European companies' confidence in the Chinese market is showing signs of rebounding for the first time since 2022. Beijing is perceived as a "champion" of stability amid rising global volatility. Less than half of respondents said China’s business environment had become more politicised, down from 52% a year earlier.
This year's Shangri-La Dialogue is taking place in Singapore. Asia-Pacific countries will be watching Washington's strategy and commitment in the region and Beijing's security posture. Beijing and Washington have traded accusations over those issues at the forum in recent years. Dong Jun is likely to be absent from the forum for a second consecutive year. US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth's speech will serve as an important gauge of how much the Xi-Trump summit helped stabilise bilateral relations between China and the US.
Taiwan is experiencing explosive GDP growth due to chip exports, but some Taiwanese feel left out. The semiconductor industry is critical to Taiwan’s economy, but it is not the largest source of jobs. The broader electronics and IT manufacturing industry employs about one million people compared to seven million working in the service sector.
Beijing hosted the presidents of the United States and Russia within days of each other recently. China's rising diplomatic standing is grounded in a tradition of relational diplomacy stretching back centuries. Qin Yaqing’s relational theory of world politics organises Chinese foreign policy around the notion of guanxi.
In April, China's public spending fell by 3.2% year-on-year. China posted a solid 5% growth for the first quarter of 2026. China's household debt dropped by 786.9 billion yuan (USD$115.6 billion) in April, for the largest print since December 2022. Retail sales grew just 0.2%, while credit growth and growth of credit and retail sales were both down. China has been active in its macroeconomic policy since the end of 2024.
Taiwan and Europe enjoy strong economic and trade relationships. Europe is Taiwan’s largest source of foreign direct investment and its third largest trading partner. Taiwan investment in EU member states surged by 650 percent over the past decade. Taiwan is determined to enhance its self-defense capabilities.
Gao Song was appointed president and deputy Party secretary of Peking University on May 23. He replaced Gong Qihuang, who is politically linked to Chen Xi, a former classmate of Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Gao Song is from Anhui Province, the home province of former Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
A report praising an 80-year-old woman who works as a gardener in Pinghu, Zhejiang Province, has sparked a backlash on Chinese social media. Critics accuse authorities of romanticizing economic hardship and normalizing the idea that elderly citizens must continue laboring well into old age.
The Forum for Democratic Cooperation got underway May 26 in Taipei City. The three-day conference is jointly organized with Prague-based Forum 2000 Foundation and Taipei-based Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and Thinking Taiwan Forum. It is the first large-scale forum held in Asia by a major European think tank.
Beijing has imposed travel restrictions on top AI researchers in China. The restrictions reflect a wider shift in how Beijing manages the brain-drain in the AI sector. It follows a series of escalating economic countermeasures. The performance gap between the top U.S. and Chinese AI models has shrunk to 2.7% as of March 2026, from 31% in 2023.