Month: March 2024

UAE prince and Hong Kong, Xi’s policy shift, Singapore ‘Asia’s happiest country’ again: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

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A Dubai prince who made waves after announcing plans to set up a new family office in Hong Kong with a US$500 million investment pledge abruptly postponed its opening scheduled for Thursday. 3. In rare monetary policy shift, Xi tells China central bank to buy treasury bonds With the world’s second-largest economy at a critical juncture of fuelling growth in its bid to become a global financial superpower, a new book details some of Xi Jinping’s thoughts on finance, dating back to late 2012. “The People’s Bank of China must…

Poll shows fewer than 3 in 10 Americans support TikTok bill that would force Chinese owner to sell the app

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Fewer than three in 10 Americans support the bill the US House of Representatives passed earlier this month that would ban TikTok, the short-video sharing app, if its Chinese owner does not divest it, according to a poll released on Friday. Half of the 2,000 Americans 18 or older that Savanta surveyed opposed the bill while only 28 per cent supported it, according to Savanta, a British-based market research firm behind the poll. Most said they would switch to other social media apps, particularly YouTube and Instagram, adding that “their…

China’s 5G market set to expand, fuel economic growth as tech solidifies status as pillar industry

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China’s flourishing 5G market is expected to add almost US$260 billion to its gross domestic product in 2030, with its 5G connections accounting for nearly a third of the worldwide total according to a recent report. The mobile industry contributed to 5.5 per cent of China’s GDP last year, and in each of the coming years through 2030, nearly a quarter of that contribution will come from 5G – the highest echelon of current cellular technology – per the results of a study issued on Tuesday by the Groupe Speciale…

China’s Vanke vows to cut debt by $14bn as property woes mount

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Vanke, one of China’s leading property developers, said it would cut its debt by $14bn after a nationwide slowdown in the sector hit its sales and saw its profits fall by almost half in 2023. The company’s net income fell 46 per cent to Rmb12.2bn ($1.69bn) last year, the state-linked company said in an exchange filing late on Thursday. In February, its sales dropped by 53 per cent year-on-year to…

Stakes Are High for Turkish President, Opposition in Local Elections

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washington —  Millions of Turkish citizens will head to the polls Sunday to elect mayors and local administrators for their cities and districts. The elections come less than a year after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan secured his term for another five years last May. “Now we have 2024 ahead of us,” Erdogan said in his victory speech, adding, “Are you ready to win both Uskudar [a district in Istanbul where Erdogan’s personal residence is] and Istanbul in the local elections in 2024?” Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP)…

Ukraine urges India to rethink ‘Soviet legacy’ of Russia ties

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the War in Ukraine myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. India’s close ties with Russia are based on a “Soviet legacy” that is “evaporating”, Ukraine’s foreign minister warned as he urged New Delhi to stand by Kyiv. On a visit to the India, Dmytro Kuleba also said it should be concerned about Russia’s deepening ties with China, which is locked in a tense border conflict with its southern neighbour India.  Speaking to the Financial Times, Kuleba said “the co-operation…

Rohingya activists call for more control of aid money

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Rohingya Muslim activists representing fellow refugees forced out of Myanmar and into “prison-like” camps in Bangladesh said in Washington on Thursday that foreign aid to the camps would go further if some of it was given directly to refugee-run groups. But a representative of the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, said little money was left over after aid cuts that currently see the refugees provided with only $10 worth of food a month. About 90% of the 1.2 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh struggled to have “acceptable food…

Desperate farmers in North Korea steal insulating plastic film from each other

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It’s planting season in North Korea, and farmers are stealing plastic film from each other so that they can protect their rice seedlings from frost as they worry about meeting their quotas, residents told Radio Free Asia. The plastic film and other farm supplies such as fertilizer are in short supply as imports from China have not picked up after the shutdown in trade during the COVID-19 pandemic. “In rural areas of our country, where farming material shortages are chronic, the number of thieves of plastic film from farms increases…

16 Indians rescued from scam operations in Laos

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Sixteen Indian nationals who said they were lured in Mumbai to work as online scammers in Laos were rescued this week from the Chinese-run Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, an official with knowledge of the situation told Radio Free Asia on Friday. The zone, which sits along the Mekong River in northwestern Bokeo province, is a gambling and tourism hub catering to Chinese tourists and has been described as a de-facto Chinese colony.  It has become a haven for cyber scams, prostitution, money laundering, drug trafficking, and human and wildlife…

How Taiwan Breaches Censors’ Barriers

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Breaking the barriers of censorship in China, Myanmar and North Korea is a daunting task, as these countries have built almost impenetrable firewalls against outside news and information. But Radio Taiwan International is successfully using shortwave radio to break through. “We potentially have 70 million to 1.2 billion listeners who rely on shortwave to get information [from] outside of their country,” said Isis Lee, RTI’s vice president. On the air since 1928, RTI say their mission is to bring listeners stories they won’t or can’t hear or see on television,…