China’s growing naval presence in the waters between Japan and South Korea could give the two neighbours a new incentive to overcome long-standing historical tensions and strengthen security cooperation, according to analysts. A reported sharp increase in Chinese warships and coastguard vessels passing through the strait that separates the two countries, some operating alongside Russian forces, has raised concerns about Beijing’s expanding maritime reach. The strait, which links the East China...

The US Justice Department on Tuesday announced charges against three men it described as “Iranian operatives” over their role in an alleged terrorist plot at Britain’s RAF Fairford airbase. Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood al-Saadi, Mohsen Mohajeri and Mohammad Ali al-Hassani were charged in relation to the September incident at the base, which has been used by the US military in its operations against Iran. Police were called to the Fairford site in southwest England after a local farmer reported...

It has been quite a birthday celebration. Ahead of the fifth anniversary of M+ on November 12, the directors of New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) and Paris’ Centre Pompidou touched down in Hong Kong to finalise a tripartite alliance with the young museum. The formal pact will see two of the world’s pre-eminent modern art museums share collections and programming with M+ on equal footing. On October 31, it was signed, sealed and toasted with high-wattage glamour at the museum’s fundraising...

On tote bags distributed by Asian-owned businesses in the US state of Georgia, three Asian-American women appeared in a design inspired by the Three Ladies rice brand. The bags were part of a campaign that put a voting twist on the online “Asian baby girl” meme. “We had an ‘Asian Ballot Girls’ campaign,” said Chany Chea, programme director of the Asian-American Advocacy Fund. “We had merch which went viral.” As Democrats won races in Republican strongholds across the southern United States in...

A leading cybersecurity scientist in the Chinese military, Guo Shize, has been removed from the website of the country’s top national research institute. Guo, 57, a researcher at the Information Technology Security Research Centre of the People’s Liberation Army, was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 2023. It is not known when his page was removed from the academy’s website, but Chinese media reports noted the change on Monday. Neither the academy nor Beijing’s defence ministry...

On November 22, 2021, President Xi Jinping and the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) jointly announced the establishment of a China-Asean Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, marking a new milestone in the history of this important relationship. Guided by the vision of a closer community with a shared future and with sustained efforts to build a peaceful, secure, prosperous, beautiful and amicable region as our common home, China and Asean have jointly nurtured one of...

China’s embassy in Santo Domingo accused the United States on Monday evening of “sinister intentions” and mocked Washington for “congratulating” the Dominican Republic on closing a Chinese-run cardboard factory. The rebuke came hours after Juan Pablo Segura, who leads the US State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, praised Dominican authorities on social media for “taking decisive action to shut down a massive, illegal, Chinese-operated cardboard factory”. Operating without...