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Day: August 15, 2025
China’s corporate bonds win record share of top credit ratings
Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese business & finance myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Almost all of the ratings directly awarded to new corporate bonds in China are now triple A, part of a long-term shift that has intensified alongside signs of official efforts to exclude riskier borrowers. Figures from Goldman Sachs and Chinese data provider Wind that offer a snapshot of the country’s vast credit markets show that 90 per cent of rated corporate bonds issued in the first half of…
Ukraine-Russia land swap ‘largely agreed’ Trump says after Putin summit
A land swap and security guarantees to end the Ukraine war have been “negotiated” and “agreed”, US President Donald Trump has said following talks with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Alaska. Advertisement In an interview with Fox News soon after the summit on Friday, Trump said the points “were negotiated” and “largely agreed on”, but one “big thing” of disagreement remained. “I think [Putin] wants to see it done,” Trump said, refusing to say what the outstanding issue was. Trump also accused his predecessor, Joe Biden, of pushing China…
Trump says Xi told him China will not invade Taiwan while he is in office
US president says Chinese counterpart told him ‘I am very patient and China is very patient’ The US president, Donald Trump, has said that his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, told him China would not invade Taiwan while Trump is in office. Trump made the comments in an interview with Fox News on Friday, ahead of talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. Continue reading… The Guardian
Tuvalu considers pulling out of Pacific leaders’ summit amid China-linked power struggle
Tuvalu’s prime minister Feletei Teo said his country may pull out of the region’s top political meeting next month, after host nation Solomon Islands moved to block all external partners – including China, US and Taiwan – from attending. The Pacific Islands Forum leaders meeting will be held in Honiara in September. On 7 August, Solomon Islands prime minister Jeremiah Manele told parliament that no dialogue partners would be invited to the annual gathering. Countries outside the Pacific, known as “dialogue partners,” have attended the forum since 1989, to work…
How China could shape future of the Middle East
Ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, including the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, have exposed the fragility of the US-led international order and Western double standards like never before. It’s hard to understate the gravity of the situation, underscoring the need for urgent international intervention. Advertisement Multiple Israeli scholars, human rights organisations and political leaders are publicly warning of unprecedented atrocities. Even former Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, a past member of the incumbent Likud party, has warned of war crimes and “the transformation of Gaza into a humanitarian disaster area”.…
Data of former UK ministers and Afghan refugees leaked after cyber attack
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Thousands of Afghan refugees, former Conservative government ministers and UK service personnel have been affected by a data breach following a cyber attack on a third-party airport contractor, UK officials have said. The cyber attack, which comes a month after the revelation of a much larger and dangerous data breach affecting UK forces and Afghan refugees, will increase scrutiny of the Ministry of Defence and government even if they were…
Why EU stance on Taiwan is a growing cause of concern for mainland China
This year marks half a century of formal diplomatic relations between China and the European Union as well as the 25th anniversary of the founding of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. In this, the fourth part of the series, Shi Jiangtao looks at how the issue of Taiwan is overshadowing the relationship. Advertisement As mainland China and the European Union mark 50 years of diplomatic ties, there is growing concern in Beijing that the bloc may be undermining its one-China policy, as Brussels – and some individual…
China’s 600Wh battery triples drone endurance. Will it end EV ‘range anxiety’?
Chinese researchers have set up a pilot production line for a new type of lithium battery that has twice the energy density of the most advanced electric vehicle (EV) batteries on the market. Advertisement The team from Tianjin University’s school of materials science explained their approach to designing and manufacturing lithium batteries in a paper published in the top journal Nature on Wednesday. This new type of battery can achieve an energy density – the amount of energy that can be stored per mass – of over 600 watt-hours per…
China’s high-speed jet drone, Beijing urges US restraint: SCMP daily highlights
Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China’s first high-speed jet drone makes every warship an aircraft carrier In an aviation tech breakthrough that could change naval warfare, Chinese aerospace engineers have unveiled what could be the world’s first high-speed vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) drone powered by a jet engine. 2. China’s economy shows signs of strain as retail sales, output lose momentum After six months of steady improvement, China’s…