looking to build middle-power coalitions

Faced with the US’ unreliability and China’s ascent, countries such as the Philippines are creating new networks of partnerships.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Illustration: Craig Stephens
Diplomacy

Opinion | As power flows through submarine cables, law of the sea must evolve

The global commons of the seabed is in effect being governed by private actors with the capital and tech to build and maintain cable systems.

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Diplomacy

Opinion | How China-Gulf ties can turn energy vulnerability into sustainability

Hormuz tensions are a reminder to start building a better, more sustainable energy order before the next crisis hits; Hong Kong can help.

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War and conflict

As I see it | Thanks to Trump and Netanyahu, everyone now wants to go nuclear

After waging a war on the pretext of stopping Iran from developing nuclear weapons, the US and Israel have ignited a new arms race.

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Men clear rubble in front of a damaged residential building that, according to Iranian authorities, was hit by a strike on March 4 during the US-Israeli military campaign. Photo: Getty Images/TNS
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