Day: December 3, 2025

Chinese President Xi Jinping told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that he was willing to work with France to “eliminate interference” and work on developing a steady relationship as they met for talks on Thursday, where issues such as trade are expected to be on the agenda. Xi said the world was undergoing rapid changes and the two countries “should demonstrate their responsibility, uphold the banner of multilateralism… and firmly stand on the right side of history”. “China, together with France, has always acted in the fundamental interests of the…

A majority of Europeans want to maintain an equal distance from the United States and China rather than aligning with one of the two superpowers over the other, a survey published on Thursday shows. While just 4 per cent of Europeans polled would prioritise alignment with China over the US, 55 per cent preferred to keep “the same distance between the two”, according to the result of the Eurobazooka, a survey published by Le Grand Continent, a French magazine. One-fifth of those polled across nine EU member countries would prefer…

The fragile rapprochement between China and India faces a fresh test as New Delhi looks to promote its links with the sixth Dalai Lama, observers have warned. India is hosting the first international conference of the 17th century Tibetan spiritual leader at his birthplace in today’s Tawang, a mountain town in an area that India governs as the border state of Arunachal Pradesh and China claims as Zangnan or southern Tibet. Pema Khandu, the state chief minister, opened the four-day event at Tawang Monastery on Wednesday, watched by local officials…

China would push for high-quality development and opening up to the outside world, Li Shulei, head of the Communist Party’s publicity department, told the 2025 Understanding China Conference in Guangzhou on Monday. The event, which ran between Sunday and Tuesday, was attended by around 800 people and technological innovation was a central theme. Advertisement China also strove to help developing countries and worked with all parties to address challenges in global development, Chen Xiaodong, director of the China International Development Cooperation Agency, told the forum. “By supporting the Global South…

China’s pharmaceutical industry is on the brink of enormous growth and transformation. In just a few years, it has moved on from being the world’s cheapest source of active pharmaceutical ingredients to becoming a major hub for pharmaceutical innovation – a place where new, more effective drugs are born. It is now the second-largest developer of drugs, trailing only the United States. In the global drug development pipeline, China’s growth rate is phenomenal, leaping from 3 per cent in 2013 to 28 per cent in 2023. The drug companies developing…

The Hong Kong Investment Corporation (HKIC) earned HK$2.34 billion (US$300.7 million) in investment income last year, as the city’s wholly owned investment vehicle made an impressive report after its first year of operation. HKIC posted HK$2.25 billion in operating income for the year that ended on December 31, on HK$64 billion in total assets, while deploying less than one-fifth of its initial capital of HK$62 billion, according to a report on Thursday. “HKIC is the patient capital investment arm of the government with a dual mandate to enhance the economic…

The hearing convened by the Office of the US Trade Representative on Wednesday – the first public session before next July’s joint review of the free trade deal – kicks off three days of testimony from more than 140 representatives from business, think tanks, academia and advocacy groups. “One cannot make a strategic argument about the value of economic integration without also having a pragmatic and specific plan for ensuring that integration reduces, rather than exacerbates, economic and national security risks,” said Emily Kilcrease, a senior fellow at the Centre…