Day: September 11, 2023

Kim Jong Un arrives in Russia to meet Putin amid economy, security concerns

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Updated Sept. 12, 2023, 03:35 a.m. ET North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Russia’s far east on Tuesday to meet his fellow leader of the authoritarian world, the Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We believe that Kim Jong Un entered Russia on a private train, probably in the early hours of this morning,” said South Korea’s Defense Ministry spokesperson Jeon Ha-kyu Tuesday. “We’re watching closely to see if there are any negotiations going on between North Korea and Russia regarding arms deals, technology transfers, especially given that he was…

Chinese legislature vows to listen to public feedback on proposed ‘hurt feelings’ legal change

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China’s top legislature has replied to simmering debate about a controversial amendment to the Public Security Administration Punishments Law, with Beijing assuring the public that their feedback will play a crucial role in shaping the law. China is considering a legal amendment to punish individuals for “hurting the feelings of the Chinese nation” with up to two weeks of detention without trial. The proposed changes to the Public Security Administration Punishments Law have been criticised for being too vague and potentially fostering abuse and extreme nationalism. 03:20 China calls for…

China concerns drive historic upgrade in US-Vietnam relations

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Over the weekend, US President Joe Biden arrived in Hanoi and finalised a diplomatic agreement with former foe Vietnam that was, until recently, almost unthinkable. Shortly after touching down in the country, Biden met Nguyen Phu Trong, general secretary of the Communist party of Vietnam, to upgrade their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership (CSP), the highest of Vietnam’s three diplomatic levels – save for a special category reserved for Cambodia and Laos. This puts the US in the same category as China, Russia, India, and South Korea, a move…

China set to overtake Japan as world’s biggest car exporter

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Receive free Automobiles updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Automobiles news every morning. China is set to become the world’s biggest car exporter this year, overtaking Japan. The watershed moment will mark the end of decades of dominance by European, American, Japanese and South Korean groups. Yet driving China’s global ascendancy are deep structural problems in the domestic auto industry, which threaten to upend car markets across the world. A stark mismatch between production at Chinese factories and local demand has been caused,…

US moves ahead with Iran prisoner swap and release of $6bn of frozen oil revenues

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Receive free US-Iran tensions updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest US-Iran tensions news every morning. The Biden administration formally notified Congress on Monday that it will release $6bn in frozen Iranian funds and intends to release five Iranian prisoners in a sign that efforts to decrease tensions between the powers may soon bear fruit. Tehran recently transferred five US citizens from Evin prison to house arrest, kicking off an arrangement that Washington hopes could bring progress on talks about the Islamic republic’s nuclear…

US moves ahead with Iran prisoner swap and release of $6bn of oil funds

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Receive free US-Iran tensions updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest US-Iran tensions news every morning. The Biden administration formally notified Congress on Monday that it will release $6bn in frozen Iranian funds and intends to release five Iranian prisoners in a sign that efforts to decrease tensions between the powers may soon bear fruit. Tehran recently transferred five US citizens from Evin prison to house arrest, kicking off an arrangement that Washington hopes could bring progress on talks about the Islamic republic’s nuclear…

World’s largest iPhone factory ramps up hiring efforts in China ahead of Apple’s launch of new handset

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The world’s largest iPhone factory is continuing to expand its workforce ahead of the release of the iPhone 15, with Apple hoping to avoid last year’s supply chain woes at the plant in China as it aims for a successful launch amid geopolitical tensions and fresh competition from Huawei Technologies. Foxconn Technology Group’s plant in Zhengzhou, capital of central Henan province, is offering peak season signing bonuses of 6,480 yuan (US$880) per person at the company’s Product Enclosure Business Group, which is responsible for producing mechanical parts for the iPhone,…

China’s business confidence problem

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Receive free Chinese business & finance updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Chinese business & finance news every morning. Jia Tianhao and his friends thought they would be running a fast-growing tech start up by now. But like many entrepreneurs and private sector companies in China, they are finding growth harder to come by as the world’s second-biggest economy stumbles. Their four-year-old software company, based in Alibaba’s hometown of Hangzhou is “slowing down”. We’re taking a step back and using this time to…

China’s proposed ban on ‘hurtful’ clothing is a worrying sign of advancing intolerance in society

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China’s proposed amendments to its public security administration punishments law are stirring heated debate among legal scholars about the consequences of expanding police powers and the possible erosion of personal freedom in the country. One of the most controversial proposed changes is a clause stating that people garbed in clothing “detrimental to the spirit of the Chinese people and that hurts the feelings of the Chinese people” could be detained and fined. Legal scholars who published opinions opposing the law find it legally impossible to define the Chinese people’s “spirit”…

First library, learning center dedicated to Dalai Lama opens in United States

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The first library and learning center dedicated to the Dalai Lama in the United States has opened in upstate New York to preserve the teachings of the leader of Tibetan Buddhism. The center, officially named His Holiness the Great 14th Dalai Lama Library and Learning Center, opened on Friday, Sept. 8. It includes a digital audio archive with 40,000 hours of the Dalai Lama’s teachings, about 4,000 books with translations of ancient texts on the evolution of Buddhist thought, and Buddhist artifacts from India and Tibet.  “It’s been more than…