East Asia

In his first policy speech, Hong Kong’s chief executive says that Xi Jinping’s draconian directives will be followed and national security will be tightened. Hong Kongers expect little from Lee. His housing plan drags down markets.

Singapore's premier reveals. The grand free trade agreement, boycotted by Trump, was meant to be anti-Chinese. Negotiations with Great Britain are ongoing. China's accession would exclude the US and Taiwan.

After years of debate and speculation about a possible exemption, the hugely popular K-pop band has announced that it will follow enlistment procedures like all South Koreans. The compulsory conscription is the most tangible legacy of the continuing conflict and tensions with Pyongyang, which has been ill-supported by young people in the hyper-competitive South Korean labour market.

The Chinese leader opened the 20th Chinese Communist Party Congress yesterday. Slowing economic growth, mounting debt, youth unemployment and demographic decline: Xi offers many slogans and few solutions. The card of nationalism (and Taiwan) played to find a new glue between the regime and Chinese society.

Pressed by public opinion, Japanese Prime Minister Kishida opened an investigation into the huge donations to the religious group that got it caught up in the Abe assassination. Kishida told parliament that a help line for alleged debt-stricken victims received 1,700 calls. The investigation could see the church lose its status as a religious entity and related tax benefits.

The Chinese are not participating in multilateral talks on debt relief for the poorest nations. China also wants the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to agree to a cut. This year developing states have to repay foreign debts amounting to $35 billion, 40% of which is owed to Beijing.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida named his 31-year-old son, Shotaro, as his new executive secretary, a key post on his staff. Although this is not unusual in Japanese politics, it has revived criticism of nepotism. Meanwhile, the prime minister’s popularity is at an all-time low.

Becoming an online sensation, the lone warrior displayed banners attacking the president in Beijing. The rare initiative comes amid heightened security measures in the capital. The authorities are trying to censor all information about the demonstration. Popular discontent grows, but those who oppose Xi, run great risks.

The zero-COVID policy has strengthened the police state and social control, especially in Tibet and Xinjiang. Many human rights activists and lawyers remain in prison awaiting trial or sentencing. In China, Xi's "two cornerstones" are a must.

The unusual illustration shows officers in riot gear asking the principal of a school how the students behaved. For the police, the drawing damages their image. At least 14 schoolchildren suspended for missing flag-raising. Under the national security law, even minors are imprisoned. Meanwhile, cartoonists are leaving the city.

South Korea’s foreign policy intrudes directly into its domestic politics. The opposition slams the government for holding joint military exercises with the United States and Japan, accusing the conservative government of favouring Japan’s return to the peninsula. The interim leader of the conservative People Power Party counterattacked saying that the opposition’s statements echo those of North Korea.

Morris Chang warns that factories will be destroyed if war comes. Even if China should succeed in attacking the island, it will not control the company. TSMC holds 53 per cent of the global chip foundry market. New US ban on semiconductor exports is a blow to China.