Surveillance cameras in Shanghai. China has been accused of abusing surveillance technology.
Trade

Japan to weigh limits on surveillance tech exports with U.S., EU

International push to combat human rights abuses spurs Tokyo to action

24 December 2021
Xi Jinping on screen at the Museum of the Communist Party of China in Beijing, pictured on Nov. 12: the future price China's 1.4 billion people will pay for Xi's myth-building campaign rose exponentially in 2021.
Opinion

Asia's 2021 bull market in emperor-has-no-clothes moments

Xi Jinping happier than most to see this year stagger to a close

22 December 2021
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan addresses the media after a cabinet meeting in Ankara on Dec. 20. (Photo by Murat Cetinmuhurdar/PPO/Handout via Reuters) 
Currencies

Turkey's lira rallies late after Erdogan bolsters currency

Nation's bank group says about $1bn sold in markets

21 December 2021
Chile's President-elect Gabriel Boric delivers a speech on Dec. 19 to supporters in Santiago, Chile, after his victory.
Politics

Chile's CPTPP membership in limbo with leftist win

Millennial Boric scores presidency by tapping into frustrations over inequality

21 December 2021
Wamkele Mene, secretary-general of the African Continental Free Trade Area, left, and Turkish Trade Minister Mehmet Mus signed a memorandum of understanding regarding cooperation toward accelerating trade and investment on the sidelines of the third Turkey-Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul.
Indo-Pacific

Leader of African trade bloc issues call for Asian investors

Mene moves to boost Turkish investment in Africa during Istanbul summit

20 December 2021
The open pit mine of Molycorp's Mountain Pass rare earth facility in California, pictured in September 2009: the U.S. cannot make the same mistake again.
Opinion

Breaking China's grip on rare earths should be an AUKUS mission

Beijing has too much control over critical materials vital to advanced technology

20 December 2021
Russian President Vladimir Putin listens to Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuan Phuc during a meeting in Moscow on Nov. 30.
Economy

Vietnam poised to resume nuclear project a decade after Fukushima

Hanoi greenlights building small research reactor, joining hands with Russia

19 December 2021
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Malaysian Foreign Affairs Minister Saifuddin Abdullah hold a joint news conference after their meeting in Putrajaya, Malaysia on Dec. 15. 
Indo-Pacific

U.S. counters China with new Indo-Pacific framework

Japan has key role to play in moderating push to decouple from Beijing

19 December 2021
A Uniqlo store in Beijing. A shipment of shirts to the U.S. was blocked earlier this year under a narrower import ban.
US-China tensions

U.S. ban on Xinjiang imports to set off supply chain scramble

Sanctions to force deep dives by manufacturers to root out forced labor

18 December 2021
The meltdown of the lira is quickly pushing up the cost of living in Turkey through a greater dependence on imported goods and materials.
17 December 2021
U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, left, speaks with Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi at the Iikura Guest House in Tokyo on Nov. 17: a multiagency effort is needed to achieve the right results.
Opinion

Japan and U.S. need to get serious about tech competition with China

Tokyo and Washington should do more to protect shared economic security

16 December 2021
The only answer is to find a way to tell the whole truth to everyone without triggering a panic or a feel of despair.
Opinion

Think of our businesses and families as threatened ballrooms

Most people who live in the moment refuse to see the dangers

15 December 2021
Xi Jinping will have to wait several years longer before the Chinese economy overtakes the U.S.'s, partly thanks to a big spending package Joe Biden shepherded through Congress. (Nikkei montage/AP)
Economy

China's overtaking of U.S. economy delayed to 2033, report says

South Koreans and Taiwanese to earn more than Japanese starting in 2027: JCER

15 December 2021
According to the U.S. National Weather Service, at least 50 tornadoes were confirmed across nine states. 
Natural disasters

Infographic: Tornadoes slice through U.S. South and Midwest

Satellite imagery reveals vast swathes of destruction

14 December 2021
A mailbox remains in front of where a home once stood in Earlington, Kentucky, after an outbreak of tornadoes ripped through several U.S. states
Natural disasters

U.S. tornadoes slam Amazon warehouse, but carmakers spared worst

Death toll tops 70 in hard-hit Kentucky, home to big Toyota plant

14 December 2021
Demonstrators protest against additive-containing U.S. pork in Taipei, Taiwan, on Nov. 22.
Trade

Taiwan vote on pork ban risks U.S. relations at critical time

Tsai's efforts to join CPTPP also would be set back

14 December 2021
Workers walk towards the construction site of the Lusail stadium in Doha  that will be used in the 2022 soccer World Cup in this December 2019 photo.
International relations

Qatar faces fresh pressure over treatment of foreign workers

Ahead of World Cup, minister calls criticism of death rates 'demonization of Qatar'

13 December 2021
The World Trade Organization headquarters in Geneva. China joined the body in 2001.
Trade

China's 20 years at WTO: A boon for Beijing, a beef for critics

Hopes for the Asian giant to embrace global norms go unfulfilled

11 December 2021
Fishers unload a haul of seafood at a port in Japan's Fukushima Prefecture. Food products from the region must be tested for radioactive material before being exported to the U.K.
Trade

U.K. moves to scrap post-Fukushima curbs on Japanese food imports

Testing requirements could be dropped next spring

11 December 2021
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 29: in the eyes of market participants, monetary policy asymmetry has been a notable feature of the past three decades.
Opinion

Have central banks moved to break the monetary policy vicious cycle?

More important than inflation forecasting is the policy regime itself

10 December 2021
A view of the Piraeus Container Terminal, about a 20-minute drive from Athens.
Belt and Road

'Sold to China': Greece's Piraeus port town cools on Belt and Road

Beijing's gateway to Europe faces growing local opposition

10 December 2021
Parag Agrawal, newly named Twitter CEO: his appointment led to both celebration and soul searching in India. (Photo courtesy of Twitter) 
Opinion

New Twitter CEO highlights struggle to halt India's brain drain

A record 600,000 citizens gave up their nationality between 2017 and 2021

8 December 2021
The Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world, is seen in downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 
Economy

UAE shifts to Saturday-Sunday weekend in line with global markets

Working week will be 4.5 days, with Friday half off

7 December 2021
A delegation of lawmakers from Lithuania and two other Baltic nations met with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen last month.
International relations

Lithuania's Taiwan overtures create outsize challenge for China

Beijing treads carefully to avoid ripple effects on delicate relations with EU

7 December 2021
Yangshan Deepwater Port, the world's biggest automated container terminal, in Shanghai, pictured on Aug. 30: the trade rules that facilitated dramatic increases in global growth can no longer be taken for granted.
Opinion

Trade coercion presents a growing threat to the global economy

Nations need to go beyond expressions of solidarity

6 December 2021