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1. Japan firms seen ‘stockpiling’ rare earths as Tokyo looks to G7 in face of China controls

   Fears of China choking off exports of critical minerals to Japan amid a deepening political dispute have set off industry alarms and prompted Tokyo to elevate the issue at a G7 gathering of finance ministers this week, despite Beijing’s assurances that civilian trade would be spared. Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama said last week that she would attend the Group of Seven event in...

2. China’s fight against corruption is a battle we can’t afford to lose, Xi Jinping warns

   Chinese President Xi Jinping has said there must be no room for corrupt elements to hide as he warned that the problem was a threat to the country’s development. On Monday, he told a plenary session of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) – China’s top anti-corruption body – that the country had made notable progress last year, but the issue remained a “major...

3. Jimmy Lai trial: Hong Kong lawyers for publisher, activists seek reduced jail time

   Lawyers for a former newspaper publisher and two activists have called for less than 10 years’ imprisonment for their roles in attempts to instigate sanctions against Hong Kong and mainland China, saying they deserve additional reductions in securing Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s conviction in his national security trial. Arguments over appropriate sentences for the former media boss and eight other...

4. Taiwan targets Beijing-linked infiltration with push for stricter punishment

   Taiwan’s legislature is weighing amendments to an anti-infiltration law that would impose a minimum one-year prison term on Beijing-linked influence and infiltration activities, while critics have raised concerns about tighter social controls. The proposed changes to the Anti-Infiltration Act, under review by the legislature’s Interior Affairs Committee on Monday, come six years after the law...

5. DeepSeek founder’s High-Flyer ranks among China’s top hedge-fund firms in 2025

   High-Flyer Quant, co-owned by DeepSeek founder and CEO Liang Wenfeng, recorded a return of 56.6 per cent last year to rank second among China’s 10 top-performing large hedge-fund firms. According to the ranking published on Monday by data provider Shenzhen PaiPaiWang Investment & Management, High-Flyer only trailed behind Lingjun Investment, which posted a return of 73.5 per cent in 2025. All...

6. Europe’s real threat is its own inner ‘demon’, not Russia: former Chinese envoy

   Europe made a “misjudgment” in categorising Russia as its top security threat and instead the continent’s real danger lay in Europeans’ inner “demon”, according to China’s longest-serving ambassador to the US. Cui Tiankai, a former Chinese foreign vice-minister, also claimed Nato had outlived its relevance and argued that the transatlantic security alliance no longer served the long-term...

7. Hong Kong judges doubtful if Jimmy Lai’s health justifies sentence reduction

   Three Hong Kong judges who found Jimmy Lai Chee-ying guilty in his national security trial have raised doubts about whether the former media boss is entitled to a reduced sentence on grounds of his health and arrangements in prison, as records showed he was in a stable condition and had requested solitary confinement of his own free will. The High Court justices on Monday began hearing arguments...

8. US action in Venezuela fuels Asia’s fears of collapsing rules-based order

   America’s capture of Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro in a special operation sent shock waves across the world. With characteristically bombastic rhetoric, US President Donald Trump hailed Operation Absolute Resolve as “an assault like people have not seen since World War II” and “one of the most stunning, effective and powerful displays of American military might” in history. His deputies...

9. Singapore takes stock of lessons from Hong Kong’s Tai Po blaze

   Singapore has begun reviewing early findings from the investigation into Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po high-rise blaze, with ministers signalling that lessons from the tragedy could feed into tighter rules on construction and maintenance works in the city state. Lawmakers said in parliament on Monday that observations made by Hong Kong authorities about the fire at Wang Fuk Court would be studied...

10. UK regulator launches probe into Musk’s X over Grok’s ‘disgusting’ sexualised AI imagery

    Britain’s media regulator launched an investigation into Elon Musk’s ‌X on Monday to determine whether sexually intimate deepfakes produced by its Grok AI ‍chatbot violated its duty to protect people in the UK from content that could be illegal. “There have been deeply concerning reports of the Grok AI chatbot account on X being used to create and share undressed images ⁠of people – which may...