The sight of a masked Chinese president, Xi Jinping, greeting workers in Beijing’s Chaoyang district yesterday as they returned to work after the lunar new year holiday, his first public appearance in weeks, was designed to inspire confidence

Although the extent of state control makes China well-placed to contain the coronavirus, it will not alter Xi Jinping’s global ambitions, writes Kevin Rudd

Earlier this week President Vladimir Putin announced plans to amend Russia's constitution so he will, when he is obliged to stand down as president in 2024, retain power. Moscow's parliament was informed though not consulted on measures that mean Putin's two decades of autocracy will not end when he resigns.

In Ireland, the degree to which prosperity is felt beyond the big cities will determine whether Leo Varadkar returns to power, writes Kyran Fitzgerald

Next Friday, four constituencies vote on who might replace Dáil deputies elected to Europe.

Catalonia’s separatists must be delighted that China’s leader, Xi Jinping, is not leader of Spain.

Pledges issued by China’s leaders may mark the beginning of the end of Hong Kong as we know it, but the plan is also likely to hurt the mainland, writes Minxin Pei

Following the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, open societies were triumphant and international co-operation became the dominant creed. Thirty years later, however, nationalism has turned out to be much more powerful and disruptive than internationalism, writes George Soros

THERE were two global developments on climate change yesterday – one gloomy and one hopeful — while, at home, new levies on plastic bags, disposable cups and waste disposal have been proposed by the Government.

Fund managers are ignoring this year’s rally in equity and credit markets and are hiding in cash amid concerns about the state of the global economy, the latest Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey shows.

The Chinese government’s reaction to protests in Hong Kong is pathetic; it needs to start behaving differently, writes Chris Patten

Carrie Lam announced the Hong Kong government will withdraw an extradition bill that has sparked months of demonstrations, but the violent battle is far from over, says Greg Torode.

It seems China may be about to offer a more assertive response to the protests in Hong Kong. Prominent activists have been arrested in recent days and they join the 900 arrested since protests began in June.

Hundreds, perhaps thousands, died in the student protests of 1989, but a similar use of violence in what is one of the world’s key financial centres would backfire horrendously, writes Minxin Pei

DS7 Crossback trades on its heritage and lives up to the expectations on many levels. but there are downsides. The ride is not the magic carpet experience we once loved and expected to see again, writes Declan Colley

A snapshot of Asia would show a region with stable societies and growing economies. But we may look back on this as the time the region fell apart, says Richard N. Haass.

Global stockmarkets led by Asia joined in a relief rally after US president Donald Trump and China called a truce in their trade war.

World leaders attending the G20 summit in Japan are clashing over the values that have served for decades as the foundation of their cooperation.

European shares handed back gains yesterday to close flat after comments from the White House undid optimism over a potential US-China trade deal, while a strong rally in shares of chemicals company Bayer propped up German equities.

Weak German economic data and a profit warning from Daimler impacted European stock markets as investors reined in any bets on a fourth week of gains before G20 meetings that may see more trade talks between the US and Chinese presidents.

Apple has joined Dell, Microsoft, HP and Intel in opposing US President Donald Trump’s proposed tariffs on laptop computers and tablets among the $300bn (€268bn) in Chinese goods targeted for a 25% tariff increase on July 2 when the consultation period for public comment ends.

Expressions of ‘deep sorrow and regret’ are unlikely to be enough to save embattled Hong Kong chief executive Carrie Lam, write James Pomfret and Greg Torode.

Last Sunday was one of those days when Croke Park began to look its age. The bucket seats on the Lower Cusack Stand sat a faded shade of bluey gray and the concrete holding up any sporting edifice takes on a gloomy hue when the sky spits and coats the walls with damp.

One of the star speakers at yesterday’s anti-Trump demonstrations in London was the leader of Britain’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, who — faithful to his 30-year career as a protestor — declined an invitation to attend the Buckingham Palace banquet normally held for state visits.

Fears of a fresh global recession have increased with latest data showing continued shrinkage in manufacturing levels around the world as trade war and Brexit concerns escalate.

In 1989 China had a choice between three different political models but disruption in other nations left just one option, writes Minxin Pei.

Trump has exposed rifts within America’s alliances when it comes to the North Korean nuclear issue. By contrast, Kim Jong-un is building ties with China and Russia, writes Kent Harrington.

What started as a trade war between the US and China is quickly escalating into a death match for global economic, technological, and military dominance, writes Nouriel Roubini.

President Xi’s repression of Muslim minorities is redolent of the Soviet Union’s gulag and will foster a new generation of Islamist domestic terrorists, says Brahma Chellaney

The first week of the second quarter brought more bad news for the global economy and further evidence that central bankers are hitting pause — or even rewind — on their tightening plans.

Once upon a time, everyone assumed that there was a single phenomenon called globalisation, whereby cross-border flows of financial capital drove innovation, industrialisation, development, and trade, writes Harold James.

Neutrality does not suffice in a world dominated by the US and China, and with the far right resurgent, Ireland must stand up for the values of the European Union, says Malcolm Byrne.

President Donald Trump said that trade talks over the weekend with China had been “very productive,” as negotiators worked ahead of a March 1 deadline for the imposition of further US tariffs on Chinese imports.

It is not too hard, in this season of pantomime rehearsals, to imagine a script from those masters of the netherworld just beyond the sober, grind-and-queue lives most of us lead — the Coen brothers — constructing a conversation between Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. The great filmmakers might contrive to have those unchallengeable leaders discuss the difficulties facing other world leaders.

Alienating traditional US partners while wooing Putin and the Saudis, Donald Trump is facing another difficult G20 summit this weekend, writes David A Andelman

President Donald Trump often seems to be caught between his ideological desire to rewrite America’s trade relationship with China and a businessman’s instinct to cut a deal.

The fashionable attack on Trump-ology as fascism has enough basis to be credible, and sufficient foundation to inculcate fear, writes Gerard Howlin. 

The US has looked on as the vision of a democratic-led Indo-Pacific could give way to an illiberal, repressive regional order, with China in full control, writes Brahma Chellaney.

China’s growing value and importance for the Irish economy was further underlined, this week, by pharmaceutical giant WuXi Biologics choosing Ireland — and Dundalk, in particular — as the location for its first manufacturing site outside of China.