Day: September 6, 2023

China Is Flooding the World With Car Exports

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At a time when many of China’s exports are faltering and its consumers are spending less at home, the country is flooding the world with cars. Overseas demand for inexpensive vehicles made in China, mostly gasoline-powered models that Chinese consumers now shun in favor of electric cars, is so great that the biggest obstacle to selling more abroad is a lack of specialized ships to carry them. Chinese automakers have leaped to dominance in Russia since war began in Ukraine, transporting cars by train. The companies have also captured large…

US FCC chair says China’s IoT cellular components makers Quectel, Fibocom may pose national security risks

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Federal Communications Commission chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel asked US government agencies to consider declaring that Chinese companies including Quectel and Fibocom Wireless pose unacceptable national security risks, according to letters seen by Reuters. The Republican chair of the House of Representatives China Select Committee, Mike Gallagher, and the top Democrat on the panel Raja Krishnamoorthi, asked the FCC last month to consider adding to its so-called Covered List the two companies that produce cellular modules that enable Internet of Things (IoT) devices to connect to the internet. Federal funds cannot be…

China trade: exports tumble for fourth consecutive month in August, headwinds to remain despite marginal gain

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China’s exports tumbled for the fourth consecutive month in August amid weak external demand and ongoing global supply chain upheaval, posing more challenges to the world’s second-largest economy as it struggles to carve out a path to a post-pandemic rebound. Exports fell by 8.8 per cent compared to a year earlier to US$284.9 billion last month, according to customs data released on Thursday. The decline, however, narrowed from a fall of 14.5 per cent in July, and was above the forecast by Chinese financial data provider Wind for a 9.5…

U.S. Seized Iranian Oil Over Smuggling Incident That Escalated Tensions in Gulf

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The United States government has seized nearly one million barrels of Iranian crude oil that it says was being smuggled to China in violation of U.S. sanctions against Iran, after it raised the threat of prosecution to get the tanker brought to American waters, newly unsealed court papers show. The seizure of the oil from the vessel, the M/T Suez Rajan, is part of a larger and shadowy conflict with Iran. After the tanker began to steam toward the United States last spring, Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps seized two oil…

China’s chip conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup to expand globally, with Southeast Asia a target

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Chinese state-owned semiconductor conglomerate Tsinghua Unigroup plans to accelerate its international expansion, with Southeast Asia an important target region, its chairman, Li Bin, said on Wednesday. Tsinghua Unigroup operates three factories in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, Li told a forum in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, on the sidelines of a regional summit, and it aims to expand manufacturing and R&D capabilities in Southeast Asia. Li also said the Tsinghua Unigroup was considering establishing an investment platform to fund projects in the region, adding that Southeast Asian investment institutions were encouraged…

Weak Yuan Worries Chinese Immigrants in US

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los angeles —  Economic woes and depreciation of the yuan in China are affecting the lives of some Chinese immigrants thousands of miles away. Zhai Li of Pasadena, California, has a consumer goods factory in China’s Xi’an, Shaanxi province, with her husband. Zhai and her son moved to Beijing so her son could attend elementary school there. She brought him back to the U.S. for middle school while her husband stayed in Xi’an to take care of the business. “Usually, my husband sends us money for living expenses from China.…

Japan and South Korea’s rapprochement is shakier than it looks

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Receive free Geopolitics updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Geopolitics news every morning. For former US officials who recall years of gruelling diplomacy when Seoul and Tokyo were scarcely on speaking terms, last month’s Camp David summit must have felt like a minor miracle. US president Joe Biden had managed to bring together Fumio Kishida of Japan and South Korean president Yoon Suk Yeol in one place, seemingly as allies. But whether the summit will prove as “historic” as the leaders claimed is…

Apple shares fall after China reportedly bans iPhone use by government officials

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Apple stocks fell after China reportedly banned officials at central government agencies from using or bringing iPhones and other foreign-branded devices into the office. In recent weeks, Chinese officials were given the instructions by their superiors in workplace chat groups or meetings, the Wall Street Journal reported, adding that it wasn’t clear how widely the orders were being distributed. The report weighed heavily on Wall Street stock indexes, with Apple shares falling 3.6%. China is one of Apple’s biggest markets and generates nearly a fifth of its revenue. Several analysts…

Myanmar Junta Jails Journalist for 20 Years

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A Myanmar court on Wednesday sentenced a photojournalist to 20 years in prison on charges related to his coverage of a cyclone. Sai Zaw Thaike, who worked for the news website Myanmar Now, was arrested in the country’s Rakhine state on May 23 while he was in the state covering Cyclone Mocha. The storm killed more than 145 people, including many Rohinga, Myanmar’s junta said at the time. In a one-day hearing Wednesday, a court convicted the journalist of sedition and other charges and sentenced him to 20 years in…