Day: April 7, 2024

How North African railway is on track to helping China de-risk its iron ore supply

Media Library

China currently depends largely on Australia and Brazil for its iron ore, the primary raw material for making steel. Beijing is hoping supply from the Gara Djebilet mine, which has reserves of around 3.5 billion tonnes, will help diversify its sources. Meanwhile, Algiers is banking on the ore to help reduce its dependence on its oil and gas industries for export revenues. CRCC will work with Algerian state-owned civil engineering company Cosider Travaux Publics to deliver the railroad, which will connect the remote parts of the mineral-rich western region of…

Mass bleaching detected on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef

Media Library

SYDNEY —  Vast areas of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world’s biggest coral system, have been affected by mass coral bleaching caused by a marine heatwave. Surveys have shown major bleaching is occurring along the 2,300-kilometer ecosystem. Bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef was detected weeks ago, but recent aerial surveillance carried out by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority and the Australian Institute of Marine Science revealed that 75 percent of 1,001 reefs inspected contain bleached corals. This means the organisms residing on them are struggling to survive.…

China now a rival rather than boon for South Korean exporters, warns minister

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. South Korea’s economy needs to adapt urgently to rising competition from China, the country’s finance minister has warned, as its biggest exporters battle for market share in sectors ranging from chips to shipbuilding and display panels. Choi Sang-mok said in an interview that South Korea had gone from being a beneficiary of Chinese growth to an economic rival and that his country needed to diversify its export-led economy. “Our economic…

‘Fitness centre China’: world champion in development can do more and solve overcapacity problem, top business leader says

Media Library

I have always tried to steer discussions, as it is the duty of the European chamber. We are guests here but with stakes and interests in this country. We bring ideas to the table. If they are rejected, we have to live with that. The proudest moment for me as a community leader was in 2001 when China joined the World Trade Organization (WTO). The European chamber was founded during the period of time [in 2000] and we were deeply embedded in the discussion on what Europe should negotiate with…

How to stem terrorist attacks on the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

Media Library

Beyond the BLA’s activities, other terrorist outfits such as Islamic State Khorasan (Isis-K), Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Tehreek-i-Jihad Pakistan (TJP) have also launched attacks, particularly in border provinces like Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Despite denials of any direct ties between the Taliban regime in Kabul and these terrorist outfits, Pakistan has highlighted a surge in terrorism within its borders since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, and demanded that Afghan territories be denied to terrorist operatives. Both Pakistan and China must find a solution to alleviate the security concerns surrounding the…

US, Britain, Australia weigh expanding AUKUS security pact to deter China

Media Library

London —  The U.S., Britain and Australia are set to begin talks on bringing new members into their AUKUS security pact as Washington pushes for Japan to be involved as a deterrent against China, the Financial Times reported. The countries’ defense ministers will announce discussions Monday on “Pillar Two” of the pact, which commits the members to jointly developing quantum computing, undersea, hypersonic, artificial intelligence and cyber technology, the newspaper reported Saturday, citing people familiar with the situation. They are not considering expanding the first pillar, which is designed to…

Biden to warn Beijing against meddling in South China Sea

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. President Joe Biden will warn China about its increasingly aggressive activity in the South China Sea this week during summits with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. Two senior US officials said Biden would express serious concern about the situation around the Second Thomas Shoal, a submerged reef in the Spratly Islands where the Chinese coast guard has used water cannons to prevent the Philippines…

China’s commerce minister due in Paris for EV talks

Media Library

Paris —  China’s Commerce Minister Wang Wentao is due in Paris Sunday for talks that are expected to cover China’s fast-growing export of cheap electric vehicles (EVs) into the European market. Four sources briefed on Wang’s trip told Reuters in late March that the discussions would focus on a European Commission investigation into whether China’s EV industry has benefited from unfair subsidies. European carmakers have a fight on their hands to produce lower-cost electric vehicles and erase China’s lead in developing cheaper models. The European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm…

TikTok in the Age of Decoupling

Media Library

A bipartisan consensus in the U.S. House of Representatives culminated in the passage of legislation in that, if also passed by the Senate and signed into law by the president, would require the Beijing-based company, ByteDance, to either divest from its U.S.-based subsidiary – TikTok – or have it be removed from the U.S. market in six months.  U.S. lawmakers see TikTok as being intimately linked to Beijing, “a foreign adversary” that “poses the greatest national security threat of our time.”  The latest build-up in tension started in 2019 in…

2 Papuan rebels killed in shootout near US-Indonesian gold mine   

Media Library

JAYAPURA, Indonesia —  Two Papuan separatist leaders were killed in a shootout between security forces and their rebel group near one of the world’s largest gold mines in Indonesia’s restive Papua region, police said Sunday. Clashes Thursday between independence rebels of the Free Papua Movement and a joint police and military force near the mining town of Tembagapura in Central Papua province left two of the group’s regional commanders dead; Abubakar Kogoya, known as Abubakar Tabuni and Damianus Magay, commonly known as Natan Wanimbo. Both were part of the West…