An IVC Evidensia veterinary practice in Sweden may not appear to have much in common with a Vena Energy solar project in Taiwan, or GardaWorld security personnel at a Canadian ice-hockey game. But some of the capital that helps sustain all three companies comes from the same place: the People’s Republic of China. Private equity firms EQT, Global Infrastructure Partners and BC Partners — the immediate owners, respectively, of the three businesses — are just three among dozens of western buyout groups that Chinese state-backed investors such as the State…
Day: May 30, 2023
Seoul retracts evacuation order after failed North Korean satellite launch
A failed North Korean attempt to launch a reconnaissance satellite into space triggered air raid sirens and an aborted evacuation order in the South Korean capital on Wednesday morning. Residents of Seoul received a government “wartime alert” on their phones telling them to prepare to evacuate the city. “A warning was issued in Seoul at 06.32 today,” read the message from the Seoul Metropolitan Government. “Citizens should be prepared to evacuate and allow children and the elderly to evacuate first.” The message was quickly followed by an actual evacuation order.…
How Singapore Airlines soared while regional rival Cathay Pacific stalled
Just as Singapore Airlines was giving employees an eight-month salary bonus after record profits, Hong Kong was giving away more than 4,400 free tickets for regional rival Cathay Pacific as the city sought to encourage visitors to return. Shares of Singapore Airlines have soared to their highest levels in more than three years after the national carrier made clear the strength of its post-pandemic recovery with an annual profit of S$2.16bn ($1.6bn) for the year ending in March. In stark contrast, shares in Hong Kong-listed Cathay Pacific have dropped nearly…
How Singapore Airlines eclipsed regional rival Cathay Pacific
Just as Singapore Airlines was giving employees an eight-month salary bonus after record profits, Hong Kong was giving away more than 4,400 free tickets for regional rival Cathay Pacific as the city sought to encourage visitors to return. Shares of Singapore Airlines have soared to their highest levels in more than three years after the national carrier made clear the strength of its post-pandemic recovery with an annual profit of S$2.16bn ($1.6bn) for the year ending in March. In stark contrast, shares in Hong Kong-listed Cathay Pacific have dropped nearly…
What the East and West can learn from a Chinese comedian’s PLA joke that backfired
This view is also too simple. Chinese civilisation has always had its centralised political culture. Chairman Mao Zedong did not create the personality cult; he merely transported what existed in traditional culture to modernity. Ancient nations that have not gone through strong political and cultural modernisation are inclined towards top-down political order. This does not mean the old system is the right and eternal approach. In Western countries, the ancien régime was replaced and refined to give rise to modern governance, one of Xi’s stated goals. The Chinese leadership has…
Erin O’Toole: China targeted me in election, says 2021 rival to Canada’s Trudeau
Canada’s spy agency told former Conservative party leader Erin O’Toole that China campaigned to discredit him and suppress votes ahead of the 2021 election he lost to Justin Trudeau’s Liberals, O’Toole has said. In a briefing on Friday, the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (Csis) informed O’Toole about intelligence saying Beijing had targeted him in 2021, when he was Conservative leader and running to defeat Trudeau. “The Csis briefing confirmed to me what I had long suspected – that my party, several of my parliamentary caucus members and myself were the…
Chinese fighter jet buzzed US military plane, says Pentagon
The Pentagon has released unclassified video of what it is calling an “unnecessarily aggressive manoeuvre” by a Chinese military jet. According to the US military, the clip shows the Chinese pilot crossing within 121 metres (400ft) of the nose on a US Air Force RC-135 surveillance plane in the South China Sea. BBC
Taiwan Ambassador Says Ukraine’s Success Against Russia Will Deter China
Why It Matters: Some Republicans want to prioritize aid to Taiwan. Ms. Hsiao’s statement rebuts arguments by a few Republican lawmakers and former U.S. officials that the United States should decrease weapons aid to Ukraine in order to prioritize building up Taiwan’s defense capabilities and U.S. military resources aimed at countering China. Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, is making this argument, as is Elbridge Colby, a Pentagon official in the Trump administration who has advised Mr. Hawley. They say some of the same missile and weapons systems that Taiwan…
Activist shareholders threaten Japan’s AGM season
Every year, the June corporate annual general meeting season in Japan stands as a reminder of the delicate equilibrium in which the Tokyo market operates: shareholders are granted immense disruptive powers, but have been reliably reluctant to use them. There have been many predictions that this balance might eventually crumble, though it has long held firm. But AGM season 2023, say both companies’ investor relations departments and investors, already feels as if it will be different. At the most visible end, there are more shareholder activists targeting Japanese companies than ever…
North Korean Satellite Plunges Into Sea After Rocket Failure
SEOUL/TOKYO — A North Korean satellite launch on Wednesday ended in failure, sending the booster and payload plunging into the sea, North Korean state media said, and the South’s military said it had recovered parts of the launch vehicle. The new “Chollima-1” satellite launch rocket failed because of instability in the engine and fuel system, state news agency KCNA reported. The flight was the nuclear-armed state’s sixth satellite launch attempt, and the first since 2016. It was supposed to put North Korea’s first spy satellite in orbit. It prompted emergency…