East Asia
The world’s most advanced economies and its most contested flashpoint sit side by side here. Technology leadership, demographic decline, and a strait that could redraw the global order — all in the same neighborhood.
-
Aug- 2026 -17 AugustScience
China is racing to write the Moon’s rules before America lands
Chang'e‑7 launches this month to drill for water ice at the south pole, two years ahead of NASA's crewed Artemis IV landing, positioning Beijing to unilaterally set governance standards for…
-
16 AugustTech & AI
Australia’s cable shield faces its first test as two undersea lines fail
Shunt faults in the Perth protection zone on August 8–9 arrived days before an ANU paper urged Canberra to market itself as the Indo-Pacific's safest cable hub, turning abstract vulnerability…
-
16 AugustCapital
Japan’s $85 billion yen rescue failed in two weeks
The US and Japan spent more than $85 billion buying yen in late July, the largest two-day intervention since 2011, but by mid-August the yen was sliding back toward 160…
-
15 AugustCapital
Ford pulls Lincoln out of China to dodge a $3 billion tariff bill
The automaker will stop importing China-built Nautilus models by 2030 and shift production stateside, responding to 52.5% tariffs and looming connected-vehicle restrictions that make Chinese sourcing untenable.
-
14 AugustTech & AI
Apple surrendered its AI to China. Beijing approved it anyway.
The Cyberspace Administration of China registered Apple Intelligence in July 2026, but the service will run on Alibaba's Qwen model, not Apple's own technology—a template for how Beijing forces foreign…
-
14 AugustTech & AI
A Chinese chipmaker nobody knows just became worth more than Intel
CXMT's $540.5 billion valuation rests on a 6.73% free float, making the ranking misleading—but the $8.6 billion capital behind it is real.
-
14 AugustPower
Trump’s 100% drone tariff targets China, reshapes allied supply chains
A Section 232 order signed August 13 imposes tiered duties on unmanned aircraft, with allies gaining lower rates only if hardware and software originate in approved countries.
-
13 AugustTech & AI
Taiwan’s nuclear agency fell to free AI agents in four days
Open-source frameworks breached 21 government systems by falsely declaring themselves authorized penetration testers, exposing a design flaw that cannot be patched away.
-
13 AugustCapital
South Korea’s two-stock rally masks a fragile memory bet
Samsung and SK Hynix drove 71% of the Kospi's July losses and now carry its rebound, but the bull market rests on an unverified three-year supply crunch.
-
13 AugustCompass
Thailand is quietly winning the race for Chinese tourists from Japan
With 5.1 million Chinese arrivals projected for 2026, Thailand has overtaken Japan in the first half—a shift driven by airlift capacity, safety perceptions, and political friction between China and Tokyo.
