Month: August 2025

The world is in a state of geopolitical drift. The old unipolar order has fractured into a complex mosaic of competing interests and asymmetric power. From simmering US-China tensions to persistent regional conflicts in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the traditional architecture of global governance appears increasingly strained. Advertisement The United Nations, the very institution designed to manage this complexity, often finds itself paralysed by vetoes and competing national agendas. A search for a new international framework, a “next world order”, has become a pressing need. It is into…

Ahead of the 80th anniversary of Victory Day, marking the end of the Sino-Japanese war and the global fight against fascism, we look at the profound changes of the post-war period and how they continue to affect China’s place in the world. Part four of this series examines how the history of Sino-American cooperation has been extolled as a potential formula for better bilateral ties from the ground up. Advertisement Behind the familiar history of World War II lies a forgotten front, lined with unsung heroes in the battlefields of…

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto on Saturday cancelled a planned trip to China as days of protests spread further outside the capital Jakarta, with several regional parliament buildings set ablaze. Advertisement Prabowo had been expected to attend a “Victory Day” parade in Beijing on September 3 to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II following Japan’s formal surrender. The protests, the first major test for Prabowo’s nearly year-old government, began in Jakarta this week over lawmakers’ pay and worsened after a police vehicle hit and killed a…

China and the US should manage their differences and expand cooperation through “equal dialogue and consultation”, senior Chinese trade negotiator Li Chenggang said during a visit to the United States amid a trade war truce between the two powers. Advertisement Li wrapped up his three-day visit on Friday after meeting with officials from the US Department of the Treasury, the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative, according to a statement from the Chinese commerce ministry on Saturday. He also held talks with representatives from the…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has condemned “attempts to distort” World War II history while pledging to deepen strategic collaboration with China on the eve of a state visit to the country. Advertisement During his four-day trip, described by the Kremlin as “absolutely unprecedented”, Putin is expected to join regional leaders for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin on Sunday, before holding bilateral talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Tuesday. On Wednesday, Putin will be the guest of honour at China’s World War II Victory Day…

E-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding has won “consumer mindshare” amid its instant commerce push, according to company executives and analysts, to regain growth momentum in the highly competitive domestic market. Advertisement On Friday’s earnings call, Alibaba CEO Eddie Wu Yongming said the company has succeeded in scaling up user growth and building consumer mindshare – referring to consumers’ preference for its platform, compared with others – and the results so far have “gone beyond our own expectations”. “With our newly achieved scale and market share, we are confident that we…

The first Chinese edition of Red Star Over China, an influential book that gave people in the West an understanding of Mao Zedong and the Communist Party, is on display for the first time in Shanghai as China marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Advertisement The 1937 book was written by American journalist Edgar Snow, the first Westerner to meet Mao and other early party leaders. In 1936, Snow visited Yanan, the party’s headquarters following the Long March, which had concluded the previous year. He…