Day: September 24, 2025

Sany’s electric trucks drive latest Chinese assault on global auto market

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Electric vehicles myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. China’s biggest electric-truck maker says it is targeting growth overseas, in a fresh challenge to the global auto industry as Chinese production of high-tech, low-cost battery-powered heavy goods vehicles booms. Liang Linhe, who leads the electric trucking division of Sany Group, a construction and mining equipment behemoth, expects around half the group’s sales will come from overseas markets by 2030, up from about 10 per cent this year.   “We…

Taiwan’s top chemist Tiow-Gan Ong leaves Taipei for Shenzhen

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Malaysian-born scientist Tiow-Gan Ong, known for his pioneering work on carbon molecules and a long-time advocate of Taiwan’s open academic environment and talent retention, is embarking on a new chapter in Shenzhen. Advertisement After nearly two decades of groundbreaking research and teaching in Taiwan, Ong this month joined the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen. He was previously a researcher at the Institute of Chemistry, Academia Sinica in Taiwan. Ong also held joint appointments as a professor at National Taiwan University, the University of Malaya in Malaysia and the University…

What lessons can China learn from this northern city’s flood response?

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When heavy rains raged across northern China this summer, Datong, a city in Shanxi province perhaps best known as the home of the Yungang Grottoes World Heritage site, escaped disaster despite almost 20 hours of upstream flood discharges. Advertisement Residents said it was saved thanks to the work of former mayor Geng Yanbo, who spearheaded a project to widen the city’s main waterway and reinforce its banks during his time in office more than 15 years ago. “So many people were forced to relocate because of the project, and back…

India’s polo-playing steel tycoon behind bid for Thyssenkrupp’s steel unit

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On India’s polo fields, Naveen Jindal is not just a billionaire patron of the sport. To his teammates, the chair of Jindal Steel is “Captain Cool”, as well as a sharpshooter casting himself as a “sporting chief, commanding the field with precision and pride”. Off field, the flamboyant 55-year-old tycoon is making equally grand plays in business. Last week, Jindal made an offer for the floundering steel assets of German industrial group Thyssenkrupp. The bid value was undisclosed but Jindal pledged to invest more than €2bn and put himself in…