China’s Fifa fever, EU’s trade deadline: 7 global relations reads

From the Quad’s critical mineral agenda to Shein’s Paris ousting, here are highlights from the SCMP’s overseas correspondents in June 2026

Among the hundreds of thousands of fans who travelled to North America for the World Cup are countless Chinese supporters. Yet while China remains one of the world’s largest football markets, its presence at the tournament is largely confined to the stands.

A US strike on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman did more than kill three Indian sailors and severely undercut US-India relations. It also cast further doubt on the unity of the Quad and the group’s ambitious agenda aimed at loosening China’s dominant grip on critical minerals.

A survey in Japan and South Korea revealed that strategic elites in both countries remain sceptical about developing nuclear weapons. However, should one of the two countries take the lead in acquiring nuclear weapons, support for such a move in the other country could rise rapidly.