Canada

Allegations by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Indian government involvement in the killing of a Canadian citizen who was a Khalistan separatist have soured Canada-India relations. China is watching from the sidelines to see if this will have an impact on the West's relations with India, but common interests may mean that bonds may be tested but not easily broken, says Indian academic Rishi Gupta.

Amid the ongoing US-China rivalry, both powers have been sending their navies on exercises in the Yellow Sea, as a signal to each side, stopping just short of actual engagement. This mirrors earlier near-confrontations. Is this all just military posturing ahead of a possible Xi Jinping-Joe Biden summit before the end of the year?

China lacks sufficient reserves of strategic minerals. The country's strategic mineral reserves, including iron, copper, aluminum, nickel and lithium, equals less than 20% of the world’s total, while the country accounts for more than half of global consumption of cobalt, aluminum and copper. What are China's options?

After three years of Covid-19 disruption, China’s economy and society are starting to get back on track. However, it is facing stiff external pressure, as shown by the further China-US fallout from the recent “balloon incident". Zaobao correspondent Yu Zeyuan looks at the challenges China’s economic recovery faces from the outside world.

After details of Chinese President Xi Jinping and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s informal discussion during the G20 meeting was reported in Western media, Xi followed up with Trudeau to express his displeasure. However, the interaction sent Western media into a frenzy, reporting that Xi “confronted” or “scolded” Trudeau. In light of the sensationalisation of the incident, China may need to be more familiar with how the media in Western democracies work.

Canada Goose, a Canadian luxury winter apparel brand that has been in the Chinese market for three years, drew bad press recently for having no or an ambiguous returns policy. Sensitive netizens wondered whether this meant the brand was discriminating against Chinese customers as they do have a returns policy in other locations. Despite the hoo-ha, sales of Canada Goose apparel as the weather turns wintry has still been brisk. A case of pragmatism overriding nationalistic grouses?

Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou returned to China over the weekend to much fanfare. The swift end to this incident after almost three years and the release of two Canadians who had been detained in China point to political machinations behind the scenes. Is this ending just a stalemate running its course or does it signify a restart of China-US and China-Canada relations?

Soon after mainland China put in its official application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), Taiwan followed suit. The CPTPP is an agreement forged between 11 members sans the US when the latter withdrew from the then Transnational Pacific Partnership (TPP). Joining it would require tough internal changes from both mainland China or Taiwan. Who is more committed to the needed reforms? But does that even matter when it will be the political signature that counts from here on? Incoming CPTPP chair Singapore will have its work cut out.

Wang Jiangyu says Huawei CFO Meng Wanzhou has reason not to be optimistic about her court case regarding extradition to the US on charges of alleged bank fraud. While the Canadian court has raised some contradictions in the arguments of the US side, political factors may come into play.