Singapore

Red flags fly over Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China, on 12 March 2023. (Qilai Shen/Bloomberg)

Chinese ambassador to Singapore: In a tumultuous world, what should we do?

Chinese ambassador to Singapore Sun Haiyan explains China’s stand on building global security, premised on its recent position papers on the Global Security Initiative and the Ukraine crisis.
A US Air Force U-2 pilot looks down at the suspected Chinese surveillance balloon as it hovers over the central continental US on 3 February 2023 before later being shot down by the Air Force off the coast of South Carolina, in this photo released by the US Air Force through the Defense Department on 22 February 2023. (US Air Force/Department of Defense/Handout via Reuters)

Mass hysteria over spy balloons: The pot calling the kettle black?

Former Zaobao editor Lim Jim Koon believes that the balloon saga between China and the US in February gives much food for thought around the role of political leaders and mass media in sensationalising the trivial incidents.
Cover of the book on the exhibition “Soo Bin: Life of Art, Art of Life”. (Photo provided by Teo Han Wue)

The significance of Singaporean photographer Chua Soo Bin’s work

Teo Han Wue tells us more about the life and work of Singapore’s veteran photographer, Chua Soo Bin, who took striking profile shots of leading Greater China artists and went on to make fellow Singapore artists the subject of his portraiture.
Teachers are seen behind a laptop during a workshop on ChatGPT organised by the School Media Service (SEM) of the Public education of the Swiss canton of Geneva, on 1 February 2023. (Fabrice Coffrini/AFP)

ChatGPT could be partners in education if we overcome these challenges

Academics Wong Lung Hsiang and Looi Chee Kit note that information and AI literacies are or will become essential for anyone living in the IT era. One must possess both literacies to responsibly and constructively produce and disseminate information, as well as to understand and appraise the functions and limitations of AI tools, and the challenges they pose.
A woman walks along a street with two children in Beijing, China, on 3 February 2023. (Jade Gao/AFP)

It's not just China: Asia faces a shrinking population

Lianhe Zaobao associate editor Peter Ong looks into why Asian countries are facing a declining population, especially those that have witnessed successful economic transformation. What social conditions have led to the staggeringly low birth rates? And is migration a solution?
Everything is a blur and makes no sense... (Photo: Candice Chan)

When these eyes of mine can no longer read

Hua Language Centre director Chew Wee Kai ruminates on ageing and what goes on inside and out as one inevitably moves into the twilight of life, not least the obvious signs of failing eyesight. Where once it was a joy to read The Water Margin and The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, now the spirit is willing but the eyes are weak.
Taiwan's armed forces pose for a photo with a Taiwan flag during a routine drills to show combat readiness ahead of Lunar New Year holidays at a military base in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, 11 January 2023. (Ann Wang/Reuters)

Can Taiwan stay safe in the next decade?

As the sabre-rattling continues in the Taiwan Strait, there seems to be no clear solution in sight for reunification. Zaobao’s correspondent Woon Wei Jong speaks to commentators and experts to take soundings on feasible solutions.
Siong Leng Musical Association during a performance of Fantasia Nanyin Reimagined, January 2021. (SPH Media)

Does Singapore still want to play an active role in the Chinese-speaking world?

Lee Huay Leng, editor-in-chief of SPH Chinese Media Group, looks back at Singapore’s active role in the Chinese-speaking world and in the 1980s and 1990s, and whether it can – or wants to – resume such a role in a changing world.
Nantah's first graduation ceremony, 1960. (SPH Media)

Memories of graduating in a tent at Nanyang University

Hua Language Centre director Chew Wee Kai thinks back to the first time he attended a university graduation — in a tent. However, the solemnity of the event still shone through, in a fitting tribute to the effort of the graduates, as well as the travails of that storied university called Nanyang University (Nantah), and all that it came to represent.