As Xi tightens grip, EU rethinks approach to China

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BRUSSELS: Partners, competitors or rivals? European Union leaders are debating whether to rethink their stance on China as President Xi Jinping tightens his grip over an ever more assertive Beijing. A two-day summit in Brussels from Thursday (Oct 20) will be dominated by the fallout of Russia’s war on Ukraine andContinue Reading

China is falling but Japan is already down-and-out

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TOKYO – With Xi Jinping’s coronation in full swing in Beijing, few eyes are on Japan’s down-and-down economic trajectory. That includes Tokyo’s top leaders as the plunging yen signals the last gasp of national ambitions to take on China.

One of the less appreciated undercurrents this week as Xi’s Communist Party plots out China’s next five years is avoiding the lost-decade pitfalls with which Japan is still grappling.

There again – between default risks in the property market, excessive bureaucracy, an aging population, and self-inflicted headwinds like “zero-Covid” – economists haven’t been shy about pointing out the Japan parallels and potential pitfalls as China regroups.

It’s clear, though, that Xi’s party can set out their strategies knowing that there is little fight left in a humbled and increasingly downbeat Tokyo.

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ASEAN bracing for US-China rivalry to explode

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Chinese paramount leader Xi Jinping’s fiery address before the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th Congress has dominated recent headlines, not least regarding his comments on Taiwan. Despite Xi’s vow to pursue “peaceful unification” with the self-ruling island, the Chinese leader expressed his willingness to use force and flex muscles amid “stormy seas” in an increasingly volatile […]Continue Reading