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A man walks past an electronic board displaying 10-year Japanese government bonds, an index of long-term interest rates in the Tokyo bond market and the foreign exchange rate of the Japanese yen against the US dollar along a street in Tokyo on May 18. Photo: AFP
Banking & finance

Macroscope | Can Europe and Asia break the grip of US bond markets?

Too much money is chasing too few investment opportunities. Unified bond markets in Europe and Asia could offer safe options for savings to flow into.

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Stocks

Opinion | Investors in AI-driven bubble risk forgetting painful lessons

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War and conflict

As I see it | How China wins by avoiding war

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US-China relations

Opinion | Xi-Trump summit a triumph for China

The future of the relationship is likely to be unscripted and messy at times, even full of friction, yet somehow maintaining a rhythm.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Illustration: Craig Stephens
US-China relations

Opinion | Boeing went to China to sell planes. Beijing is buying something else

China’s demand for passenger jets is genuine – but so is its aim to build a commercially credible aviation industry.

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War and conflict

Opinion | Not even a quick end to Iran war can save AI stock bubble now

Rising prices are draining the liquidity from financial markets, including bonds. The AI stock bubble is ripe for bursting.

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Diplomacy

Opinion | What Putin, Trump summits say about China’s role in world affairs

Beijing’s desire for systemic stability guides its relations with Moscow and Washington, making it central to global mediation.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Illustration: Craig Stephens
US-China relations

Opinion | US and China must talk to manage dangers of AI contest in a nuclear age

The coexistence of the nuclear age with the AI age is a cocktail for unprecedented existential danger. Engagement, not decoupling, is needed.

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US-China relations

Opinion | Despite summit pledges, don’t expect US-China trade to improve

The near-term trajectory of China-US economic ties rests on several key timelines, any of which could trigger new tensions.

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Technology

Opinion | Quantum IPO wave is a milestone. It should also come with a warning

Like with the dotcom bubble, investors are piling into companies exploring technologies with a commercial future that is not yet clear.

Hanyuan-2, the world’s first dual-core quantum computer, is launched in Jiangsu on May 7. It is the kind of breakthrough that sustains investor optimism. Photo: Handout
Diplomacy

Opinion | Xi-Trump summit affirms China’s role as world’s indispensable broker

In hosting his US and Russian counterparts within a week, President Xi Jinping shows that China’s vision rests on pre-eminence over hegemony.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Illustration: Craig Stephens
United States

Opinion | Birthright citizenship fight shows US identity debate is far from settled

The re-emergence of the debate despite the 14th Amendment shows the ongoing contest over American cultural DNA.

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US-China relations

Opinion | Xi-Trump summit reveals changing shape of US-China tech rivalry

Trump is acknowledging reality: if a full US-China decoupling is unrealistic, the alternative is to shape the terms of interdependence.

US-China relations

Opinion | China’s gift to the world we live in: predictability

Surveys of US public opinion and German investor sentiment point to the wisdom of China’s strategic composure.

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US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping visit the Temple of Heaven in Beijing on May 14. Photo: Reuters
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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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
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
Mainland China

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

The question is not whether outsiders are getting China or Chinese culture right, but what we choose to do with their attention.

US-China relations

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

There’s a lesson for the US president in Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in the early 19th century.

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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
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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A researcher checks the control wiring at a laboratory in the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, on January 21. Photo: Xinhua
A researcher checks the control wiring at a laboratory in the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, on January 21. Photo: Xinhua
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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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
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