Regional media has emerged as a new front in the contest between the US and China in the Pacific, as Washington said it will support “free media” while warning of the dangers of Beijing’s efforts to manipulate information around the world. During a visit to countries in the Indo-Pacific in October, the US under secretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, Elizabeth Allen, said Washington was “prioritising the support of independent media” across the region. Speaking to the Guardian in Sydney, Allen said the support would take “different forms’’ and…
Day: October 29, 2023
China Evergrande: Hong Kong court adjourns winding-up hearing by 5 weeks, signals last reprieve for developer to sort out its debt
China Evergrande: Hong Kong court adjourns winding-up hearing by 5 weeks, signals last reprieve for developer to sort out its debt A Hong Kong court has adjourned a winding-up hearing against China Evergrande Group, the most indebted property developer in China with US$327 billion of total liabilities, signalling a final reprieve for dragging its restructuring over the past two years. The next hearing will be on December 4, giving the Guangzhou-based developer five weeks to get its house in order, Justice Linda Chan said in a decision today. The High…
Bank of Japan under pressure from weak yen and soaring yields
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Expectations are rising that Japan’s central bank will relax its grip on the bond market this week as the yen tests a 33-year low and government bond yields touch the highest levels in a decade. But investors’ bigger focus may be whether Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda will offer crucial signals on inflationary trends that could pave the way for Japan to end the world’s last negative interest rates.…
Weak yen and soaring yields put pressure on Bank of Japan
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Expectations are rising that Japan’s central bank will relax its grip on the bond market this week as the yen tests a 33-year low and government bond yields touch the highest levels in a decade. But investors’ bigger focus may be whether Bank of Japan governor Kazuo Ueda will offer crucial signals on inflationary trends that could pave the way for Japan to end the world’s last negative interest rates.…
Road to Xi-Biden Meeting Not Smooth, Chinese Official Says
BEIJING — China’s foreign minister considers the road to an expected meeting between President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Joe Biden to not be “smooth-sailing” and that both sides must work together to achieve results, the foreign ministry said on Sunday. Wang Yi met with Biden, as well as Secretary of State Antony Blinken and national security adviser Jake Sullivan, during a three-day visit to Washington. Both sides agreed to work toward a bilateral meeting at the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit in San Francisco in November. In a…
How a Chinese lab used a saltwater-loving microbe to turn waste water into precious semiconductor materials
Scientists in China have succeeded in using sunlight-driven bacteria to clean organic pollutants from waste water and, in the process, make valuable new chemicals. The ability to extract useful chemicals from heavy metal contaminated water could pave the way for sustainable and eco-friendly production of valuable semiconductor materials. The study, spearheaded by Professor Gao Xiang of the Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Professor Lu Lu of the Harbin Institute of Technology in Shenzhen, was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Sustainability on October…
Malaysia’s Petronas to invest $1.6bn in Indian green ammonia
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Renewable energy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Malaysian state-owned energy company Petronas is set to invest $1.6bn in an Indian green ammonia venture, in a boost to New Delhi’s ambitions to export energy. The investment by Petronas’s Gentari renewables division will give it a 30 per cent stake in a green ammonia company incorporated by the founders of Indian renewables group Greenko, one of India’s largest wind and solar power producers and energy storage operators, according to…
Why the rusting wreck of a second world war ship is so important to China
It is perhaps the most unlikely kind of military base. For more than two decades, a second world war-era ship, BRP Sierra Madre, has stood deliberately grounded in the remote, shallow waters of the fiercely contested South China Sea, carrying the Philippine flag and guarding against Chinese expansion. But its future is increasingly precarious, and the ship has become a growing flashpoint in one of the world’s most disputed waters. The Sierra Madre, marooned on Second Thomas Shoal, in the Spratly Islands, since 1999, is effectively a shipwreck. Rust has…
China’s future economic growth rests on realising decade-old reform goals, think tank chief says
China has failed to achieve some major economic goals set a decade ago and needs to press on with reforms to reach them, a prominent pro-market researcher said on the weekend amid concerns about the increasingly state-led economy. Calling for bolder changes to boost the country’s lacklustre post-Covid growth, Chi Fulin, president of the Hainan-based China Institute for Reform and Development, said there had been a lack of substantial progress in goals set out in a national strategy in 2013, including capital account convertibility. “ Economic growth remains the key…
Xiaomi launches home-grown cross-device system with HyperOS, as US-sanctioned Huawei moves further from Google’s Android
Smartphone and gadget giant Xiaomi Corp has become the latest Chinese industry player to unveil a unified operating system for its mobile devices, cars and internet-connected home products, as US-sanctioned Huawei Technologies works towards liberating its own integrated OS completely from Google’s Android. Xiaomi described HyperOS, its recently introduced OS, as a combination of a highly customised Android system and the company’s proprietary Internet of Things (IoT) platform Vela, launched three years ago to support a range of smart devices from wristbands and smartwatches to speakers, home appliances and sensors.…