Beijing

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.