Last weekend's coverage of Asia and beyond has been put together. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing to our website.   . for more stories from the last weekend. For more information, visit: www.asia-observer.com.

Foreign ministers of Australia, India, Japan and the U.S. met in New Delhi on May 26 for the 11th Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) ministerial. The focus of the ministerial was on critical minerals, energy, undersea cables, and communications standards. China's focus is on economic and institutional competition. The Quad has no mutual defense arrangement, no integrated command, and none of the obligations a treaty alliance carries.

North Korea's economy is flourishing thanks to arms sales and troop deployments to Russia, supplies and financing from China, and the ability to flout international sanctions to import more energy, components and materials. The Kim regime slammed its borders shut during the Covid-19 pandemic. It has since reopened to only a select few outsiders.

By clicking the button on the right, you can exercise your privacy rights. We process your personal information to measure and improve our sites and service, assist our marketing campaigns and to provide personalised content and advertising. For more information see our privacy notice and our Cookie Policy.

Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim received international guests set to attend the annual forum organized by Research Institute for Democracy, Society and Emerging Technology (DSET) June 5 at the Presidential Office. The forum took place June 6 in Taipei and focused on collaboration between Taiwan and international partners in areas spanning artificial intelligence, semiconductors, robotics, energy security and non-red drone supply chains.

Wong is the finance minister of Singapore and a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). He stressed that the region should not be dominated by a single power or zero-sum competition. Asean is working on deepening integration within the 11-member bloc and partnerships with other groupings and countries, including the US, China, Europe and Gulf nations.

Asia-Pacific equity markets tumbled overnight. Japan's Nikkei 225 was down more than 4%, South Korea's KOSPI tumbled over 7%. Samsung and SK Hynix shed more than 10%. US jobs data came in much stronger than expected. Nasdaq 100 fell 1,450 points (4.8%) to 28,957. S&P 500 fell 200 points (2.6%) to 7,383. Brent and WTI are higher this morning.

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met in Beijing on May 13. They agreed on building a US-China relationship shaped by "constructive strategic stability". This is a positive first step toward resetting what has become an increasingly fraught relationship over the past decade. It could lay the foundation for increased cooperation on nuclear weapons.