Economic Power

Can US-China economic ties regain stability despite rivalry?

The US-China summit underscored efforts to stabilise strained economic ties. Despite rivalry, both sides are exploring ways to reduce uncertainty across trade, investment and strategic sectors. EAI senior research fellow Bo Chen gives his take on what he calls a managed relationship.

Bo Chen

Trump in Beijing: Why even limited success is remarkable

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.

Zhiqun Zhu

China’s regional slowdown: Painful but necessary?

China’s first-quarter data show stark decelerations in several regions. However, Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Chen Jing notes that this could be a more accurate record of the economic situation.

Chen Jing

How the EU is trapped in a status quo that rewards China

Europe finds itself at an impasse in its relations with China. Fundamentally, China holds more of the cards, and this does not change even with recent escalating events like the US-Israeli war on Iran. French researcher Mathieu Duchâtel gives his assessment.

Mathieu Duchâtel

War in Iran could rewire China’s global role

In the longer term, the Iran war presents not just threats but also opportunities for China’s economy, such as by correcting deflationary pressure domestically and being viewed as a better bet in global supply chains and investment. Academic Gu Qingyang gives his analysis.

Gu Qingyang

Hormuz closed: East Asia’s energy shock and strategic shift

East Asia stands to be massively affected by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, given its reliance on just-in-time liquefied natural gas (LNG) deliveries. Critical will be the way governments diversify their energy resources and maintain power-sector reliability and industrial continuity. Academic Hao Nan looks into the variables.

Hao Nan

China as number three?

The latest OECD projections suggest that India will be the world’s largest economy in the next 40 years or so, with the US stabilising in second and China third. EAI non-resident senior fellow Bert Hofman offers an analysis of the reasons and factors behind this forecast.

Bert Hofman

[Video] George Yeo: America’s deep pain — and why China won’t colonise

George Yeo, in an interview with ThinkChina editor Chow Yian Ping, explores America’s deep social pain, China’s struggle with corruption rooted in Confucian ties, and why change is hard. He also weighs the risk of war in the Taiwan Strait and Singapore’s future in a fast-shifting world order. This is the first episode of ThinkChina Conversations, a series of in-depth interviews with experts on China.

Chow Yian Ping

The limits of courts against shameless power

The Supreme Court’s ruling on US President Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” is not proof that American democracy is alive and well and that the system will self-correct. Instead, it shows that usual guardrails like Congress and the fourth estate have been breached, leaving the Court the last line of defence but a shaky one at that. Does that leave American democracy forever damaged under Trump? Commentator Deng Yuwen weighs in.

Deng Yuwen

[Big read] How China builds influence, one parliament at a time

Beijing is paying for parliaments and palaces from West Africa to beyond. The buildings look like gifts, but they quietly anchor China inside the everyday spaces where power is performed. Are there really no strings attached? Lianhe Zaobao correspondent Lim Zhan Ting finds out more.

Lim Zhan Ting

The Board of Peace: A pay-to-play world order?

Boardroom politics may replace global diplomacy with US President Trump’s new Board of Peace. In this architecture, peace is only a privilege for those who can pay for a seat at the chairman’s table. Commentator Imran Khalid shares his views.

Imran Khalid

Hainan is where China tests its next opening model

Hainan Free Trade Port is China’s testbed for a new opening model — centred on institutions, ecosystem-building and two-way cooperation. Rather than sidelining Singapore, this points to a broader and more integrated regional economic architecture. Academic Gu Qingyang shares his views.

Gu Qingyang