ASIA: Beijing has reported 106 new infections in the last five days. The city raised its alert level from Level 3 to Level 2 — the highest alert being Level 1 — the Beijing government’s Deputy Secretary Chen Bei announced in a press conference Tuesday night. Fearing the possibility of another outbreak, Beijing has imposed […]

ASIA: Beijing is reintroducing strict lockdown measures and rolling out mass testing after a fresh cluster of novel coronavirus cases emerged from the city’s largest wholesale food market, sparking fears of a resurgence of the deadly outbreak. The Chinese capital reported 36 new Covid-19 cases on Monday, bringing the total number to 79 since a […]

ASIA: Twitter has removed more than 170,000 accounts from its platform after the social media site found state-linked influence campaigns from China focusing on Hong Kong protests, Covid-19, and the US protests in relation to George Floyd. The company announced on Thursday that 23,750 core accounts, and 150,000 “amplifier” accounts that boosted the content posted […]

ASIA: Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said that he would not be intimidated or give into coercion when asked on Thursday whether Australia would keep taking hits on exports from major trading partner China. “We are an open-trading nation, mate, but I’m never going to trade our values in response to coercion from wherever it […]

ASIA: China has been accused by Brussels of running disinformation campaigns inside the European Union, as the bloc set out a plan to tackle a “huge wave” of false facts about the coronavirus pandemic. The European Commission said Russia and China were running “targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns in the EU, its neighborhood, and […]

ASIA: China is warning its students to reconsider plans to study in Australia due to an increase in racist attacks as it steps up a campaign to punish Australia economically for supporting an international probe into coronavirus. The travel warning on Tuesday follows last week’s advice for Chinese tourists to stay away from Australia and […]

ASIA: Chinese apps are facing major challenges in India after an app named “Remove China Apps” made it easy for users to delete China-related services went viral. Though Google has pulled the app, anti-China sentiment will likely haunt Chinese apps in India as political tensions between the countries heighten. Decoupling from Chinese tech might not […]

ASIA: China is considering using about USD 28 billion in proceeds from government bond sales to help address risks in the banking sector, according to people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg. The debt will be part of the total issuance planned by the central government in 2020, and it’ll be used for measures including […]

ASIA: China has said it will loosen restrictions on international air travel that were put in place to control coronavirus. The move came hours after the US pushed Beijing to allow US airlines to resume flights to the country. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Zhao Lijian said the two sides had been in close communication […]

ASIA: The US government says it will block Chinese airlines from flying into the US in response to China’s decision to ban US air carriers on June 1, 2020. The Transportation Department restrictions will take effect on June 16 but could be enacted earlier if President Donald Trump decides to do so. The Transportation Department […]