Day: July 10, 2023

US Charges Think Tank Leader With Working on Behalf of China

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U.S. federal prosecutors on Monday announced charges against a U.S.-Israeli man, saying he acted as an unregistered foreign agent on behalf of China and tried to broker weapons and Iranian oil sales. Authorities accused Gal Luft of recruiting and paying a former U.S. government official who worked as an adviser to then president-elect Donald Trump and of trying to get the official to support policies favorable to China. Prosecutors also said Luft arranged meetings between Iranian officials and a Chinese energy company to talk about deals involving Iran’s sanctioned oil…

Myanmar Violence, Sea Disputes to Dominate ASEAN Talks Joined by Envoys from US, Russia and China

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JAKARTA, Indonesia —  Myanmar’s prolonged civil strife, tensions in the disputed South China Sea, and concern over an arms buildup in the region are expected to dominate the agenda when Southeast Asia’s top diplomats gather for talks this week in Indonesia. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the U.S.-China rivalry will also be under the spotlight as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, and Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang participate as dialogue partners of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers meeting in the Indonesian…

Head of US-based thinktank charged with acting as China agent

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The head of a US thinktank has been charged with acting as an unregistered agent of China, as well as seeking to broker the sale of weapons and Iranian oil, federal prosecutors in Manhattan said. Gal Luft, a citizen of the United States and Israel, is accused of recruiting and paying a former high-ranking US government official on behalf of principals based in China in 2016, without registering as a foreign agent as required by law. Prosecutors did not identify the former official, but said he was working as an…

China Protests US Meeting With Dalai Lama in India

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new delhi —  China has protested a weekend meeting between the Dalai Lama and the U.S. coordinator for Tibetan affairs, saying on Monday that “no external forces have the right to interfere” in the affairs of Tibet. Uzra Zeya, U.S. special coordinator for Tibetan issues who is also the U.S. undersecretary for civilian security, democracy and human rights, met Sunday with the Dalai Lama, the exiled spiritual leader of Tibet, which China annexed in 1950. Namgyal Choedup, the representative of the Dalai Lama in Washington who attended the meeting, said,…

Cash is no longer king in Japan as use of coins drops sharply

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Receive free Japanese society updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Japanese society news every morning. The number of coins circulating in Japan has fallen by an unprecedented amount, suggesting the nation’s households are coming to the end of their long love affair with the piggy bank. The national stock of coins rose steadily since 1970, but has fallen sharply on a year-on-year basis for 18 straight months, according to Bank of Japan data. The turnround has been sparked by a combination of the…

Indian ride-hailing upstart BluSmart takes on Uber with electric cars

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Receive free Indian business & finance updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Indian business & finance news every morning. BluSmart, an Indian ride-sharing company backed by BP’s venture capital unit, is adding hundreds of new electric vehicles a month as it tries to beat Uber and Ola in the race to electrify the country’s taxi market. Founded in 2019, BluSmart now operates about 4,500 electric cars in the capital New Delhi and tech hub Bengaluru. While dwarfed in total size by Uber and…

Indian electric-car hailing upstart takes on Uber

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Receive free Indian business & finance updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Indian business & finance news every morning. BluSmart, an Indian ride-sharing company backed by BP’s venture capital unit, is adding hundreds of new electric vehicles a month as it tries to beat Uber and Ola in the race to electrify the country’s taxi market. Founded in 2019, BluSmart now operates about 4,500 electric cars in the capital New Delhi and tech hub Bengaluru. While dwarfed in total size by Uber and…

Solomon Islands signs controversial policing pact with China

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China and Solomon Islands have signed a deal on police cooperation as part of an upgrade of their relations to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, four years after the Pacific country switched ties from Taiwan to Beijing. The police cooperation pact was among nine deals signed as the prime minister of Solomon Islands, Manasseh Sogavare, met with the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, in Beijing, underlining the Solmons’ foreign policy shift. Sogavare arrived in China on Sunday for his first visit since the two countries struck a security pact in 2022 to…

Hong Kong’s crypto grey zones lure Chinese visitors

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Receive free Cryptocurrencies updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Cryptocurrencies news every morning. Almost every month, Zhang travels from the Futian district of Shenzhen to a mall populated with fast-food joints and some empty shops in Hong Kong’s business district to purchase crypto. On a trip in June, the 27-year-old — whose daily work includes “a bit of whatever makes money” — exchanged cash for about Rmb10,000-Rmb20,000 ($1,380-2,760) worth of USDT, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar. Zhang, who declined to give…

China to lay down AI rules with emphasis on content control

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Receive free Technology regulation updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Technology regulation news every morning. China is to issue rules for generative AI as Beijing seeks to balance encouraging local companies to develop the revolutionary technology against its desire to control content. The Cyberspace Administration of China, the powerful internet watchdog, aims to create a system that will force companies to gain a licence before they can release generative AI systems, said two people close to the regulators. That requirement tightens draft regulations…