Month: November 2023

Vietnam’s Rare Earth Sector on the Rise

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HO CHI MINH CITY, VIETNAM —  Vietnam, with the world’s second-largest reserves of the rare earths used in such modern devices as electric vehicle batteries and smart phone screens, is intensifying mining of the critical minerals. The industry, though, faces high processing costs, environmental concerns, and the takedown of industry leaders for illegal mining and mineral sales. Vietnam’s rare earth resources are second only to those of China, which has held a tight monopoly since the 1980s. With Chinese relations with the West becoming more volatile, many countries are looking…

Taiwan Leader Says China Invasion Unlikely for Now

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NEW YORK —  China is not likely to consider a major invasion of Taiwan for now due to domestic challenges, the island’s president Tsai Ing-wen said Wednesday, although Beijing is trying to sway its upcoming election. “I think the Chinese leadership at this juncture is overwhelmed by its internal challenges,” Tsai told the 2023 DealBook Summit in New York. “My thought is that perhaps this is not a time for them to consider a major invasion of Taiwan,” she added in a recorded interview. Tsai was responding to questions about…

China launches high-orbit satellite internet that could challenge SpaceX’s Starlink

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China announced it has completed the initial set-up of its first high-orbit satellite communication network, which is expected to provide swift satellite internet service within its borders and in several belt and road nations. The Chinese project could be an alternative to SpaceX’s Starlink, according to a Beijing-based communications expert. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the parent company of the satellite operator, said the network would provide internet service for industries ranging from aviation and navigation to emergency services and energy, state news agency Xinhua reported on Monday. Chinese…

PDD rattles Alibaba and ByteDance slashes games

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Hi everyone, this is Cissy from Hong Kong. When I was preparing for the earnings results of PDD Holdings on Tuesday, I noticed that its market cap was already 80 per cent that of rival online retailer Alibaba. As I had a strong feeling that PDD’s earnings would beat expectations, I texted a friend at the company and joked, “Do you think PDD’s market cap will surpass Alibaba soon?” He laughed and said, “If it does, I think it says more about them than us.” PDD’s triumph came more quickly…

Kim’s Sister Rejects US Offer of Dialogue with North Korea

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SEOUL, South Korea —  The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday dismissed U.S. calls for a return to diplomacy and lambasted its condemnations of the North’s recent spy satellite launch, vowing more launches in violation of U.N. bans. During a U.N. Security Council meeting earlier this week, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, called the North’s satellite launch a “reckless, unlawful” action that threatens its neighbors. But she reiterated the U.S. offer for dialogue without any preconditions, saying North Korea “can choose…

China calls for ceasefire, UN peace conference to end Israel-Gaza conflict

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Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a congratulatory message to the UN in honour of the day and said China would continue to uphold “justice and righteousness” on the question of Palestine and actively promote peace and dialogue. He also promised that China would continue to provide humanitarian and development assistance to the Palestinian people. According to the position paper, titled Resolving the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict, the Security Council should play an “active and constructive role” on the question of Palestine. China urges UN Security Council to speak as one to end…

How Huawei surprised the US with a cutting-edge chip made in China

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In late 2020, Huawei was fighting for its survival as a mobile phone maker. A few months earlier, the Trump administration had hit the Chinese company with crippling sanctions, cutting it off from global semiconductor supply chains. The sanctions prevented anyone without a permit from making the chips Huawei designed, and the company was struggling to procure new chips to launch more advanced handsets. In response, Huawei decided to bet its $67bn chip and mobile business on a tricky deal with the Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation, a state-backed foundry known…

Do not ignore Iran’s nuclear ambitions, warns UN atomic agency

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has urged world powers to relaunch talks with Iran and not lose sight of the risks posed by its stockpiling of enriched uranium while attention has turned to the war between Israel and Hamas. “There needs to be some recreation of a system of dialogue with Iran,” Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, told the Financial Times. “Attention . . . may of…

The upside-down world of North Korean elections

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. There is only one choice on a North Korean ballot paper. Voters drop their ballot into one of two boxes — white for “Yes”, and black for “No” — but “No” has never won.  North Koreans had no option but to vote in local elections held in the east Asian dictatorship on Sunday. But while the results were preordained, the process serves as an important ritual binding the people to the…

China’s coal habit casts doubt on Xi’s climate promises

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Climate change myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. In mid-October, as the Israel-Hamas war threatened to spill into a regional conflict, Sultan al-Jaber travelled to Beijing in pursuit of a diplomatic breakthrough on another existential problem: China’s climate change policy. It was the third trip by the president-designate of the UN COP28 climate summit to China this year. And his quiet shuttle diplomacy — albeit overshadowed by the conflict in the Middle East — highlights a deepening concern…