Health authorities in Hong Kong recorded zero infections on Tuesday as the city leader defended the decision to reopen theme parks when protests had been banned because of the coronavirus threat. With no cases of local transmission for five days in a row the Covid-19 tally remains at 1,107, with four related deaths. Speaking ahead […] Read more
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Photo: dpa The US security presence “remains vital to the Asia-Pacific region,” and China would be unable to take over that role in Southeast Asia even with its increasing military might, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said. In an article published by Foreign Affairs on Thursday, Lee wrote […] Read more
With the coronavirus pandemiccausing financial markets to tank and a prolonged period of uncertainty ahead, investors have been flocking to keep their cash in Singapore, with bank deposits in foreign currenciesreaching an all-time high of S$26.9 billion (US$19.2 billion) in April. In fact, such deposits have been steadily increasing since July, last year, data from […] Read more
Chief of Department of the New York City Police, Terence Monahan, takes a knee with activists in New York. Photo: AP They are images that surprised and moved Americans: police officers taking a knee alongside protesters in the most widespread civil unrest to rock the nation in decades – and in doing so embracing an […] Read more
News that Beijing has ordered state firms to halt purchases of farm products could well be an opportunistic political maneuver stemming from fundamental weakness on the demand side in China, said analysts. On Monday, Reuters reported that China has asked main state firms to suspend large-scale purchases of major U.S. farm products like soybeans and […] Read more
China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress, on Thursday approved the proposal to impose a new national security law for Hong Kong, and paves the way for the legislation to be finalized and implemented in the city. The NPC voted 2,878 to 1 in favor of the bill, which will pave the way for its Standing […] Read more
Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday that his country will provide $2 billion over two years to help other countries respond to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The leader of the world’s second-largest economy, where the disease known as Covid-19 emerged late last year, was speaking via video conferencing at the opening ceremony of a key […] Read more
Before coronavirus brought the world to its knees, 2020 was slated to be a crucial year for the European Union and China. At a showpiece summit in September, the two are set to take a significant step forward in their economic and strategic relationship. At least that was the plan. China’s response to covid-19 has […] Read more
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach have agreed to postpone the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Abe and Bach held a conference call on Tuesday to discuss the constantly changing environment with regard to Covid-19 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, a statement from the IOC and the Games Organising […] Read more
A quick glance at the accounts of his 10,000-person packaging factory in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi tells Stuart Donegan that the “big wave is coming”. In addition to its Hanoi site, Donegan’s company, Sino Manufacturing, employs 1,500 at a plant in Ho Chi Minh City in the south of Vietnam, while three other factories […] Read more
