Day: April 27, 2025

US tariffs on Chinese imports could put as many as 16 million jobs at risk in China, especially in the manufacturing of goods for retail and wholesale, said analysts at the US investment bank Goldman Sachs. Advertisement “If high US-China tariffs were to persist and Chinese exports were to fall precipitously, labour markets would surely feel the pressure,” the bank said in a research report released on Sunday, adding the 16 million jobs would be involved in the production of exports to the US and nearly one-quarter would be in…

Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba will visit the Philippines this week to boost security cooperation, including an intelligence-sharing agreement expected to sharpen regional surveillance of Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait. Advertisement Analysts said China would be wary of the strategic implications of such a deal and the risks of a stronger US-Japan-Philippines security alignment creating a confrontational bloc near its borders. The General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) will be a key item on Ishiba’s agenda when he arrives in Manila for a two-day…

Defence spending is on the rise in East Asia as China’s military build-up raises concerns among its neighbours, according to a report by a Swedish think tank. Advertisement In its annual report on world military expenditure published on Monday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said total world military expenditure reached US$2.72 trillion in 2024, an increase of 9.4 per cent from 2023, the 10th consecutive year of increases and the steepest year-on-year rise since at least the end of the Cold War. The report said the world’s top…

Scott Kennedy is a senior adviser and trustee chair in Chinese business and economics at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank. He has visited China on numerous occasions over the past 37 years and written extensively on the country, particularly regarding its economic policy and relations with the United States. Advertisement This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions series, click here. On April 2, US President Donald Trump ramped up the trade war by announcing a “Liberation Day” package…

During his recent tour of Southeast Asia, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned against “the law of the jungle” and spoke of the shared “Asian values of peace, cooperation, openness and inclusiveness”. In a world shocked by Trump’s tariffs, his message of solidarity and the promise of a stable and certain Asia is resonating – and not just in the region. Advertisement In Malaysia, Xi vowed that “in the face of shocks to the current international order and economic globalisation, our two nations will stand united with other countries in the…