Japanese academic Shin Kawashima says that China’s unclear application of its anti-espionage law is severely hindering people-to-people exchanges between Japan and China.

Although China’s industrial overcapacity, which sits near the worst levels in the last decade, looms large in the minds of foreign leaders and policymakers, it is not new in the country.

Chinese academic Peng Nian says that Balikatan 2024, the annual joint military exercise between the US and the Philippines held in an expanded format, will escalate tensions in the South China Sea.

Since last year, European and American funds have become less interested in investing in the Chinese market while Middle Eastern sovereign funds have upped their investments in Chinese assets. Many Chinese entrepreneurs and venture capital firms have since been eager to court Middle Eastern funds. However, the latter have more complicated motives for investing in China than just wealth accumulation. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Liu Sha explains.

US academic Zhu Zhiqun explains the China-Russia quagmire in US-China relations, pointing out that US officials should ask themselves: is it realistic to expect Beijing to curb trade with Russia when Washington itself is forming all the security alliances to counter China? 

Taiwanese academic Chih-ming Wang reflects on the seeming openness to Chinese popular culture influences and Chinese social media platforms among Taiwan youths. Is it all pure entertainment or are efforts at soft power infiltration behind the fun and games?

While there was much fanfare over former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s visit to China in April, Taiwanese academic Wen-Hsuan Tsai observes that Taiwanese sentiment, especially among young Taiwanese, has been mostly lukewarm.

The race for some Southeast Asian countries to anchor themselves in the global semiconductor industry is open and evolving, even as it is complicated by factors like great power rivalry.

As a result of China’s economic downturn and rampant “involution”, Chinese youths are suffering from anxiety, depression and insomnia. The “996” work culture, shaming of “lying flat”, and the erosion of sleep by mobile phones and the internet have taken their toll on this troubled demographic. Hence, urban Chinese youths are increasingly embracing new ways of alleviating pressure, including singing bowl sound therapy, aromatherapy, sound bed therapy and Buddhist meditation therapy. Lianhe Zaobao journalist Meng Dandan takes a look at this trend.

Most of us would be familiar with the idea of cemeteries and columbariums, but what about a residential unit to store the ashes of the departed? Lianhe Zaobao’s China Desk looks into how rising prices of burial plots has led to a somewhat unconventional solution in China.

The prosperous and primitive era started with the reform and opening up of the 1980s and ended with the internet explosion of the 2010s. In this narrow time frame, broadband internet became a memory of the millennium. The Chinese Dreamcore has recently gained attention from niche visual arts — the concept is new, but the substance is not. With China’s rapid economic and technological development, a lot of memories and processes are becoming blurrier. Increased efficiency has come at the cost of spiritual growth. Many young Chinese are attracted by the Chinese Dreamcore, creating surreal and nostalgic visuals representing the art style. I think it is not so much about missing the times that are gone forever, but more because in the early years of the internet, time passed slowly and emotions were real. And while people were materially poor, they were rich in spirit. Everything looked so pure and alive, the exact opposite of today. — Bai Yi