About Asia

SCMP specialist digital editor Jarrod Watt speaks with NY-based reporter Mark Magnier about China’s telling abstention from the UN vote on Ukraine, Joe Biden’s China remarks in his State of the Union, and reports that Xi Jinping was told by Vladmir Putin of his plans to invade Ukraine after the Beijing Winter Olympics. Brussels-based reporter Finbarr Bermingham discusses EU’s plea for Beijing to b...

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine continues, SCMP reporters Finbarr Bermingham and Mai Jun explore how tectonic policy shifts by Germany and others toward Moscow sanctions will change China's European relationships; Zhou Xin looks at how China's banks are reckoning with Swift bans on Russia, and how China's tech companies are navigating the tricky issue of Western sanctions and Beijing's firm opposi...

Brussels-based reporter Finbarr Bermingham and the Post’s Mai Jun from Beijing detail the diplomatic tensions between the EU and Beijing. Sino-Russian affairs expert Dr Stefan Auer analyses the end of “soft power” in Europe and how 50 years after Nixon played the “China card” against the USSR, Putin has done the same against the US. Taiwan-based academic Weng-Ti Sung analyses Russia’s actions and...

SCMP’s North America correspondent Mark Magnier analyses the agenda and impact of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s unofficial summit with Central Asian leaders at the Beijing Winter Olympics, as the geopolitics of citizenship weigh on Chinese-American athletes competing for gold. Political economy journalist Kandy Wong looks at what two years of Trump’s tariffs and the phase-one trade deal have brought...

With his military massed on the Ukraine border, Russian President Vladmir Putin is in Beijing to sign a new agreement with Xi Jinping with huge implications for global geopolitics. SCMP reporter Laura Zhou unpacks the evolving relationship between the two nations; China desk senior editor Peter Langan reports from Tokyo on Japan's historic resolution on human rights for Xinjiang and Hong Kong, and...

Hear from Post correspondent in Washington, Jacob Fromer, about the US House of Representatives proposing a huge bundle of legislation known as the America Competes Act of 2022, with action proposed on everything from semiconductors to Xinjiang, Taiwan, the Quad and replacing Confucius Institutes in American universities with language centres that teach Mandarin, Cantonese, Mongolian and Uyghur. B...

SCMP Brussels correspondent Finbarr Bermingham analyses the data showing Lithuania's exports to China have collapsed and asks: does this mean Beijing's trade coercion works? Meanwhile the European Parliament proposes measures to punish Hong Kong over media freedom. East Asia reporter Maria Siow unpacks the high-level meeting between Japan and France on defense co-operation, as the Philippines anno...

Hear how Beijing is making big inroads to Middle East diplomacy this week, meeting with foreign ministers of Turkey and Iran right after a five-day meeting with ministers from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and other oil-rich Gulf nations. Learn more of Beijing’s agenda and how they connect to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. Also, dive deep into China’s connection with Kazakhstan and a...

The SCMP's European correspondent Finbarr Bermingham unpacks the new 'anti-coercion instrument' announced by the EU, and its relevance to what looks like the weaponisation of trade with China, in a year where European attitudes to Beijing have dramatically changed. SCMP China desk editor Peter Langan reports from Tokyo with analysis on Japan's policy shift and changing military stance towards Beij...

Owen Churchill from the SCMP US bureau and William Zheng from the SCMP China desk discuss landmark US sanctions announced over products sourced from Xinjiang. They analyse a year in US-China relations from the start of Joe Biden’s presidency and his promise of a change in style from Donald Trump’s Twitter-based diplomacy. From confrontations in Alaska and Tianjin to new ambassadors in Washington a...

In a year celebrating the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party, this week saw the unveiling of the concept of ‘Chinese democracy’, days before Joe Biden hosted his Democracy Summit. Hear analysis from Post reporters in SCMP Beijing and New York bureaus, contrasting contesting claims over legitimate democracy. You’ll also hear an extraordinary moment during a report from Brussels-based reporter...

The SCMP’s Rob Delaney previews the coming “democracy summit” called by US President Biden and the opportunity Taiwan sees to further its legitimacy; Biden’s Asia advisor Kurt Campbell declares China’s trade war on Australia lost, amid revelations the US profited from Beijing’s sanctions; and Asia desk correspondent Maria Siow analyses Solomon Islands unrest. Are the Honiara riots over switching d...

SCMP’s Europe correspondent Finbarr Bermingham details his trip to Lithuania where he found himself at an event that has outraged Beijing: the ‘Taiwan Representative Office’ opening - a de facto embassy and the first to bear the name "Taiwan" in Europe. Hear what went on and the deep historic symbolism Lithuanian MPs attached to the event; hear an in-depth interview with foreign minister Gabrieliu...

Chad Bray speaks with SCMP North American bureau chief Rob Delaney and Beijing-based news editor Mai Jun to compare and contrast the details and reactions of American and Chinese media and audiences to this week's Xi-Biden summit. Bhavan Jaipragas reports from the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore on what was being talked about on and offstage, including: is the US trying to lobby for a new...

Chad Bray presents an episode in a week of historic announcements: US-based correspondent Owen Churchill analyses the US-China deal at COP26, the surprise visit to Taiwan of US Congress members ahead of a new arms deal and ongoing moves to pick the next US ambassador to China. Senior China correspondent William Zheng unpacks the politics and agenda behind Xi Jinping’s “historic resolution” and his...

Chad Bray speaks with SCMP US bureau chief Rob Delaney and European correspondent Finbarr Bermingham about the increasing prominence of Taiwan on the agenda of the White House and the European Parliament. Hear about the upcoming G20 meeting in Rome and how Xi Jinping's absence is being seen as a missed opportunity for face to face diplomacy - and what will replace it.

SCMP’s Tokyo-based correspondent Julian Ryall analyses China and Russia exploiting a loophole to send a navy group on a historic passage between Japan’s main island of Honshu and northern island of Hokkaido. How will this play in upcoming Japanese elections and what has been the reaction from new Prime Minister Fumio Kisihida? Former Australian PM Kevin Rudd speaks in-depth with SCMP chief news ed...

As the US, UK and other nations deal with supply chain issues, how are traders at the top of the global supply chain faring in the world’s largest wholesale market? SCMP reporter Luna Sun details what she's seen and heard at China’s massive Yiwu wholesale market as it deals with power outages,  soaring container costs and ongoing Covid-19 restrictions, and New York correspondent Mark Magnier repor...

SCMP's US reporter Owen Churchill analyses USTR Katherine Tai’s speech on the US-China trade deal, the new ‘China office’ of the CIA and the reality behind news reports of US Marines in Taiwan; China desk reporter William Zheng discusses China’s increasing PLA aircraft deployments across the Taiwan Strait in the leadup to 10/10 day, and Brussels-based reporter Finbarr Bermingham analyses the recen...

Chad Bray speaks with Sarah Zheng in the SCMP’s Beijing office as China’s “golden week” holiday begins against a backdrop of power outages and factory shutdowns. Hear how Meng Wanzhou’s homecoming has affected US-China relations, with talk of a Xi Jinping-Joe Biden summit. Brussels-based reporter Finbarr Bermingham analyses Germany’s election results with Chinese characteristics, and why Taiwan wa...

The SCMP’s Washington bureau chief Rob Delaney analyses speeches from Presidents Xi Jinping and Joe Biden at the UN General Assembly, and calls for the Quad to expand membership; Beijing-based reporter Laura Zhou on an ex-diplomat's calls for China to change its policy regarding nuclear weapons and missile proliferation, including its first-strike nuclear strategy towards the US, and the Universit...

SCMP Washington bureau chief Rob Delaney unpacks the week’s surprise announcement of 'AUKUS' - a new military pact between the US, UK and Australia promising increased US troops, hardware and a new fleet of nuclear submarines to be stationed in Australia. Brussels-based reporter Finbarr Bermingham analyses the shocked European response as well as how China’s economic relationship with Germany is i...

Post Asia reporter Bhavan Japraigas unpacks the goals of US Vice President Kamala Harris upon her visits to Singapore and Vietnam this week and looks at what was missing, contrasting her announcement of a new US embassy in Hanoi with China's massive economic influence. Mumbai-based journalist Kunal Purohit analyses India's changing relationship with the US following events in Afghanistan, how Indi...

SCMP's Beijing-based correspondent Sarah Zheng discusses how Chinese state media portrayed the chaos in Kabul amid the US withdrawal, China’s strategic plans for Afghanistan and how some are using the crisis to query US loyalty to Taiwan; Asia correspondent Bhavan Jaipragas unpacks Malaysia’s constitutional crisis after its prime minister resigned, and how PLA aggression in the South China Sea com...

Europe correspondent Finbarr Bermingham unpacks why China has expelled Lithuania’s ambassador from Beijing and recalled its ambassador to Lithuania; China desk editor Teddy Ng on new PLA exercises off Hainan island and with the Russian military in western China; Lowy Institute director Sam Roggeveen discusses its new study on the PLA’s expanded capability to strike Australia and dominate the South...