Politics

Given the US-China competition, China is working to grow its influence in Asia, especially in Southeast Asia. ISEAS senior fellow Lye Liang Fook looks at the recent visit by Chinese president Xi Jinping to Myanmar, and China's other efforts in Southeast Asia.

Not even the shared threat of Wuhan coronavirus can bring Taiwan and mainland China closer together. Zhu Zhiqun says recent developments do not bode well for cross-strait relations in the years ahead.

US-based expert Wei Da says the recently concluded phase one trade agreement shows that China may have ended up being called to heel by the US. Faced with a list of demands that it needs to fulfil, China should be reminded that its giant market is not everything. It will need to make fundamental improvements before it dares to believe that it is soon catching up to the US.

Based on findings from not one, but three recent opinion polls, ISEAS senior fellow Malcolm Cook finds that there is a serious level of distrust of China in Asia.

Yu Zeyuan says it would be quite wrong to think that China stands on the losing end of the recently concluded phase one Economic and Trade Agreement between the US and China. The picture may be quite the opposite.

Just about a week after the Taiwan presidential election, the rhetoric from both sides of the Taiwan Strait is aggressive. Will China take military action to take back Taiwan, or go with a safer approach? Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong examines the reasons for Tsai Ing-wen’s big win and concludes that young people will play a major role in the future.

Chinese observer Zhang Jingwei says China held its own in sealing phase one of the US-China trade deal. But this is just a prelude to the second act as the US heads further into its election year.

Hong Kong political commentator Leung Man-tao looks back in Chinese modern history and recent happenings to conclude that Chinese people often disregard realism and common sense when faced with nationwide campaigns. He bids the authorities in Hong Kong to refrain from letting re-election hopes cloud their larger mission of taking Hong Kong to greater heights. He also pleads with Hong Kongers to listen to reason, and not let political waves from one side or the other ruin all that is good about Hong Kong.

Prof Zheng Yongnian bemoans the “culturally-bereft” middle class in China, and labels them the “hooligan middle class”. He opines that the absence of a cultural middle class is the reason why China lacks originality in technology and innovation, why the intellectual community produces little useful knowledge, and why China has not been able to advance towards qualitative economic growth. He offers the solution.