US’ show of strength to China, what to expect from Prabowo, PLA marriage in spotlight: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

The US is likely to deploy nearly half of its aircraft carriers in the western Pacific this year, in a signal of deterrence against the increasing military activity in the region by China and North Korea, analysts said.

Weeks after Singaporeans were left fuming from an American lawmaker’s grilling of TikTok’s CEO over his nationality and links to China’s Communist Party, the island nation’s top envoy in Washington has suggested the line of questioning went too far and could tarnish perceptions of the US.

Hong Kong has lost some of its glamour for mainland travellers amid heightened competition from other Chinese cities over prices and number of attractions, industry commentators have said, as many visitors make only day trips to the financial hub during the Lunar New Year holiday.

Widodo, who will hand the presidency over to Prabowo on October 20, is barred by the constitution from a third term, but his influence will still be in play through his son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Indonesia’s vice-president-elect, making his clan the new guard in the world’s third-largest democracy, analysts said.

Travelling to multiple Chinese cities late last year, Derek Cheung, an investor from Singapore, found himself having trouble making simple, everyday payments in China’s increasingly cashless society.

“Frankly, I see it as a challenge that comes with being a foreign tourist,” Cheung lamented. “China’s payment methods cater largely to locals.”

Thailand’s cannabis industry is lawyering up as the cabinet weighs a bill to roll back legal weed, which industry insiders say is propelled by political calculation rather than sound public health policy.

A man in China has been sentenced to 10 months in prison for destroying a “military marriage” by