Food delivered to the door every day, temperature taking twice a day, and not a single sound from the outside world... Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing documents 14 days in a hotel room, quarantined behind a yellow line. Did she find peace in solitude?

From working to keep supply chains open to establishing “fast lanes” for essential travel, China and Singapore have been working together to face the tough challenges of the pandemic. Beyond pomp and pageantry, these actions are a sign of the strong ties that the two countries have forged over the last 30 years and more. In a recent interview with Lianhe Zaobao, Chinese ambassador to Singapore Hong Xiaoyong said Singapore and China have been working together this year, showing the strength of bilateral relations. And when the coronavirus is over, Singapore and China will be able to cooperate in more areas. With ASEAN becoming China’s top trading partner for the first time ever in the first half of the year, there is even greater scope for China-ASEAN cooperation.

Wearing PPE to the airport, going through a blood test and nasal and throat swabs, surviving a 14-day centralised quarantine… The pandemic has indeed changed the way we travel. With airtight preventive measures in place, Lianhe Zaobao Shanghai correspondent Chen Jing doubts her friends and family in Singapore will be coming to visit her in Shanghai anytime soon.

Lianhe Zaobao reporter Chen Jing was shocked to see a long queue of people when she went to apply for a visa at the Chinese Visa Application Service Center in Singapore. Assigned to be the paper’s correspondent in Shanghai just before the coronavirus threw a spanner in the works, Chen has done her fair share of virtual reporting from her home in Singapore. She looks forward to the day that she can be on the ground in Shanghai, now that Singapore and China have installed the “fast lane” for essential travel.

With the new national security law for Hong Kong practically a done deal, the US has said it will withdraw Hong Kong’s preferential trade status, as it is no longer autonomous from mainland China. But considering the US’s own interests in Hong Kong, how tough will its sanctions be? Zaobao correspondent Chen Jing speaks to academics to find out.

With salary cuts, housing loans on their backs and little means of generating cash flow, middle-class workers across China’s cities are walking the tightrope of trying to maintain their living standards while keeping up with their mortgage payments. The recently-announced stimulus plan may not solve their housing woes either.

China’s Hubei province — most badly-hit by the Covid-19 pandemic — has pressed the reset button on its economy, becoming China’s first province to implement an economic revitalisation package following the pandemic. Although policy details are not yet released, academics interviewed predict that Hubei will receive more financial subsidies than any other province or city, and industries like auto manufacturing and infrastructure will benefit from industry support policies. Hubei’s revitalisation scheme will also give an idea of how the country’s yet-to-be-released economic stimulus package will look like. While help is on the way for Hubei, due to the enormous economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, making a fast and effective recovery is going to be a tall order.

Under the phase one China-US trade deal signed in January, China has committed to purchasing an additional US$200 billion worth of US products and services. But in the current circumstances, will it be able to meet those commitments? And will US President Donald Trump terminate the deal, or negotiate an interim agreement? Will a new trade war escalate matters into a hot war?

In the aftermath of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis, China trotted out a mega stimulus package that some analysts say did more harm than good. Months into the coronavirus pandemic and China’s support measures have still been measured. How much further will it go in the coming weeks to alleviate the economic strain on enterprises and individuals?