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Chinese president lays out priorities, including ‘reunification’ with island that Communist party has never ruled, as National People’s Congress ends
Xi Jinping has stressed the need to oppose “pro-independence” influences in Taiwan, as he closed the National People’s Congress (NPC) after a week in which the rubber-stamp parliament handed China’s president an unprecedented third presidential term, and key roles at the top of the government were reshuffled.
Xi closed the session with a speech to the gathered delegates. On Friday he in a carefully choreographed ceremony in Beijing.

American Born Chinese has landed a May premiere date at Disney+. Check out the official teaser trailer right here via TV Fanatic to get up to speed.

There are risks – but the trilateral security pact is likely to provide greater US resolve to stay engaged in Australia’s neighbourhood
Prime minister Anthony Albanese is set to commit Australia to the biggest national industrial redevelopment project since the Snowy Hydro electricity scheme and the British-Australian nuclear weapons research collaboration of the 1950s.
The project involves considerable risk. Spanning three nations (each with multiple jurisdictions) over two or more decades, including the governments of multiple presidents and prime ministers in three countries. This seems inconceivably difficult on one level – were it not for the galvanising effects of:
the rise of an increasingly authoritarian and adversarial China;
the fallout from Brexit, which has helped focus UK government officials on finding new trading partners in the Indo-Pacific and new ways of validating the “special relationship” with the United States;
advanced artificial intelligence, persistent satellite surveillance and drones, which make detection of diesel-electric submarines traversing long distances much easier (therefore making Australia’s existing submarines more vulnerable and less stealthy).

John Blaxland is professor of international security and intelligence studies at the ANU’s Strategic & Defence Studies Centre

Based on the graphic novel by Gene Luen Yang, the show centers on a teenager caught in a battle of Chinese mythological gods.

Erika Moritsugu, the first White House A.A.P.I. liaison, is in charge of both promoting the community’s representation and responding to its tragedies at a time of rising racism.

Michelle Yeoh has won the 2023 Oscar for Best Actress for her performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” Yeoh is the first Asian American to win in this category. "For all the little boys and ...

Danmei is by some measures the most popular genre of fiction for women in China, and its popularity hasn’t gone unnoticed by the Communist party
“The hand around his waist held him tighter, their bodies pressed closer together, and Xie Lian’s struggling hands were firmly folded and crushed against his own chest; unable to move. His lips were still securely sealed, the kiss deepening, and a stream of gentle, chilled air slowly passed through.”
A god kisses a ghost king, and a love story, movie deal and KFC sponsorship are born. The kiss appears in the book Heaven Official’s Blessing, a danmei or “boys love” story. Danmei is romantic fiction about men or male beings – ghosts, foxes, even a mushroom – falling in love, written almost exclusively by and for straight women and is the most popular genre of fiction in China.

The historic seven-Oscar haul is a major sign to an industry that has too often ignored, exoticized or stereotyped Asian and Asian American characters ...

It was a big night for Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan and the cast of Everything Everywhere All At Once, winning seven out of their 11 Oscars nominations. Leading up to the big weekend, Disney+ shared a ...

The PM’s determination to stay faithful to the ‘Indo-Pacific tilt’ is vague, while Russia is still the greatest threat
The refresh of the integrated review of defence and foreign policy comes only two years after the original, and if Labour were to win the election it may only last a similar amount of time. Nor would it have happened if it hadn’t been for Conservative chaos, as reopening the review was the brainchild of the short-lived Liz Truss.
To be fair, the war in Ukraine has upended previous assumptions, but this is not really the path taken by Rishi Sunak. A large part of what is announced focuses on China and the emerging Australia, UK and US “Aukus” partnership to provide Canberra with nuclear powered submarines to give naval technological parity with Beijing.

UK PM warns China plans to ‘reshape the world order’ but stops short of reclassifying it as a threat to national security
Rishi Sunak has warned that China’s plans to “reshape the world order” represent an era-defining challenge for Britain, but risked sparking a row with hawks in his own party by dismissing calls for Beijing to be categorised as a threat.
As he flew to a summit designed to shift the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region, the prime minister signalled a major refreshing of the UK’s national security strategy and uplift in defence spending.