The leaders of China, Japan and South Korea will meet, possibly next year, in the latest attempt to ease regional tensions heightened by North Korea’s weapons programme and a more visible US military presence. During a meeting in the South Korean port city of Busan on Sunday, the three Asian countries’ foreign ministers agreed to step up cooperation in key areas, including security, and to lay the groundwork for what would be the first leaders’ summit in four years. The weekend’s trilateral meeting – the first between the neighbours’ foreign…
Day: November 26, 2023
N Korea restores armed guard posts along border with the South
North Korea is reestablishing its Guard Posts (GPs) equipped with weapons along its border with South Korea – a move seen as part of Pyongyang’s ongoing pressure campaign against Seoul and potentially sets the stage for future provocative activities at the frontline between the two states. The South Korean military exposed images of what appears to be the North’s new Observation Posts (OPs) across the 11 GPs in the inter-Korean border Monday. A military official said the authorities also spotted North Korean troops, trenches as well as weapons, such as…
China needs to ‘spell out, ram home’ impact of private sector to allow economy to flourish, economist says
Beijing’s policymakers need to ditch outdated doctrines and introduce new theories to accommodate the private economy in China, according to a prominent economist, as part of important moves to settle the fragile nerves of entrepreneurs and rebuild their confidence. “We sorely need new guiding theories to spell out and ram home the nature and contributions of the private sector, its role in the common prosperity drive and how it relates to the state sector,” said Teng Tai, a member of a think tank under the semi-official All-China Federation of Industry…
China’s Communist Party signals further delay to third plenum, a key economic session
He is expected to visit the Shanghai Futures Exchange and some technology companies in the city, according to several people familiar with the plan, who declined to be named to discuss a confidential itinerary. The sources said Xi was scheduled to remain in Shanghai for three days, although the final plan could still change. The next Politburo meeting is not expected until the end of December and the omission of any decision on a plenum date from Monday’s meeting indicates the session is not likely to take place this year.…
Japanese bank chief Jun Ohta dies aged 65
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Jun Ohta, the chief executive of Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and the driving force behind the bank’s recent wave of expansion in the US and south-east Asia, has died at the age of 65. Ohta’s death last week, which was announced by the company on Monday, followed a four-year stint at the top of SMFG, Japan’s second-biggest bank by market capitalisation, after a career rising through its ranks. As well…
Greenpeace accuses Chinese oil and gas firms like PetroChina and CNOOC of ‘greenwashing’ LNG purchases
Big oil and gas companies in China and elsewhere are using low-quality carbon offsets to “greenwash” their imports of natural gas while failing to make strong emissions cutting commitments, environment group Greenpeace said on Monday. Firms like PetroChina and CNOOC Gas and Power have signed long-term contracts with Shell to buy “carbon neutral” liquefied natural gas (LNG), which uses “forest offsets” to balance out carbon emissions. Greenpeace, which has long opposed fossil fuel producers counting carbon offsets towards their emissions reduction goals, said the “carbon neutral” branding was misleading the…
China’s coal addiction puts spotlight on its climate ambitions before Cop28
China’s addiction to building new coal-fired power plants is becoming increasingly entrenched, even as the country is on track to reach peak CO2 emissions before its 2030 target. As climate officials from around the world prepare to meet in the United Arab Emirates for Cop28, many are hoping that the recent joint climate agreement between the US and China, released days before Joe Biden and Xi Jinping met in California, can lay the groundwork for positive commitments at the UN’s climate conference. The last major breakthrough involving China at Cop…
Chinese scientists achieve breakthrough in early detection of ‘king cancer’ that killed Steve Jobs
The model combines a non-contrast computed tomography (CAT) scan with an AI algorithm. In a paper published by the peer-reviewed journal Nature Medicine on Monday, the team said the specificity of the early screening model reached 99.9 per cent, implying there is only one false-positive case in every 1,000 tests. Meanwhile, its sensitivity, or ability to detect pancreatic tumours, could reach 92.9 per cent, beating mean radiologist performance by 34.1 per cent. 03:28 Researchers in Singapore use AI to read minds through brain scans Researchers in Singapore use AI to…
China Opens Probe of Indebted Asset Management Firm
Beijing — Chinese police have opened an investigation into Zhongzhi Enterprise Group after the debt-ridden financial giant declared itself insolvent. Police in Beijing, where the group is headquartered, said late Saturday they had opened an investigation into unspecified “alleged offenses,” adding that they had taken measures against several suspects. Zhongzhi declared itself insolvent Wednesday with its arrears estimated at nearly $66 billion, according to a letter to investors cited by local media. During China’s real estate boom, many developers used Zhongzhi to finance their projects. The company managed assets worth…
FirstFT: China launches investigation into shadow bank Zhongzhi
Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. This article is an on-site version of our FirstFT newsletter. Sign up to our Asia, Europe/Africa or Americas edition to get it sent straight to your inbox every weekday morning Good morning. Today we start with Chinese authorities’ probe into Zhongzhi, one of the biggest conglomerates in the country’s sprawling shadow financing market. Officials announced the investigation just days after the group declared that it was “severely insolvent”. Beijing police…