Author name: Annie Yen

TAG China Country Director Han Lin shared, “In today’s climate, local partners do more than run stores efficiently. They help foreign brands navigate policy headwinds, manage compliance exposure, and signal alignment with China’s long-term development priorities.”

Christopher Johnstone, a former top White House Japan official, said Washington should have welcomed Takaichi’s declaration that Japan would help US forces if they were attacked while defending Taiwan from China. “This was the clearest statement ever made by a Japanese prime minister about Japan’s obligations to the US during a Taiwan contingency,” said Johnstone,

“It’s about creating a mutually reinforcing uplift to national capability and competitiveness,” she said. “The review’s conclusion will unleash a new narrative that modernises the pact with a stronger emphasis on pace and delivery. “The question is the extent to which all three governments are willing to pull the levers to deliver ‘AUKUS full fat’

Former US ambassador Dan Kritenbrink says the US and China have entered a fragile period of stability after a year of “trade war, tariff war, and supply-chain war.” But he stresses this is only a tactical pause, not a long-term reset.

TAG China Country Director Han Lin noted, “But for many multinationals, the wheel is in the U.S. where the instinct is to hit the brakes, not the gas,” in reference to how heightened U.S.-China tensions are leading some corporate headquarters to exercise more caution on China-related decisions, which can slow operations.

George Chen, partner and co-head of digital practice at The Asia Group, says that there has been a clear directive from Beijing to domestic Chinese chip players to catch-up with Nvidia. He also talks about Shein’s legal troubles in France, saying they’re not due to anti-China sentiment but rather, the clash between the old and