Month: September 2025

China’s banks are edging towards their “Japanification moment”, as years of yielding margins to support the economy have “left the system thin on profitability and more exposed to credit shocks”, according to a new report by S&P Global Ratings. Advertisement Japanification is characterised by a prolonged period of low growth and weak profitability, similar to the state of Japan’s economy after the country’s asset bubble burst in the early 1990s. While other banking systems had weathered ultra-low rates by diversifying revenue and cutting costs, “Chinese lenders may have fewer such…

Advertisement Ragasa made landfall at Yangjiang, in western Guangdong, at around 5pm on Wednesday, bringing heavy rain and strong winds that caused flooding and disrupted transport in cities across the province. Despite the storm’s record strength – it became the world’s strongest typhoon so far this year with sustained wind speeds of up to 265km/h (165mph) on Monday – there were no reports of typhoon-related casualties in Guangdong by Thursday afternoon. Provincial officials said damage assessments were continuing and the priority was to restore essential city services and infrastructure. The…

China has pledged to safeguard the legitimate rights of its companies operating in the United States and work to stabilise economic and trade relations, as Beijing and Washington seek progress in ongoing trade negotiations. Advertisement Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao convened a round-table meeting in New York on Tuesday with executives from more than a dozen Chinese companies operating in the US, joined by the head of the China General Chamber of Commerce in the US. Wang warned that the global trade environment and rules were being “severely undermined” by…

Beijing and New Delhi should maintain long-term strategic vision and make sure their boundary row does not define relations or hinder cooperation, China’s top envoy to India said on Wednesday during an event marking the 76th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Advertisement “As two major ancient civilisations and developing countries, the relationship between China and India has long transcended the bilateral scope, bearing global and strategic significance,” ambassador Xu Feihong said, according to a transcript of his speech released by the embassy following the reception…

Tributes have flooded in from around the world to Yu Kongjian, the distinguished Chinese landscape architect and urbanist who died in a plane crash in Brazil’s Pantanal wetlands near the town of Aquidauana late on Tuesday. Advertisement Three others on board the single-engine four-seater Cessna aircraft – Brazilian filmmakers Luiz Ferraz and Rubens Crispim Junior, as well as Marcelo Pereira de Barros, a pilot – were also killed. Yu, 62, who was dean and professor at Peking University’s College of Architecture and Landscape Architecture as well as founder of the…

China’s state buyers have emerged as one of the biggest groups of investors in the nation’s US$12 trillion stock market, underscoring how government support underpins the market’s bull run. Advertisement Dubbed the national team and led by Central Huijin Investment, state buyers held a combined 3.94 trillion yuan (US$553.1 billion) of yuan-denominated stocks as of the end of June, surpassing the 3.07 trillion yuan held by foreign investors, according to data compiled by Huaxi Securities. State buyers’ holdings accounted for 4.8 per cent of the market capitalisation of shares that…

Shares in Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, China’s largest drug maker by market value, got a boost on Thursday after it announced its fifth licensing deal of the year, widening its access to the key emerging market of India. Advertisement The Shanghai-listed company, which went public in Hong Kong in May and raised HK$9.9 billion (US$1.26 billion), struck a deal with Glenmark Specialty of Mumbai-based Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, it said in a stock exchange filing late on Wednesday. The agreement was part of an effort to leverage overseas partners’ resources to help bring…