The UK pushed hard to secure the release of Jimmy Lai, the newspaper publisher and British citizen who was a leading light in Hong Kong’s brutally suppressed pro-democracy movement. So, too, did press freedom and human rights campaigners. But the Beijing-appointed high court judges in the former colony convicted him anyway, finding Lai guilty last week on fake charges of trying to “destabilise” the Chinese Communist party (CCP). For Xi Jinping, China’s dictator-emperor, there is no greater crime. Protesting to China’s ambassador, the UK’s foreign secretary, Yvette Cooper, condemned the…
Tag: International trade
China’s record trade surplus reveals its biggest strength – and hidden weakness
A boom in exports that has pushed China’s trade surplus past $1tn for the first time reveals the extent to which its economy is still overwhelmingly reliant on foreign markets – and the difficulty figures like Donald Trump will have in trying to rebalance global trade. Data released on Monday shows that in the first 11 months of this year, China’s trade surplus in goods was $1.076tn. The record trade surplus comes even as exports to the US have plummeted, a reflection of the bruising US-China trade war that, despite…
Netherlands suspends state seizure of Chinese chipmaker Nexperia
The Netherlands has suspended its seizure of the Chinese-owned chipmaker at the heart of a six-week dispute between the EU and China that threatened to halt car production at sites around the world. The Dutch minister of economic affairs, Vincent Karremans, said in a statement on Wednesday that the government would suspend its decision to take supervisory control of Nexperia as a gesture of “goodwill” to Beijing. “In light of recent developments, I consider it the right moment to take a constructive step by suspending my order under the Goods…
China suspends seafood imports from Japan as Taiwan row escalates
China has suspended imports of Japanese seafood again, as the fallout over the Japanese prime minister’s comments about Taiwan continues to escalate in one of worst bilateral disputes in years. The ban was first reported on Wednesday by the Japanese outlets Kyodo News and NHK, and appeared to be confirmed by China’s foreign ministry, which said there was “no market for Japanese seafood in the current climate”. The reports said China’s government had informed Japan it was suspending all seafood imports, months after it partly lifted a previous ban issued…
Nexperia row shows how China is weaponising trade – and winning
As interventions go it was pretty audacious. The Dutch government decision at the end of September to take over Nexperia, a Chinese-owned chip factory, almost brought the entire European car industry to a halt. Tensions between Europe and China de-escalated over the weekend as Beijing confirmed it would ease restrictions on automotive chip supplies to the EU, prompting sighs of relief in car factories around the world. But it has only intensified the questions about the EU’s asymmetric relationship with China, with many in industry, diplomacy and governments asking if…
Era of free trade and investment is over, Canada’s PM tells Apec summit
The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, has warned that the era of free trade and investment that formed the foundations of the postwar global economy has ended. In a stark message to Asia-Pacific leaders at the Apec summit in South Korea on Friday, Carney said rules-based open trade no longer worked in a global economy that was undergoing one of its most profound periods of change since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. “The old world of steady expansion of rules-based liberalised trade and investment, a world on…
The Guardian view on Trump and China: stepping back from the brink, but not solving problems | Editorial
The diverging verdicts offered by the Chinese and American leaders after their talks in South Korea on Thursday reflected more than the chasms between their personal styles and political cultures. Donald Trump gushed about an “amazing” meeting, scoring it 12 out of 10; Xi Jinping reportedly noted that a consensus had been reached, with the two sides needing to finalise follow-up steps rapidly. Mr Trump’s usual trade approach – shout loudly and wave a big stick – faltered when Beijing raised its own bludgeon. No tribute of gold crowns or…
Trump-Xi meeting shows price of confrontation was too high for both sides
Outcome appears closer to truce than durable peace but outline of broader diplomatic relationship is visible Five key takeaways from Trump-Xi meeting When Donald Trump launched his trade war against China in April, threatening tariffs as high as 145%, the Chinese government said it would never bow to blackmail and vowed to “fight to the end”. The question now is whether the consensus reached between Trump and Xi Jinping in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday means that the fight really has come to an end, and if so on whose…
Five key takeaways from Donald Trump’s meeting with Xi Jinping
As Donald Trump flew out of Busan airport in South Korea after his meeting with China’s Xi Jinping, the US president sounded upbeat about progress made during less than two hours of talks. Trump discussed the outcome of the meeting, which he described as a 12 on a scale of one to 10, with “an outstanding group of decisions made”. He added: “We’ve come to a conclusion on many important points.” A Chinese statement quoted Xi saying the two countries had “good prospects for cooperation”, and relations had maintained “overall…
US and China agree ‘framework’ for trade deal ahead of Xi-Trump meeting
The US and China have agreed a framework for a trade deal just days before Donald Trump and Chines president Xi Jinping are due to meet. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said the agreement, forged on the sidelines of the Association of south-east Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Malaysia on Sunday, would remove the threat of the imposition of 100% tariffs on Chinese imports starting on 1 November and include “a final deal” on the sale of TikTok in the US. Trump arrived in Malaysia on Sunday for the summit, his…