In July 2021, Chinese markets braced for a buzz. Syngenta, the Swiss agritech giant, filed for a $10bn-dollar listing on Shanghai’s STAR Market, a tech-focused stock exchange. It should have been a win-win for China; Syngenta said it would invest some of the new financing into agricultural technology, promising an injection of cash into an important sector. But, more than two years later, Syngenta still hasn’t listed. Beijing insists that China is open for business and that it is committed to supporting the private sector. But a renewed focus on…
Tag: Asia Pacific
Chinese Australians caught in a diplomatic rift – podcast
Prime minister Anthony Albanese is preparing to visit China for the first time in coming months. But as Labor continues to try to stabilise the relationship between the two nations, Chinese Australian communities say they are facing higher levels of racism, suspicion and hostility as a direct result of diplomatic tensions between the countries in recent years How to listen to podcasts: everything you need to know The Guardian
Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu wins Maldives presidency, upending relationship with India
Pro-China candidate Mohamed Muizzu won Saturday’s presidential election in the Maldives, a result set to once again upend the archipelago’s relationship with traditional partner India. Muizzu helms a party that presided over an influx of Chinese loans when it last held power in the atoll nation, better known for its luxury beach resorts and celebrity tourists. He won over 54% of the vote in the run-off contest, prompting incumbent Ibrahim Mohamed Solih to concede defeat shortly before midnight. “Congratulations to president-elect Muizzu,” Solih wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “I also…
Jimmy Lai: Hong Kong mogul, activist … and now a prisoner for 1,000 days
It was not the first time in his long and eventful career that media mogul Jimmy Lai became the story, and it wouldn’t be the last. But it was certainly the most dramatic. On 10 August 2020, about 200 police officers frogmarched 72-year-old Lai out of the offices of his embattled newspaper, Apple Daily, as they conducted a raid on the publication, which had vigorously supported Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. More than 10,000 people tuned in to watch as the newspaper’s reporters defied police warnings and streamed the scene live…
Maldives vote: runoff for presidency begins in shadow of India-China tussle for influence
The Maldives started voting on Saturday to decide their next president, in an elections widely seen as a referendum on whether to hitch their fortunes to China or India, both vying for influence in the island nation. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, 61, faces an uphill battle to secure a second mandate after a term that saw renewed ties with New Delhi, the archipelago’s traditional benefactor. Frontrunner Mohamed Muizzu, 45, has vowed closer ties with Beijing and a review of relations with India if he is elected. Muizzu won 46% of the…
Maldives election run-off pitched as fork in the road between India and China
As the archipelago of the Maldives goes to an election run-off on Saturday, it will not just be two presidential candidates on the ballot. This election is being pitched as a larger geopolitical battle between India and China, which over the past decade have been engaged in a tug-of-war to gain influence over the Maldives. While the tussle is not new, the narrative of India versus China has reached a fever pitch in this election, where opposition candidate Mohamed Muizzu is trying to unseat the government of Mohamed Solih and…
Japan to release second batch of wastewater from Fukushima nuclear plant next week
Japan will begin releasing a second batch of wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant from next week, its operator has said, an exercise that angered China and others when it began in August. On 24 August, Japan began discharging into the Pacific some of the 1.34m tonnes of wastewater that has collected since a tsunami crippled the facility in 2011. “The inspections following the first release have been completed … The (second) discharge will start on 5 October,” Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco) said on Thursday. China banned all Japanese…
‘Risk of miscalculation’ rises in South China Sea as Beijing ramps up aggressive tactics
In shaky camera footage, a member of the Philippine coast guard can be seen dipping below the waters of South China Sea, ready to carry out the instructions of the country’s president. “Just cut it off,” says a voice in the background and the coast guard, posing as a fisher in a snorkel, proceeds to hack away at a piece of rope. The video, taken on Monday near the fiercely contested Scarborough Shoal, shows the Philippines’ mission to remove what it described as a hazardous floating barrier installed by China’s…
China’s manipulation of media threatens global freedoms, says US report
China is manipulating global media through censorship, data harvesting and covert purchases of foreign news outlets, according to a new report from the US state department, which warned the trend could lead to a “sharp contraction” of global freedom of expression. The report released on Thursday found that Beijing had spent billions of dollars annually on information manipulation efforts, including by acquiring stakes in foreign media through “public and non-public means”, sponsoring online influencers and securing distribution agreements that promote unlabelled Chinese government content. The Chinese embassy in Washington did…
Evergrande founder ‘being investigated for suspected crimes’
The founder of China’s Evergrande is being investigated over suspected “illegal crimes”, the group has said, as creditors become increasingly concerned about the prospects of the world’s most indebted property developer. Evergrande Group, which has more than $300bn in total liabilities, did not say whether Hui Ka Yan was still in a position to run the company, or what crimes he was being investigated for. The news came hours after trading in shares of the company was suspended following a report that Hui had been placed under police surveillance. Evergrande…