From rivals to partners, China and Europe are retooling ties, adviser says

China’s international clout and economic stability are rebalancing Beijing’s relations with Europe, putting more focus on cooperation and less on rivalry, according to a former Chinese envoy. On the sidelines of China’s “two sessions” on Thursday, Wu said that fostering cooperation, rather than regarding China as Europe’s rival, would be in the best interests of both Europe and China. Advertisement European leaders have made a flurry of visits to China in recent months as the United States has upended relations with its traditional allies with tariff threats and a push…

The last of Hong Kong’s colonial-era trainee schemes

Tony Tyler was determined to find work abroad after he graduated with an Oxford law degree in 1977. After applying to a smattering of shipping and logistics groups he discovered Swire, the British-owned, pan-Asian conglomerate. “They said: ‘Look, you go out to Hong Kong . . . to work in the east and you’ll never come back,’” said Tyler, who joined the company that year and went on to lead Cathay Pacific, the airline it controls, from 2007 to 2011. “I thought: ‘Perfect, that’s exactly what I want.’” For decades, adventurous graduates from British…