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6 days ago | 
csmonitor.com | Laurent Belsie |Ann Scott Tyson
When representatives from the United States and China meet for talks in Geneva on Saturday, they will take the first step toward normalizing a key economic partnership that has spun out of control since the first Trump administration’s trade war measures in 2018. Now, in a series of tit-for-tat escalations initiated by President Donald Trump, the world’s two biggest economies have imposed tariffs so high that trade between the two is dwindling.
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2 weeks ago | 
csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson |Ali Martin
Sitting behind her cramped stall inside China’s sprawling Yiwu wholesale market, Huang Youping pours another cup of oolong tea, and waits for customers. Surrounded by shelves of colorful Christmas crèches, carousels, and snow globes, Ms. Huang says that under normal circumstances, half of the exports from the factory she represents are bound for the United States.
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3 weeks ago | 
csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson
The way Beijing sees it, a resolution of the current trade war with the United States will take more than simply lower tariffs. It will require a significant increase in the value of an all-important Chinese commodity: “face.”In traditional Chinese culture, face, or mianzi, means pride, honor, and prestige. Losing it amounts to shame. “Trees can’t live without bark, men can’t live without face,” goes a Chinese saying.
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3 weeks ago | 
csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson
As Myanmar’s civil war enters its fifth year next month, the conflict has claimed more than 50,000 lives, including several thousand civilians. The fighting has displaced some 3.3 million of Myanmar’s 54 million people. Worsening their plight, a massive 7.7 magnitude earthquake struck the country on March 28, killing more than 3,600 people and leaving a wave of destruction. Where is the troubled, multiethnic Southeast Asian state, once known as Burma, headed now?
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4 weeks ago | 
flipboard.com | Ann Scott Tyson
3 hours agoMalaysia: China’s Xi begins state visit to Malaysia[Note: no sound] SHOTLIST: KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA (APR. 15, 2025) (PRIME MINISTRY OF MALAYSIA - RESTRICTED) 1. VARIOUS OF CHINESE PRESIDENT XI JINPING GETTING OFF AIRPLANE / OFFICIA CEREMONY 2. VARIOUS OF MALAYSIAN PRIME MINISTER, ANWAR IBRAHIM WELCOMING XI JINPINGKUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA - APR.
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4 weeks ago | 
csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson
Across China – from gritty factory floors to warehouses and shipping docks – the flow of exports screeched to a halt last Friday, as 145% U.S. tariffs took hold, and Beijing announced countermeasures. Two-way trade was essentially dead. But in his first public comments on President Donald Trump’s tariff war, Chinese leader Xi Jinping did not betray any concern. “China will stay confident, composed, and focused,” he said, speaking in the quiet elegance of a formal Beijing meeting hall.
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1 month ago | 
csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson
China’s export-fueled growth strategy is facing a major roadblock as tariffs threaten to wall off America – by far China’s biggest overseas market – which absorbs about $400 billion worth of Chinese goods each year. President Donald Trump warned that he could raise U.S. tariffs on China to more than 100% on Wednesday if Beijing doesn’t back down from tit-for-tat levies. “China will fight to the end,” shot back China’s Ministry of Commerce.
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1 month ago | 
csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson
A South Korean court ruled unanimously on Friday to remove President Yoon Suk Yeol from office for his short-lived imposition of martial law on Dec. 3, closing a chapter on four months of political turmoil and setting the Asian democracy on the path to new elections by June. In an 8-0 decision, the Constitutional Court upheld Mr. Yoon’s impeachment, finding that the president had overstepped his authority.
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1 month ago | 
csmonitor.com | Ann Scott Tyson
In Washington, the planned sale of Panama Canal ports to an American-led group is largely cast as a sign of expanding U.S. influence in Central America. But in China, it is seen as a prime battleground in the U.S.-China rivalry. Beijing is lobbying hard against the giant port deal, under which a Hong Kong-based firm would sell its interest in 43 ports worldwide to a U.S.-led international consortium.
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2 months ago | 
csmonitor.com | Stephanie Hanes |Ann Scott Tyson |Cameron Pugh |Chelsea Sheasley
Five years ago, the World Health Organization declared that the outbreak of a novel coronavirus, COVID-19, was a pandemic – a designation that in many ways marked the beginning of a new era in politics, public health, media, and our everyday lives. The Monitor’s correspondents have covered all aspects of this transformation, from the pain of families separated, to divisive school board protests, to the discovery of quirky joy in new pastimes as an outlet.
