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December 04, 2024
 

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Keith Bradsher
Flames leap out of an oven where rare-earth-based chemicals are roasted for more than 20 hours, in Changshu, China.
BUSINESS / Tech
Oct 27, 2024
China tightens its hold on minerals needed to make computer chips
The country already produces nearly all the world’s supply of these materials. The new restrictions solidify that market dominance.
Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota at a campaign rally in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Aug 12, 2024
Tim Walz’s long relationship with China defies easy stereotypes
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz has been an outspoken critic of China's human rights record.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with China's President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) member states leaders' summit in Astana on Wednesday.
WORLD / Politics
Jul 4, 2024
How China and Russia compete, and cooperate, in Central Asia
Even as China has expanded its economic influence across Central Asia, it still faces challenges to its diplomacy from Russia.
The holding lot of the Shanghai Automotive Industrial Corporation-Volkswagen joint venture in Shanghai in April 2023. As the European Union moves to impose tariffs on Chinese cars, Germany, with an auto industry deeply enmeshed with China, is stuck in the middle.
BUSINESS
Jun 23, 2024
Germany hopes to head off a trade war with China
China’s EV exports threaten European automakers, but companies like Volkswagen have extensive operations in China and fear retaliatory actions by Beijing.
Shipping containers at the port in Ningbo, China, March 27, 2024. The U.S. and Europe are trying to catch up to China’s lead in industrial policy, a rival skilled in using all the levers of government and banking to dominate global manufacturing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 28, 2024
How China pulled so far ahead on industrial policy
In 2022, Beijing accounted for 85% of all clean-energy manufacturing investment in the world, according to the International Energy Agency.
A solar farm owned by the Huaneng Group in Shilin, China on March 2. Beijing is set to further increase its manufacturing and installation of solar panels, as it seeks to master global markets and wean itself from imports.
BUSINESS / Tech
Mar 9, 2024
China racing ahead on plans to dominate solar energy industry
Beijing is set to further increase its manufacturing and installation of solar panels as it seeks to master global markets and wean itself from imports.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang chat at the end of the opening session of the National People's Congress at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Tuesday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Mar 5, 2024
China sets robust economic growth goal but no big bang stimulus
Premier Li Qiang targets growth of about 5% this year but signals continued reluctance to use deficit spending for economic stimulus.
Shoppers walk past an ID Hub, a Volkswagen showroom for electric cars, at a mall in Shanghai on Dec. 3, 2023.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 19, 2024
Firms with deep roots in China reconsider their Xinjiang ties
Volkswagen Group is reviewing the future of its joint venture in the Xinjiang region of northwestern China
The tail of a BYD electric vehicle sports the company’s motto, “build your dreams,” at a dealership in Shenzhen, China, on Jan. 29.
BUSINESS / Companies
Feb 12, 2024
How China built BYD, its Tesla killer
BYD’s sales, over 80% of them in China, passed Tesla in worldwide sales of fully electric cars late last year.
Nio workers inspect a vehicle on an assembly line at the automaker’s factory in Hefei, China. China misjudged the rapid expansion of its electric vehicle sector, leaving a shortfall of skilled technicians as young people shun manufacturing careers.
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 11, 2023
China’s electric car factories can’t hire fast enough
A frenzy of construction and expansion of factories has made electricians and robotics specialists a hot commodity.
A young boy watches a screen showing Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Military Museum in Beijing.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Dec 6, 2023
Xi Jinping is asserting tighter control of finance in China
The Communist Party expects banks, pension funds, insurers and other financial organizations in China to follow Marxist principles.
Chinese tourists buy gold bars and gold accessories at LukFook, a jewelry store, in Hong Kong.
BUSINESS / Economy
Nov 28, 2023
Gold bars and Tokyo apartments: How money is flowing out of China
The outbound shift of money in part indicates unease inside China about the sputtering recovery after the pandemic as well as deeper problems.
Chinese President Xi Jinping and Arab leaders pose for a group photo during the China-Arab summit in Riyadh on Dec. 9.
WORLD / Politics
Oct 12, 2023
China’s economic stake in the Middle East: Its thirst for oil
China, the world’s second-largest economy, has become addicted to foreign oil at a stunning pace.
A worker in a factory that makes seats for BMW in Shenyang, China, on Sept. 11. China, facing an economic slump, wants to make its industrial northeast more productive, turning to policies that some economists say have outlived their time.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Sep 27, 2023
Slowing and in debt, can China’s industrial heartland be revived?
The country, facing an economic slump, wants to make its northeast more productive, turning to policies some economists say have outlived their time.
A woman walks past surveillance cameras in Shanghai. China’s Ministry of State Security has called for a "whole of society mobilization,” urging the public to watch for what it considers foreign-backed subversion.
BUSINESS / Companies
Sep 20, 2023
Burner laptops and smaller profits: Firms face China challenges
Beijing has doubled down on policies emphasizing security and self-reliance that make it harder to do business.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo is greeted by Shanghai Party Secretary Chen Jining, in Shanghai on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Sep 2, 2023
U.S. officials are streaming to China. Will Beijing return the favor?
Such visits could help convey Beijing’s interest in stabilizing ties with Washington. But China has been noncommittal.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 30, 2023
Can the world make batteries for electric cars without China?
Despite billions in Western investment, China is so far ahead in the industry that the rest of the world may take decades to catch up.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 15, 2023
In Beijing, Brazil’s leader endorses China’s stance on Ukraine
In a joint statement, the countries' leaders avoided the words 'invasion” or 'war” and offered few specifics about how to bring Russia or Ukraine to the table after more than a year of war.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Mar 10, 2023
Xi starts new term in China, with a focus on economy and U.S. rivalry
Despite his personal power seeming secure, Xi faces the urgent challenge of reviving China’s economy and escalating tensions with the United States and its allies.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Dec 24, 2022
As cases explode, China’s low COVID death toll convinces no one
A country trying to mourn its dead from a COVID-19 outbreak is grappling with a system unprepared for the surge in fatalities, but China's government is painting a less dire picture.
Japan’s 2024 buzzword of the year urges a reevaluation of past norms
Sadao Abe, who played the role of a time-traveling Showa Era teacher transported to present day in a popular TV drama, receives the 2024 buzzword of the year award for the word "futehodo," the nickname of the series.
Princess Aiko, only child of emperor, turns 23
Princess Aiko on Nov. 22 ahead of her 23rd birthday on Sunday at the Imperial Palace
Ishiba questioned on political reform, social issues and the economy
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks in the Lower House in Tokyo on Monday.
Nearly 90% in Japan and China have negative views of other
Chinese people's sentiment toward Japan is believed to be impacted by their use of social media platforms such as Weibo and Douyin, as well as whether they have visited Japan.
Bear that attacked Akita supermarket employee captured
A brown bear in Hokkaido. In the city of Akita, a bear that attacked a supermarket employee over the weekend was captured in a box trap on Monday morning.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Europe eyes 'boots on the ground' in Ukraine as possible peace deal option
A serviceman with the Ukrainian Army's 24th mechanized brigade fires a machine gun during an exercise, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in the country's Donetsk region on Friday.
Seven strangers and an algorithm: Can this new dinner app help you make friends?
Timeleft uses an algorithm to match its users with five or six strangers in an effort to prompt “human connection” over dinner at a restaurant. It determines the attendees with the help of a simple personality quiz available when you sign up for the service. 
Don’t worry, you can still use your Japan health insurance card — for now
A My Number card reader at a pediatric clinic in Tokyo. While the government will stop issuing new health insurance cards on Monday, most people will remain unaffected by the move in the short term as existing health insurance cards can still be used for another year.
The Geisha bean is the leading lady of Tokyo's coffee scene
Discovered in the 1930s, the Geisha coffee plant came to worldwide fame in the early 2000s and now represents some of the best coffee on the planet — Tokyo's top cafes included.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation in Tokyo is a popular place to foster curiosity in the natural sciences.
Can Japan's scientific community rebound from a Nobel nosedive?
By Tomoko Otake

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