ThinkCartoon (20 May 2026)

While the US has unsuccessfully sought to suppress China, the latter has responded calmly and effectively to signal that it is not to be taken for granted. The latest meeting between the US and Chinese leaders may mark a new chapter of greater stability, both bilaterally and globally. Academic Gu Qingyang gives his analysis.

China’s deflation reflects both weak demand and deliberate industrial strategy. But the model depends on consumption eventually catching up, raising questions over sustainability and regional spillovers for Southeast Asia. Researcher Genevieve Donnellon-May explains.

Japan’s Constitution is set to mark its 80th anniversary in 2027 as debate over revision gains momentum. Yet Article 9 remains sensitive, with war-renunciation and armed forces limits still central to national consensus and contention, says Japanese academic Shin Kawashima.

At the US-China Summit in Beijing, while China focused on pushing a “constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability”, the US looked to advance business deals and kept the Taiwan card close to its chest. While both sides want some kind of stability, it is anyone’s guess when the house of cards would topple. Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong weighs in on the issue.

Pomp and pageantry aside, the US-China summit focused on business and trade deliverables, with upbeat atmospherics masking deeper tensions. US academic Zhiqun Zhu explains why even limited progress is notable in a relationship defined by rivalry, mistrust and deep structural tensions.

Despite restrictions on group tours, Taiwanese continue travelling to mainland China in growing numbers, driven by demand, rising costs at home and expanding unofficial travel channels. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Chuang Hui Liang reports from Taipei.

Once a delicacy savoured at imperial banquets, Peking duck has shed its exclusivity and reinvented itself for the masses — evolving in style, price and ritual as it finds an unexpected new home in the heartlands. Lianhe Zaobao lifestyle correspondent Tang Ai Wei finds out more.

A retiring generation of leading sinologists and declining student interest in China studies are creating a widening expertise gap in the US, prompting warnings of an academic generational rupture, says US academic Wu Guo.

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned visiting US President Donald Trump that mishandling the Taiwan issue could trigger a “clash or even conflict”, as Beijing raised the stakes in US-China ties. Analysts said the wording signals heightened urgency in Beijing’s Taiwan stance. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Miao Zong-Han reports.

China’s private security companies are rapidly expanding their capabilities and projecting power precisely where it counts most: the sea lanes of communication. This is especially significant when recent global conflicts are centred on the Strait of Hormuz and other maritime chokepoints of the world. Academic Alessandro Arduino analyses the situation.

Even as US-China rivalry deepens, Beijing may look back on Trump’s transactional unpredictability as a rare stabiliser in an increasingly ideological and uncertain post-Trump world, argues Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei.

As Trump makes his way to meet Xi in Beijing, the friction between the two countries will be difficult to resolve, and observers believe that the talks are unlikely to produce any major breakthroughs. Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei finds out from academics that stability and guardrails for bilateral relations is the least one might expect for a positive outcome of the summit.

Chinese regulators are aggressively expanding its oversight on Chinese companies, moving beyond capital controls to prevent technology, data and talent from fleeing overseas. By scrutinising offshore “red-chip” structures and blocking high-profile acquisitions like Meta’s bid for Manus, authorities are signalling that corporate re-domiciliation can no longer bypass China’s tightening national security and tax net. Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Liu Sha explains.

The true drivers of the UAE’s decision to exit OPEC hinge on the shifting alliances of the Arabian peninsula, centred on the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and the UAE, says Middle East Institute-NUS fellow Jing Lin. China stands to benefit, not only in oil supplies but in wider aims like the internationalisation of the RMB — but only if it plays its cards right in balancing between the two regional heavyweights.

Taiwan President Lai Ching-te’s visit to honour Japanese-era engineer Yoichi Hatta at Wushantou Reservoir has triggered political backlash at home and criticism from Beijing, coming just days before the Trump-Xi summit in Beijing, where Taiwan tensions loom. Lianhe Zaobao’s China Desk looks into the matter.

Trump meets Xi in Beijing for a carefully choreographed summit dominated by trade, Taiwan and geopolitical tensions. Despite high ceremony and tightly managed optics, expectations for major breakthroughs remain limited on both sides. Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei and journalist Meng Dandan break down what to expect.

China’s political debate finds a new home on YouTube, where overseas-based commentators build a parallel public sphere still widely accessed in China via VPN, even as some voices remain on the ground. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Zhang Guanghui explores the shift.

Southeast Asia is hoping the Trump-Xi meeting delivers something rare: stability. Despite Trump’s unpredictability, ASEAN sees calmer US-China ties as vital while diversifying beyond both powers, says ISEAS researcher Stephen Olson.