World Trade Organization
Economy
China needs a new strategy to rebalance its industrial might
China’s industrial capacity accounts for nearly 30% of global output, but it is facing increasing global risk of trade protectionism. Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong says that amid escalating tariff wars and economic rivalry, China cannot avoid structural economic adjustments.
Han Yong Hong
21 Aug 2026
Politics
How China’s role in the global order has changed
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji’s passing and the commemoration of former Chinese President Jiang Zemin’s centenary calls to mind how China has evolved from the era of integrating with the global economy to shaping the world, notes Lianhe Zaobao associate China news editor Sim Tze Wei.
Sim Tze Wei
20 Aug 2026
Economy
Did Zhu Rongji take on China’s hardest reforms?
Former Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji confronted some of China’s most difficult reforms, taking on vested interests and deep-rooted problems while pushing the country towards a more market-oriented, open and institutionalised economy, says academic Gu Qingyang.
Gu Qingyang
17 Aug 2026
Politics
Zhu Rongji: A legacy of transforming China’s economy and forging relations with ASEAN
A key standard-bearer of 1990s economic reform, former Premier Zhu Rongji, who passed away on 12 August, leaves a lasting imprint on China’s taxation, state-owned enterprises, accession to the World Trade Organization, and even on ASEAN. Lianhe Zaobao’s Sim Tze Wei and Tan Ke-Yang take a look at his legacy.
Sim Tze Wei, Tan Ke-Yang
13 Aug 2026
Economy
How Trump’s tariff chaos is upending the global economic order
Donald Trump’s second term has upended the global economic order, weakening US-led institutions and accelerating a shift toward a less globalised, more fragmented and less US-centric world economy, says Chinese academic Jia Qingguo.
Jia Qingguo
15 Aug 2025
Economy
ASEAN-GCC-China Summit: A new catalyst in global power?
With the youthful population and rapidly growing markets in ASEAN, the rich energy resources and sovereign investment capacity of the GCC, and the industrial and technological prowess of China, the ASEAN-GCC-China tripartite could reshape the foundation of global trade, strategically counter protectionist impulses and infuse a new era of economic interdependence that is less risky, notes academic Rishi Gupta.
Rishi Gupta
17 Jun 2025
Politics
SM Teo Chee Hean: Choosing confrontation or cooperation in the 21st century
Contemplating China’s future in the changing world, Singapore’s Senior Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security Teo Chee Hean discusses the internal and external driving forces that China must contend with; the policy choices that China will face domestically; and on the international front, how China and the rest of the world’s decisions and actions interact with each other. This is the transcript of Senior Minister Teo’s speech at the inaugural ThinkChina Forum held at The Capitol Kempinski Hotel Singapore on 28 March 2025.
Teo Chee Hean
28 Mar 2025
Economy
China-Mexico-US trade relations remain evermore interdependent
Talk of relocation of supply chains and geopolitical tensions notwithstanding, China, Mexico and the US have been in an interdependent trade relationship for a long time, says academic Liu Xuedong. In particular, Mexico's sales destined for the US market are very much dependent on purchases from China. Even Chinese manufacturing firms who have moved to Mexico may find that China and Mexico's trade relationship remains evermore interdependent.
Liu Xuedong
19 Apr 2024
Politics
Deteriorating legal order: US-China rivalry and the challenge to WTO rules
Academic Wang Jiangyu opines that the World Trade Organization (WTO)'s power has been declining, given that its appellate body's ability to hear the disputes brought forward by member states has been at a standstill since 2019. So what does it mean for China to initiate dispute settlement proceedings against the US through the WTO?
Wang Jiangyu
18 Apr 2024
Economy
Will China's economy 'collapse' again?
Despite speculations about the decline of China's economy, Chinese academic Han Heyuan says that history has shown that such contrarian sentiments have been proven wrong time and again, for example in the case of the US, Japan and even China during the turn of the century.
Han Heyuan
28 Nov 2023
Economy
How US is continuing to restructure globalisation and the global trade system
Commentator Jin Jian Guo assesses that the global trade situation has undergone structural changes, in terms of China gradually losing its status as the world's factory, amid competition from India and other countries in Southeast Asia. One major reason is the US's actions in pursuing regional and bilateral free trade agreements that excludes China and have limited China's trade scope.
Jin Jian Guo
22 Mar 2023