Day: September 20, 2023

U.S. and China Aren’t Invited to speak at U.N.’s Climate Ambition Summit

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The United Nations’ secretary general, António Guterres, convened a special summit on Wednesday in New York City designed to highlight the efforts of the most ambitious global leaders on climate policy — and to implicitly shame those who are dragging their feet. Mr. Guterres, who has made climate action a centerpiece of his agenda and has called on the world’s largest carbon emitters to rapidly shift away from burning fossil fuels, the main driver of global warming, pledged that only high-level leaders whom he sees as taking climate action seriously…

Former Vietnamese prisoner chooses exile to escape injustice

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Nguyen Bac Truyen was released from prison on Sept. 8, five years short of his 11 year sentence.  He flew straight to Germany, from where he told Radio Free Asia this week he wished to “escape an unjust prison sentence and be reunited with my wife.” Truyen’s release came just two days before Joe Biden visited Hanoi for talks with senior leaders during which the U.S. president said he repeatedly raised the issue of human rights. Truyen, 55, was arrested along with many key members of the Brotherhood for Democracy…

Chip bans not enough to secure critical networks

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Receive free Cyber warfare updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Cyber warfare news every morning. Governments worldwide are banning the use of foreign hardware in critical infrastructure over national security fears. But experts in global cyber threats are questioning the effectiveness of a strategy that may only increase geopolitical tension — while leaving vulnerabilities elsewhere. In May, China announced that domestic infrastructure operators would no longer be allowed to acquire computer chips or components from American semiconductor company Micron Technology, due to “serious…

Despite Push for ‘Common Prosperity,’ China’s Income Gap Widens

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hong kong —  Beijing’s latest annual income data from the National Bureau of Statistics tell a tale of two Chinas, revealing an income gap that is the widest it has been since data collection began in 1985. Two lives, briefly told, illustrate the divide. Zhu Chengzhi makes 3,000 yuan a month, or just over $411, as a driver in Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan province. He told VOA Mandarin he pays no rent and spends less than 100 yuan a day, or about $14, on food. But with an…

New China-Nepal trade route to open soon as Tibet facility gets green light

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A new trading facility in a Tibetan village on the border with Nepal has been given the go-ahead, as China seeks to expand economic ties with its Himalayan neighbour. Construction work on the Lizi Port – which sits at 4,600 metres above sea level – has been completed and it passed an inspection by the commerce ministry on Tuesday, according to Chinese state media. The inspection found that the facility meets government standards and is ready to start operations, the official China News Service reported. It did not say when…

To achieve its football goals, scandal-hit China can learn from Japan

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The focus so far has been on ridding the sport of corruption with little attention paid to how China’s football performance can be improved. Partnerships, including the high-profile 2016 deal with Germany, have clearly yielded little and the effectiveness of coaches from Argentina, announced last year, remains unknown. By contrast, neighbouring Japan and South Korea recorded impressive results in the Qatar World Cup last year. In particular, Japan, the top-ranking Asian football nation, has beaten two former World Cup champions: Spain (in the World Cup) and Germany (in a friendly).…

China’s middle class puts luxury spending on hold as uncertainty swirls

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As an increasingly uncertain economic environment has them feeling the pinch, China’s middle class is becoming more conservative and cutting back on high-end purchases, according to the results of an annual survey. Only 28.6 per cent of more than 4,500 people polled listed luxury spending as a financial goal, down from more than 50 per cent five years ago. The survey, published on Tuesday, was jointly conducted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Shanghai Advanced Institute of Finance (SAIF) and financial services provider Charles Schwab. The desire to save capital to…

Biden Is Caught Between Allies as Canada Accuses India of Assassination

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A day after promising to “defend democracy,” President Biden brought up India and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday during a round of meetings at the United Nations — not to raise concerns about repression by either, but to hail them for helping establish a new economic corridor. “I think it’s a big deal,” he said. Perhaps no two countries reflect the difficult and delicate trade-offs in Mr. Biden’s foreign policy at the moment more than India and Saudi Arabia. He has made it a priority to court both nations as part…

Foreign investors still shunning China despite signs of upturn

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Receive free Chinese equities updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Chinese equities news every morning. Foreign investors have dumped a further Rmb23bn ($3.15bn) of Chinese equities so far this month following record outflows in August, despite tentative signs of an improvement in the world’s second-largest economy. Selling through China’s Stock Connect schemes, which allow foreign investors to trade onshore equities, has been at a slower pace so far than during the previous month when $12bn worth of stocks were sold through them. Yet…

India’s economic boom is obscuring pressures on smaller businesses

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Receive free Inside Business updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Inside Business news every morning. At a recent Mumbai conference about India’s small and medium-sized enterprises, there was much talk over the buffet lunch of pulao and gulab jamun on their prospects. It did not always match the tone of earlier upbeat speeches at the Confederation of Indian Industries’ summit that praised government initiatives to help small business maximise India’s moment as the world’s fastest-growing major economy. “For India to grow exponentially, we…