Category: FT

China’s entrepreneurial spirit is under immense strain

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. The writer is a fellow at the Asia Society Policy Institute’s Center for China Analysis In recent months, a grim pattern has emerged in China’s business pages: the names of once-vibrant entrepreneurs appearing not in company profiles but in obituaries. Men in the prime of their careers have leapt from rooftops, leaving industries and communities stunned. Their deaths — four in the past three months — have been explained, accurately,…

China steps up tax crackdown on overseas investments

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese business & finance myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Chinese authorities have stepped up calls on investors to pay taxes on their global gains, forcing wealthy individuals to rethink their trading strategy as Beijing tries to fill its coffers to counter economic pressures. Tax authorities in major economic hubs such as Shanghai, Zhejiang, and Shandong this year issued calls on their websites for investors to declare their taxes, while also calling and messaging individuals personally. Officials this…

From baseball to history, Chinese podcasts boom in censors’ shadow

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From a small 26th-floor office-turned-studio near Shanghai’s People’s Square, Cheng Yanliang leans into a microphone and records the latest episode of Left-Right, a podcast with an audience in the millions. The 34-year-old former journalist’s twice-weekly show spans topics from wartime espionage in China and the protection of endangered species to Greek historian Herodotus and He-Yin Zhen, a 20th-century Chinese feminist and anarchist. Cheng is among tens of thousands of podcasters, mostly hobbyists, broadcasting to a Chinese audience expected to total 150mn this year, according to industry forecasts. That is up…

Japan’s bomb shelter upgrade opens doors for century-old office supplier

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Aerospace & Defence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. A 135-year-old office furniture supplier is positioned to help Japan get ready for war by building 1,400kg doors for underground bomb shelters as the Japanese government develops plans to overhaul evacuation sites for missile attacks. Japan has been loosening postwar constraints on its military activities and increasing defence spending in response to regional threats and US pressure to be more self-sufficient. It is surrounded by nuclear-armed North Korea, China…

From sport to history, Chinese podcasts boom in censors’ shadow

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From a small 26th-floor office-turned-studio near Shanghai’s People’s Square, Cheng Yanliang leans into a microphone and records the latest episode of Left-Right, a podcast with an audience in the millions. The 34-year-old former journalist’s twice-weekly show spans topics from wartime espionage in China and the protection of endangered species to Greek historian Herodotus and He-Yin Zhen, a 20th-century Chinese feminist and anarchist. Cheng is among tens of thousands of podcasters, mostly hobbyists, broadcasting to a Chinese audience expected to total 150mn this year, according to industry forecasts. That is up…

From basketball to history, Chinese podcasts boom in censors’ shadow

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From a small 26th-floor office-turned-studio near Shanghai’s People’s Square, Cheng Yanliang leans into a microphone and records the latest episode of Left-Right, a podcast with an audience in the millions. The 34-year-old former journalist’s twice-weekly show spans topics from wartime espionage in China and the protection of endangered species to Greek historian Herodotus and He-Yin Zhen, a 20th-century Chinese feminist and anarchist. Cheng is among tens of thousands of podcasters, mostly hobbyists, broadcasting to a Chinese audience expected to total 150mn this year, according to industry forecasts. That is up…

EM companies rush to global debt markets as risk premium falls to near 20-year low

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Unlock the White House Watch newsletter for free Your guide to what Trump’s second term means for Washington, business and the world Banks and companies in emerging markets outside China are selling international bonds this year at the fastest rate since 2021, as the premium investors demand to own their debt over US Treasuries has fallen to its lowest since 2007. Such borrowers issued at least $250bn in bonds between January and July, a pace that will bring them close to matching the full year volume of 2021, when issuance…

A culinary guide to Penang

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. My relationship with Penang started when I was small: my aunt and uncle lived here and we would take a ferry to cross from the west side of the mainland to Penang Island, where George Town, the state’s capital, is. The ferry is hot and humid with lots of cars, motorcycles and traders selling snacks. One of my favourite memories is eating a rose syrup ice lolly on the way…

China’s corporate bonds win record share of top credit ratings

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese business & finance myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Almost all of the ratings directly awarded to new corporate bonds in China are now triple A, part of a long-term shift that has intensified alongside signs of official efforts to exclude riskier borrowers. Figures from Goldman Sachs and Chinese data provider Wind that offer a snapshot of the country’s vast credit markets show that 90 per cent of rated corporate bonds issued in the first half of…

Data of former UK ministers and Afghan refugees leaked after cyber attack

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Thousands of Afghan refugees, former Conservative government ministers and UK service personnel have been affected by a data breach following a cyber attack on a third-party airport contractor, UK officials have said. The cyber attack, which comes a month after the revelation of a much larger and dangerous data breach affecting UK forces and Afghan refugees, will increase scrutiny of the Ministry of Defence and government even if they were…