“Regardless of what lies ahead – be it a minefield or a deep abyss – I will forge ahead unswervingly, dedicating my entire life and energy to the country until my dying day.” Those words, spoken at the dawn of his premiership, came to define Zhu Rongji, China’s towering economic reformer who died in Beijing on Wednesday. He was 97. His remarks at a press conference in 1998 came as China was undertaking sweeping state-owned enterprise (SOE) reforms that caused widespread job losses, even as it...

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Wednesday he hoped more countries would join a defence agreement signed last week between Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan aimed at stabilising a region wracked by conflict. The so-called Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed on Friday as the Middle East grapples with fallout from the US-Iran war, which has dragged in regional players and disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea. “Our vision for it is not limited to the three...

A Hong Kong baby food producer has voluntarily recalled several products from store shelves as a precaution after parents and online users raised concerns that they might contain rice weevils. Baby Basic on Wednesday said the recall covered “instant baby congee – konbu salmon”, with an expiry date of June 22, 2027, and three varieties of its “instant rice-shaped pasta”: salmon and cream, tomato and chicken, and vegetable and beef. It also suspended production of all three pasta varieties. The...

China is expanding its scientific collaboration with Iran into the strategically sensitive field of rare earths, including processing technologies that Beijing has increasingly sought to protect from overseas transfer. The National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) unveiled the latest joint workshop programme with its Iranian counterpart on Monday, listing the “exploration and processing of rare earth elements” among five areas selected for cooperation. The Chinese side will provide...

US soybean growers are “adapting” to a steep decline in China-bound exports by selling to third countries and the American biofuel sector, compensating enough to cause only a small drop in production, according to a top trade association’s chief economist. In November, Beijing committed to buy at least 25 million tonnes of American soybeans annually through 2028, as part of an agreement reached after China stopped the purchases during US President Donald Trump’s trade war in early 2025. But just...

Retiree Yang Fangxin’s 72 sq ft rooftop home, located on the ninth floor of a 62-year-old building in Sham Shui Po, has become a heat trap under Hong Kong’s scorching hot weather. The temperature in her home was above 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) at around 5pm on Tuesday, higher than the 33 degrees recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory’s monitoring station in the same district. The temperature in her home only dropped slightly to 37.8 degrees after switching on two fans and an air...

Hong Kong’s leader has expressed his profound sorrow over the death of former Chinese premier Zhu Rongji, paying tribute to him for supporting the city in challenging times including the 1997 Asian financial crisis. In a statement late on Wednesday night, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said he was sincerely grateful for Zhu’s care and support for Hong Kong’s economic and social development over the years, while noting his commitment to the “one country, two systems” governing principle. Zhu...