Day: June 2, 2026

Beijing has condemned remarks by Philippine defence chief Gilberto Teodoro Jnr, saying the comments seriously damaged bilateral trust and showed a lack of gratitude for Chinese aid. China’s foreign ministry on Tuesday called on Manila to take action to prevent “a few clowns” from sabotaging bilateral ties through repeated political theatrics, as ties between the two neighbours remained strained. On the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Teodoro said during an interview with Reuters on Saturday that the Philippines remained under “severe threat territory-wise and politically too by China”.…

For years, Hong Kong’s obituary has been repeatedly written by international commentators. Geopolitical tensions, pandemic isolation, concerns over capital flight and questions surrounding the city’s future contributed to a narrative of irreversible decline. In many Western analyses, the assumption that Hong Kong’s best days as an international financial centre were behind it became almost automatic. Yet the latest global wealth management data tells a very different story. According to estimates from Boston Consulting Group, Hong Kong has overtaken Switzerland to become the world’s largest offshore wealth management centre. The city…

Despite repeated directives to ease the burden on local officials and curb formalism, many of China’s cadres still find themselves trapped in a frustrating cycle of working harder yet achieving fewer tangible results, according to state-linked media. Banyuetan, an influential biweekly magazine affiliated with state news agency Xinhua, outlined five symptoms of this “busier-but-emptier” phenomenon in a report published on its website on Tuesday. Beijing has long called for easing the burden of local cadres and reining in formalism and bureaucratic excess – a long-standing challenge within China’s vast administrative…

Vanuatu had a clear goal at last month’s annual assembly of the World Health Organization in Geneva – securing new international aid for the Pacific island nation. “I’m here to lobby for support,” said Jenny Stephens, Vanuatu’s director of public health. “We are experiencing the global funding cuts – it’s affecting our programmes like malaria, TB and HIV. We’re already struggling.” Advertisement Vanuatu’s health programmes are among thousands in the Global South that have been halted or cancelled since the United States pulled out of the WHO and terminated both…

Brazil has won wider access to the world’s biggest beef market after China recognised the entire country as free of foot-and-mouth disease, though a new quota will still cap prices. After a risk analysis, Beijing lifted the restriction on northern Brazil and recognised the entire country as free of the disease, according to the Chinese notice. The measure was dated May 29 and made public on Tuesday. Advertisement The ruling overturns Chinese decisions from 2002, 2005 and 2009. The last of those had treated only Santa Catarina and a group…

US President Donald Trump signed a long-awaited executive order on artificial intelligence (AI) on Tuesday, which asked technology companies to voluntarily share advanced models before they are released, signalling a shift in the administration’s largely laissez-faire approach to the industry. The voluntary framework allows the government to vet powerful new AI systems up to 30 days before their public release, but stops short of mandating review regulations, which were reportedly considered. Advertisement “We’re leading China, we’re leading everybody, and I don’t want to do anything that’s going to get in…

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said “significant irritants” remained in the US-China relationship but that Washington and Beijing needed to keep talking to stop flashpoints from erupting. At a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Tuesday, Rubio said both countries – the world’s two largest economies and most powerful militaries – must communicate to “de-escalate potential points of conflict that could lead to something broader”. “The Chinese government and the US government have to… South China Morning Post