Global Pulse

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  • Powering the future of China’s service industry

    Powering the future of China’s service industry

    BEIJING, April 12, 2026 — As China enters the pivotal 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), the country’s top leadership has elevated the strategic importance of the service sector — already the largest pillar of its economy and a major engine of employment — to unprecedented heights, laying out a clear roadmap for its high-quality evolution.

    President Xi Jinping, who also serves as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and Chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivered a key instruction at the first-ever national conference on the service sector held earlier this week, calling for fresh breakthroughs in advancing the sector’s high-quality development.

    Official statistics from 2025 underscore just how central the service industry has become to China’s economic landscape: its added value topped 80 trillion yuan (approximately $11.65 trillion), accounting for 57.7% of national GDP. The sector contributed 61.4% of the country’s overall economic growth, a 3.7 percentage point increase from 2024, and supports roughly half of China’s total workforce.

    Against a backdrop of persistent global economic volatility, the new policy focus on the service sector comes as China continues its structural transformation toward high-quality growth. Xi’s direction is expected to cement the sector’s critical role in driving industrial upgrading, fostering innovation, unlocking untapped domestic demand, and stabilizing the broader national economy.

    While the sector has delivered strong foundational growth, policymakers have acknowledged pressing challenges that threaten its long-term progress. Persistent market entry barriers in key sub-sectors, an imbalanced supply structure, and a shortage of high-end service offerings have grown increasingly prominent. Addressing these gaps has been framed as a strategic priority to unlock the next phase of China’s economic expansion.

    In his instruction, Xi outlined four core pillars for future development: demand-driven growth, breakthroughs in market-oriented reform, technological empowerment, and expanded opening-up and international cooperation. He called for the implementation of national initiatives to expand service capacity and upgrade quality, goals already enshrined in this year’s Government Work Report and the 15th Five-Year Plan outline.

    Even as China continues to prioritize its world-leading manufacturing sector, Xi has long emphasized the critical role of services, which underpin both industrial production and household consumption. Over recent years, his on-the-ground inspections have included visits to financial and technology service providers, elderly care facilities, and cultural tourism destinations, highlighting the sector’s priority on the national policy agenda.
    Already, targeted policy measures have begun rolling out across government agencies. Earlier this year, the Ministry of Commerce joined eight other departments to release the 2026 Work Plan for Improving Quality and Accessibility of Service Consumption, which focuses on upgrading service infrastructure while addressing pressing livelihood needs including elderly and childcare services.

    Looking ahead, Xi has set clear priorities for sub-sector development: advancing producer services toward greater specialization and higher positions in the global value chain, fostering high-quality, diverse and accessible consumer services, and building globally competitive “China Services” brands.

    Producer services — which range from research and development, design and inspection certification to information technology — are in particularly high demand as China scales up its advanced manufacturing sector. During a March 2026 inspection of Xiong’an New Area, the planned “future city” in Hebei Province, Xi called for clustered development of emerging and future-oriented industries, with robust growth in producer services to support the transformation and upgrading of traditional manufacturing.

    Cheng Xiang, an analyst with Shenwan Hongyuan Securities, noted that producer services have already emerged as a high-growth investment focus, driven by deep integration with advanced manufacturing, favorable policy tailwinds, and massive untapped demand.

    On the consumer side, growing urbanization and a steadily expanding middle class have shifted household spending priorities toward services, creating enormous potential to boost domestic demand. Xi has repeatedly outlined policy priorities for a wide range of consumer-facing service sectors tied to people’s livelihoods, from cultural tourism to elderly care.

    At the December 2025 Central Economic Work Conference, Xi emphasized the need to remove unreasonable regulatory restrictions on consumption to unlock growth potential in service sectors including culture and tourism, sports events, catering, and health and wellness. During the Central Urban Work Conference in July 2025, he called for accelerated development of livelihood-focused services including healthcare and domestic services to adapt to shifting population and demand structures.

    By upgrading consumption offerings, meeting growing personalized demand, and expanding the supply of inclusive, high-quality services, China can fully unlock the potential of service consumption, strengthening the resilience of domestic economic circulation as spending shifts from goods acquisition to high-quality services and experiences.

    Alongside domestic reform and expansion, continued growth of the service sector will rely on deeper opening-up to international participation. In a 2025 letter to the China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), Xi committed that China would accelerate the opening of its service market and advance high-quality development of trade in services.

    In recent years, China has steadily eased foreign investment access restrictions and advanced orderly opening-up of sectors including telecommunications, internet services, education, culture and healthcare. It has also fostered service trade innovation through flagship platforms such as CIFTIS, and expanded its comprehensive service sector opening pilot program to 20 regions spanning all major regions of the country.

    Analysts project that the new push from national leadership will trigger a fresh wave of opening-up, expansion and upgrading measures, injecting renewed momentum into the service sector and reinforcing its role as a core driver of China’s economic resilience.

  • ‘I’ve not seen at all from this group’: Jason Ryles says fans were entitled to boo his team after their defence fell apart at home

    ‘I’ve not seen at all from this group’: Jason Ryles says fans were entitled to boo his team after their defence fell apart at home

    The 2024 NRL season has quickly turned into a nightmare for the Parramatta Eels, who collapsed to a humiliating 52-10 defeat at the hands of the Gold Coast Titans on Sunday, leaving their home fans furious and their already crippled injury roster even further depleted. When the final siren blared at CommBank Stadium, thousands of blue-and-gold supporters voiced their anger by booing the team off the pitch – a reaction head coach Jason Ryles acknowledged was fully justified after one of the most underwhelming performances of his tenure.

    Gold Coast’s fast-paced backline tore through Parramatta’s defense with alarming ease all afternoon, pushing the Eels’ total points conceded through the first six rounds of the season to 226 – the worst defensive record of any side in the NRL this year. The lopsided result drops Parramatta to 16th place on the competition ladder, with little to show for their first six weeks of play beyond mounting frustration and a growing list of sidelined stars.

    Compounding the devastating loss were two new head knock injuries, to forwards Sam Tuivaiti and Kelma Tuilagi, that will force both players to miss the Eels’ upcoming clash against the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs under the league’s concussion protocols. The club is already reeling from a rash of season-ending injuries to key rotation players J’maine Hopgood, Matt Doorey and Bailey Simonsson, while key playmaking duo Jonah Pezet and Isaiah Iongi remain sidelined for several more weeks with their own injuries. Veteran prop Junior Paulo is also currently managing a nagging knee injury that has limited his availability.

    Ryles, who has led the Eels for 18 months, refused to use the extensive injury list as an excuse for the lackluster performance, saying the most disappointing part of the defeat was the absence of competitive fight he had seen just a week prior. “Last week against the Tigers I saw some fight that I’d never seen before, and then this week I didn’t see it,” Ryles told reporters post-match. “It’s certainly a challenge whenever you lose a third of your roster, that always puts pressure on performances. But at the same time, it creates opportunity. I’m not going to blame the injuries – every team goes through these rough patches over a season, but when you get your opportunity, you need to take it.”

    The coach added that the team’s leadership would quickly investigate what led to the lack of intensity and poor decision-making that defined the loss, emphasizing that any new players called up to the first-grade side must understand the high standard required to compete at the NRL level. He also ruled out throwing unready young junior players into the line-up just to fill gaps, noting that doing so could risk long-term harm to their development. “I won’t throw youngsters in just for the sake of it to potentially jeopardise their future when they’re not ready for first grade,” he explained.

    Titans’ 52-point haul marked the second-highest single-game score in the club’s NRL history, capping off a dominant day that left Parramatta’s captain Mitch Moses struggling to explain the collapse. “I don’t really have many answers for you, to be honest,” Moses told reporters. “We haven’t really started well pretty much the whole year, so our start is a big reason for it. We’ve been losing our start every single game probably this year, and then when you look up at the scoreboard you’re down by 18, 20 and chasing your tail. It doesn’t make it easy. I don’t think our attack was really good today either, so it didn’t really help.”

    As the Eels turn their attention to next week’s match against Canterbury, the club faces urgent questions about how to reverse their early-season form slump and rebuild intensity after a defeat that has left their fanbase and playing group deeply demoralized.

  • Police clear protesters from Dublin’s O’Connell Street

    Police clear protesters from Dublin’s O’Connell Street

    DUBLIN — Six days of widespread anti-fuel price protests that have paralyzed key infrastructure across the Republic of Ireland entered a new phase Sunday, as Irish national police (An Garda Síochána) successfully cleared the main protest encampment on Dublin’s iconic O’Connell Street in an early-morning multi-unit operation.

    The demonstrations, led by farmers and hauliers, erupted in response to skyrocketing fuel prices driven by the ongoing conflict between the United States, Israel and Iran, which has disrupted global oil supplies via the closure of the Strait of Hormuz — a chokepoint that carries roughly 20% of the world’s daily oil trade. In recent weeks, diesel prices in Ireland have jumped from an average of €1.70 per litre to €2.17, while petrol has increased by as much as 25 cents per litre at retail forecourts, pushing already strained transport and agricultural sectors to breaking point.

    To clear O’Connell Street, Gardaí deployed approximately 200 uniformed officers, supported by the elite public order unit, mounted police on horseback, and a waterborne patrol along the River Liffey, with a police helicopter providing aerial surveillance. Shortly after 3:30 a.m., authorities issued a formal order for demonstrators gathered in tractors and trailers to evacuate the area. All protesters complied with the request and left the site peacefully, with many departing voluntarily ahead of the operation and remaining individuals exiting under Garda escort. As of Sunday morning, a small number of vehicles remained parked on the street, but state broadcaster RTÉ reports most vehicle owners have agreed to move their assets in the coming hours with police cooperation.

    Alongside the O’Connell Street clearance, Gardaí also lifted a blockade on the northbound lane of Dublin’s M50 motorway, one of the country’s busiest orbital routes. However, demonstrations continue at other key sites: protesters have erected a new barricade on the access bridge to Galway Port on Ireland’s west coast, and blockades of three major fuel distribution hubs in Cork, Galway and Limerick counties have been in place since the protest movement began Tuesday.

    The ongoing blockades have already triggered severe fuel shortages across the country, with hundreds of retail petrol and diesel forecourts reporting they have completely run out of stock. Over the weekend, authorities warned that fuel supplies for critical emergency services, including ambulance fleets and fire brigades, are facing growing strain. The National Emergency Coordination Group, the inter-agency body tasked with managing national crises, confirmed emergency service fuel reserves are under “increasing pressure” amid the ongoing disruptions. Taoiseach Micheál Martin, Ireland’s prime minister, warned Saturday that the blockades have left the country “on the precipice of turning oil away from the country” at a time of already strained global supply.

    Progress emerged at one key site Saturday, when fuel trucks regained access to the Whitegate Oil Refinery in County Cork after a days-long blockade. Gardaí pushed back protesting demonstrators using pepper spray during the clearance operation, which received logistical support from the Irish Defence Forces. Garda Commissioner Justin Kelly confirmed that multiple arrests were made during the operation, and issued a firm warning to continuing protesters that blockades are illegal and will not be tolerated.

    “We gave these blockaders fair warning that we were moving to an enforcement phase and they chose to ignore that and continue to hold the country to ransom,” Kelly said in a statement released Sunday. The commissioner also confirmed that police have received multiple reports of intimidation against fuel tanker drivers, noting that serious offences including threats of harm carry maximum prison sentences of up to 10 years. “My message is clear: blockaders must immediately cease blockades of critical infrastructure and road networks or face the full rigours of the law,” he added.

    Opposition politicians have criticized the government’s handling of the crisis. Mary Lou McDonald, leader of Ireland’s largest opposition party Sinn Féin, said Saturday that the sitting government allowed a localized difficult situation to escalate into a national crisis, and urged officials to accelerate good-faith negotiations with protest leaders to end the disruptions.

    Irish government officials have been engaged in talks with protest representatives from the farming and haulage sectors since Friday, focused on finalizing a new government support package to offset rising fuel costs. A full cabinet meeting is scheduled for Sunday to receive an official update on the ongoing crisis negotiations, as authorities work to resolve the standoff and restore normal fuel supply chains across the country.

  • Iran-US peace talks extended for another day: media

    Iran-US peace talks extended for another day: media

    Diplomatic efforts between Iran and the United States will continue into an additional day, after Pakistan tabled a proposal to extend talks that gained the approval of both negotiating delegations, Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency reported in an early Sunday dispatch.

    The latest round of Pakistani-mediated peace negotiations wrapped up its initial schedule in Islamabad early Sunday, following an exchange of drafted negotiation texts between the two national delegations. After the initial session concluded, Islamabad put forward a plan to hold an extra day of talks. The proposal came against the backdrop of ongoing disagreements, with Tasnim noting that US negotiators have put forward what Tehran describes as “illogical and excessive demands”, while the Iranian delegation has remained firm on protecting the country’s core national interests throughout the discussions. Both sides ultimately signed off on the extension, clearing the way for further diplomatic bargaining on Sunday to narrow gaps in their positions.

  • 3rd round of US-Iran negotiations concludes with ‘serious disagreements’

    3rd round of US-Iran negotiations concludes with ‘serious disagreements’

    After days of closed-door diplomatic discussions in the Pakistani capital, the third round of high-stakes negotiations between the United States and Iran has wrapped up, with deep, unresolved divisions remaining between the two long-adversarial nations. Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News Agency first reported on the outcome of the talks this Sunday, confirming that core sticking points including control and access to the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global oil chokepoint, have not been resolved and remain major sources of “serious disagreement”.

    While the outcome of the latest round reflects how far apart the two sides remain on key issues, the Iranian government has signaled its commitment to continued diplomatic engagement. In an official statement posted to its social media channels, the administration emphasized that despite the profound disagreements that emerged during the latest round of talks, diplomatic channels will remain open and negotiations will proceed in future rounds.

    The talks, hosted by Pakistan, mark the latest attempt to de-escalate decades of tensions between Washington and Tehran, with both global powers weighing in on issues that carry significant implications for regional security and global energy markets. The Strait of Hormuz, which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass through daily, has long been a flashpoint between the two nations, with Iran repeatedly asserting full sovereignty over the waterway and the US pushing for open, unimpeded navigation for commercial and military vessels.

  • Benin votes for new president with finance minister favored to succeed Talon

    Benin votes for new president with finance minister favored to succeed Talon

    Voters across Benin flocked to more than 17,000 polling stations on Sunday to select a new head of state, bringing a close to 10 years of rule under outgoing President Patrice Talon, whose tenure leaves behind a divided national legacy marked by robust economic expansion, escalating extremist instability in the country’s northern region, and widespread accusations of opposition suppression.

    At the center of the election are two candidates: Romuald Wadagni, the 49-year-old former finance minister and handpicked successor of Talon leading the ruling coalition, and Paul Hounkpè, the only opposition contender cleared to appear on the ballot. A total of nearly 8 million eligible Beninese are registered to participate in the vote for the West African nation, which counted more than 15 million total residents in 2024. Like most sub-Saharan African states, Benin has a predominantly young population. Polling was scheduled to conclude at 4 p.m. local time, with official preliminary projections expected to be released within 48 hours of closing.

    Most political analysts forecast a likely victory for Wadagni, an outcome shaped by the ruling bloc’s total domination of national legislative politics following January’s parliamentary election. During that vote, all opposition parties failed to meet the 20% support threshold required to earn seats in the 109-member National Assembly, leaving Talon’s two allied parties in full control of the legislative branch. Leading opposition figure Renaud Agbodjo, head of the Democrats party, was entirely barred from running in Sunday’s presidential contest after he could not secure the required number of parliamentary endorsements. Critics argue this requirement was deliberately designed to exclude political rivals from the race.

    Wadagni has centered his campaign on his 10-year record leading Benin’s finance ministry, pointing to the country’s consistent economic expansion as proof of his effective governance. Last year alone, Benin’s economy grew by 7%, cementing its position as one of West Africa’s most stable and high-performing economies. “Ten years at the Finance Ministry have given him something rare in African politics: a quantified record — verifiable and difficult to dismantle in a serious debate,” explained Fiacre Vidjingninou, a political analyst at the Lagos-based Béhanzin Institute.

    Despite Benin’s longstanding reputation as one of Africa’s most stable democratic nations, opposition leaders and global human rights groups have repeatedly accused Talon of weaponizing the national justice system to marginalize political opponents. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have documented a systematic crackdown on dissent during Talon’s tenure, highlighting widespread arbitrary detentions, stricter limits on public protest, and growing pressure on independent media outlets. In recent years, mass public protests over soaring living costs were quickly dispersed and suppressed by government security forces.

    The election also comes amid rising political and security instability across West Africa. In December, just months before the presidential vote, a group of military officers launched an unsuccessful coup attempt to overthrow Talon’s government, the latest in a string of attempted military takeovers across the African continent in recent years. Regional analysts note most recent coup attempts follow a consistent pattern: rooted in disputed election results, constitutional unrest, widespread security failures, and deep youth discontent with ruling governments. A core grievance cited by the December coup plotters was the sharp deterioration of security in northern Benin.

    For years, northern Benin has grappled with spillover extremist violence from neighboring Burkina Faso and Niger, where regional governments have battled Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM), an al-Qaida-affiliated jihadi insurgent group. The tri-border region where the three nations meet has long been a hotspot for extremist activity, a crisis that has worsened in recent years after both Burkina Faso and Niger fell under the control of military juntas, eliminating much of the cross-border security cooperation that previously limited insurgent expansion.

  • Hungarians vote in closely watched election with Orban’s rule on line

    Hungarians vote in closely watched election with Orban’s rule on line

    On a high-stakes Sunday morning, polling stations opened across Hungary for a parliamentary election that stands as one of the most consequential political moments in modern European history, with the 16-year incumbency of nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban — the European Union’s longest-serving leader and self-described “thorn in Brussels’ side” — hanging in the balance.

    With opinion polls consistently placing opposition challenger Peter Magyar’s pro-European Tisza Party ahead of Orban’s ruling Fidesz party, the outcome of the vote has drawn intense international scrutiny from capitals across the continent and beyond. The race has been marked by bitter mutual accusations of foreign interference, dueling endorsements from high-profile American figures, and deep public division over Hungary’s future direction between alignment with the EU and continued closeness to Russia.

    Orban, 62, is vying for an unprecedented fifth consecutive term in office, during which he has reshaped Hungary into what he terms an “illiberal democracy.” Mirroring the rhetorical framing of former U.S. President Donald Trump — who has publicly thrown his full support behind Orban’s campaign — the incumbent has framed mass migration and progressive “woke” values as existential threats to Western civilization. He has centered his campaign on hardline rhetoric against neighboring Ukraine, which is currently defending itself against full-scale Russian invasion, portraying Kyiv as hostile to Hungarian interests. In the lead-up to voting, he also reiterated pledges to expand his crackdown on independent civil society groups, critical media, and opposition political figures.

    Long-simmering tensions between Orban’s government and EU institutions have boiled over in recent years, with Brussels freezing billions of euros in allocated cohesion funding over allegations that Orban has eroded judicial independence, cracked down on political dissent, and undermined the rule of law. U.S. Vice President JD Vance traveled to Budapest earlier this week to hold a rally in support of Orban, where he echoed the prime minister’s attacks on what he called overreach by Brussels bureaucrats. Trump, for his part, has promised to bring American economic leverage to Hungary if Fidesz secures another term.

    Magyar, a 45-year-old former insider within Orban’s government who only emerged as a political force two years ago, has built a rapidly growing movement on promises of a complete “system change” that would return Hungary to full democratic alignment with the European Union. Despite an electoral system widely acknowledged to be structurally skewed in favor of Fidesz, and a backdrop of years of economic stagnation that has left many Hungarian households struggling, Magyar has managed to galvanize widespread discontent with Orban’s rule. He has campaigned on pledges to root out systemic corruption — an issue where Transparency International ranks Hungary as tied with Bulgaria for the worst performance in the EU — and improve access to public services for working Hungarians.

    Outside polling stations on Sunday, voters from across the political spectrum expressed the historic weight of the moment, with many describing the election as a once-in-a-generation choice for the country’s future. “Now is our last chance to choose finally east or west. Do we want to be a normal democracy or turn back east with no point of return?” 18-year-old first-time voter David Banhegyi told AFP after casting his ballot for Tisza in a residential district of Budapest.

    Edit Csillaghegyi, a 58-year-old shop worker who also supported the opposition, cited corruption as her core motivation for ousting Orban. “I have one main problem with this government, what it did, the robbing,” she said.

    But for Orban’s supporters, the incumbent remains a bulwark against outside interference in Hungary’s domestic affairs. “It is so important for us that Viktor Orban stays in power,” said Maria Toth, a 31-year-old stay-at-home mother of two, after casting her ballot. “I feel Hungary is under siege from so many directions and big powers like Brussels are trying to dictate how we live. If he loses, I worry for my children’s future.”

    Andrea Szabo, a senior research fellow at ELTE University’s Centre for Social Sciences, framed the election as a defining turning point for Hungarian democracy. “If Fidesz wins now, that will clearly mean… a shift towards authoritarianism,” she told AFP. “This is the last moment in which this process can be halted, and the pendulum can swing back in a democratic direction.”

    Polling opened at 6:00 am local time (0400 GMT) and is scheduled to close at 7:00 pm local time. Analysts are projecting a record national turnout of roughly 75 percent, which would surpass the previous high of just over 70 percent set in 2002. The National Election Office has noted that while preliminary partial results will be released shortly after polls close, a final official winner may not be declared until next Saturday if the race remains extremely tight.

    In the weeks leading up to voting, the campaign has been roiled by a steady stream of leaks, accusations, and counter-accusations. Recorded phone conversations between Orban and his foreign minister, leaked to the public, triggered alarm across the EU over the pair’s close ongoing ties to the Kremlin. Multiple independent reports have documented an active covert Russian disinformation campaign designed to boost Orban’s chances of re-election, while a recent investigative documentary has alleged that Fidesz and its coalition partners are engaging in widespread vote-buying operations in rural Hungarian districts. Both Orban and the opposition have traded claims of foreign meddling: the opposition has raised concerns about Russian and American interference to benefit Fidesz, while Orban has accused the opposition of colluding with foreign intelligence services and plotting to destabilize the election through chaos.

  • China says it will resume some ties with Taiwan after visit by opposition leader

    China says it will resume some ties with Taiwan after visit by opposition leader

    BANGKOK, Associated Press – More than seven decades after the cross-Strait split, and amid years of rising tensions between Beijing and the ruling Taipei administration, mainland China announced Sunday a series of measures to restore suspended cross-Strait connections, following a landmark meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and the chair of Taiwan’s Beijing-leaning opposition Kuomintang Party (KMT), Cheng Li-wun.

    The high-profile gathering between Xi and Cheng in Beijing on Friday centered on public calls for cross-Strait peace, though no concrete policy details were released by either side. In an official statement released Sunday, the Communist Party of China’s Taiwan Work Office outlined multiple steps to rebuild ties that have been frozen for years: the resumption of direct flights linking Taiwan to mainland cities including Xi’an and Urumqi, the restart of imports of Taiwanese aquaculture goods previously blocked by Beijing, and a plan to explore the establishment of a permanent communication channel between the CPC and the KMT. Beijing also reaffirmed its long-proposed plan to advance the construction of a cross-Strait bridge connecting mainland China to Taiwan’s Kinmen and Matsu islands, which lie just off the Chinese coast.

    Cross-Strait relations have deteriorated sharply since 2016, when pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party leader Tsai Ing-wen won Taiwan’s presidential election. Beijing has cut off almost all official dialogue with Taipei’s ruling government, and increased regular military patrols of warships and fighter jets near Taiwan’s borders in a show of sovereignty. China continues to claim Taiwan as an integral part of its own territory, and has never formally ruled out the use of military force to bring the self-governing island under its control.

    Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the government body that oversees cross-Strait relations, quickly pushed back on Beijing’s announcement, framing the new measures and proposed cross-party communication mechanism as unilateral political deals between the CPC and KMT that bypass Taiwan’s democratically elected government. The agency reaffirmed Taipei’s long-held position that all cross-Strait affairs involving public authority must be negotiated between the two governments on an equal, mutually respectful footing to deliver tangible benefits that protect the rights and well-being of Taiwan’s people. Critics note that it remains unclear how the new measures announced by Beijing can be implemented without formal approval from Taipei’s government, given existing cross-border travel and trade regulations.

    To provide context for the latest developments: Beijing first banned individual tourism travel to Taiwan for Chinese citizens in 2019, and current Taiwanese entry rules require Chinese passport holders to hold a valid third-country residence visa (issued by nations such as the U.S. or EU member states) to qualify for a Taiwanese visitor visa. On the trade front, Beijing first blocked imports of Taiwanese pineapples in 2021, before expanding restrictions to other agricultural and aquaculture goods, including grouper, squid, and tuna. After the grouper import ban was imposed, Taiwan’s Ministry of Agriculture attempted to negotiate with Beijing to revise production standards to meet Chinese import requirements, but Beijing only approved a small, unelaborated list of individual Taiwanese firms for limited exports.

  • ‘We need real peace’: Easter truce fails to lift grim mood in war-torn Ukraine

    ‘We need real peace’: Easter truce fails to lift grim mood in war-torn Ukraine

    # Fragile Orthodox Easter Truce Collapses Within Hours in Kharkiv, Ukraine

    More than four years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a bilateral agreement for an Orthodox Easter truce came into force across frontlines on a Saturday afternoon. Just 38 minutes after the ceasefire took effect, wailing air raid sirens cut through the quiet of northeastern Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, shattering any immediate hope of a lasting pause in fighting.

    Since that first alarm, Ukrainian officials and military commanders have confirmed dozens of ceasefire violations along active contact lines, though no long-range missile or drone strikes have been recorded in the immediate hours after the truce began. The 32-hour cessation of hostilities was meant to stretch through Easter Monday, offering civilians and soldiers alike a rare, desperately needed break from four years of constant conflict.

    In a public post on X ahead of the truce, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasized that Easter should stand as a season of safety and peace, while warning that Ukrainian defense forces would respond “strictly in kind” to any hostile action by Moscow. Across Kharkiv, widespread skepticism of any Russian commitment to peace runs deep, with public trust in the temporary truce hovering near zero.

    Moments before the ceasefire was scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. local time, scores of local families gathered at St John the Theologian Church for the traditional annual blessing of Easter fare. Carrying wicker baskets heaped with glazed sweet Easter cakes, hand-painted dyed eggs, and cured sausage, worshippers formed a line wrapping around the church building to receive a sprinkling of holy water from the parish priest.

    This year, the service was moved from its traditional midnight timing, which includes a ceremonial procession around the church grounds, to mid-afternoon to comply with local curfew orders imposed to reduce civilian risk from Russian attacks. The church itself suffered significant damage in the opening weeks of the full-scale invasion, and one entire wall of its windows remains covered with plywood boarding.

    When asked about the meaning of the Russian-proposed ceasefire, parish priest Fr Viktor questioned the very premise of trusting Moscow’s commitments. Parishioner Larisa echoed his caution, noting that past Russian truces have only been followed by more intense offensives. “Maybe there will be a short pause,” she told reporters, “but then Russia will only launch even more intense attacks. We’ve seen that before.”

    Roughly 12 miles from the Russian border, at a rural military training ground, members of the Yasni Ochi strike drone unit—part of Ukraine’s Khartia Corps—spent the holiday weekend testing new explosive drone systems destined for the frontlines. The troops loaded newly delivered kamikaze drones with ordnance and practiced precision diving attacks on ground targets, their training proceeding even as the truce was announced.

    Unit commander Heorhiy issued orders for his troops to hold their positions during the 32-hour truce unless directly attacked, but he says he fully expects Russian forces to break the agreement. “Russia says one thing, then does the other. So you have to be ready,” he explained. For troops on rotating rest, the unit has been dropping care packages of Easter cake and alcohol-free wine to frontline positions via drone delivery.

    The small village the unit now uses for training was occupied by Russian forces in 2022 before being recaptured by Ukrainian troops, and nearly every residential structure in the area lies in crumbled ruins. While open discussion of large-scale territorial recapture, such as the entire Donbas region south of Kharkiv, has become rare among frontline troops, Heorhiy insists Ukraine cannot pause fighting until it secures favorable terms for peace negotiations with Russia.

    “We need real peace talks,” the commander said, adding that he has been encouraged by growing international demand for Ukraine’s drone expertise spurred by new conflicts in the Middle East, where Ukraine is able to share its years of frontline experience and drone technology. However, the US-led peace process for Ukraine has stalled in recent months, with US President Donald Trump’s diplomatic envoys reallocated to handle escalating tensions with Iran.

    Ukraine continues to push for concrete long-term security guarantees from its Western backers, specifically clarity on what support the US would provide if Russia launches another full-scale invasion in the future. “It’s not our choice. I don’t like war, my guys don’t like it. We used to have good civilian life,” Heorhiy said, noting that several members of his unit worked as DJs in Dnipro’s underground electronic music scene before the invasion. “Now we do what we need to do.”

    Back within Kharkiv’s city limits, the main regional ring road is now being draped in anti-drone netting, designed to catch and entangle incoming Russian unmanned aerial vehicles before they can strike vehicles traveling below. But little can be done to protect residential neighborhoods from incoming missile attacks: with Russian positions so close to the city, there is barely enough warning time for air defenses to engage incoming threats.

    In one Kharkiv suburb, entire sections of five-story apartment blocks have been reduced to rubble by recent strikes, while dozens of surrounding buildings remain boarded up and uninhabitable. Last month, an early morning Russian missile strike on the neighborhood killed 11 residents, wiping out an entire wing of a residential building. Walking through the ruins, visitors can still spot a bright red rug pinned to what remains of a living room wall, with portraits of two killed residents laid on the rubble at its base.

    Olha, a neighbor who survived the strike, described huddling in the building’s central corridor with her elderly mother as the missile hit. She shared phone footage showing the building across the street engulfed in bright orange flames, and her own apartment reduced to splinters and debris. Unsurprisingly, she says she craves any break from the constant threat of death. “This truce is only one and a half days. But at least we can rest a bit, because here, you expect to die every second,” she said. “We really want peace. Not for one and a half days. For good.”

    Weeping quietly, Olha questioned the cost of holding the last remaining sliver of Ukrainian-held Donetsk Oblast, saying it is not worth the mass loss of civilian life. “There were children killed in that strike, wonderful people. Will it ever stop?” she asked.

    Zelenskyy has said he is open to turning this flawed temporary truce into a permanent ceasefire, followed by structured peace talks with Russia to reach a lasting settlement. But the Kremlin has already rejected the proposal, confirming that full-scale offensive operations will resume on Monday when the temporary truce is set to expire.

  • Polls open in Hungary in a key election that could unseat populist Prime Minister Orbán

    Polls open in Hungary in a key election that could unseat populist Prime Minister Orbán

    Voters across Hungary headed to polling stations on Sunday to cast their ballots in what political analysts across the globe have dubbed the most politically consequential European election of 2025. A single question hangs over the contest: will 16-year incumbent Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a polarizing populist icon and close ally of former U.S. President Donald Trump, be unseated by his unexpected challenger?

    For observers in Brussels, Washington and capitals worldwide, the outcome of this vote carries far-reaching implications for the future of European Union cohesion, transatlantic relations and the global rise of far-right populism. Orbán, the EU’s longest-serving sitting head of government, has evolved dramatically over his decades in public life: from a young liberal firebrand who pushed back against Soviet influence in the 1990s to a Russia-aligned nationalist leader whose model of illiberal governance has become a blueprint for conservative anti-globalization movements across the Western world.

    Polling locations opened to voters at 6 a.m. local time, with doors scheduled to close at 7 p.m. Both Orbán and his top rival, Péter Magyar, were scheduled to cast their ballots later Sunday morning. The intense global attention surrounding the race underscores Orbán’s outsize influence on modern right-wing politics: followers of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement hold up Orbán’s Fidesz party and his administration as a gold standard for conservative anti-globalist policy, while proponents of liberal democracy and the rule of law have long condemned his leadership.

    Since returning to the prime ministership in 2010, Orbán has reshaped Hungary’s political and social landscape fundamentally. His administration has overseen sweeping crackdowns on minority rights and independent media freedom, systematically weakened core democratic institutions, and faced repeated allegations of diverting public funds to connected business elites — claims Orbán has consistently denied. He has also repeatedly clashed with EU leadership, leveraging Hungary’s veto power to block key bloc initiatives, most recently a 90-billion-euro ($104 billion) EU aid package for Ukraine, a move that drew widespread accusations from European partners of holding critical assistance hostage for political gain.

    After four consecutive election victories that delivered Fidesz a two-thirds parliamentary supermajority, new signs suggest Orbán’s unbroken grip on Hungarian politics may finally be vulnerable. That vulnerability comes in the form of 45-year-old Péter Magyar, a former Fidesz insider who split from the party in 2024 and rapidly built a new opposition force, the center-right Tisza party. Magyar has quickly emerged as Orbán’s most formidable challenger to date, with independent polling placing Tisza ahead of Fidesz.

    Magyar’s campaign has centered on kitchen-table issues that resonate with ordinary Hungarian voters: a collapsing public health system, underfunded and unreliable public transportation, and what he frames as rampant systemic corruption under the Orbán administration. In the weeks leading up to election day, he carried out a grueling cross-country campaign blitz, holding rallies in cities and small towns alike and visiting as many as six communities a day to connect with voters. In an early April interview with The Associated Press, Magyar framed the election as a stark national referendum: “Hungarians will decide whether we continue drifting toward Moscow under Orbán, or reclaim our place in Europe’s community of democratic nations.”

    Despite his polling lead, Magyar faces a steep uphill battle to unseat Orbán. The incumbent maintains near-total control of Hungary’s public media, which has been converted into a relentless Fidesz propaganda mouthpiece, and controls large segments of the country’s private media market, giving him an overwhelming advantage in reaching voters. Fidesz’s unilateral restructuring of Hungary’s electoral system and aggressive gerrymandering of the country’s 106 voting districts also means Tisza needs to win roughly 5% more of the national vote than Fidesz to secure a parliamentary majority. Additionally, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Hungarians residing in neighboring countries retain voting rights in Hungarian national elections, and this demographic has historically voted overwhelmingly for Fidesz.

    In the lead-up to Sunday’s vote, both sides have raised alarms about potential irregularities, with speculation growing over external interference and internal voter fraud. Both Fidesz and Tisza have launched independent platforms to collect reports of electoral abuse, each accusing the other of planning to manipulate the result. Multiple media outlets, including The Washington Post, have reported that Russian intelligence services have plotted to interfere in the election to tilt the result in Orbán’s favor. Orbán, meanwhile, has pushed back by accusing neighboring Ukraine and EU leadership of plotting to meddle to install a pro-Kyiv government.

    These geopolitical divides have played out openly in international support for both candidates. Most EU leaders, who view Orbán as a persistent threat to the bloc’s democratic cohesion and policy agenda, are openly rooting for an Orbán defeat, hopeful that a Magyar-led government would return Hungary to being a constructive European partner. Across the Atlantic, however, Trump and his MAGA movement have thrown their full weight behind Orbán’s re-election. Trump has issued multiple public endorsements of the Hungarian prime minister, and U.S. Vice President JD Vance traveled to Hungary for a high-profile two-day campaign visit last week to boost Orbán’s chances ahead of election day. As polls closed Sunday evening, all sides awaited a result that will reshape the future of Hungary and send ripples across global politics.