Month: September 2023

Evergrande Shares Sink After Restructuring Plan Scrapped

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BEIJING —  Shares in embattled Chinese property developer Evergrande plummeted Monday, following the announcement that it would be unable to carry out a restructuring plan intended to guarantee its survival. The company collapsed more than 25 percent by the break, underscoring market concerns as China’s property sector faces an unprecedented crisis. On Sunday evening, Evergrande announced that it was unable to issue new debt as its subsidiary, Hengda Real Estate Group, “is being investigated.” That came two days after the company said meetings on the restructuring scheduled for Monday and…

China’s ‘unfairness’ warrants a more assertive EU approach, warns trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis

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European Union trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis warned that Europe will become more assertive as it tackles “unfairness” in its economic relations with China, as he stopped to speak at a university during his China trip. “We recognise that the world needs China, but China also needs to see that the lack of reciprocity and a level playing field from China, coupled with wider geopolitical shifts, has forced Europe to become more assertive,” Dombrovskis said in a speech at Tsinghua University on Monday morning in Beijing. “The EU welcomes competition,” he…

‘I was beaten by guards when I fought for prisoners’ rights’

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Former prisoner of conscience Le Quy Loc, who completed his five-year prison term earlier this month, told Radio Free Asia he was seriously beaten twice by prison guards because he fought for prisoners’ rights. Loc, 47, was arrested by the Ho Chi Minh City police on Sept. 3, 2018 after participating in protests against the controversial bills on Special Economic Zones and Cyber Security.  Demonstrators claimed the first bill favored foreign companies and the second would curtail people’s freedom of expression online. In 2020, he was sentenced to five years…

EU Businesses ‘Questioning Their Position’ in China: Trade Commissioner

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BEIJING —  European businesses in China are increasingly questioning their positions in the face of tough new security laws and a politicization of trade, an EU commissioner warned in Beijing on Monday. “European companies are concerned with China’s direction of travel,” Valdis Dombrovskis said in a speech at the capital’s Tsinghua University. “Many are questioning their position in this country.” He pointed to a new foreign relations law and a recent update to China’s anti-espionage laws as being of “great concern to our business community.” “Their ambiguity allows too much…

India’s dream of green energy runs into the reality of coal

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Earlier this year, Mahendra Patra took out a Rs1.8mn ($21,600) bank loan to install rows of rooftop solar panels on his three-storey factory on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar, a city in India’s eastern state of Odisha. Inside the factory, some 30 employees run looms churning out sturdy blue nets for the coastal fishing industry. Since the installation, operations have begun running on solar energy during the day, lowering Patra’s power bills. Sometimes the plant feeds surplus electricity back into the grid. Patra is something of an outlier in Odisha. The…

Western companies take slow steps towards China ‘de-risking’

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Western companies are slowly insulating their China operations from the mounting tensions over trade and geopolitics between Beijing and the west, as governments call for increased “de-risking”. The notion, which has replaced the radical “decoupling” as a diplomatic buzzword this year, is a sign that the west is seeking a less antagonistic approach to managing relations with China. But businesses have yet to formulate clear strategies to give it substance, analysts say. While a small number of companies such as US toymaker Hasbro have announced plans to quit manufacturing in…

Solar supply chains must diversify away from China, warns EDP

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Receive free Solar power updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Solar power news every morning. One of the world’s leading solar developers has warned of the need to diversify supply chains for renewable power after it was hit by delays in shipping solar panels from China to the US. Miguel Stilwell d’Andrade, chief executive of Portugal-based energy company EDP, said developers needed to “de-risk” their supply chains to help advance the shift to cleaner energy. EU officials have said the growing use of…

Nato’s €1bn venture fund offers defence start-ups an alternative to China

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Receive free Nato updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Nato news every morning. A Nato-backed €1bn venture capital fund plans to inject some financial firepower into defence start-ups to boost the US-led military alliance’s technological edge and fend off competition from China. The innovation scheme, which was launched last year, aims to fill a gap in funding for companies working on technology with military capabilities, amid fears that western start-ups lack the financial muscle provided by Beijing to their own companies. “There’s a…

North Korea calls Yoon an idiot as S Korea deepens ties with US

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North Korea lambasted South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol, calling him a “diplomatic idiot” on Monday, fueling tensions as Seoul fortifies its alliance with the United States against the North. The outburst also comes at a juncture where several nations are recalibrating their stance to safeguard their national interests revolving around the Korean peninsula.  “No one in the world would lend an ear to the hysteric fit of puppet traitor Yoon Suk Yeol,” North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency said, calling the South Korean President a “political immature”, “diplomatic…

Brussels trade chief says China-EU ties ‘at a crossroads’

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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. Relations between China and the EU are “at a crossroads” and the two sides could “drift apart” because of Beijing’s support for Russia over Ukraine and “discriminatory” trade rules, one of Brussels’ most senior officials has warned. Valdis Dombrovskis told an audience in Beijing that China must change its ways or lose investment and trade from the EU in his starkest assessment yet of the tensions between them.…