Relationships are hard. They can lead to a dazzling Indian wedding or a guarded meeting between the heads of two superpowers. This week, we offer a little counselling on how to get on together.
At the Filoli Estate south of San Francisco, a favorite venue for glitzy weddings, Joe Biden and Xi Jinping made efforts to thaw a frosty relationship and Xi wrapped up his US trip saying China wanted peaceful development. Bloomberg columnist Hal Brands isn’t convinced.
Also taking a lot of convincing are China’s stock traders. Even in a week that saw progress in Sino-US ties, more stimulus for the property market and an overall rally in global equities, the onshore CSI 300 Index capped its worst week in about a month.
It’s wedding season in India, with 3.5 million couples expected to spend a total of $51 billion to help them tie the knot in the next few weeks.
One couple that is trying to put their differences aside is Kuomintang candidate Hou Yu-ih and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party, who pledged to join forces to try to unseat the ruling party in Taiwan’s presidential election. But they need to decide who will be top dog.
Young married Singapore couples get the chance to buy a government-subsidized apartment, one of the reasons the city-state has one of the highest home-ownership levels in the world. Now China is looking at the public housing model too.
Of course, it’s never easy to take rejection. Ask Pita Limjaroenrat. Despite winning Thailand’s May election, his bid for the premiership has been thwarted, his lawmaker status suspended and his party faces dissolution. That isn’t stopping him.
Among relationships, there’s nothing more heart-warming than the bond between parent and child — taking a little quality time to inspect nuclear weapons together or have a family dinner with the top military brass.
If you have managed to find the right partner, how about a honeymoon in Japan? You can book a bargain vacation in the land of the rising sun while the yen is weak.
Have a romantic weekend.
