Politics
Neither exclude nor dominate: The new rules of China-US engagement
Xi Jinping’s US visit points to a new reality: neither China nor the US can exclude, dominate or remake the other. Coexistence is unavoidable, so keeping the rivalry stable will require both sides to manage their differences and learn restraint. Academic Zheng Wang gives his analysis.
Zheng Wang
Society
[Big read] How China’s pyramid schemes used ‘state secrets’ to lure victims
China’s pyramid schemes have abandoned centralised communes to recruit via social media, romance-baiting and promises of quick wealth. Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei examines how state rhetoric is weaponised to keep victims in the dark.
Sim Tze Wei
Economy
The road north: From Cambodia’s farms to China
Existing infrastructure is converging into an emerging Cambodia-Laos-China agricultural corridor, bringing farmers into regional trade, observes researcher David Okoronkwo, after weeks of field study in Kratie, northeastern Cambodia.
David Okoronkwo
Politics
[Video] Trump and Xi meet again: What changed and what didn’t
This year’s historic Trump-Xi state visits delivered memes and pageantry, though Xi’s trip to Washington was shadowed by protests and Trump’s media ban. ThinkChina’s Yi Jina and Lingming Lu compare the two summits to see what changed and what didn’t.
Yi Jina, Lu Lingming
Popular This Month
Society
I went to Nanning to find the pyramid schemes that lured Singaporeans
After 52 Singaporeans were arrested in Guangxi, Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei travelled to Nanning to trace the pyramid schemes said to have lured them in — and found a city where real policies and projects can be repackaged as fake investment opportunities.
Sim Tze Wei
Politics
Bilahari Kausikan: On international law and foreign policy
Former Singapore diplomat Bilahari Kausikan sounds the reminder that abiding by international law is a choice countries make in their own national interest, and that serving the latter is the only consistency in countries’ foreign policy, in a speech delivered at the Law Society of Singapore’s Public International Law Conference on 3 September 2026. This is an edited version of the transcript.
Bilahari Kausikan
Society
Warm tea and brainwashing: Why Singaporeans fall for China’s 1040 scam
Despite years of police crackdowns, the “1040 Sunshine Project” continues to thrive in new and increasingly covert forms, luring victims with promises of enormous returns and claims of secret state backing. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Zhang Guanghui dives into the issue.
Zhang Guanghui
Culture
Rojak roots: What it means to be Singaporean
Cantonese and Hokkien, Malay and English; kampung food, Hong Kong television, Manchester United and the Catholic faith. Tracing the people, languages and cultures that shaped her, ThinkChina’s Candice Chan reflects on a thoroughly mixed — and thoroughly Singaporean — inheritance in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.
Candice Chan
Technology
How ZTE changed Xi Jinping’s vision for China’s tech future
The 2018 ZTE crisis exposed China’s vulnerability to US technology controls. For Xi Jinping, it became a defining lesson in why technological self-reliance, strategic resilience and control over critical technologies matter. Professor Tan Kong Yam analyses its lasting impact.
Tan Kong Yam
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Editor's pick
Culture
Rojak roots: What it means to be Singaporean
Cantonese and Hokkien, Malay and English; kampung food, Hong Kong television, Manchester United and the Catholic faith. Tracing the people, languages and cultures that shaped her, ThinkChina’s Candice Chan reflects on a thoroughly mixed — and thoroughly Singaporean — inheritance in ThinkChina’s Eye on Guangdong series.
Society
[Video] Could Niu Lai be China’s highest-return film ever?
Made by a mother and son with no outside investment, the low-budget Chinese animated film Niu Lai earned only US$1,000 in its first nine days before viral clips pushed its box office takings past US$4 million in just a few days. ThinkChina’s Lu Lingming explains what drove its unexpected box office success.
Lu Lingming
Politics
[Video] Bilahari Kausikan: How to navigate the new world order
Bilahari Kausikan, in an interview with ThinkChina editor Chow Yian Ping, examines how US-China rivalry is reshaping the global order, why China’s “China dream” narrative of national rejuvenation remains powerful but limiting, and how a more fluid, multipolar Asia will test the nimbleness of smaller states such as Singapore.
Chow Yian Ping
Politics
[Video] Is China stopping its own citizens from leaving?
China has introduced new rules on exit and entry administration, setting out when authorities can intervene in border crossings and when citizens may be barred from leaving the country. The regulation brings national security, export controls and technology concerns more directly into the rules governing cross-border movement. ThinkChina’s Lingming Lu looks into the issue.
Lu Lingming
Society
[Video] Rare Hubei tornadoes expose China’s rising weather risk
Three rare tornadoes in Hubei exposed a stark new reality: China must prepare for increasingly complex extreme weather with better forecasting, more resilient cities and stronger disaster response. ThinkChina’s Yi Jina and Lu Lingming find out more.
Yi Jina, Lu Lingming
Society
[Video] Effortlessly beautiful: China’s new obsession with ‘invisible’ cosmetic procedures
Why are millions of Chinese paying for cosmetic procedures that nobody is supposed to notice? The pursuit of “natural beauty” is reshaping the country’s booming medical aesthetics industry. ThinkChina’s Yi Jina finds out more.
Yi Jina
Society
[Video] China made it to the World Cup, just not on the pitch
China’s men’s football team is once again absent from the World Cup, but China is visible almost everywhere else around the tournament. ThinkChina’s Lu Lingming looks at how China made it into the World Cup economy, even as its team remains off the pitch.
Lu Lingming
Society
[Video] ‘Bullying our ancestors’: Why Chinese netizens are boycotting LV
A seemingly ordinary trademark dispute between Louis Vuitton and Chinese milk tea chain Molly Tea has escalated into a wider debate over intellectual property and cultural ownership. As backlash builds, with many even calling for LV’s trademark to be revoked, the case has become a broader reckoning on how cultural motifs should be protected in a modern commercial world.
Yi Jina
Culture
[Vox pop] Blood, lion dance or dialect: What makes a Chinese Singaporean?
As the movie Dear You brings the history of early Chinese migrants back into the spotlight, online conversations about Chinese identity and cultural heritage have grown louder. ThinkChina’s Lu Lingming and Yi Jina speak with Chinese Singaporeans about what Chinese identity, or “Chineseness”, means to them today.
Lu Lingming, Yi Jina
Latest Articles
Politics
How China’s ethnic unity law targets Taiwanese identity
China’s new Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law goes beyond domestic ethnic policy, bringing cross-strait exchanges, media, education and online activity into a broader political narrative aimed at shaping Taiwanese identity and advancing unification, argues academic Chang Chun-Yen.
Chang Chun-Yen
Politics
US-China relations: No war, no peace, but a rivalry kept in check
The Washington summit did not end US-China rivalry, but pointed to a new model for managing it: fierce competition within clearer guardrails, selective economic interdependence and sustained dialogue to prevent confrontation from spiralling into conflict. Academic Tan Kong Yam explains.
Tan Kong Yam
Politics
What kind of superpower will China be?
Chinese President Xi Jinping received the red-carpet treatment in Washington. Whether or not this means that China is increasingly seen as the US’s equal, it is becoming harder for China to avoid the term “superpower”. As it navigates this role, interesting is the way it is extending its socialist legal system as a semi-permeable membrane for selective globalisation. Academic Frank N. Pieke explains.
Frank N. Pieke
Cartoon
ThinkCartoon (29 September 2026)
Heng Kim Song has been the freelance editorial cartoonist for Lianhe Zaobao since 1984. His cartoons are also featured in many major international publications including The New York Times, Asahi Shimbun, JoongAng Ilbo, South China Morning Post and Yazhou Zhoukan. His many awards include the Top Award in United Nations ESCAP’s Cartoon Competition and the Grafica Internazionale Award presented by Italian Museum of Political Satire and Caricature. Heng has also participated in many international exhibitions and events, including the World Economic Forum Annual Meetings held in Davos, Switzerland.
Heng Kim Song
Politics
Trump-Xi summit: Grand optics, unresolved rivalry
The Trump-Xi summit delivered grand ceremony and a few practical gains, while playing to the domestic audiences of both leaders. But issues such as AI, trade and Taiwan remain unresolved, underscoring the deep rivalry between the US and China. Joseph Chinyong Liow, Dean and Wang Gungwu Professor in East Asian Affairs, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, NUS, shares his analysis.
Joseph Chinyong Liow
Technology
Is an AI slowdown for the good of man or business?
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei wants the AI industry to slow down. Is the call for stricter regulation purely about existential safety, or does it also protect incumbent market power? Academic Ruay-Shiung Chang analyses the issue.
Ruay-Shiung Chang
Politics
Vivian Balakrishnan: Upholding the rule of law in a fragmenting world
Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan made the case for enduring multilateralism while delivering Singapore’s national statement at the General Debate of the 81st Session of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York on 26 September. He spoke about complying with international law and the norms of multilateralism; reforming existing institutions where needed; and collectively formulating new rules and institutions for new technologies, including possibly establishing a UN Framework Convention on AI Safeguards. This is an edited version of the transcript.
Vivian Balakrishnan
Politics
Xi is breaking succession rules. What about everyone else?
Xi Jinping has already broken key CCP leadership conventions. As the 21st Party Congress approaches, three possible succession models could determine whether Beijing sees greater stability, deeper political turbulence or stronger action abroad. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Miao Zong-Han reports.
Miao Zong-Han
Politics
Trump-Xi summit: Red carpet and bombers reveal new era of managed rivalry
Donald Trump’s lavish welcome for Xi Jinping blends pageantry with military force, but behind the red carpet lies Beijing’s push for managed rivalry. Lianhe Zaobao’s Han Yong Hong shares her views on the high-stakes summit.
Han Yong Hong
Economy
[Big read] Big Pharma bets billions on China biotech — will Washington pull the plug?
Western drugmakers are pouring billions into China’s fast-growing biotech sector, but the US’s push to scrutinise outbound investment could put one of the few thriving areas of US-China cooperation at risk. Lianhe Zaobao’s senior foreign correspondent Pang Kia Nian finds out more.
Pang Kia Nian
Technology
Why China doubts US calls to pause AI
Sentiment among Chinese AI companies that they cannot be sure if American companies are slowing down shows that in AI pacing, credibility is key. Before restraint can become reciprocal, it has to become observable, says Chinese researcher Sun Chenghao.
Sun Chenghao
Society
Chinese TV producers rewrite the script for global streaming
Chinese TV dramas are shattering Netflix records and demanding record fees, with producers pivoting to high-margin global remakes and direct streaming deals to escape a brutal domestic slump and claim mainstream international dominance.
Caixin Global
Technology
AI is not the same as nuclear weapons. Can the US and China cooperate?
Unlike nuclear weapons, AI is deeply embedded in economic competition and driven largely by private firms, making it harder for Washington and Beijing to slow its development or verify limits. Cooperation may instead focus on reducing risks, says US academic Sarah Kreps.
Sarah Kreps
Society
When Chinese government accounts learn to meme — and face the risks
Chinese government new-media accounts are shedding bureaucratic language to connect with younger audiences, using cheeky headlines, memes and more. However, balancing personality, popularity and public responsibility is no easy feat. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Liu Liu finds out more.
Liu Liu
Politics
Trump-Xi summit: The ‘China threat’ and America’s real war
American commentary is resurrecting the “China threat” narrative ahead of Xi’s visit. US academic Ma Haiyun takes a look at US foreign policy towards China and Israel, revealing a stark asymmetry in how US’s foreign entanglements are managed and judged.
Ma Haiyun
Politics
What is the worst acceptable outcome for Trump and Xi?
Ahead of their high-stakes Washington summit, Donald Trump and Xi Jinping face a tenuous truce: while tactical deals on trade procurement and AI safety offer temporary fixes, core rifts over Taiwan, tech dominance and rare earths remain fundamentally unresolved. Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei speaks to academics to find out.
Sim Tze Wei