Day: August 30, 2025

China’s stock market outpaces global peers as local investors pile in

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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. Chinese investors are driving a sharp rally in the country’s stock markets, even as international investors have been deterred by years of underperformance and persistent deflationary pressures. The mainland’s CSI 300 benchmark index traded flat in the first six months of this year but has posted double-digit gains since the end of June. It is now up 14.3 per cent so far this year, more than the main US, European…

Early ‘Red Star Over China’ editions unveiled to mark WWII anniversary

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The first Chinese edition of Red Star Over China, an influential book that gave people in the West an understanding of Mao Zedong and the Communist Party, is on display for the first time in Shanghai as China marks the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II. Advertisement The 1937 book was written by American journalist Edgar Snow, the first Westerner to meet Mao and other early party leaders. In 1936, Snow visited Yanan, the party’s headquarters following the Long March, which had concluded the previous year. He…

Indonesia’s president calls for calm as protests mount

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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. Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has called for calm as authorities try to bring an end to protests that were sparked by lavish new parliamentary allowances and which sent stocks and the rupiah lower. Thousands of protesters have this week taken to the streets in cities across the country, voicing anger at MPs’ $3,000 monthly housing allowances. Protesters, including labour unions, are also demanding higher wages. On Thursday, a 21-year-old motorcycle…

A new model for peace? China takes its Global Security Initiative to Africa

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When more than two dozen officers from the Somali National Armed Forces were awarded Chinese training scholarships this month, Beijing’s ambassador to Somalia Wang Yu assured them and the rest of the country that “China will not be absent” in helping the East African country achieve peace. Advertisement Since the 1991 overthrow of president Siad Barre, Somalia has been plagued by civil war and conflict with extremist groups such as al-Shabab. The training aims to help Somalia build a self-reliant defence force to fight al-Shabab, filling the security gaps as…

Chairman Trump: has the US turned its back on free-market capitalism?

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When Ronald Reagan became the first US president to address China’s Great Hall of the People in 1984, he did not waste an opportunity to school his audience on the benefits of the American way. He boiled down his central economic ideology, and that of his Republican party – that governments should get out of the way, allow companies, industries and markets the space the thrive, without intervention – into a simple mantra: trust the people. “These three words are not only the heart and soul of American history, but…

When North Koreans raise a toast, it’s increasingly with Chinese wine

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North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated and heavily sanctioned countries, has remained a major destination for Chinese wine exports this year, as the nation has few alternative options to source alcoholic drinks. Advertisement North Korea bought 157,393 litres of wine from China in the first seven months of 2025 – more than double the volume imported during the same period last year – making it the second-largest buyer of Chinese bottled wine so far this year, trailing only Hong Kong, according to customs data. In terms of value,…

Putin embarks on China visit with Ukraine war top of agenda

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Vladimir Putin will travel to China this weekend for what the Kremlin has called a “truly unprecedented” visit to his most important ally, which comes at a crunch moment in talks over Ukraine. During the trip, which is expected to stretch to close to a week – unusually long for the Russian leader – he will attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, hold talks with Xi Jinping, and take in Beijing’s Victory Day military parade marking 80 years since Japan’s defeat in the second world war, where Putin is due…

Human microbiome scientist Wang Leyao leaves US government agency for China

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Epidemiologist and human microbiome scientist Wang Leyao, a scholar for the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), has returned to China amid drastic research funding cuts initiated by the White House. Advertisement Wang joined the Shenzhen Medical Academy of Research and Translation (Smart) as a senior research fellow at the Institute of Human Immunology last month, according to an announcement on Smart’s official social media account on Monday. The academy stated that Wang “has long been dedicated to the study of the human microbiome” and has made significant contributions to…

How an Indian farmers’ dairy co-op outpaced global giants

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Father of the nation Mahatma Gandhi called the cow India’s “giver of plenty”. For nearly 80 years Amul, the country’s biggest dairy farm collective, has linked Hindu beliefs that cows are sacred with Gandhian ideals of social and economic co-operation. The co-operative model has propelled it to a 75 per cent market share of the country’s milk market and helped India become the world’s largest milk producer — contributing 25 per cent of global production. The industry also benefits from unusually high levels of protection from external competition, a factor that has…