Tag - china

 
 

CHINA

The Mitsukoshi department store in Tokyo. Isetan Mitsukoshi Holdings saw duty-free sales rise 5.4% in March, in line with a 5.5% increase in overall sales.
BUSINESS / Companies
Apr 1, 2026
Japan’s department store duty-free sales rebound as China-driven slump eases
The gains mark a shift for the stores, which had endured consecutive months of declining duty-free sales amid lingering tensions with China.
Cheng Li-wun, the chairwoman of Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang, attends an event in Taipei on March 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 1, 2026
World doesn’t need crisis over Taiwan, opposition leader says before China trip
Cheng Li-wun, chairwoman of the Kuomintang, said that she is seeking reconciliation, ahead of a six-day trip to China at the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Motorists queue up to refuel their vehicles outside a petrol station in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on Sunday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 1, 2026
Asia barters for scarce energy as Iran crisis throttles supply
The race for alternative supply has hotted up as China, the world’s second-largest economy, imposed fuel export bans.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping talk as they leave after a bilateral meeting at Gimhae International Airport, in Busan, South Korea, in October 2025.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2026
Trump’s delayed Xi summit gives U.S.-China irritants room to grow
In recent days, China launched retaliatory probes into U.S. trade practices, while a bipartisan group of American senators visited Taiwan to press for more spending to deter China.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (R) speaks with his Pakistani counterpart Ishaq Dar in Beijing on Tuesday.
WORLD / Politics
Apr 1, 2026
China and Pakistan outline five-point plan to end Mideast war
The two countries outlined a joint initiative “for restoring peace and stability in the Gulf and Middle East region,” after senior Pakistani officials visited Beijing.
Facilities of Huanyang Chemical Industry and Ningbo Huanyang New Materials in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China, on March 21. Petrol and plastic prices have risen for China since the U.S. and Israel began their strikes on Iran a month ago.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 31, 2026
What the Middle East war means for China’s ties with Iran
China and Iran’s relationship is transactional despite them sometimes being considered as part of a broader anti-Western group — alongside Russia and North Korea.
Kawada Robotics demonstrates one of its prototypes at the International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo in March 2022. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is wise to accelerate science and technology integration with national security and diplomacy.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Mar 31, 2026
Takaichi rallies support for a ‘new technology-driven nation’
Positioning science and technology at the core of national strategy is not new.
Pakistani Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in Moscow in 2025
WORLD / Politics
Mar 31, 2026
Pakistan’s foreign minister to visit China as outlook for Mideast war uncertain
Pakistan has emerged as a key player in seeking to broker peace in the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya speaks to reporters on Monday at the Diet building.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2026
China’s sanctions against Japan lawmaker over Taiwan ties slammed
The Japanese government has urged China to lift the sanctions against Keiji Furuya, which include a ban on his entry into China.
Kumamoto Gov. Takashi Kimura (left) and city of Kumamoto Mayor Kazufumi Onishi (second from left) speak to reporters after viewing upgraded Type-12 surface-to-ship missile systems (seen in the background), which have a range of about 1,000 kilometers, at the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Camp Kengun in the city of Kumamoto on March 17.
JAPAN
Mar 31, 2026
Japan’s ‘counterstrike capability’ takes shape with missile deployments
Japan on Tuesday for the first time deployed its homegrown longer-range missiles and new hyper velocity gliding projectiles to two military bases in the country.
An aerial view shows tugboats helping a crude oil tanker to berth at an oil terminal, off Waidiao Island in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province, China, in 2022.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 31, 2026
China puts home energy needs above cooperation as Mideast war halts supplies
China is the world’s second largest fertilizer ‌exporter and also ‌a large supplier of fuel, with imports from China a major source of supply for many countries in Asia.
Gao Zhen, left, and his brother Gao Qiang, with their artwork “Mao’s Guilt” in Beijing in September 2009
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 31, 2026
The secret trial of a Chinese artist accused of mocking Mao Zedong
The trial, where the artist faces suspicion of slandering China’s heroes, will not be open to the public.
 Amy Yee poses for a photo in Lalibela, Ethiopia. An award-winning journalist and former foreign correspondent for the Financial Times, Yee shifted her focus to the issue of Tibetans in exile for her book, “Far From the Rooftop of the World: Travels Among Tibetan Refugees on Four Continents.”
CULTURE / Books / Longform
Mar 31, 2026
The voices of Tibet, far from home
A conversation with author Amy Yee on exile, identity and the lives of Tibetan refugees across continents.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on March 19. When interpreting the mercurial U.S. leader's negotiating style, the prime minister must focus on his signals, not his promises.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 30, 2026
Decoding ‘Trump-Speak’ — a guide for Japan’s leaders
For Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the challenge of dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump is not about language or translation. The real difficulty lies in interpreting a presidential communication style that departs sharply from the postwar norms of diplomacy....
Zhao Bin, a Chinese business traveler, speaks to the media after checking in for a flight to Pyongyang on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Mar 30, 2026
Why are Chinese flights to North Korea resuming now?
Before both countries closed their borders due to COVID-19, North Korea received an estimated 300,000 foreign visitors in 2019, 90% of them Chinese.
Japanese lawmaker Keiji Furuya (right) meets with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te in Taipei earlier this month.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 30, 2026
China sanctions Japanese lawmaker over Taiwan trips
The LDP’s Keiji Furuya is banned from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau amid Beijing and Tokyo’s monthslong diplomatic row.
Norman Wong, the great-grandson of Wong Kim Ark, poses for a portrait in front of a mural of his late ancestor in San Francisco on March 25.
WORLD / Politics
Mar 30, 2026
In U.S. Supreme Court fight over birthright citizenship, a great-grandson hears echoes of 1898
San Francisco area resident Norman Wong, 76, worries that the principle granting citizenship by birth on U.S. soil enshrined by his ancestor’s case may be in peril.
A China Coast Guard ship is seen on the horizon through a telescopic view from Philippine-occupied Thitu Island in the disputed South China Sea in February.
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 30, 2026
China urges Philippines to stabilize ties amid maritime row
Officials held a “candid and in-depth” exchange of views on relations, and international and regional issues over the weekend.
Rocket trails are seen in the sky amid a fresh barrage of Iranian missile attacks above the Israeli coastal city of Netanya on Friday.
WORLD / FOCUS
Mar 29, 2026
The war with Iran may be ushering in a new nuclear age
From the North Atlantic to the West Pacific, governments are debating more publicly than before whether they, too, must get the bomb.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during a news conference on parliament in Tokyo on Friday.
JAPAN / Politics
Mar 29, 2026
Japan to establish new Defense Ministry office to bolster Pacific defenses
The ministry will launch the office next month to tackle the challenge of how best to defend Japan’s vulnerable eastern flank, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said.

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival