Labour will find increases in the state pension age are unacceptable, just as cuts to the Winter Fuel Allowance, personal independence payments and universal credit are — it needs to change direction immediately, writes PCS general secretary FRAN HEATHCOTE

WITH regional arms races and provocative military activities spiralling in east Asia, Nato chief Jens Stoltenburg’s recent visits to South Korea and Japan aimed to follow through on the organisation’s new commitment to addressing the “systemic competition” from China.
What is taking place is a historic restructuring of the international security order: amid claims that “east Asia is the next Ukraine,” Japan is resuming its role as a military power while the US-Japan 70-year-old alliance is being upgraded as the US places a primary focus on the need to contain China.
Britain is playing a vital role in leveraging this shift, building a new security co-operation with Japan which opens the door to international recognition of the country’s remilitarisation.

We cannot understand today’s world without understanding the rise of China – and we cannot understand China without understanding how it was shaped by the second world war, writes JENNY CLEGG

JENNY CLEGG reports from a Chinese peace conference bringing together defence ministers, US think tanks and global South leaders, where speakers warned that the erosion of multilateralism risks regional hotspots exploding into wider war

