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US Vice-President J.D. Vance arrives for talks about Iran with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif in Islamabad, Pakistan, on April 11. Photo: AP
War and conflict

Opinion | Why ceasefires struggle and fail

From Ukraine to Gaza and the Middle East, the lesson of history is that ceasefires rarely hold.

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China technology

Opinion | US controls chips in the AI race, but China controls the scoreboard

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US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | You’re not asking the right question about the Iran war

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US-China relations

Opinion | As a global Warring States era begins, China must plan for the future

Beijing needs a unifying proposal to replace the current world order that is being upended by US unpredictability.

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China’s permanent representative to the United Nations Fu Cong (centre, front) vetoes a UN Security Council draft resolution on the Strait of Hormuz in New York, on April 7. The proposed resolution encouraged states to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, closed amid the US-led conflict with Iran. Photo: Xinhua
China’s permanent representative to the United Nations Fu Cong (centre, front) vetoes a UN Security Council draft resolution on the Strait of Hormuz in New York, on April 7. The proposed resolution encouraged states to escort commercial vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, closed amid the US-led conflict with Iran. Photo: Xinhua
Technology

Opinion | AI pessimism is a luxury the Global South cannot afford

Young, developing states must ride the tech waves if they don’t want to fall further behind and learn from others’ mistakes.

Banking & finance

Macroscope | Can World Bank and IMF leaders rescue a global economy on the brink?

By attacking Iran, the US has put the global economic order in jeopardy.

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Artificial intelligence

Opinion | Despite its hype, AI is just a means to economic resilience

To survive the shift from winner-takes-all capitalism to true sustainability, the learning curve is steep. AI is just the latest tool to help us climb it.

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A student does an exercise during an AI class at the College Jean Mace in Mulhouse, France, on March 26. AI is seen as a revolution in thinking and learning. Photo: AFP
A student does an exercise during an AI class at the College Jean Mace in Mulhouse, France, on March 26. AI is seen as a revolution in thinking and learning. Photo: AFP
Apple

Outside In | My love-hate relationship with Apple as an Android user

As Apple marks 50 years amid market and political pressures, the company has inspired jealousy but also admiration for what it has achieved.

US-China relations

Opinion | A stark clash of world views will overshadow Trump’s visit to China

As Xi and Trump prepare to meet, the divergence between their visions of global order has never been more acute.

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China economy

Opinion | Why Latin America is becoming indispensable to China

Latin America fits Beijing’s need for alternative partners with uncomfortable precision. That is a problem for Washington.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and wife Peng Liyuan (right) pose for a photo with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and his wife Rosangela da Silva in Beijing, China, on May 13, 2025, on the sidelines of the fourth ministerial meeting of the China-CELAC (Community of Latin American and Caribbean States) Forum. Photo: EPA-EFE/Xinhua
War and conflict

Opinion | For Asia, US-Iran ceasefire offers little relief – and much uncertainty

What may be coming is neither stable peace nor uninterrupted war, but something in between: a prolonged condition of managed instability.

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Demonstrators against military action in Iran after US President Donald Trump said he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, outside the White House in Washington on April 7. Photo: Reuters
Demonstrators against military action in Iran after US President Donald Trump said he had agreed to a two-week ceasefire with Iran, outside the White House in Washington on April 7. Photo: Reuters
India

Opinion | Asia’s flood of cheap Ozempic generics opens gates to weight-loss abuse

Cheaper semaglutides as patent ends is good news for diabetics. But lax regulation also means a risk of abuse by those desperate to lose weight.

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Africa

Opinion | Beijing’s supply-chain hedging strategy can help African food security

While governments must avoid swapping one dependency for another, Beijing’s inroads could help enhance food security efforts.

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Artificial intelligence

Opinion | How AI and geopolitical rivalry are breaking economic orthodoxy

Today’s imbalances go beyond exchange rates; they reflect concentrated technological investment in one economy and uneven risks in others.

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A data centre is seen from above on October 20, 2025, in Vernon, California. Photo: Getty Images / TNS
Cambodia

Opinion | To beat Cambodia’s scam gangs, US must work with China – not blame it

Taking down the deeply rooted, well-connected syndicates would require both Washington’s economic leverage and Beijing’s operational efforts.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Illustration: Craig Stephens
War and conflict

As I see it | Why Donald Trump now needs a ‘forever war’

The US president and America are starting to understand you can’t go fascist at home and imperialist abroad halfway.

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Middle East

Opinion | For Gulf states, geography is both a generous and treacherous patron

Sandwiched between Iran and Israel, oil-rich transport hubs like the UAE now face the fragility of their newly built economic prosperity.

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Technology

Opinion | In Asia-Pacific, the real maritime contest is over satellite surveillance

States’ ability to exercise territorial rights is increasingly mediated by their access to satellite data and analytics, but the tech is dominated by a powerful few.

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A J-15 fighter jet from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong making an unusual approach to a Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force P-3C patrol aircraft conducting surveillance above the Pacific Ocean on June 8, 2025. Photo: Handout /Japan’s Ministry of Defence / AFP
A J-15 fighter jet from the Chinese aircraft carrier Shandong making an unusual approach to a Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force P-3C patrol aircraft conducting surveillance above the Pacific Ocean on June 8, 2025. Photo: Handout /Japan’s Ministry of Defence / AFP
Technology

Opinion | The danger in the Global South’s pursuit of AI as a magical cure

Rushing in without local R&D, literacy or governance risks leaving countries as testing grounds and passive consumers of foreign tech.

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Nato

Opinion | In denying Trump airspace, Europe has drawn a line for Nato

Growing European defiance to US demands raises a critical question: is Nato a club of equals or a mechanism for enforcing one nation’s agenda?

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Global South

Opinion | Global South nations are insulating themselves from the heat of US actions

The ‘Great Insulation’ is coming – not major powers decoupling top-down but small and middle powers building a firewall from the bottom up.

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A poster depicting US President Donald Trump with devil horns at a protest in defence of national sovereignty near the US consulate in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on August 1, 2025. Photo: AFP
United States

Opinion | Fixing US branding woes starts with rebuilding trust Trump has damaged

Lavishly funded celebrations will not fly in Asian countries struggling to get by and increasingly sceptical of Trump’s America.

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A driver pushes his auto rickshaw to get compressed natural gas at a filling station in Peshawar, Pakistan, as the government reduces the station’s working hours to save energy on March 18. Photo: AP
A driver pushes his auto rickshaw to get compressed natural gas at a filling station in Peshawar, Pakistan, as the government reduces the station’s working hours to save energy on March 18. Photo: AP
China-Africa relations

Opinion | China’s growing North Africa presence a structural challenge for Europe

Cooperate or hedge? Growing Chinese energy, infrastructure and industrial investments require a sustained, coordinated European response.

US, Israel war on Iran

Macroscope | Why dollar and gold prices are looking abnormal amid Iran war

Two apparent anomalies stand out in recent market movements – the rising dollar and falling gold prices.

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Chinese overseas

Being Chinese | Chinese overseas need not keep to ourselves. I certainly don’t

Half of my close friends in London are Chinese; the other half are not. This balance did not happen by accident.

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People take selfies in front of the archway of Chinatown in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 2025. Photo: Xinhua
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