Beijing

Hou You-yi, mayor of New Taipei City (centre) during a news conference in Taipei, Taiwan, 17 May 2023. (I-Hwa Cheng/Bloomberg)

Why Hou You-yi won the KMT presidential nomination and Terry Gou did not

With about eight months to go to the next Taiwan presidential election, commentator Gu Er De explains why Hou You-yi won the nomination as KMT presidential candidate, while Terry Gou failed despite his best efforts.
Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim during his visit to China. (Prime Minister's Office of Malaysia)

PM Anwar's civilisational approach to the Malaysia-China relationship

Given the "civilisational lens" through which Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim views Malaysia-China relations, Anwar probably agrees more with the pluralistic vision contained in China’s Global Civilizational Initiative than the binary vision of “democracy versus autocracy” popular in Washington today.
French President Emmanuel Macron meets students at Sun Yat-sen University in Guangzhou on 7 April 2023. (Ludovic Marin/AFP)

Chinese commentator: Macron wants to be different, but does he understand China and the world?

French President Emmanuel Macron has integrated de Gaulle’s anti-US sentiments and Mao’s spirit of daring to fight against a major power into his comments during his recent China trip, says Chinese commentator Jin Jian Guo. However, a deeper analysis shows that Macron does not truly understand these various actors on the global stage, including China.
Fire damage is seen at the Changfeng Hospital in Beijing on 19 April 2023, after a fire broke out a day earlier. (Greg Baker/AFP)

Beijing hospital fire: Social media silence shows tightening public opinion space in China

A major fire at a hospital in Beijing was shocking, not so much because of its severity, but because of the blanket silence that lasted some seven or eight hours after the event. Zaobao’s associate editor Han Yong Hong explores the media control and crisis management following the incident.
In this handout file photo taken and released by North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on 21 June 2019 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (right) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping upon his arrival at Pyongyang international airport in Pyongyang. (KCNA via KNS/AFP)

A China-North Korea summit may be good for the world

It appears that China and North Korea are in a renewed honeymoon phase, with a possible China-North Korea summit on the cards. This may not necessarily be all bad, says Japanese academic Atsuhito Isozaki.
Former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou speaks to the media at Taoyuan international airport after concluding his 12-day trip to China in Taoyuan, Taiwan, 7 April 2023. (I-Hwa Cheng/Reuters)

CCP achieved its objectives with Ma Ying-jeou's visit

Taiwanese research fellow Tsai Wen-Hsuan sees the recent visit to China by former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou and the courtesies extended to him as a calculated move by Beijing. In the CCP's estimation, Ma’s positions are helpful to China’s narrative of peaceful reunification, and the visit may also quieten some discontent about the party's cross-strait policy.
Mainland Chinese travellers on low-cost tours walk to a tourist bus after lunch at To Kwa Wan in Hong Kong, China, 30 March 2023. (Tyrone Siu/Reuters)

Are mainland China tourists discriminated against in Hong Kong?

The reopening of borders between mainland China and Hong Kong has led to heightened tensions between people on the ground, as each side has their own complaints against the other. The authorities will have to handle the situation carefully to prevent it from boiling over.
This handout picture taken and released from former President Ma Ying-jeou office on 30 March 2023 shows former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou speaks at the Wuhan University in Hunan province, China. (Handout/Ma Ying-jeou office/AFP)

How Ma Ying-jeou tested Beijing’s flexibility towards Taiwan

Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Han Yong Hong notes that the visit of former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to mainland China might be seeing positive results, as the mainland Chinese government seems to be favourably impressed. How will the visit influence cross-strait relations?
This handout picture taken and released by the office of former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou on 28 March 2023 shows former Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou (centre) holding a written calligraphy reading "Peaceful struggle and revitalisation of Zhonghua" during his visit to Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum in Nanjing, in China's eastern Jiangsu province. (Handout/Ma Ying-jeou's office/AFP)

All the subtleties: Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's words and actions in China

Former Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s trip to mainland China began with a visit to Dr. Sun Yat-sen’s Mausoleum, where Ma paid tribute to Sun in a wreath-laying ceremony and a speech, in which he mentioned Minguo (the short form of the Republic of China) four times, and called for peace efforts on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.