Day: April 28, 2025

Hong Kong frees four pro-democracy lawmakers after completing jail terms

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Hong Kong has released four former opposition lawmakers who were among dozens of pro-democracy leaders jailed under the city’s controversial National Security Law (NSL). The four – Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam and Gary Fan – had pleaded guilty and were each sentenced to four years and two months behind bars in November. They were released on Tuesday because the fact they they had been in prison since their arrests in 2021 was taken into account when calculating their sentence. The four lawmakers were part of a group known…

‘The eighth wonder of the world’: China’s terracotta warriors to march on Australia for blockbuster show

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Two thousand years ago, in a bid to conquer death itself, China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang commissioned a city of the dead: a 49 sq km mausoleum guarded by an army of clay warriors, built to defend his tomb for eternity. When farmers near Xi’an unearthed the first clay head in 1974, they cracked open one of humanity’s greatest archaeological mysteries, with more than 8,000 Terracotta Warriors discovered over the last 50 years. Now, fragments of that dream of immortality rise again – this time in Perth, where the…

Chinese carmakers reset European ambitions as EU tariffs bite

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Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world Chinese carmakers expanding into Europe are being forced to readjust their short-term ambitions as tariff roadblocks have slowed product launches and made their electric vehicles less affordable. The rapid rise of Chinese-made electric vehicles — with their low pricing and advanced software features — has sparked protectionist measures in both the US and EU, with Brussels last year imposing tariffs of up to 45 per cent on EVs from…

Walmart has told some Chinese suppliers to resume shipments: sources

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Some manufacturers in China’s Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces – export powerhouses that have been hit hard by the US-China trade war – have been told by Walmart and other major US retailers to resume shipments in recent days, the Post has learned. Advertisement A major exporter of stationery and office products in the eastern city of Ningbo received a notification from Walmart on Monday to resume normal deliveries to the United States, weeks after a series of tit-for-tat tariff hikes between the world’s two largest economies slowed shipments to a…

Asean urged to weigh risks of siding with US over China in tariff war

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Southeast Asian countries risk isolation by China and stalled growth prospects if they align too closely with the US in the trade war, a well-known Chinese political scientist has warned. Advertisement Zheng Yongnian, dean of the school of public policy at Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, said that supporting the re-industrialisation efforts of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations was not the ultimate goal of the United States. Rather, it aimed to bring manufacturing back to the country, whereas China was better placed to help the 10-nation regional bloc…

China’s Tsinghua University scoops up AI researcher Alex Lamb amid academic turmoil in US

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China’s Tsinghua University has recruited a prominent American artificial intelligence (AI) researcher to join its newly established AI institution, underscoring the intensifying competition between China and the US for top industry talent. Advertisement Alex Lamb, a senior researcher at the New York lab of Microsoft Research, will be joining Beijing-based Tsinghua University’s College of AI (CAI) as an assistant professor in the coming fall term, according to two people familiar with the matter. Lamb confirmed in an email to the Post that he is joining. Lamb’s profile on the professional…

Indian electronics makers’ race against time to win big from Trump’s tariffs

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This article is an on-site version of the India Business Briefing newsletter. To receive it in your inbox regularly, sign up if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription here. Good morning. Geopolitical tensions in the region are rising. India and Pakistan are on the brink of conflict after last week’s terror attack in Pahalgam, while China has proclaimed sovereignty over a disputed reef in the South China Sea, triggering a new stand-off with the Philippines. We will keep an eye on these troubling developments. In today’s newsletter: Indian banks…

How China is turning Trump’s tariffs into an opportunity

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As the US-China trade war escalates, US President Donald Trump has temporarily exempted imports from other countries from the punitive tariffs he announced on April 2. He is reportedly trying to bully others into limiting their economic ties with China in exchange for a deal. Washington aims to isolate China, but the opposite is happening. Advertisement Since last year, a consensus has been built that weak domestic demand is the major drag on China’s economic growth. In September, Beijing implemented a package of countercyclical policies to fix the problem, seeking…

Four pro-democracy lawmakers from ‘Hong Kong 47’ group freed after four years in jail

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A group of pro-democracy lawmakers jailed in a landmark Hong Kong national security trial have been freed after spending four years in prison. Local media had reported that the group, Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam and Gary Fan, would be freed on Tuesday from three separate prisons across Hong Kong. A Reuters witness outside Stanley prison, where Kwok and Tam were held, saw several vehicles leave just before dawn. A police officer told reporters they had left. Vehicles were also seen leaving the more remote Shek Pik prison on…

Indonesia raises mining levies in blow to nickel producers

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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. Miners in Indonesia are warning of lower profits and output cuts after the government increased the royalties it levies on one of the country’s biggest export industries. In a move affecting some of the world’s largest mining groups, including Vale and Freeport-McMoRan, Jakarta at the weekend raised rates for royalties applied to the production of nickel, coal, copper, gold and other minerals. The increases come as the fiscally strained government…