Michael Reilly SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Taiwan’s trade figures with China should not make comfortable reading for any Taiwanese legislator or policymaker. True, between 2008 and 2015, China’s imports from Taiwan increased by almost 40 percent, vindication, presumably, in Kuomintang (KMT) eyes of Ma Ying-jeou’s cross-straits policy. But that growth pales into near insignificance against the 300 percent plus …

Catherine Putz SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS After seven months of stalled relations–barbed comments and sanctions–Russia and Turkey may be moving toward a rapprochement. On Monday, according to the Russians, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sent a letter “in which the Turkish President expressed his desire to settle the situation concerning the downing of a Russian military aircraft.” In the letter, …

  Tokyo / AFP Japanese industrial production dived in May for the first time in three months, official data showed on Thursday, in a worrying sign for the already fragile economy. Factory output dropped 2.3 percent in May from a month earlier, much worse than the average 0.2 percent drop expected by economists, according to Bloomberg News. The weak figures come …