Tan Dawn Wei

Asia–Pacific (APAC)

China Bureau Chief at The Straits Times

Senior Columnist @straits_times. I write mostly about China and its relations with the world. Formerly The Straits Times' China Bureau Chief. [email protected]

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Articles

Mala to global mojo: Regional cuisines are China’s tastiest forms of soft power

6 days ago | straitstimes.com | Tan Dawn Wei

Chinese regional cuisine is having a moment, and it is arguably boosting China’s soft power in ways that the Chinese propaganda machinery can only dream of.ST ILLUSTRATION: SOH HWEE YI, ADOBE STOCK PUBLISHED Jun 01, 2025, 05:00 AM In 1972, the world watched as then US President Richard Nixon deftly wielded a pair of ivory chopsticks while sitting next to his smiling host, then Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, working his way through an extravagant eight-course banquet with exotic dishes that...
In Latin America, carrots trump sticks - and China knows it

1 week ago | straitstimes.com | Tan Dawn Wei

UPDATED May 30, 2025, 05:00 AM
The US defused an India-Pakistan war. Can China do the same?

2 weeks ago | straitstimes.com | Tan Dawn Wei

UPDATED May 24, 2025, 05:00 AM
China faces a fierce dogfight in arms market despite the J-10C combat debut

3 weeks ago | straitstimes.com | Tan Dawn Wei

UPDATED May 15, 2025, 05:00 AM
Travelling through China’s ‘thousand cities with the same face’

4 weeks ago | straitstimes.com | Tan Dawn Wei

From the brown, dusty Gobi Desert plains of Gansu and the green endless grasslands of Inner Mongolia to the white majestic Himalayan peaks of Tibet a whisker from the heavens, China’s landscape is a breathtaking tapestry of natural splendour. I have marvelled at them all up close, setting foot in every province, municipality, autonomous region and special administrative region in China.
In the Trump v Shein and Temu showdown, all end up losers

1 month ago | straitstimes.com | Tan Dawn Wei

When US President Donald Trump abruptly closed an import loophole in February that allowed cheap Chinese goods to flood the US market tax-free, all hell broke loose at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport after more than a million parcels piled up within days. The authorities did a quick U-turn to save its customs infrastructure from being overwhelmed, but, on April 2, Mr Trump decided to end the exemption again for China and Hong Kong, setting the clock to count down from 30 days.
China and Singapore: Perspectives from my ‘double life’

1 month ago | straitstimes.com | Tan Dawn Wei

For the past nearly seven years, I’ve lived a double life. I have existed in two parallel universes – China and Singapore. Up until two weeks ago, my job as The Straits Times’ China bureau chief required me to be based in the capital city of Beijing, where I had – not as a matter of choice – wholeheartedly embraced the unique, immense ecosystem that is China. Join ST's WhatsApp Channel and get the latest news and must-reads.
Shake hands, not fists: Xi’s weapon in China’s trade war game plan

1 month ago | straitstimes.com | Tan Dawn Wei

Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) shaking hands with his Vietnamese counterpart To Lam in Hanoi, Vietnam, on April 14. PHOTO: AFPWhen Chinese President Xi Jinping made his South-east Asian tour’s first stop in Vietnam this week, high on the agenda was a proposed rail cooperation project for additional links between the two countries.
China’s great green march across the globe

2 months ago | straitstimes.com | David Fogarty |Tan Dawn Wei |Wahyudi Soeriaatmadja |Li Shuo

BEIJING/SINGAPORE/JAKARTA – On the outskirts of the Indonesian city of Semarang in Central Java, a new factory is cranking out solar cells and assembling solar panels with the help of robots, while autonomous carts whizz around ferrying parts and components. The Trina Mas Agra Indonesia solar panel plant, operational since October 2024, is a US$100 million joint venture between China’s Trina Solar, Indonesian conglomerate Sinar Mas and Indonesian state utility PLN.
Turbulent times? China’s here to steady the ship, not rock it

Mar 7, 2025 | straitstimes.com | Tan Dawn Wei

UPDATED Mar 08, 2025, 05:00 AM