Year: 2025

China’s real estate investment trust (C-Reit) is poised to grow by 30 times to become a US$1 trillion industry in the next 20 years – a transition borne out of several factors, including declining home sales – which is expected to benefit select mainland developers, according to Morgan Stanley. Advertisement Following 25 years of property growth, primarily focused on the residential segment, mainland developers are increasingly weaning off from building projects that would yield one-time profits, the US investment bank said in a report on Thursday. The trend reflects how…

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu is scheduled to speak in a fireside chat on Friday during the third Family Business Summit in Hong Kong, as the city burnishes its role as the offshore fundraising hub and ‘superconnector’ between the Chinese mainland and the rest of the world. Advertisement The speech is the highlight of the conference, curated by the South China Morning Post and Blue Pool Capital, with UBS as the presenting partner. The attendees – by invitation only – comprise about 150 private business owners from the US, Europe,…

This year marks half a century of formal diplomatic relations between China and the European Union as well as the 25th anniversary of the founding of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. Here, Shi Jiangtao looks at how the relationship has been affected by Trump 2.0 and accompanying ups and downs of US-China ties, and global conflicts. Advertisement In an era defined by intensifying US-China rivalry, the European Union often finds itself pulled in opposite directions by the competing giants, caught in trade wars, technological decoupling and the…

Economist Paul Samuelson famously quipped that stock markets accurately predicted nine of the last five recessions. The same could be said of financial economists. So-called leading indicators like market sentiment swing with the daily news. Optimism is the default option but bull markets die hard. Still, most seasoned financial economists now recognise that stock markets are becoming more fragile. Advertisement And so does the crowd. The frequency of online searches for “stock market bubble” has surged since July. This quantification of the wisdom of the crowd is the essence of…

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva kicked off the Cop30 climate summit on Thursday, urging leaders to turn promises into action while highlighting his country’s work within the Brics group to reaffirm the importance of climate finance, capacity building and technology transfer in global cooperation. Advertisement The meeting comes amid the notable absence by the United States. President Donald Trump, who ordered the country’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement in January, declined an invitation from Lula in October to attend the conference. Washington also opted not to send any…

After China and the US reached an agreement on soybeans, Beijing has signalled its intent to seek favourable terms, with the scale of future imports dependent on the competitiveness of American crops, a commerce official said. Advertisement “With the adjusted tariffs, China will encourage companies to import agricultural products from the US in line with market principles,” said Chen Chao, director general of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs at the Ministry of Commerce, in a speech at the China International Import Expo (CIIE) in Shanghai on Thursday. “As…

The United States must take urgent action if it is to avoid a “logistical catastrophe” in any possible conflict with China, military strategists have suggested, describing supply lines as its biggest weakness. Advertisement Decades of neglect, cost cutting and personnel shortages – as well as poor maintenance and systemic decline – have directly undermined the US deterrence strategy in the Pacific, according to an analysis published on the military website Breaking Defence. While most public discussion focuses on advanced weapons and combat power, the deficit in the logistics network “is…

Catch up on some of SCMP’s biggest China stories of the day. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Chinese student boom helps create more university spots for Americans: study China’s university boom has helped boost US postgraduate education and local economies in college towns, according to a new study. 2. Chinese trade negotiator urges US to boost agricultural cooperation China’s key trade negotiator, Li Chenggang, has called on the US to create “a favourable atmosphere” for agricultural cooperation between the two countries.…

Advertisement Volcano Engine, the Beijing-based tech unicorn’s cloud computing division, is offering a monthly salary of 95,000 yuan to 120,000 yuan (US$13,328 to US$16,838), according to a job posting. It marked the company’s clearest move into humanoid robotics as it specifically sought humanoid specialists rather than general robotics experts. According to listings on Chinese hiring websites, the role involved conducting research on operational algorithms, pre-training large language models and integrating hardware for humanoid robots. Candidates were required to hold a master’s or doctoral degree in computer science, automation, artificial intelligence…