Anna Fifield

Wellington, New Zealand

China, Japan, the Koreas, Aotearoa New Zealand.

Education: University of Canterbury, New Zealand, postgraduate diploma in journalism; Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, BA

Anna Fifield is The Washington Post’s Asia-Pacific editor. She was The Post's bureau chief in Beijing from 2018 to late-2020, covering the trade war during the Trump administration and the outbreak of covid-19. Between 2014 and 2018, she was The Post's bureau chief in Tokyo, writing about all aspects of Japan and the two Koreas. She particularly concentrated on North Korea, trying to shed light on the lives of people there and on how the regime managed to stay in power. At the end of 2020, she returned to her home country of New Zealand, where she edited the Dominion Post, the capital city's
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Latest from Anna Fifield

The global stakes of Taiwan’s election

Voters across Taiwan head to the polls Saturday in an election that could reverberate around the world. As pressure tactics increase from Beijing, the island of 23 million faces existential questions about how to preserve its identity and fend off war.

January 11, 2024

Henry Kissinger makes surprise visit to China, meets top diplomat

The 100-year-old former secretary of state's visit coincides with U.S. climate envoy John F. Kerry's arrival in Beijing — and Kissinger had a much warmer welcome.

July 19, 2023
Former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger, left, meets with top Chinese diplomat Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday.

Chun Doo-hwan, brutal South Korean dictator, dies at 90

He was responsible for a massacre that killed hundreds and was later convicted of mutiny, treason and accepting bribes.

November 23, 2021
Gen. Chun Doo-Hwan in 1978.

As repression mounts, China under Xi Jinping feels increasingly like North Korea

Across the country, people are afraid — and those who speak out face severe consequences.

September 28, 2020
When humans weren’t keeping tabs on our departing Beijing bureau chief, Anna Fifield, high-tech cameras were. Facial recognition cameras are ubiquitous across China and are thought to be able to outsmart masks.

China is building vast new detention centers for Muslims in Xinjiang

Some 60 prisonlike facilities have been built, even as Beijing claims Uighurs have “graduated” from reeducation camps.

September 23, 2020
Construction next to what is believed to be another new, prisonlike detention center built to intern Uighurs in Kashgar.

China worries that Trump, facing a tough election, may provoke a new fight

Fears are growing that the president could recognize Taiwan or order a military strike against islands in the South China Sea.

September 18, 2020
President Trump speaks during a lunch after he signed a trade agreement with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He in the State Dining Room at the White House on Jan. 15.

Fire burns, cauldron bubbles — but public chopsticks trouble China’s hot pot purists

Spurred on by the coronavirus outbreak, campaigners are trying to clamp down on a traditional form of dining.

August 28, 2020
Food bloggers Li Yibing, left, and Qu Wenjie discuss their plans to promote serving utensils, instead of sharing chopsticks — and, potentially, germs — over hot pot at a Dian Tai Xiang branch in Chengdu.

Orwell’s nightmare? Facial recognition for animals promises a farmyard revolution.

China’s acts of bovine intervention could help improve agricultural safety and allow the industry to become more self-sufficient.

August 24, 2020
A live feed of cows being milked at Xiongdi cow farm. Data include ear tag number, age in months, number of days milking, and breeding status.

China puts sanctions on U.S. lawmakers, NGO chiefs, in tit-for-tat retaliation

The penalties come in response to last week’s Treasury Department penalties against Hong Kong officials for repressing political freedoms.

August 10, 2020

China sentences second Canadian in as many days to death, in apparent escalation

Beijing and Ottawa have been locked in a diplomatic dispute since the arrest of a Huawei executive.

August 7, 2020