China’s GDP gap with US, Malaysians mock Starbucks franchisee, Japan’s geisha visitors ban: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

A few years ago, many confidently predicted China would overtake the US in GDP terms – but a recent downturn suggests these prophecies were premature.

China’s advancements in 136 key technologies outpaced those of South Korea for the first time in 2022, according to a recent report by the latter’s Ministry of Science and ICT.

A magistrate has handed down a sentence of 160 hours of community service to a Hong Kong marketing executive who misled health officials over an infamous birthday party in 2022 that had top officials in attendance.

Malaysian social media has been awash with wry humour and defiance after consumer-goods mogul Vincent Tan appealed for an end to a costly boycott of Starbucks in the country over its alleged links to Israel.

Beijing is “actively considering” raising Hong Kong’s duty-free shopping allowance for mainland Chinese tourists, as proposed by a majority of the city’s representatives attending the country’s largest annual political gathering in the capital, the Post has learned.

Besides being well versed in British, European and American dining, etiquette consultant Piano Mok also has a wealth of knowledge about Asian cuisines.