Category: Media Library

The meaning of Xi’s military purge

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The writer is a professor at Georgetown and Texas A&M universities and was Special Assistant to the President and senior director for east Asia at the National Security Council (2005-2009) Since Xi Jinping became president of the People’s Republic of China in 2013, many analysts have convinced themselves that he is omnipotent, his power and authority unchallenged. For such observers, the purging of China’s military leadership, including top…

How big a deal is the EU-India trade agreement? With Nicolas Köhler-Suzuki and Ajay Srivastava

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The EU-India trade deal was partly a geopolitical statement, directed towards Trump. But what’s actually in it? What were the toughest bits to agree, who gave up concessions, and what will the deal mean for the economies of India and the EU? Soumaya Keynes is back to chat to Nicolas Köhler-Suzuki, adviser for trade and economic security, Jacques Delors Institute, and Ajay Srivastava, founder of the Global Trade Research Initiative in Delhi, and a former trade negotiator. Subscribe to Soumaya’s show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.…

Trump says ‘very dangerous’ for UK to do business with China, after Starmer hails progress in Beijing

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Donald Trump has warned the UK against doing business with China, just hours after Keir Starmer lauded the economic relationship during a landmark visit to Beijing. The US president said it was “very dangerous” for the UK to pursue closer ties with the rival superpower as the prime minister’s three-hour talks with leader Xi Jinping underlined a thaw in previously strained relations. Starmer, the first British prime minister to travel to Beijing in eight years, promised a “more sophisticated” relationship with China, as he secured improved market access, lower tariffs…

Panama court kicks Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison out of canal ports

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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 Panama’s Supreme Court has annulled a contract held by a unit of a Hong Kong company to operate key ports at either end of the Panama Canal, in a victory for Donald Trump, who has vowed to reassert US influence in the region. In a unanimous ruling late on Thursday the court said the concession for a unit of CK Hutchison Holdings to operate the Balboa and Cristóbal…

Amitabh Chaudhry: Foreign banks won’t find it easy in India

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This online version of the India Business Briefing newsletter is free to read today. To receive it in your inbox regularly, sign up if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription here. Good morning from Melbourne, where I am winding down towards the end of my vacation. My colleague Chris Kay will step in for me on Tuesday, after which regular service will resume. The “mother of all trade deals” was announced between India and the EU while I was away. This should bring some succour to exporters, who are seeking…

HSBC targets Hong Kong IPOs after missing out on listings boom

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Financial services myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. HSBC is “maniacally focused” on rebuilding its investment bank in Hong Kong after it missed out on a boom in public listings last year following a decision to exit parts of the business in the UK, US and Europe. “If there is one area that we will be maniacally focused on, it is building out and improving our market share in [initial public offerings] coming out of Hong Kong,” Michael…

Why China moved so quickly to execute 11 members of a notorious mafia family

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China has also prevailed on Thailand and Cambodia to extradite two Chinese business figures accused of running scam empires, She Zhijiang, who built an entire city in Myanmar’s war-torn Karen State, and Chen Zhi, who amassed wealth and power with his Prince Group conglomerate in Cambodia. The Chinese government has also brought tens of thousands of its citizens who were working in scam compounds back to China to face trial. BBC

AstraZeneca to invest £11bn in China after rowing back on UK expansion

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Britain’s biggest drugmaker AstraZeneca is to invest $15bn (£11bn) in China, it announced during Keir Starmer’s visit to the country, just months after cooling on plans for expansion in the UK. The Cambridge-based company said it would spend the money by 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development in China, where it already has a big presence. It includes the construction of a $2.5bn research hub in Beijing, which was announced last March. During the first visit by a British prime minister to China in eight years, Starmer…

Keir Starmer opens door to UK visit by Xi Jinping after bilateral talks

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Keir Starmer has taken a big step towards rapprochement with China, opening the door to a UK visit from Xi Jinping in a move that drew immediate anger from British critics of Beijing. During the first visit by a UK prime minister to China in eight years – a period which Starmer has described as an “ice age” – he said talks with the Chinese president had left the bilateral relationship in a stronger position. While Starmer and his team were flaunting the results of the trip – including a…

What agreements have been made during Starmer’s trip to China?

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Keir Starmer will be pleased that he has secured several agreements to mark his visit to Beijing and by the warm tone of President Xi Jinping’s remarks about his government. However, No 10’s announcements do not put a figure on the value of the deals, and there does not appear to be a big bundle of investments worth billions by Chinese or British firms, which prime ministers have usually tended to hold up as a sign of success. These are the agreements secured by the UK so far. Visa-free travel…