Diana Choyleva is chief economist of Enodo Economics, a macroeconomic and political forecasting company in London.

So fierce and widespread is Xi Jinping's campaign to make private business do his bidding that investing in China for the foreseeable future should be something only for the brave.

President Xi is determined to remind tycoons that they prosper at the Chinese Communist Party's pleasure. He is also serious about spreading wealth more fairly and reducing inequality. And he is aghast at youngsters who spend their idle hours surfing the internet and succumbing to

HONG KONG -- The outflow of residents has become a serious problem for Hong Kong.

The region's population, which had grown almost nonstop since the 1960s, began to dip in 2020. After a national security law was imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020, more residents began relocating overseas. The number of emigrants is expected to peak around the end of this year or in 2022, and may total some 100,000

SINGAPORE -- Singtel is eyeing Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines as destinations for the same 5G next-generation network technology it is now rolling out in its home market. The technology makes possible a host of new services that promise to transform a variety of industries as the telco extends its reach into foreign markets.

The Singapore Exchange-listed company on Monday showcased a range of potential uses the new mobile network can support, touting business applications through its multi-access edge computing infrastructure as a key peg that lifts 5

TAIPEI -- At the start of June, there was tension in Taiwan as it struggled to source vaccines to battle its first serious COVID-19 outbreak. Japan came to the rescue, flying in 1.24 million doses, more than doubling the island's supply.

Taiwan officials didn't mask their deep gratitude. "As foreign minister, I shouldn't share personal feelings in public," tweeted Joseph Wu. "But after yesterday's #Vaccine donation & the boiling emotions in #

TOKYO -- The COVID-19 pandemic is forcing Japanese companies located outside big cities to go digital as conventional marketing and other business practices prove less effective in the face of restrictions on movement introduced to limit the spread of the coronavirus.

Faced with a shortage of information technology specialists, Japanese companies headquartered outside large metropolitan areas like Tokyo and Osaka are increasingly sending work to companies and workers in urban centers.

Asao Seni Kogyo, a bedding and linens manufacturer in Izumo, western Japan, is one such company. It has

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK -- The U.S. has completed the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, officially bringing to a close its nearly 20-year military operation that began shortly after the 9/11 attacks in 2001.

President Joe Biden thanked U.S. soldiers for carrying out the dangerous evacuation from Afghanistan, saying that "the past 17 days have seen our troops execute the largest airlift in U.S. history," as they evacuated over 120,0

SYDNEY -- An anti-human trafficking law Australia put into force two years ago has helped prompt corporations to discontinue business with suppliers that have exploited workers, recent data shows.

The Modern Slavery Act requires businesses operating in the country with revenue of over 100 million Australian dollars ($73 million) to submit disclosures detailing the risks of human rights violations within their supply chains.

The deadline for the first submissions was set for the end of June, and over 2,400 businesses have complied as

TOKYO -- Japan's safeguards against money laundering contain holes that can be exploited by criminal organizations and terrorist groups, an international watchdog warned Monday.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has placed Japan in the "enhanced follow-up" classification, which essentially denotes a failing grade.

Although large Japanese financial institutions have a "reasonable understanding" of their money laundering and terror financing risks, some smaller ones only have a "limited understanding," the task force reported.

While Japanese financial institutions have made improvements

TOKYO -- Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga is considering replacing the ruling party's powerful secretary-general, Toshihiro Nikai, as the Japanese leader struggles with low approval ratings amid surging coronavirus cases.

The 82-year-old Nikai met with Suga on Monday and told him that he was ready to step aside.

"A personnel reshuffling is the only way to get out of this tough situation," Nikai told Suga, urging him to revamp the LDP's leadership. Nikai has long wielded enormous power over personnel