Receive free Global Economy updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Global Economy news every morning. Good morning. On a visit to Beijing, France’s finance minister Bruno Le Maire has said new French automotive subsidies are “paving the way” for Europe’s car industry to withstand the threat of an influx of cheaper Chinese electric vehicle imports. Under a package of measures outlined in May to support green industries, the French government will only pay subsidies for new electric vehicles based on the emissions of…
Month: July 2023
Italy Minister: Joining China’s Belt and Road Was ‘Atrocious’ Decision
Rome — Italy made an “improvised and atrocious” decision when it joined China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) four years ago as it did little to boost exports, Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto said in an interview published Sunday. Italy signed up to the BRI under a previous government, becoming the only major Western country to have taken such a step. Crosetto is part of an administration that is considering how to break free of the agreement. The BRI scheme envisions rebuilding the old Silk Road to connect China with…
Activist says he’ll continue to struggle for democracy in Vietnam
Radio Free Asia interviewed 74-year-old Australian citizen and democracy activist Chau Van Kham after his release from a Vietnamese prison last week. He was arrested in 2019, hours after he arrived in Vietnam and met with a fellow pro-democracy activist. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for “terrorism aimed at toppling the people’s administration.” Kham was a member of Viet Tan, a pro-democracy group with members inside Vietnam and abroad. It has been described by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights as a…
EU car industry can withstand cheap Chinese EVs, Le Maire says
Receive free Electric vehicles updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Electric vehicles news every morning. France’s new automotive subsidies are “paving the way” for Europe’s car industry to withstand the threat of an influx of cheaper Chinese electric vehicle imports, according to finance minister Bruno Le Maire. Under a package of measures outlined in May to support green industries, the French government will only pay subsidies for new electric vehicles based on the emissions of their producers. That will hit manufacturers from China,…
Myanmar Resistance Groups Declare First Anti-Junta State Council
Bangkok — Recent moves by resistance groups in eastern Myanmar to set up an independent local government shows the growing sway of such groups and could inspire similar action elsewhere, say analysts. They also reflect persistent schisms within the broader resistance movement, the analysts add. The comments follow the June 12 announcement of an Interim Executive Council of Karenni State by an alliance of armed, political and civil society groups to manage government functions, independently of the military junta that seized control of the country in a 2021 coup. The…
US, Australia See Progress in Growing Military Exercises
TOWNSVILLE, AUSTRALIA — U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is wrapping up a trip to the Indo-Pacific that included stops in Papua New Guinea and Australia. A day after announcing the U.S. will be sending more troops and capabilities to Australia, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles flew on Austin’s jet from Brisbane to Townsville, to meet with troops taking part in Exercise Talisman Sabre. Almost a dozen nations have joined the U.S. and Australia for these exercises. And Austin says there is hope that in…
How China’s ‘old friend’ diplomacy may be hurting more than helping improve its US ties
China’s strategy of ‘old friend’ diplomacy, which was seen with former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger’s recent trip, shown here meeting Chinese State Councillor Wang Yi, could be hindering US-China relations. Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China via AP South China Morning Post
China’s Unification Ambition Undeterred by US Military Aid to Taiwan
Taipei, Taiwan — China accused the United States of turning Taiwan into an “ammunition depot” after the White House announced a $345 million military aid package for Taipei, and the self-ruled island said Sunday it tracked six Chinese navy ships in waters off its shores. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office issued a statement late Saturday opposing the military aid to Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory. “No matter how much of the ordinary people’s taxpayer money the … Taiwanese separatist forces spend, no matter how many U.S. weapons, it…
12 Killed in Thailand as Firecrackers Explode at Warehouse
Bangkok — Twelve people were killed and more than 100 injured when firecrackers kept in a warehouse exploded in southern Thailand, an official said on Sunday. The firecrackers set off a fire on Saturday at the unauthorized warehouse at the Muno market in Su-ngai Kolok district in the southern province of Narathiwat bordering Malaysia, Narathiwat’s Governor Sanan Phongaksorn said. “There are 10 deaths plus the remains of two unidentified persons, which were sent for DNA checks,” Sanan said. He said 121 people were injured, two severely, while 111 had been…
Northern China Prepares for Doksuri Floods, Beijing Residents Told to Stay Indoors
Beijing — Northern China on Sunday braced for potential floods from the Doksuri storm that caused havoc in southern areas, with residents in Beijing warned not to go outside due to expected record rains. Doksuri, though downgraded from a typhoon earlier in the day, is one of the strongest storms to hit China in years and has forced hundreds of thousands to evacuate in the southern province of Fujian after flooding. China’s Ministry of Water Resources lifted emergency warnings about the potential for floods to the second-highest level for Beijing,…