Day: November 16, 2025

Japan dispatches envoy to China as tensions soar

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Japan has dispatched a senior envoy to try to ease soaring tensions with China as stock markets in both countries fell after Beijing issued a travel warning to its citizens over the weekend. Tokyo sent Masaaki Kanai, head of the Japan foreign ministry’s Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, to Beijing for talks that will start on Tuesday, according to officials. Kanai will seek to convince Beijing that Prime Minister Sanae…

Japan’s economy shrinks as US tariffs weigh on exports

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Japan’s economy shrank at an annualised rate of 1.8 per cent in the latest quarter, as US tariffs hit exports and housing investment plunged ahead of a major stimulus package expected this month to boost the struggling economy. The decline in real GDP for the July to September period was less severe than economists’ median forecast of a 2.5 per cent fall, but the contraction was the first in six…

How China’s HQ-29 mid-course missile interceptor stacks up against its US rivals

Media Library

After 15 years of testing, China unveiled the HQ-29 at its Victory Day parade in September, showcasing the land-based air-defence missile system that is capable of intercepting targets in the near region of space outside the Earth’s atmosphere. Advertisement The HQ-29, also known as the Red Flag-29, is considered a key supplement to the top layer of China’s multilayered ballistic missile defence system. The missile is mounted on a six-axle launcher, according to the Chinese military magazine Ordnance Science and Technology, although Beijing has not revealed the specifications of the…

EU set to reject Indian demand for carbon border tax exemption

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The EU is preparing to reject a demand from India to be exempted from its carbon border tax, a move that will complicate efforts to seal a trade deal between the two by the end of the year. Delhi has suggested it levy its own export fee on products that would be liable for the carbon charge, such as steel, aluminium and fertilisers, rather than be subject to the EU…

Japan tourism and retail stocks slide after row with China over Taiwan

Media Library

Japanese tourism and retail stocks fell on Monday after China warned its citizens not to travel to the country as Tokyo and Beijing remain locked in a row over Taiwan. Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, who has been a vocal critic of China and its military activities in the region, suggested this month Tokyo could take military action if Beijing attacked Taiwan. Shares in cosmetics company Shiseido plunged nearly 10% while department store chain Takashimaya and the owner of global fashion chain Uniqlo fell more than 5% in early trading.…

China travel warning for Japan sends shares in tourism and retail companies plunging

Media Library

Shares in Japanese tourism and retail firms fell sharply on Monday after China warned its citizens not to travel to Japan amid an escalating row over comments made by prime minister Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan. In morning trade shares in cosmetics form Shiseido fell 9%, department store group Takashimaya by more than 5% and Fast Retailing – the owner of Uniqlo – by more than 4%. China is the biggest source of tourists to Japan. Takaichi told Japan’s parliament on 7 November that the use of force against the self-ruled…

China’s Queen Bao Si was blamed for millennia. Science has cleared her name

Media Library

Few women in Chinese history have been as scorned – or as misunderstood – as Bao Si. For nearly three millennia, the queen has been remembered not as a person, but as a symbol: the beautiful femme fatale whose cold heart and unparalleled beauty brought down a dynasty. Advertisement According to legend, Bao Si was a queen so aloof she never smiled. Desperate to amuse her, King You of the Western Zhou Dynasty (about 1046-771 BC) is said to have played a deadly prank: he lit the kingdom’s sacred beacon…

FirstFT: China-Japan row escalates as Beijing sends coastguard to disputed islands

Media Library

This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Subscribers can sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get the newsletter delivered every weekday morning. Explore all of our newsletters here Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter: China row tests Japan’s new leader Singapore battles Cambodian fraudsters How the Joe Biden of India won China conducted a coastguard patrol near a group of disputed islands administered by Japan yesterday, escalating a heated row between the two countries. What’s happening: Yesterday’s sea…

Chinese economist Lu Feng on why the time is ripe for a consumption rebalance

Media Library

Lu Feng is a professor of economics and a former deputy dean at Peking University’s National School of Development. In more than 40 academic papers, six books and numerous magazine articles, he has studied issues critical to China’s economy, including the exchange rate, industrial development, food security and external imbalances. Lu has also served as an adviser to several government agencies, including the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. Advertisement This interview first appeared in SCMP Plus. For other interviews in the Open Questions…

China’s jumbo Sichuan 076 amphibious assault ship completes first sea trials

Media Library

China’s next-generation “drone-carrier” amphibious assault ship, the Sichuan, completed its first sea trials on Sunday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV said. Advertisement The three-day trial marks a major step forward for the People’s Liberation Army to take delivery of its first Type 076 amphibious assault carrier, seen as a key asset for China’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) operations. The trials, which began on Friday morning, aimed to test the reliability and stability of the supersized warship’s engine and power system, and had “achieved the expected results”, the CCTV report said on…