Category: Media Library

Chinese stocks slide the most in five months

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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. Chinese stocks slid the most in five months on Thursday, a day after President Xi Jinping projected his nation’s global ambition with a landmark military parade in Beijing. The blue-chip CSI 300 benchmark fell 2.1 per cent, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped 1 per cent. China’s tech-focused Star 50 index shed 6.2 per cent. The CSI 300 surged more than 10 per cent in August, fuelled by a…

Who else was in Daniel Andrews’ group photo with Xi, Putin and Kim?

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A number of world leaders gathered in Beijing at a second world war commemoration parade on Wednesday, in a display designed to show off China’s military strength and geopolitical might. The presence of leaders such as Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jong-un at the event has led to some western political and economic analysts describing it as a meeting of the “axis of upheaval”. After the parade, Russian state agency Sputnik released a group photo, featuring some expected – and unexpected – faces. Here’s who’s who. Who’s who at…

Chinese stocks slide most in five months

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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. Chinese stocks slid the most in five months on Thursday, the day after President Xi Jinping projected his nation’s global ambition with a landmark military parade in Beijing. The blue-chip CSI 300 benchmark fell 2.5 per cent while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index dropped more than 1 per cent. China’s tech-heavy STAR 50 index shed more than 5 per cent. The CSI 300 index surged more than 10 per cent…

Thursday briefing: China flexes its muscle in the tussle for global dominance

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Good morning. All eyes have been on China this week as the second biggest global economy flexed its muscles. Dozens of world leaders, including from the global south, authoritarian pariah states and the EU, attended China’s largest ever military parade on Wednesday to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of the second world war, which China calls the war of resistance against Japanese aggression. China’s president, Xi Jinping, was flanked by the Russian and North Korean leaders, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un, in what has widely been called a…

Venice’s Lion of St Mark’s Square was at least part made in China, study suggests

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The great bronze statue of a winged lion perched atop one of two granite columns in Venice’s St Mark’s Square has watched over the city for centuries. But Italian scientists have now found evidence to suggest the iconic statue was at least in part made in China, and possibly ended up in Venice via the Silk Road after being brought back by the father and uncle of the merchant and explorer Marco Polo. In research due to be published in the journal Antiquity, scientists from the University of Padua found…

Car sector calls for EU to copy China and include hybrids in emissions push

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the European companies myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Europe should follow the Chinese “playbook” and include hybrids in its push to lower emissions from cars, industry bosses have said, as they warned Brussels that sticking to its 2035 ban on petrol engines put the bloc’s biggest industry at risk. Ola Källenius, the president of European car industry body ACEA, told the Financial Times that China was the most advanced country in “decarbonisation of mobility” thanks to a policy…

Car industry calls for EU to copy China and include hybrids in emissions push

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the European companies myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Europe should follow the Chinese “playbook” and include hybrids in its push to lower emissions from cars, industry bosses have said, as they warned Brussels that sticking to its 2035 ban on petrol engines put the bloc’s biggest industry at risk. Ola Källenius, the president of European car industry body ACEA, told the Financial Times that China was the most advanced country in “decarbonisation of mobility” thanks to a policy…

China steps in to tame animal spirits as solar sector racks up billions in losses

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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. China has ordered the solar sector to rein in overcapacity and cut-throat pricing as the biggest manufacturers suffer billions of dollars in losses. Six of the largest Chinese cell and panel makers saw their combined first-half losses double to Rmb20.2bn ($2.8bn) from a year earlier, with all but one reporting widening losses, according to financial information provider Wind. The losses compare with record profits in 2022 and 2023. Solar is…

Daniel Andrews’ photo with dictators is a glaring reminder of Australia’s hypocrisy on human rights | Daniela Gavshon

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A photo of former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews alongside the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, during a military parade in Beijing raised troubling questions. Earlier, former New South Wales premier Bob Carr sought to pre-emptively justify his possible attendance at the event (although he didn’t in the end) in an opinion piece. While it is difficult for the Australian government to control the actions of former officials, the photo still raises the question how the two former premiers found…

Strongmen assemble: Putin, Kim and Xi in Beijing – podcast

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It has been a historic week of diplomacy in China. As senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins explains, it started on Sunday, with more than 20 heads of state attending the opening of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Among them were strongmen from across Europe and Asia: presidents Putin of Russia, Erdoğan of Turkey, Aliyev of Azerbaijan, Lukashenko of Belarus and many others. Yet it was not just an array of autocrats – India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, also came to the summit, openly warm to both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin.…