Day: May 17, 2023

Chinese Fishing Boat Capsizes in Indian Ocean; 39 Missing

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beijing —  Several ships and aircraft searched Wednesday for 39 people reported missing after a Chinese fishing boat capsized in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said the accident happened around 3 a.m. Tuesday. The report said the crew included 17 people from China, 17 from Indonesia and five from the Philippines. Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Li Qiang ordered Chinese diplomats abroad, as well as the agriculture and transportation ministries, to assist in the search for survivors. “All-out efforts” must be made in…

Once admired, now reviled, Hong Kong police force failing to attract new recruits

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Kevin Wan*, in his 40s, resigned from the Hong Kong police force after a career of over two decades. “I no longer felt proud being part of the force. They lost their sense of mission to serve the community and uphold justice,” he said. “I didn’t want to turn into someone I despise.” The reputation of the Hong Kong police service, once called the finest in Asia, took a nosedive after its crackdown on mass anti-government protests in 2019 was widely criticised. Wan said he felt uneasy being part of…

Adani seeks to woo bankers with three-day tour after short seller’s attack

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Indian tycoon Gautam Adani has invited bankers on a three-day trip next month to tour his conglomerate’s prized assets and restore confidence after a short seller accused his group of accounting fraud and stock price manipulation. Adani has offered lenders a chance to visit the new airport his group is building outside India’s financial capital Mumbai, as well as port and energy facilities in Mundra, in the state of Gujarat, from June 8 to 10, according to an email viewed by the Financial Times. Guests have also been invited to…

Xi Jinping courts Central Asia as Russian influence weakens

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President Xi Jinping is stepping up efforts to boost China’s influence in Central Asia by hosting his first in-person regional summit dedicated to tightening ties with an area traditionally dominated by Russia. With Moscow weakened and distracted by the war in Ukraine, the two-day summit that starts Thursday is a chance for Beijing to push for stronger economic and political relationships with five strategically important former Soviet republics — Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. “I don’t think China is going to replace the significance of Russia in Central Asia…

Ukraine tells China envoy it will not give up territory to Russia as price of peace

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Ukraine’s foreign minister has met China’s special envoy to Kyiv and insisted that the war-torn country would not accept a peace plan that relied on giving up territory after Russia’s invasion. In the Ukrainian capital, China’s envoy Li Hui is seeking to promote Beijing-led negotiations to resolve the conflict. He is the most senior Chinese diplomat to visit Ukraine since Russia invaded in February 2022. China, a close ally of Moscow, has not publicly condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, whose foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said that peace depended on “respect…

USAID Chief to Congress: Foreign Aid Key in Countering Chinese, Russian Influence

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WASHINGTON —  A top Republican lawmaker said Wednesday the funding priorities for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) do not go far enough in addressing the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The Biden administration has requested $32 billion in foreign assistance for USAID — $3 billion more than the amount appropriated by Congress in 2023. House Foreign Affairs Chairman Michael McCaul said in a hearing with USAID administrator Samantha Power that it is not clear how the agency plans to spend the requested $400 million in…

English universities warned not to over-rely on fees of students from China

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England’s higher education regulator has warned universities against over-reliance on tuition fees of students from China, as Rishi Sunak backtracked on his earlier pledge to close UK branches of the Beijing-sponsored Confucius Institute. The Office for Students (OfS) wrote to 23 universities with high numbers of Chinese students on Thursday, asking to see their contingency planning in case of a sudden interruption to overseas recruitment. “Such interruptions could result from, for example, a changing geopolitical environment which could cause an immediate and significant impact on income,” an OfS report said.…

FirstFT: Sunak considers following US lead on Chinese investment curbs

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This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get it sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning Good morning. On his way to Japan for the G7 summit, UK prime minister Rishi Sunak said that he is considering following Washington’s lead by imposing new restrictions on domestic companies making investments into critical industries in China. US president Joe Biden has been drawing up a plan to limit investments in key parts of the Chinese economy by American…

Rishi Sunak to unveil semiconductor partnership with Japan

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Rishi Sunak will announce a “semiconductors partnership” with the Japanese government during a visit to Tokyo on Thursday as the UK seeks to reduce geopolitical risk by diversifying its chip supply chain. The UK prime minister’s announcement comes ahead of the publication on Friday of a British semiconductor strategy, which will outline the dangers to the UK’s chip industry from relying too much on a handful of supplier countries including Taiwan. Sunak will say on Thursday that its semiconductor partnership with Japan will include “ambitious R&D co-operation and skills exchange”,…