Year: 2023

China’s central bank has agreed that Ant Group’s mobile payment app Alipay has no controller, a crucial step in the fintech giant’s overhaul deemed necessary to put its much-anticipated initial public offering back on track. The billionaire’s share of the voting rights are now divided among Hangzhou Junhan Equity Investment – owned by Ma and four others with 31.04 per cent of voting rights – and Hangzhou Junao Equity, another firm owned by five other individuals with 22.42 per cent of voting rights. The companies’ voting shares are equal to…

The measure aims to “further facilitate people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States”, it said. It added that “since visa applications are processed on a case-by-case basis”, applicants should still refer to the Chinese embassy and consulates-general for specifics. The move follows a cut in visa fees for US applicants of around 25 per cent until December 31, 2024 announced earlier this month, and a previous decision to allow walk-in visa applications. China and Singapore agree to let each other’s citizens travel visa-free Observers on both sides had warned…

The shipment means construction of the cross-border 1,443km (896-mile) pipeline can begin. It will carry crude oil from the Lake Albert oilfields in the northwest of Uganda to the Chongoleani peninsula at the port of Tanga on Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coast. Landlocked Uganda aims to deliver its first oil to the international markets by 2025. Work is already under way on the pumping stations, work camps and storage facilities along the EACOP route as well as the coating plant, which is being built in Tanzania. After coating and welding, the…

Argamani’s mother Liora was born Chong Hong Lee in Wuhan, Hebei province in central China. She met her husband Yaakov in Israel, while attending a professional training programme in 1994 and no longer holds Chinese citizenship. Rallying the Chinese-Israeli community to gather regularly has not been easy, according to Taili He-Brenners, a 27-year-old Chinese-Israeli who answered a call to action on a group chat to demonstrate in support of Argamani and her family. ‘She is not Chinese’: mother of kidnapped woman confirms daughter is Israeli He-Brenners, who has regularly turned…

Earlier this year, PMI readings fell for five months in a row starting in April. After a brief expansion in September, they started falling again in October A reading above 50 typically indicates expansion of activity, while a reading below that suggests a contraction. The statistics bureau pointed to an “increasingly complicated, tough and uncertain” external environment as a key reason for the continued fall. China may be going through an ‘unusual’ time but 5-year plan remains on track “A reduction in overseas orders as well as insufficient demand from…

The missile “can be easily detected, tracked, monitored by modern, sensitive and precise anti-air radar systems”, the article said. It also claimed the Taiwanese military had limited capabilities in reconnaissance and midcourse missile guidance, which would make the Hsiung Sheng less precise and more prone to interference. Beijing, which considers Taiwan a province that must be reunited with mainland China, has never renounced the use of force to take the self-ruled island. Most countries do not see Taiwan as an independent state, but many, including the United States, oppose any…

Huang is one of a growing number of ordinary homebuyers – individuals or families looking to occupy their house rather than own it as an investor – in mainland China taking an interest in properties that have been repossessed by banks. Regular Chinese home seekers, attracted by some of the bargains stemming from oversupply and the country’s sluggish economy, are gradually taking over from investors to become the leading buyers in the foreclosed home market, observers say. 04:49 Anger mounts as China’s property debt crisis leaves flats unfinished Anger mounts…