Messing up, Trump could resort to brinkmanship – Asia Times

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Back in the White House for the first 100 time, President Donald Trump has more than doubled down on his maverick-ness. He’s gone hyperbolic. Individuals think they’ve grown accustomed to his uncertainty but they keep being taken away by the dizzying rate of his one walk after another. A couple of highlights ( or lowlights ) have been:

  • the price war he declared on April 2– a moment he dubbed America’s “Liberation Day” when he declared a trade conflict on almost the rest of the world;
  • The day, a month after a stubborn China ’s sharp tit-for-tat moves had been made, when he went on social media and announced a 90-day embargo of the tax impositions, except on China, his hands being forced by crumbling property market and – more convincingly – a breaking treasury bond market.      

China ’s strengthening, nevertheless, keeps taking Washington by surprise. Late last year, the Chinese government’s director contradicted openly Trump’s serious claims that China was in discussions with his presidency about their tax disputes between them and also that Chinese President Xi Jinping “has called ” him. Beijing dismissed Trump’s claims as “fake news. ”

“China refuses to take the bait, ” as the New York Times plainly put it on Friday.

The trouble now is that, thanks to Trump’s crude statecraft, his administration is placed in an impossible dilemma. That it ’s not going to win the trade war of epic scale with China is becoming obvious, as the government bond market vulnerability that is America’s Achilles Heel was laid bare to the world and as, to cite Adam Posen of Peterson Institute, China has the “escalation dominance. ”

On the other hand, there can be no climbdown for the Trump administration without devastating dents being dealt to its creditability and the United States’ prestige as the world’s sitting superpower.

For China ’s part, the Rubicon has been crossed and no sporadic and impromptu gesture of softening by Trump will likely change that, certainly not his wide-of-the-mark and counterfactual statements as mentioned above.      

How the vibe has shifted in the bilateral relationship! It was in a bygone age when Beijing actively cooperated with Washington to buttress the world’s financial order in the wake of the 2008 Wall Street Crisis.

China proceeded to retire its underdog cosplay after the first Trump administration launched a tariff war against it in 2018.

Recall Xi’s face-to-face admonition to the outgoing US President Joe Biden of regarding China ’s “four red lines ” during their meeting in Lima, Peru, last November. Everyone knew his words were meant for Trump, who was by then the president-elect.

This was followed in late December by a broad daylight view of China ’s 6th generation fighter jet flying in the sky, signaling the Chinese ability not only to catch up with but supersede the Americans in military technologies – and again, in late January, by China ’s large language model DeepSeek wreaking havoc on the Wall Street.

In early March, one’s eyebrows were raised by the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson’s unprecedentedly belligerent rhetoric that ”if war is what the US wants, be it a tariff war, a trade war or any other type of war, we’re ready to fight till the end. ” The Chinese embassy in Washington reposted the line on X the day after, as if for fear that the world would miss Beijing’s staunch position notice.

Trump administration accelerationism

Make no mistake about it, however: Filling the first 100 days of Trump 2. 0 have not been random waves of craziness as some might infer from Trump’s characteristically fluid speech acts. Instead, the administration has been under calculated influence of a group of like-minded techno-capitalist elites who indoctrinate the second Trump administration with an accelerationist philosophy according to which a uniquely Trumpian political genre is being exhibited.

Accelerationism in this sense was promoted by Nick Land, an academic turned techno-futurist, who argued for capitalism and technology being seen as forces that should be accelerated for a hyper-capitalist and AI-driven future – a grand tendency embracing technological singularity and market-driven chaos as inevitable. He saw liberal democracy and humanistic values as obstacles to this techno-evolutionary leap.

Through Curtis Yarvin, an erstwhile Silicon Valley whiz-kid who co-founded the Dark Enlightenment with Land and emphasized dismantling democratic institutions to enable a technocratic, executive-dominated government model, Land’s accelerationism gained traction among such now-well-known figures as Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, David Sachs, Alex Karp and JD Vance, all members of a close-knit techno-capital cabal around Trump.

Philosophy was turned into policies as purging bureaucracy and consolidating executive power to facilitate tech-driven statecraft and to foster global competition against China.

As a result, Trump’s current tariff warfare aims to accelerate America’s re-industrialization and the arrest of China ’s ascendancy. The logic is: Disrupt global trade norms to force rapid adaptation, both domestic and international, even at the cost of short-term tumult.

All fine, except that politics is human business, not AI- or algo-driven – at least not yet. Trump the maverick and his retinue of likewise maverick aides sharing with him self-conceit and adamancy of matching scale seem to be doing a disservice to their accelerationist career, as the ramifications of Trump’s increasingly shaky tariff war against China show.

China is digging in its heels, the world is watching and weighing – and market jitters keep capital on its toes.

A far graver danger for now, therefore, is brinkmanship, a temptation that could be tantalizingly hovering around Trump’s mind: Continuing to act on the accelerationist doctrine, he could opt for further bravado desperately meant to cut a deal on his terms – say inthe Taiwan Strait or in the South China Sea, or by confiscation of China-held Treasury Bonds and/or other Chinese assets Uncle Sam can lay his hands on.

Things of this kind were actually rehearsed with Trump’s moves of despair toward the end of his first term to save the day, such as nearly sending the US Ambassador to the UN Kelly Craft to Taiwan to deliberately provoke Beijing and boost his domestic standing days before he left the White House in January 2021.

The development of affairs in that period of time was so precarious that General Mark Milley, then chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff, had to take initiatives without President Trump’s directions and call his Chinese counterpart in Beijing to defuse a potentially explosive situation.

The problem is that, this time around, King Trump has surrounded himself with a cavalcade of accelerationist yes-men, newly appointed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine included.

That’s what the world has to watch out for upon the 100th day of Trump 2. 0.

Terry Su is president of Lulu Derivation Data Ltd, a Hong Kong-based online publishing house and think tank specializing in geopolitics.

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Asian markets mixed as investors eye trade talks

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Asian stocks were volatile on Monday ( Apr 28 ) as investors assessed how the land lies on the trade war front with nations attempting to attenuate Donald Trump’s startling tariffs. After President Xi Jinping and other top officials discussed strategies to increase consumption in the nation’s second-largest business lastContinue Reading

Commentary: Trump’s tariffs are an opportunity for Indonesia to advance its interests

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INTEGRATING WITH WASHINGTON

The Trump taxes give Indonesia a boost to change its economic plan by diversifying its cooperation and partnerships. Through these actions, Indonesia maintains its impartiality to big powers while exerting its impact in local affairs, which also contributes to the nation’s “free and energetic” foreign policy. &nbsp,

First of all, the levies offer an opportunity to improve the relationship between the US and Indonesia. Mr. Prabowo called Mr. Trump to congratulate him on winning the election, and the two men exchanged warm terms.

One of Indonesia’s most important security and economic colleagues is still the US. The two nations pledged to work toward a stronger and more productive Indo-Pacific by elevating their relationship status to a” complete proper relationship” in 2023.

While this was the case during the administrations of their predecessors Joe Biden and Joko Widodo, Indonesia should think about reaffirming the relationship and discussing its future plans when negotiating with the US on business. By doing this, Indonesia both emphasizes its commitment to the area and points out its credibility as a trusted US companion in Southeast Asia.

Additionally, it is possible for Indonesia and the US to look into new trade routes, such as those involving crucial materials, which Indonesia is a big supplier of.

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GE2025: SM Lee questions opposition parties’ initial inaction on foreign interference in election

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Tang Liang Hong participated in a five-member WP group led by opposition leader JB Jeyaretnam in the Cheng San GRC poll of 1997.

It faced off against a formidable PAP group that included former Minister of Education Lee Yock Suan and the incoming Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Zainul Abidin Rasheed.

Tang brought up the issue of mosque construction, claiming that if Malays do not ballot for the PAP, they would not have mosque built in Cheng San. The PAP describes Tang as an anti-Christian Taiwanese bigot.

Goh Chok Tong, the then-prime secretary, argued that the PAP government believes in fair and equal care for all religions in Singapore.

According to Mr. Goh, the outcome of the Cheng San outcome will indicate where Singapore is headed: whether it shifts to a more Chinese-dominant culture or stays multiracial.

In response to a visit to the hospital, where he and another PAP frontrunners had thrown their bodyweight behind the party’s stone in the midst of what was anticipated to be a difficult challenge, Mr. Goh made this point.

Tang’s name was most recently revived in the political realm during a 2017 political debate on the Oxley Road story.

Mr. Goh, who was Emeritus Senior Minister, challenged the WP during the discussion to define its place regarding claims against then-prime secretary Lee Hsien Loong regarding how he had handled 38 Oxley Road.

Low Thia Khiang, the then-WP commander, questioned why Mr. Lee did not reimburse his younger sisters for their claims that he had abused his position in relation to what was going to be done with the house.

Mr. Low made the point that Mr. Goh, the excellent minister at the time, had sued WP member Tang for filing a police record against him during the 1997 general election.

” Personal relatives cannot sue, but political opponents and reviewers, sue until your pants drop,” said Mr. Low.

Mr. Goh rebuffed Mr. Low’s claims, calling them “political demagoguery.” ” And Tang Liang Hong, he’s not my brother,” said Mr. Goh.

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China, Japan, Korea sense Trump trade war weakness – Asia Times

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TOKYO – Asia is breathing somewhat easier as Donald Trump confronts the limits of his ability to self-immolate the US economy.

Amid historically free-falling markets and an Oval Office intervention by the CEOs of Walmart, Target and Home Depot, the US president is watering down a tariff policy, including a 145% levy on China, that’s already rocked the global economy.

It’s unclear whether the climbdown, where Trump said this week he would “substantially” pare back tariffs on China in a trade deal, is real or lasting. On Thursday, he blasted China anew on social media for canceling delivery of Boeing-made jets and its role in the continued flow of fentanyl into the US.

But as Trump flinches, it’s clear his inner circle is distressed by how catastrophically the tariff policy is going down with markets. Many are coming to the conclusion that the Trump White House’s standing will never be the same on Wall Street.

Asian leaders are right to smell blood in the water. In the short run, Japan and South Korea can take a beat as Trump World tries to rally fleeing global investors back around the dollar and US Treasuries.

For one thing, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and South Korea’s acting President Han Duck-soo now understand just how badly Trump needs a win, any win, on the trade front. This gives two of North Asia’s biggest economies greater leverage in talks than they had just a week ago.

For another, Xi Jinping now knows that China’s decision to push back instead of bowing to Trump’s threats and demands is paying off spectacularly. So is President Xi’s free-trade charm offensive from East to West as Trump torches friend and foe alike with arbitrary tariffs and bullying rhetoric.

Asian leaders now have scope to take a breath and regroup as Trump’s tariffs — particularly his 145% tax on China — trigger what Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives calls an “Armageddon scenario” for the US.

Recent reports of dissension in Trump’s top ranks shed light on his apparent pivot on “Liberation Day” tariffs. They include clashes between anti-China trade advisor Peter Navarro and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent spilling out into the open on a near-daily basis.

Yet Trump “blinked” first in his trade war, says economist David Rosenberg, founder of Rosenberg Research. The same goes for Trump backing away from earlier threats to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not lowering rates as recession risks flash red.

“The blinking that the president is busily doing on trade and Powell has unleashed a follow-through on the short-covering rally,” Rosenberg says.

Trump pivoting first contrasts markedly with what China is saying. As Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun puts it: “China’s attitude towards the tariff war launched by the US is quite clear: We don’t want to fight, but we are not afraid of it. If we fight, we will fight to the end; if we talk, the door is wide open.”

To be sure, Beijing is reportedly considering suspending its 125% tariff on some US imports to limit economic fallout. Bloomberg reported today (April 25) that Beijing may remove additional levies on US-made medical equipment and some industrial chemicals like ethane, as well as waive tariffs on plane leases.

But the last month has shown what it looks like when an unstoppable force like Trump meets an immovable object like Xi’s China. But Trump just demonstrated that his pain threshold for tariffs is Wall Street-dependent.

It was headlines about the many trillions of dollars in stock losses, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon being unhappy and Goldman Sachs talking recession that had the self-proclaimed “Tariff Man” changing his tune.

The only thing falling faster than the US dollar is Trump’s economic approval rating at home. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll puts it at 37% while roughly 75% of American adults worry recession is imminent.

Confidence is likely to fall even more precipitously as American households see their retirement account statements and feel tariffs boosting prices across the board. Market volatility also forced Trump to throttle back on plans to fire Powell, at least for now.

If you’re happy “just because Trump said he isn’t going to fire Powell in an era in which the independence of central banks is going to be called into question by the demands of realpolitik, or because he said something nice about China and tariffs for the nth time as the world starts to divide along geopolitical lines, well clearly you enjoy fairy tales,” says Michael Every, global strategist at Rabobank.

At a business forum this week, veteran investment strategist Jim Paulsen said that “almost every corporate CEO is revising down their outlook. The commentary warnings of the corporate sector have escalated.”

Some titans of finance think many peers are being too dramatic about what damage Trump 2.0 might do in the long run. As C S Venkatakrishnan, CEO of Barclays, tells Bloomberg: “It’s 100 years of dollar strength, so much so that important commodities — gold, oil — are denominated in dollars. I think undoing that will take a long, long time.”

Yet Wedbush’s Ives speaks for many when he says Trump’s tariffs, and the chaos surrounding their implementation, “will go down as the worst US policy mistake” since the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, which amplified the Great Depression.

China’s Commerce Ministry has been making a similar point, calling the US tariff moves “a mistake on top of a mistake.”

Then, after the US president vowed to ratchet up tariffs again this week, Beijing once again vowed to hold the line.

It has since clashed with Trump by insisting no trade talks are underway, which the US leader has insisted are happening behind the scenes without naming who was involved.

At a forum in Washington sponsored by Semafor this week, Citadel CEO and founder Ken Griffin warned that a Trump reversal might be too little, too late. Before the tariffs, “no brand compared” to US Treasurys, the dollar or the creditworthiness of the biggest economy. That’s now been “eroded” in short order.

“We put that brand at risk,” the billionaire hedge fund manager said. “It can be a lifetime to repair the damage that has been done.”

The financial dust cloud Trump leaves behind could play into Asia’s hands as trade negotiations are expected to heat up in coming weeks amid a 90-day pause on the imposition of his reciprocal tariffs on all global nations.  

China now knows, for example, that the bond market can rattle Trump. The recent surge in yields clearly unnerved Trump’s inner circle.

And it put on display the extent to which the US is just as vulnerable as it’s perceived to be strong. Beijing holds some US$760 billion of US Treasuries.

Chinese state media regularly discusses the idea of selling, or scaling back purchases, as a retaliation tool some market watchers believe Beijing quietly did soon after Trump’s reciprocal tariff announcement.

It’s all making Trump desperate to change the narrative with a big trade deal win. The first opportunity on that front is Japan.

Of course, Team Trump is trying to put on a brave face. Asked on Wednesday whether Trump had unilaterally offered to de-escalate trade tensions with China, Treasury head Bessent claimed “not at all.”

“As I’ve said many times, I don’t think either side believes that the current tariff levels are sustainable, so I would not be surprised if they went down in a mutual way,” Bessent said.

One possible takeaway from Bessent’s comments is that they “underscored that the United States is not aiming to decouple from China,” says Thomas Lee, head of research at Fundstrat Global Advisors.

Lee points to Trump’s press secretary claiming there are “ongoing trade discussions with 34 countries and referencing President Trump’s optimistic outlook regarding a potential deal with China.”

Yet the lack of progress with Japan could be a warning sign for the White House.

Last week, Navarro tried to suggest a bilateral Japan deal was imminent. It was his Exhibit A for the argument that Trump’s “90 deals in 90 days” pledge remains operational.

Yet Navarro was left holding only his ego when Tokyo reported that Economic Revitalization Minister Akazawa Ryosei was already back home with no deal in sight.

Seeing Trump caving this week, why wouldn’t Ishiba slow things down even further? This strategy worked well for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2019. Back then, the late Abe signed a bilateral deal that Trump touted as “phenomenal.”  

But, in reality, Japan gave up less on agriculture than it had as part of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a multilateral free trade pact that Trump scrapped. Autos were excluded and everything from pharmaceuticals to financial services was left to a future date.

The end result was negligible in altering US-Japan trade dynamics and “was a poignant reminder of how much President Trump gave away when he turned his back on the TPP,” observed economist Matthew Goodman, who at the time was at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

It’s also a timely reminder of how far Ishiba can get with some flattery and moving slowly. Presumably, Trump’s inner circle is aware that Japan outmaneuvered Trump 1.0, just as China is so far getting the better of Trump 2.0.

But Trump World also knows the illusion of pulling off the “art of the deal” with Japan could be packaged as a badly needed trade war win.

Ishiba’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), after all, faces a tough national election in July. And with approval ratings around 26%, Ishiba can hardly appear to be getting fleeced by a Trump White House with no allies among major economies.

Any perception that Ishiba gave away too much to Trump could usher his LDP out of power a few months from now. Tokyo knows, too, that if they lather Trump with concessions, he’ll likely be back for more in short order.

South Korea’s negotiations could go a similar way. At the moment, Bessent is suggesting that US-Korea talks “may be moving faster than I thought, and we will be talking technical terms as early as next week.”

Perhaps. But just like China and Japan, South Korea has good reason to think its negotiating position is improving as Trump’s global standing and trade war credibility falls by the day.

Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek

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India shouldn’t weaponize water in fight with Pakistan – Asia Times

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Although South Asia has experienced some political bulwarks, New Delhi’s most recent move may have spelled out a risky new chapter of geographical brinkmanship.

India unilaterally suspended the Indus Waters Treaty ( IWT ) with Pakistan, a cornerstone of bilateral cooperation for more than 60 years, on April 23 just one day after a deadly terrorist attack in the Kashmir-administered region, killing 26 people.

The decision was made in addition to the closing of a significant border crossing, the termination of Pakistani citizens ‘ regional immigration privileges, and the deterioration of diplomatic ties. With liquid at the center of what started out as a drama at Kashmir’s Pahalgam hill station and then having the opposite effect, it is quickly turning into a political crisis.

Kashmir Weight, a violent organization that claims responsibility, is a common name in a region full of acronyms and confusion.

However, India has taken a number of punitive measures that target Pakistan’s monetary arteries and, more dangerously, its waters lifeline without providing any practical evidence of external involvement.

Fears of an escalation are now growing in Islamabad, according to press reports. Social insiders and national security officials worry that India might consider engaging in punishing military action once more, in a similar vein to the Pulwama-Balakot incident in 2019, in which 40 Indian paramilitary staff were killed in an attack on which India responded with cross-border strikes.

Pakistan then launched its own airstrikes, and for a quick, menacing moment, the region sank on the verge of a full-fledged conflict between two nuclear powers.

Major military and civilian officials from Pakistan’s government met for an emergency meeting of its National Security Committee on April 24. The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called out India’s actions as “premature and provocative,” noting that no evidence of Pakistani involvement in the attack has been made public.

The Indus Waters Treaty itself, however, is the true powder tank.

The convention has been a unique, resilient bridge between two nuclear-armed foes, as it was mediated by the World Bank in 1960. The Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab river, which account for nearly 80 % of Pakistan’s water supply, are distributed according to their rules.

However, the Indus Waters Treaty is not a typical diplomatic deal. Because it is a part of global laws, it cannot be. Pakistan can make a compelling argument that it is in the international community’s best interest to preserve partnerships made through meticulous politics.

This is philosophical, not just a political complexity. The Indus program is a major source of power for all four of Pakistan’s counties. Pakistan’s vulnerability is normal, absolute, and agricultural with few other sources, most prominently a few Afghan rivers.

Not only for Pakistan but for the entire place, the increase is deeply disturbing. More than any other asset, water reveals the power imbalance between upstream and downstream says in South Asia.

India’s decision to “hold the treaty in abeyance,” a legitimate grey area without any real precedent, creates a disturbing example. In a time of grief and anger, it weaponizes a shared tool, undermining both local norms and international legislation.

For its part, New Delhi has not been overly diplomatic about its long-standing frustration with the convention. It fully sent a notice to Islamabad last year asking for a revision of the terms, which Pakistan quickly rejected.

The coercive “abeyance” of this week appears to be an illegal attempt to put Pakistan on the defensive. Beyond the constitutional posturing, there is a more nuanced calculus, known as financial attrition.

Analysts believe that India’s overall intention is to stifle Pakistan’s now depressed economy, especially its agriculture, which is largely dependent on the Indus River system.

Practically speaking, withholding water may require a large amount of equipment on a scale that isn’t currently in place. Even if these projects were started soon, they may require years and billion to be realized.

Also, symbolism has the potential to be effective. Yet symbolic techniques may have long and short tempers in South Asia, where recollections are long and emotions are small.

And what guarantees do the region’s smaller North Asian countries, like Bangladesh and Nepal, have?

A collective message from South Asia’s louder regions, such as Dhaka, Colombo, and Kathmandu, is now desperately needed to convince New Delhi and Islamabad of their obligations to the wider South Asian area.

The continent cannot afford for diplomacy to be stricken by fractious politics, and rivers to be used as retaliators.

Muktadir Rashid serves as Bangla Outlook, a media website based in Dhaka.

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Is China suddenly cool? – Asia Times

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A 20-year-old American YouTuber and digital star named ShowSpeed just live-streamed hourslong tour of Chinese locations, including Beijing and Shanghai, to show his almost 40 million viewers the locations.

IShowSpeed, whose true name is Darren Jason Watkins Jr., admired friendly locals, flawless streets, and the high-speed Wi-Fi on the train, and Chinese fans heckled him for selfies on the Great Wall during the March activities.

Beijing’s state media seized the spotlight, with one Foreign blog claiming that the American apex had “eliminated all American misinformation about China” in the eye of a new era.

This analysis is confirmed by IShowSpeed’s YouTube site.

One leading comment reads,” China is therefore underappreciated wtf.” Another person writes,” I realized how foolish my earlier sights on China were after watching this picture.”

Such feedback don’t provide any information. However, as someone who studies the impact of Chinese soft strength, I find the sight of a young American burning China’s picture to Western audiences to be incredibly important.

It provides an illustration of how smooth energy standards have been altered in recent years, and how China appears to be having some success appealing to the world’s children.

blending politicians and music

Soft power refers to a nation’s capacity to shape people’s preferences through society, values, and diplomatic relations by influencing others through attraction rather than coercion. The phrase was coined by political professor Joseph Nye to describe how nations job authority by imposing demands on others through military or economic stress.

US sweet energy didn’t have to make that much of itself throughout the Cold War and into the 21st century. It exploded from surge boxes after being broadcast on MTV and sported fabric. Rock music crossed the Iron Curtain when politics don’t, with painters like Madonna and Bruce Springsteen reaching Russian children more efficiently than any adviser.

And in China, Michael Jackson gained a following also before McDonald’s or Hollywood films, bringing about a beautiful, open America that so many people desired.

American society wasn’t really leisure to some growing up in China in the 1990s; it was persuasion, aspiration, and even subversion.

The blockbusters from Beijing

The US is still, of course, a cultural powerhouse, and American actors and musicians are still recognizable all over the world. However, there are indications that China is attempting to erode that position.

Take the movie. Chinese movies were once viewed as niche films in other countries. An animated Chinese feature film called” Ne Zha 2” broke box office records in January 2025. A stunning retelling of a mythic boy-god’s story, the film has grossed an astonishing US$$ 2 billion worldwide, outperforming many Hollywood studios.

It is now the highest-grossing animated film of all time, and it was produced by a Chinese studio with hundreds of local animators.

Beijing made a quick decision to incorporate” Ne Zha 2″ as a representation of China’s creative rise and” soft power moment” in terms of culture. The success of the movie was praised by state media as evidence that Chinese folklore and artistry can captivate audiences around the world just as effectively as Marvel superheroes.

” Ne Zha 2″ isn’t a one-off. The Beijing-based Wanda Films ‘” Detective Chinatown 1900,” which was released in January, is the year’s third-highest-grossing film to date.

Hollywood, which was once confident in its cultural monopoly, now faces a massive new rival on the global stage, one supported by 1.4 billion people and a government determined to overthrow Western pop culture dominance. Additionally, there are some international audiences. Ne Zha 2 also had a positive impact when it first aired in the US.

Gamers travel to the east in search of adventure.

Additionally, it includes non-profits.

Video games have been a stronghold in American and Japanese culture for decades. Black Myth: Wukong, a Chinese-developed game that was created by a Hangzhou studio, has become popular worldwide.

When its first gameplay trailers for Black Myth: Wukong first appeared in 2020, they were so popular that they were immediately followed along with its promising AAA-level graphics and action that drew inspiration from China’s well-known” Journey to the West” tale.

Skeptics questioned whether the finished product could quite possibly compete with the likes of the well-known series God of War or the Elden Ring in George R. R. Martin’s style. But those doubts vanished when the game finally debuted in 2024. In the summer of 2024, Black Myth: Wukong debuted to a great deal of worldwide support, instantly claiming a spot alongside the biggest Western franchises.

It is China’s first true blockbuster video game, and it is evidence that the nation can produce world-class entertainment, according to critics all over the world.

A smartphone screen shows a monkey-man image.
At The Game Awards 2024 on December 13, 2024, Black Myth: Wukong won Best Action Game and Players ‘ Voice. via Getty Images / The Conversation image VCG / VCG

It’s about narrative power for the Chinese state, according to me, not just about snagging titles in China’s gaming industry.

Instead of, say, a Marvel superhero or a Tolkien epic, millions of young people around the world subtly shift the cultural center of gravity eastward as they spend 30 or 40 hours a week immerse in Sun Wukong’s adventures.

It suggests that Chinese myths are evolving to appeal to people around the world as cool as Western ones. And that is soft power.

Small screen, big impact

In the meantime, another Chinese export has deeply ingrained itself into global culture on the smaller screens we carry in our pockets: TikTok.

TikTok has over 1.6 billion monthly users in over 160 countries as of 2025.

TikTok’s cultural reach is even more impressive. The app’s algorithm has helped songs by musicians from South Korea or Nigeria reach the top of the global charts, and it has inspired grandmothers in Italy to try Mexican recipes from grandmothers in Italy who were previously featured on a popular Chinese app. Teenagers in Kansas are learning Indonesian dance moves.

In essence, TikTok has created a brand-new transnational pop culture commons, one that is owned by a Beijing-based business. Yes, users all create the content on TikTok, not dictated by the Chinese government, but the platform’s very existence is a testament to Chinese tech entrepreneurship and global ambition.

Every second spent scrolling TikTok by Western youths is a moment they are residing in a cultural sphere created by China. It’s no wonder the US government is worried about TikTok’s influence because it’s about cultural security more than just data security.

Since outright banning it has proven to be politically challenging, TikTok has continued to steadily firmly established itself as a staple of global youth culture.

Blockbuster movies, popular video games, and viral apps all feature a larger truth: China is rapidly gaining soft power as America runs the risk of letting its own erode. China expands its influence through the Belt and Road Initiative and development loans at a time when the US reduces foreign aid.

And while the US enacts visa restrictions for students and scientists, China’s universities, some of which are now in the top 20 on the world, are becoming more appealing.

Can the US maintain its cultural diversity?

It is notoriously difficult to assess the impact of soft power because most countries that use it play a very long game.

Beijing’s push for soft power is not guaranteed to succeed everywhere. Many societies continue to doubt Beijing’s intentions, and its authoritarian system limits the appeal of its political model in democratic societies.

However, there are obvious indications that younger generations are buying into China’s cultural exports.

The US once almost automatically set the pace for global culture. However, as China invests a lot in its creative industries and digital platforms, it is increasingly shaping the narrative and themes for a growing global audience.

The question is no longer whether China has the ability to compete for soft power power, but whether America has a strategy to hold its ground.

Shaoyu Yuan is a research scientist at Rutgers University – Newark’s Division of Global Affairs.

This article was republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the text of the article.

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GE2025: Last-minute switches, surprises galore on Nomination Day

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SINGAPORE: The race for the 2025 General Election kicked off in earnest on Wednesday (Apr 23), living up to its billing as one of Singapore’s most keenly contested elections after a Nomination Day chock-full of surprises. This was largely due to last-minute tactical manoeuvering by the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). 

The PAP moved some of its big guns around while leaving the opposition parties guessing till the eleventh hour whether Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean would be fielded. In the end, both were not. 

The Workers’ Party also did the unexpected by moving former Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) Member of Parliament Faisal Manap to lead its Tampines GRC team. Prominent new face Harpreet Singh was fielded in the new Punggol GRC, while the party turned to an old hand, former Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong, to lead its campaign in East Coast GRC. 

It also made a surprise move not to contest in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, handing PAP a walkover in the five-member GRC.

After the dust settled on an eventful and rainy Nomination Day, this was the picture that emerged:

  • A total of 92 out of 97 seats will be contested
  • There will be five multi-cornered fights, a high since GE1991 which had the same number of such contests
  • Among these, four parties will slug it out in Tampines GRC – the last time there was a four-cornered fight in a GE was back in 1997

There will be two independent candidates in Radin Mas Single Member Constituency (SMC) and Mountbatten SMC. 

Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC was a walkover for PAP after a no-contest, the first in a GE since 2011.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng was the anchor minister for the GRC in the last GE and was expected to lead the PAP’s charge there again. Even he had expected to do so, until just hours before the nomination proceedings. 

Dr Tan told the media that he was informed on Wednesday morning that he would be redeployed in Chua Chu Kang GRC. Dr Tan replaced Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong who moved to Punggol GRC to fend off the WP challenge. 

Speaking to the media, DPM Gan said that “plans are always made depending on availability of candidates; we always need to make adjustments”.

WP EXPLAINS NO-SHOW IN MARINE PARADE-BRADDELL HEIGHTS GRC

Soon after a walkover was declared in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, WP put up a statement by party chief Pritam Singh on the “very difficult decision” not to contest there. 

In the last GE in 2020, a WP team led by Mr Yee contested what was then Marine Parade GRC, garnering 42.26 per cent of the vote against PAP’s 57.74 per cent.

Referring to the redrawn electoral boundaries for the GRC that saw the absorption of Macpherson SMC and other changes, Mr Singh said: “As a small opposition party, we are constantly faced with difficult choices about where and how best to deploy our limited resources, particularly after electoral boundaries are redrawn.

“After much reflection and careful consideration, we have determined that in order to continue fighting for the principles and changes we all believe in, and to give our candidates the best chance of electoral success, the party must focus its best efforts this GE on a smaller number of constituencies than we would have hoped to contest.”

Speaking to reporters later, the WP chief was asked whether the decision was a miscalculation given that it gave the PAP a walkover.

In response, Mr Singh said: “I’m sure the PAP was watching who was going to Marine Parade as well, so these decisions also were taken, as you would have realised, over the hour between nomination opening and nomination closing.”

He added: “So, it’s not a case as if everyone knew in advance that the PAP would field … I’m not going to say it’s a weakened slate because there are no such thing as weak candidates in my view.

“It’s going to be a very tough election for us. I’m sure they were watching where we were going, but this is what we’ve decided to do.”

WHERE THE MULTI-CORNERED FIGHTS ARE

In contrast to the walkover in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, five other constituencies will be intensely fought by more than two parties.

Tampines GRC will be the battleground of a four-way contest among PAP, WP, People’s Power Party and National Solidarity Party (NSP).

Over in Sembawang GRC, PAP will be in a three-way tussle with NSP and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), while in Ang Mo Kio GRC, PAP will face off against PPP and Singapore United Party.

Two single-seat wards will also see three-way fights: Potong Pasir and Radin Mas.

In Potong Pasir, PAP’s Alex Yeo will be up against PAR chief Lim Tean and SPP’s Williiamson Lee.

The Radin Mas contest will feature independent candidate Darryl Lo against PAP’s Melvin Yong and the People’s Alliance for Reform’s Kumar Appavoo.

Mr Lo is one of two independent candidates who have tossed their names in the hat this General Election. The other is Mr Jeremy Tan, who will mount a challenge against PAP candidate Gho Sze Kee in Mountbatten.

With their successful nominations, all parties and candidates now enter the official campaign period, which will last for nine days.

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Why a US trade deal won’t be enough for India – Asia Times

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The terms of reference for the upcoming free trade agreement negotiations were finalized this month between India and the US. A comprehensive strategy is anticipated to guide the strategy, which will improve industry access, tariff reductions and non-tariff barriers, and establish a strong, integrated supply chain. &nbsp,

Donald Trump’s” Liberation Day” tariffs on April 2 cannot be more confining for most nations, including India. The impact of Trump’s 26 % tax on India will not only negatively impact Indian exports, but it will also cast doubt on its ability to adapt rapidly to the fundamental realignment of global supply chains, which Trump’s punitive tariffs aim to necessarily change. &nbsp,

The volume of taxes and counter-tariffs has been reduced to mere amounts as the situation evolves. Hope for a quick, US-China deal to end business disputes have almost vanished.

The 90-day delay on reciprocal taxes is a break for most countries, except for China, which is subject to a staggering 145 % income. In this ambiguous environment, no government would dare to make long-term plans. International trade is being rewritten in some ways in real-time.

Two recent events have suggested that Trump’s position has slightly cooled. He put a 90-day delay to the higher mutual tariffs on the targeted nations so they could deal with the US on April 11 and then put it on hold until China. He made the announcement on April 13 that tariff deductions for items like phones, computers, and other electronics are available in the US.

Additionally, tariffs on pharmaceuticals are a looming risk, which, if implemented, do have a near-doom effect on India’s economy. According to some estimates, India could be liable to lose about 30 % of its exports to the US alone.

India should not rejoice at the fact that China ( 145 % ), Vietnam ( 46 % ), Thailand ( 36 % ), Cambodia ( 49 % ), Indonesia ( 32 % ) and Bangladesh ( 37 % ) have been hit with higher impositions. However, India has trade opportunities and a lot of market space in the form of semiconductors and machinery, among others.

India should see the new fact being imposed by Trump as both a challenge and an option. In some ways, India is in a similar position to 1991, when the land was practically forced to open up due to diminishing foreign exchange reserves.

The new US tax regime and its battle with China offer an opportunity to reevaluate opportunities, discover weak points, and deal with its monetary policy demons.

Many Indians are unrealistically putting their hopes on a landmark Bilateral Trade Agreement ( BTA ) with the US to rescue this mess. India’s strategy to free trade agreements, while faced with an extremely mercantilist global trading system, will still be supported by its multi-vector international policy and its unwavering support for a multi-polar world.

India may now think betrayed by the US after what transpired following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attend to the US in February of this year, despite the absence of a public demonstration of dissention.

During his check-out,” Mission 500,” which aimed to double bilateral trade to US$ 500 billion by 2030, was discussed and discussed. In that regard, a determination was made to finalize the second stage of a mutually advantageous BTA by the fall of 2025.

Trump officially criticized India for being a “tariff prince” and a “big perpetrator” of trade relations just before announcing the new mutual tax government on April 2. This is in contrast to what he has been saying for a while.

India courted the US in the wake of that visit and the” Liberation Day” price announcement, signaling its commitment to US energy imports and serious defense talks with Washington.

India hastily eliminated the 6 % online advertising income and cut taxes on solar panels, luxury cars, bourbon whiskey, and a few other items in preparation for the BTA. Elon Musk’s Starlink was also suggested by India that it might be approved in India. Despite all those early concessions, India, like most other countries, continued to be subject to the reciprocal and baseline tariffs.

A trade agreement, in Trump’s opinion, is an instrument to improve self-reliance and shift the balance of trade. The US is currently pressuring India to open its politically sensitive agricultural and dairy sectors in trade negotiations.

The US and India also have a number of ticklish issues, including stringent approval standards for genetically modified products, strict licensing, and enforcement of intellectual property rights. &nbsp,

India’s response has been more or less predictable. It will almost certainly not produce dairy and agricultural products, giving itself a bargaining chip for future negotiations. India will likely agree to increase the imports of US-made defense equipment and energy products to combat the negative trade balance.

In industries like pharmaceuticals and autos, where it already enjoys low costs and a strong manufacturing base, it might even consider 0 % tariff. Beyond this, it’s difficult to see India giving in to any more concessions.

However, India might face difficulties from rival nations that are also dealing with higher US tariffs, such as China, Vietnam, Thailand, and others. China has reacted by imposing similarly high counter-tariffs, but Vietnam has reacted by signaling it will drop all tariffs to 0 % in order to reach a trade agreement with the US. &nbsp,

A senior Vietnamese official, who was recently on an official trip to the US, pledged to start negotiations for a free trade agreement and the purchase of US defense supplies. Additionally, he made an announcement about Vietnam’s intention to purchase$ 300 million worth of Boeing aircraft for its VietJet commercial airline. The US tariffs are undoubtedly bargaining chips.

India’s low dependence on exports of goods may seem advantageous in its negotiations with the US, but because of Vietnam’s precedent-setting commitment to 0 % tariffs on all US imports, India should be prepared for US expectations for a similar deal.

Given the length of these negotiations so far with the UK, EU, and US in particular, India should at best be cautiously optimistic about outcomes, especially given that ongoing trade talks with the US did not protect it from Trump’s high reciprocal tariffs.

As a general rule, an emerging market like India shouldn’t be concerned about a respectable trade deficit as long as it benefits from a BTA, boosts its exports, overall trade, and introduces new technologies and investments. However, India needs to be aware that a free trade agreement on its own won’t address India’s structural issues. It is entirely up to India to address them both at once.

Thus, India should take advantage of Trump’s tariff crisis as a unique opportunity to unilaterally lower global tariffs to increase competitiveness. This in turn will encourage the flow of superior foreign technologies, which will improve productivity and quality and boost national exports, especially those from emerging industries. Only then will India be able to take advantage of the opportunities Trump’s global supply chain disruptions offer.

Will India seize the opportunity, is the debatable question? Or will it once more go missing? How successfully India maneuvers the looming, negative effects of Trump’s tariffs depend not only on how quickly it negotiates a bilateral free trade agreement with the US, but also on how other nations bargain with the US over tariffs.

The key to a successful FTA with the US is to conclude, but the bigger question for India is how quickly it can increase its manufacturing capacity, adopt smart technologies, train skilled workers, construct modern logistical infrastructure, and pass progressive regulatory changes that can adapt to newly emerging global value chain alignments.

Only when global supply chains actually feed and integrate into Indian manufacturing can India count on being well-positioned to become a major global manufacturing and export hub in the upcoming years and ultimately a net-net Trump trade war winner.

Raghu Gururaj, an Indian Foreign Service officer, is a retired ambassador. He has his own opinions expressed here.

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