Month: September 2023

China and EU agree export controls ‘mechanism’ to ease trade tensions

Media Library

Receive free EU-China relations updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest EU-China relations news every morning. China and the EU have agreed to set up a “mechanism” to discuss export controls, mirroring a similar effort between Beijing and Washington, as the two trading superpowers seek to ease growing trading tensions. Beijing also agreed to buy more EU agricultural goods and to resolve issues including a backlog of licences for European infant formula makers following complaints about market barriers to its goods and services. The…

Chinese government probe casts new doubt over Evergrande restructuring

Media Library

Receive free Evergrande Real Estate Group updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Evergrande Real Estate Group news every morning. Evergrande, the struggling Chinese property developer, has cast serious doubts over the future of its debt restructuring plan, saying an ongoing official investigation will prevent it from issuing new notes. Evergrande defaulted on its debts almost two years ago, sparking a cash crunch across China’s economically critical property sector and prolonged negotiations with offshore creditors. The world’s most indebted developer, which had more than…

China warns EU to show restraint when seeking to counter Beijing’s trade tactics

Media Library

Valdis Dombrovskis, the EU’s trade chief, said he had “been able to convey directly to Chinese leadership some key messages” around Russia during the talks, adding that he had asked for help to “bring back the Black Sea Grain Initiative”, the deal that enabled Ukrainian grain exports. “Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine is endangering not only lives but also global food supplies,” Dombrovskis said. EU trade chief Dombrovskis says bloc doesn’t intend to decouple from China Sitting alongside He in Beijing, Dombrovskis drew attention to the bloc’s near-€400 billion…

How China’s Propaganda Infiltrated Radio Stations in Europe

Media Library

Advertisement China has consistently and systematically pursued the dissemination of its narratives on the global stage, with the primary aim of shaping the international landscape to align with its strategic interests and ideological perspectives. These endeavors encompass a diverse array of tactics, including the acquisition of media enterprises, active engagement by Chinese ambassadors in both mainstream and fringe media outlets, the utilization of paid supplements, collaboration with pro-Kremlin media, and the steadily expanding presence of China across various social media platforms. Recently, China Radio International (CRI), an official Chinese state…

Step up pace of technological breakthroughs, Chinese President Xi Jinping urges

Media Library

Xi was speaking during a tour of the eastern province of Zhejiang, one of the country’s main economic powerhouses, where he called for the faster application of research, intelligent green development in manufacturing and for clusters of internationally competitive clusters of emerging digital businesses. Xi hails IOC’s ‘non-politicisation of sport’ ahead of Asian Games opening On Thursday he told local officials: “We should put the enhancement of scientific and technological innovation capacity in a more prominent position, integrate scientific and technological innovation forces and advantageous resources, and accelerate breakthroughs in…

China property: accelerating meltdown threatens other markets

Media Library

Receive free Lex updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Lex news every morning. The floorboards are giving way underneath the Chinese property companies. On Monday, share prices throughout the sector fell by the most this year. Evergrande dropped 21 per cent after it scrapped key creditor meetings at the last minute. There is still risk of contagion both within China and beyond. That nervousness could spread into commodities. Iron ore prices fell more than 4 per cent on Monday. This comes when seasonal…

Taliban Weighs Using US Mass Surveillance Plan, Met with China’s Huawei 

Media Library

KABUL —  The Taliban are creating a large-scale camera surveillance network for Afghan cities that could involve repurposing a plan crafted by the Americans before their 2021 pullout, an interior ministry spokesman told Reuters, as authorities seek to supplement thousands of cameras already across the capital, Kabul. The Taliban administration — which has publicly said it is focused on restoring security and clamping down on Islamic State, which has claimed many major attacks in Afghan cities — has also consulted with Chinese telecoms equipment maker Huawei about potential cooperation, the…

More direct China-US flights on the horizon, but return to 2019 traffic far more distant

Media Library

Local governments in China, including those in Harbin, Haikou and Fuzhou, have said they would offer subsidies to airlines that allocate runway space to direct international flights. “However, it is important to note that this is still significantly less than the pre-Covid-19 period when there were more than 300 round trips per week,” said Herman Tse, valuations manager at Cirium Ascend consultancy. Because of limited capacity, he said, airfares are expected to remain elevated in the coming months. US-China flight increase good for tourism, but can it mend business ties?…

And the winner is . . . 

Media Library

Receive free US updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest US news every morning. A good bag of entries for last week’s charts quiz, but a deliberate curveball with the final chart caught a lot of people out (sorry). Here are the correct answers. A lot of people correctly guessed that this shows the Vix index. And even more managed to correctly guess that this is the (seasonally adjusted annual rate of) US existing home sales. Quite a few people guessed that this one…

Tech war: Huawei unveils slew of new products but keeps quiet on breakthrough Mate 60 Pro and chip inside

Media Library

US-sanctioned Huawei Technologies unveiled a slew of new products at a widely-watched release ceremony on Monday but kept quiet on its latest smartphone, which is powered by a home-grown chip that is seen as a breakthrough in the country’s hi-tech self-sufficiency drive. The Shenzhen-based company named Hong Kong movie star Andy Lau Tak-wah as ambassador for its new luxury brand, Ultimate Design, and unveiled a new gold smartwatch at the event, but it made no comment on the make-up of the powerful chip behind its Mate 60 Pro smartphone. Screen…