🌍 Peter’s Perspective Bi-weekly Blog

Grounded in the same four pillars as my book West meets East, this page brings you the stories shaping mainland China, Singapore and Taiwan. If you don’t speak Mandarin, but want a clear insider-informed view that complements Western perspectives – you’re in the right place. Every two weeks I scan trusted East Asian sources like SCMP, Caixin, Straits Times, Xinhua and Taipei Times to bring you the top 20 stories you need to know. Just like in my book, each edition is organized around four key themes: 

PEOPLE & CULTURE: From martial arts revivals and sports to Asia’s most creative cultural exports.
LEADERSHIP & ECONOMY Trade shifts, five-year plans and tech-powered policy transformations.
TECH & INNOVATION: Semiconductors, AI, and university spin-offs that are redefining global innovation.
CLIMATE , ENERGY & FOOD: From battery breakthroughs to sustainable change.

Stay curious – Bookmark, check every other Friday for fresh insights and share this page! 

🌏 Edition: June 27–July 10, 2025

Noticed these shifts lately?

  • Why are festivals across Hong Kong, Singapore and Macao mixing pop music, streetwear and foodie culture to lure new crowds?
  • Can a tiny rise in China’s prices and a bold €4.5 trillion growth plan really steady Asia’s economy—and open fresh doors for Europe?
  • Could home-grown AI chips and space-grown rice push East Asia ahead in the race for both cutting-edge tech and food security?

People & Culture

  • Hot-air balloons meet Cantopop (Hong Kong) – The AIA International Hot Air Balloon Fest will float panda-, dinosaur- and rabbit-shaped balloons above Victoria Harbour this September while stars Joey Yung and Leo Ku play nightly gigs, with organisers eyeing 80 000 visitors and a tourism bump. This mash-up of Insta-ready visuals and classic Cantopop shows how Hong Kong is repackaging tradition for Gen Z wanderlust. 🎈
    | 7 Jul 2025 South China Morning Post

  • Singapore’s July gig-fest – From the Skechers Sundown street-culture bash to Esplanade’s month-long Jazz in July sessions (plus Indonesian rockers D’Masiv), Singapore is packing club, park and mall stages with affordable shows that blur music, sneaker and F&B scenes. A reminder that the Lion City sells lifestyle diversity, not just high-tech skylines. 🎵
     | 10 Jul 2025 The Straits Times

  • Macao’s Lotus Flower Festival blooms again – The 25th edition opened with art markets, folk parades and – yes – lotus-flavoured desserts, underscoring the city’s push to pivot from casinos to slow-travel culture. For foodie tourists, petals are the new poker chips. 🌸
    | 6 Jul 2025 Xinhua News

  • Taiwanese film composer makes history in Italy – Chiang Yi-chen became the first Asian (and first woman) to win Emerging Composer at the Apulia Soundtrack Awards, boosting Taiwan’s creative soft power in Europe. Proof that Mandarin beats can top Western red carpets. 🏆
    | 9 Jul 2025 Taipei Times

  • Voice-chat app rocked by gambling scandal (China) – Caixin reveals how “Banban” hosts embedded covert betting games, prompting regulators to tighten live-stream rules and sparking debate on digital vice versus free expression. It’s Twitch-culture with Chinese characteristics – and consequences. 🎰
    l | 4 Jul 2025 Caixin Global

Leadership & Economy

  • Tiny uptick, big relief – China’s CPI rises 0.1 % – June’s first inflation gain in five months eased deflation fears even as factory prices slid 3.6 %. Analysts say more stimulus is still likely, but the data hint consumers are spending – at last. 💸
    | 9 Jul 2025 Caixin Global

  • Economic add-on: ¥35 trn in five years – A top official told Xinhua that China’s 2021-25 GDP increment will exceed 35 trillion yuan (≈€4.5 trn), powered by digital and green sectors. Beijing is still betting on scale to outpace headwinds. 📈
    | 9 Jul 2025 Xinhua News

  • Taiwan’s inflation cools to 1.37 % – Slower food and energy price rises gave Taipei extra room to support growth without stoking costs, economists say. Stability matters as export orders wobble. 🧊
    | 9 Jul 2025 Taipei Times

  • Berlin stopover: Wang Yi warns EU on ‘Russia loss’ – China’s foreign minister told Brussels that a weakened Moscow would hurt Europe’s security, framing Beijing as pragmatic mediator while courting German business. A sharp play on geopolitics and trade. 🧐
    | 4 Jul 2025 South China Morning Post

  • Singapore core inflation dips to 0.6 % – Lower services and food prices surprised analysts and may keep the MAS from tightening policy in October, easing wallets for Gen-Z consumers. 🍜
    | 4 Jul 2025 The Straits Times

Technology & Innovation

  • AI-chip start-up Sunrise nets ¥1 bn – Spun out of SenseTime, Sunrise began mass production of its S2 GPUs and raised almost US$140 m, fuelling China’s quest for home-grown AI silicon. 🚀
    | 1 Jul 2025 Caixin Global

  • Eyes like a cyborg – Chinese researchers built a quantum-dot vision sensor that adapts to darkness-to-sunlight changes in 40 s – way faster than humans – opening doors for autonomous drones and AR glasses. 🤖
    | 6 Jul 2025 South China Morning Post

  • Shenzhou-19 crew debriefs Beijing – Fresh from orbit, the three taikonauts detailed experiments on smart materials and space-grown rice, underscoring China’s steady march toward its 2030 moon goals. 🌕
    | 9 Jul 2025 Xinhua News

  • TSMC says U-S fabs won’t slow global push – The chip giant told investors its Arizona build-out won’t cannibalise capacity elsewhere, signaling confidence in meeting record AI demand while hedging geopolitical risk. 🖥️
    | 7 Jul 2025 Taipei Times

  • Baidu overhauls search with Gen-AI – The Chinese web titan rolled out a 1 000-word natural-language engine to claw back market share and monetise AI ads, showing Big Tech’s race to re-invent the browser. 🔍
    | 3 Jul 2025 The Straits Times

Climate Action, Energy & Food

  • Polysilicon giants plan rescue merger – Facing a brutal price war, China’s top solar-grade silicon makers aim to acquire weaker rivals and stabilise a market that underpins the world’s solar panels. Strategy over subsidies. ☀️
    | 9 Jul 2025 Caixin Global

  • Offshore wind powers up fast – China added 4.4 GW of sea-based turbines in H1 2025 and is on track for 9 GW this year, with 22 GW more under construction – proof the deep-sea boom is real. 🌬️
    | 8 Jul 2025 South China Morning Post

  • Hydro boost in Yunnan mountains – A third generating unit at the Huangdeng hydropower station went online, part of China’s plan to balance variable wind and solar with big-dam baseload. 💧
    | 5 Jul 2025 Xinhua News

  • Typhoon Danas tests – and vindicates – Taiwan’s offshore wind fleet – More than 400 turbines survived 160 km/h gusts, even as 450 000 homes briefly lost grid power, bolstering confidence in storm-ready engineering. 🌪️
    | 8 Jul 2025 Taipei Times

  • China building 510 GW of new renewables – A Global Energy Monitor report quoted by The Straits Times shows China constructing 74 % of all solar-wind projects underway worldwide – a scale that will shape global carbon math. ⚡
    | 8 Jul 2025 The Straits Times

🌏 Edition: June 13–26, 2025

What questions are shaping mainalnd China, Taiwan and Singapore right now?

  • What is Zhang Zhi Yi’s new movie, toy monsters suddenly Asia’s hottest tickets—and could they set the next global culture wave?
  • Can China’s new game plan—bigger paychecks and easier IPOs—break through Europe’s red tape and power a €13 billion battery dream?
  • Will robot-dog patrols, driverless testing and a planet-wide solar-wind grid make East Asia the lab for tomorrow’s green tech?

People & Culture

Leadership & Economy

Technology & Innovation

Climate Action, Energy & Food

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