With the latest virtual call between Chinese Vice-Premier Liu He and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, observers are anticipating that the US will lift the Trump-era punitive tariffs on China and de-escalate the four-year-long China-US trade war that has hurt both economies. Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu looks at how the situation might develop and how Biden might play his cards.

With the economic and political blowback from its regulatory crackdowns in the past two years, coupled with economic pressures from the pandemic, the Chinese authorities may be ready to ease up on high-pressure regulations of the internet sector.

PCR testing has become the norm in China and is now a burgeoning industry. However, despite the clear benefits of effective pandemic control, authorities must consider the cost implications before large-scale normalised testing can be implemented across the country. Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu looks into the matter.

Yesterday, Chinese and Russian bombers flew over the Sea of Japan as US President Joe Biden attended the Quad summit in Tokyo. This comes a day after the president said that the US would defend Taiwan militarily if Beijing attacked. In fact, it was Biden's third time in nine months reiterating that message. Was this yet another gaffe, or a signal that the US is ready to drop its “strategic ambiguity” on Taiwan? Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu analyses the situation.

Chinese economist David Li Daokui has been mocked by netizens for comments he made at a recent economics forum, where he said that China’s life expectancy has increased by an average of ten days due to pandemic efforts, and suggested setting up quarantine facilities next to factories in order to maintain productivity. But is this derision deserved? Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu analyses the issue.

Despite the decline in daily new Covid-19 cases over the past week, Shanghai has seen stricter anti-epidemic controls implemented to the point of absurdity. Zaobao correspondent Yang Danxu highlights the stranger-than-fiction happenings in Shanghai that have sparked public outrage and shaken people’s confidence in China’s zero-Covid policy.

News of the arrest of an individual surnamed Ma in the technology industry in Hangzhou on suspicion of endangering national security led to a sharp drop in the stock market, as people associated the name with Jack Ma, co-founder of Alibaba. Zaobao’s Beijing correspondent Yang Danxu notes that perhaps this is not so surprising, given Jack Ma’s previous trouble with the Chinese government, especially during the crackdown on the “disorderly expansion of capital”.

Fears and anxiety from Shanghai’s dire Covid-19 situation is spreading to other cities. In particular, Beijing is now seeing panic buying and residents preparing for the worst. People are getting ready for a lockdown that may not even happen, but given their ordeal in the early outbreak of the pandemic in 2020, their fears are not unfounded. Zaobao's Beijing correspondent Yang Danxu reveals the situation on the ground.

There is no doubt that China’s continued zero-Covid strategy has affected its economy, and businesses are struggling to survive. Even if the government is firm in maintaining its course, fatigue and frustration have increased among the people. How long will the economy hold up as China maintains the zero-Covid model? And why is China obsessed with zero-Covid?