5 h. ago Welcome to a world where wars don’t end and sanctions don’t work

For much of the modern era, power was easy to recognise. It belonged to the states that could win wars decisively, enforce sanctions effectively and impose political outcomes far beyond their borders. That definition no longer works. The world is moving towards what scholars have described as a form of “distributed multipolarity”, a landscape in which no single actor – not the United States, not China, not Russia – can fully shape events in the way great powers once expected. Tools once seen as...

Events

10 h. ago Ayumu Hirano, Patti Zhou Win Halfpipe Events At The Snow League China

Ayumu Hirano, Patti Zhou Win Halfpipe Events At The Snow League China  Forbes

Politics

49 h. ago China urged to boost innovation to drive development at home and abroad

China should focus on technological innovation to drive domestic and global development, a forum this week has heard. China would push for high-quality development and opening up to the outside world, Li Shulei, head of the Communist Party’s publicity department, told the 2025 Understanding China Conference in Guangzhou on Monday. The event, which ran between Sunday and Tuesday, was attended by around 800 people and technological innovation was a central theme. China also strove to help...

Transport

5 d. ago By cutting Japanese studies, is US risking ties with key Indo

Academics are bemoaning the decline in programmes focused on Japanese language, culture, history, art and other social science subjects at universities in the United States, warning that a “short-sighted approach” could threaten future trade and business opportunities as well as the critical diplomatic relationship. Funding for liberal arts courses at US universities has been under pressure for some years, they point out, but that appears to be accelerating as greater emphasis is placed on...

Events

5 d. ago ‘Looming crisis’: why US universities are cutting critical Japanese studies

Academics are bemoaning the decline in programmes focused on Japanese language, culture, history, art and other social science subjects at universities in the United States, warning that a “short-sighted approach” could threaten future trade and business opportunities as well as the critical diplomatic relationship. Funding for liberal arts courses at US universities has been under pressure for some years, they point out, but that appears to be accelerating as greater emphasis is placed on...

Events

7 d. ago Beijing freezes Japan youth exchange programmes over Takaichi Taiwan row

Beijing has frozen youth exchange programmes with Tokyo amid the fallout over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remarks on Taiwan, according to a diplomatic source, raising concern that the bilateral rift could affect younger generations. The Japanese side was told about the cancelled programmes after China launched retaliatory measures against Japan over Takaichi’s comments earlier this month, the source said. “Usually, November and December are the season for youth exchanges, but now...

Politics

9 d. ago Japanese craft festival in Hong Kong to proceed despite geopolitical tensions

The organiser of a private cultural festival celebrating Japanese craftsmanship said it would go ahead with the event in Hong Kong next month, despite feeling under pressure as friends voiced concerns about possible fallout from the ongoing Sino-Japanese row. Theresa Ting, co-founder of the Japanese cultural festival “A Journey into Japanese Craft Aesthetics”, said no organisations or institutions had so far requested the cancellation or postponement of the event. She stressed that the activity...

Politics

1 week ago Japan man scoops US$3.8 million lottery hides win from wife, lives in secret luxury

An elderly man in Japan who won 600 million yen (US$3.8 million) in the lottery kept his windfall a secret from his penny-pinching wife so he could live a life of luxury. According to the Japanese media outlet, The Gold Online, the 66-year-old known as “S” is a retiree from a major manufacturing company. He and his wife live in Tokyo on a combined monthly pension of 300,000 yen (US$2,000). With high living costs in the city and the added expense of supporting their two children’s education,...

Society

1 week ago Siobhan Haughey dives in as Hong Kong Victoria Harbour race seeks expanded entry

Organisers of the Hong Kong Victoria Harbour Race are considering recruiting mainland Chinese lifeguards to increase the participant limit to beyond 10,000 after more than 3,700 swimmers, including National Games medallist Siobhan Haughey, joined Saturday’s annual event. Hong Kong China Swimming Association President Ronnie Wong Man-chiu told the media after the event that the key factors in raising the quota were the number of available lifeguards and the amount of time competitors spend in the...

Politics

1 week ago Siobhan Haughey dives in as Hong Kong Victoria Harbour race seeks more swimmers

Organisers of the Hong Kong Victoria Harbour Race are considering recruiting mainland Chinese lifeguards to increase the participant limit to beyond 10,000 after more than 3,700 swimmers, including National Games medallist Siobhan Haughey, joined Saturday’s annual event. Hong Kong China Swimming Association President Ronnie Wong Man-chiu told the media after the event that the key factors in raising the quota were the number of available lifeguards and the amount of time competitors spend in the...

Politics

2 w. ago Japanese cultural events in China canceled after Takaichi's remarks

Japanese cultural events in China canceled after Takaichi's remarks  ecns.cn

Politics

2 w. ago Japan cook fends off bear while preparing food, keeps working while covered in blood

A ramen eatery cook in Japan was attacked by a bear, suffered injuries, but still calmly made food preparations with his blood-covered face, shocking many online. Japan witnessed a surge in bear attacks this year. At least 13 people have been killed – a record number since 2006 – and more than 100 people have been injured in bear attacks across the country, according to the Ministry of Environment. On November 9, an employee of a ramen shop in the country’s northeastern Aomori prefecture was...

Society

2 w. ago Young Chinese fans fear losing access to Japanese culture amid diplomatic row

The Japanese comedy Cells at Work! was expected to be released in Chinese cinemas on Saturday. The live-action movie is adapted from a popular manga series and follows the slapstick adventures of cells inside the body of a Japanese teenager. However, the movie’s launch date in China has been pushed back. Also postponed is the release of Crayon Shinchan the Movie: Super Hot! The Spicy Kasukabe Dancers, an animated film that was scheduled to hit Chinese screens in early December. The delays come...

Politics

2 w. ago Japanese concerts cancelled in China as diplomatic row takes cultural toll

Fans of Japanese singer-songwriter Kokia were disappointed on Wednesday night when a “last-minute technical issue” forced the cancellation of a concert in Beijing. The organiser of the event apologised on Thursday for one of a series of Japanese cultural events that have been cancelled or delayed since China and Japan became embroiled in a diplomatic row this month. “This should have been announced earlier! People waited for an hour and a half, and many came from out of town,” one fan said,...

Politics

2 w. ago WBCSD Participates in Side Event at COP30 China Pavilion Hosted by State Grid

WBCSD Participates in Side Event at COP30 China Pavilion Hosted by State Grid  The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD)

Politics

2 w. ago China deepens pressure on Japan with travel bans and cancelled events

China deepens pressure on Japan with travel bans and cancelled events  Financial Times

Events

2 w. ago South China Sea: how third PLA Navy aircraft carrier changes dynamics for US

When President Xi Jinping commissioned the Fujian on November 5, China became only the second nation to have an aircraft carrier with an electromagnetic catapult system. It is also notable that, last month, two navy aircraft from the USS Nimitz crashed into the South China Sea. These events crystallise a strategic reality often obscured by aggregate force comparisons: the relevant naval balance is not between the 11 US aircraft carriers and China’s three, but between what the United States can...

Transport

2 w. ago How does China’s modernising navy stack up against the US 7th fleet?

When President Xi Jinping commissioned the Fujian on November 5, China became only the second nation to have an aircraft carrier with an electromagnetic catapult system. It is also notable that, last month, two navy aircraft from the USS Nimitz crashed into the South China Sea. These events crystallise a strategic reality often obscured by aggregate force comparisons: the relevant naval balance is not between the 11 US aircraft carriers and China’s three, but between what the United States can...

Politics

2 w. ago How does China’s modernising navy stack up against the US seventh fleet?

When President Xi Jinping commissioned the Fujian on November 5, China became only the second nation to have an aircraft carrier with an electromagnetic catapult system. It is also notable that, last month, two navy aircraft from the USS Nimitz crashed into the South China Sea. These events crystallise a strategic reality often obscured by aggregate force comparisons: the relevant naval balance is not between the 11 US aircraft carriers and China’s three, but between what the United States can...

Politics

2 w. ago Airlines offer Japan trip refunds as row over Takaichi’s Taiwan comments deepens

Major Chinese airlines are offering full refunds for flights to Japan after Beijing told Chinese citizens to avoid travelling to the country. The travel warning late on Friday marked the latest escalation in tensions over Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s suggestion that Tokyo could deploy its military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait. Air China, China Southern, China Eastern, Hainan Airlines, Sichuan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Spring Airlines issued separate...

Politics