Day: June 2, 2025

Lutnick ‘optimistic’ for US-India deal, urges New Delhi to step back from Brics

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US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said he is optimistic that the United States and India will reach a trade agreement soon, but urged New Delhi to open its markets, reduce arms purchases from Moscow, and scale back its alignment with Brics – a bloc that India leads along with China, Russia, Brazil and South Africa. Advertisement “I think India is trying hard to be one of the earlier countries [to reach a trade deal with the US], which I appreciated,” Lutnick said in a keynote speech at an event promoting…

Cash-strapped Beijing drinkers turn to unlicensed homebars

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Ken and Dolores’s unlicensed Beijing bar lies behind an unmarked door in a gritty residential tower where a rowdy group of men play cards in the foyer. In the converted apartment in Beijing’s Olympic Park area, Ken, a civil engineer by training who asked to be identified by his English nickname, serves quirky cocktails at prices half or even less of those charged by the Chinese capital’s conventional drinking establishments. The couple’s “homebar” is one of dozens that have sprung up across the city as a domestic economic downturn drives…

Cross-strait risks rising amid PLA’s ‘grey zone pressure’: Taiwan ex-minister

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The risks of a cross-strait military accident are on the rise as Beijing steps up pressure on Taiwan, a former Taiwanese defence official has warned, citing the lack of direct communication channels between the two sides. Advertisement Andrew Yang Nien-dzu, who served as Taiwan’s deputy defence minister for four years and briefly held the role of minister, spoke to the South China Morning Post on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier security conference. Yang raised concerns over the increasing “grey zone operations” by Beijing, including the more frequent…

India cuts out Turkish connections in aviation

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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. It’s a feel good week in India, when everything looks golden. GDP is up, rains are here, chess champion Gukesh Dommaraju beat Magnus Carlsen again. (Yes, I know Trump will probably do something to jinx it, but let’s enjoy it while it lasts). In today’s newsletter: the ducks are in a row for a rate cut later this…

Is Labubu the next Hello Kitty? Analysts debate the limits for China’s Pop Mart

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Pop Mart, the company behind the hit collectible character Labubu, was virtually unknown outside mainland China before 2024, but now some analysts are comparing its success to that of Sanrio and its Hello Kitty property, suggesting that the Beijing toymaker could have created a new playbook for cultural exports. Advertisement Labubu, a sharp-fanged but cute little monster that is often sold as a plush clip-on charm for handbags, has attracted high-profile fans including the family of football star David Beckham. Its popularity pushed Pop Mart’s Hong Kong-listed shares to a…

Liverpool university’s China JV has links to blacklisted entities, report says

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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. A Chinese university co-founded by the University of Liverpool has close links with entities that are subject to US and EU sanctions, according to an investigation by an Australian think-tank. Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, known as XJTLU, includes a Russia-China co-operation centre whose co-director is affiliated with a Russian government agency targeted by the US. It has also engaged in semiconductor research with companies blacklisted by Washington. The Australian Strategic Policy…

Liverpool university’s China JV has links to sanctioned entities, report says

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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. A Chinese university co-founded by the University of Liverpool has close links with entities that are subject to US and EU sanctions, according to an investigation by an Australian think-tank. Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, known as XJTLU, includes a Russia-China co-operation centre whose co-director is affiliated with a Russian government agency targeted by the US. It has also engaged in semiconductor research with companies blacklisted by Washington. The Australian Strategic Policy…

South Korea votes in pivotal presidential election

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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. South Korean polling stations have opened as voters choose a new president in a pivotal election after months of political turbulence. The contest was called after former president Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office by the country’s constitutional court over his attempt to impose military rule last year. It pits frontrunner Lee Jae-myung, whose leftwing Democratic party controls the South Korean legislature, against Kim Moon-soo, the candidate for Yoon’s…

South Korean polling stations open for pivotal presidential election

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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. South Korean polling stations have opened as voters choose a new president in a pivotal election for the trade-dependent country after months of political turbulence. The contest was called after former president Yoon Suk Yeol was removed from office by the country’s constitutional court over his attempt to impose military rule last year. It pits frontrunner Lee Jae-myung, whose leftwing Democratic party controls the South Korean legislature, against Kim Moon-soo,…

US Indo-Pacific commander calls PLA moves in strait ‘rehearsals’, not exercises

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The top US commander in the Pacific said on Monday that Beijing was on a “dangerous course” and its operations around Taiwan were not mere exercises, but “rehearsals”. Advertisement “We face a profoundly consequential time in the Indo-Pacific. China is on a dangerous course,” said Admiral Samuel Paparo, head of US Indo-Pacific Command, in a special address to an AI expo hosted by the Special Competitive Studies Project think tank. “Their aggressive manoeuvres around Taiwan are not just exercises. They are rehearsals,” he continued, without explicitly referencing a potential takeover…