Day: December 3, 2023

HK activist Agnes Chow ‘considering’ asylum in Canada

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One of the most prominent pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, who was imprisoned as part of a security crackdown imposed by China, Agnes Chow said she is “considering” whether to apply for asylum or not in Canada, hinting that she would do what she could to bring attention to her native city.  Her remarks, made during an interview with TV Tokyo on Dec. 4, came a day after her announcement that she had left Hong Kong for Canada due to mental health issues caused by duress from authorities. In the…

China Evergrande Gets Reprieve in Talks With Foreign Investors

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Once China’s most prolific property developer, China Evergrande has narrowly averted liquidation. A Hong Kong bankruptcy judge on Monday gave Evergrande another two months to work out a deal with foreign investors who lost money when the company defaulted two years ago with hundreds of billions of dollars in debt. The judge set another court hearing for Jan. 29. It was an unexpected development in a bankruptcy lawsuit filed 18 months ago by one investor trying to get paid by forcing the dismantling of Evergrande. The judge, Linda Chan, had…

‘Cash cow’ subsidies: China targets fraud in farm machinery sales scheme

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But some “wrong-intentioned” people had treated the scheme as a “cash cow”, according to a report on Economic Half Hour, a programme on state broadcaster CCTV’s finance channel. “Unscrupulous enterprises” colluded with others to generate sales of agricultural machinery and misuse subsidy funds for suspected illegal activities. The report cited the case of farmers in Xinghua in coastal Jiangsu who used the subsidies to buy fertiliser spreaders that ended up being unusable because they were so poorly made. The equipment was manufactured in June 2021 but had been abandoned in…

Hong Kong court adjourns Evergrande’s winding-up hearing until January 29, giving world’s most indebted developer another reprieve

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China Evergrande Group, the most indebted property developer in China with US$328 billion of liabilities, was granted another reprieve after a Hong Kong court on Monday adjourned a hearing, granting the company more time to restructure its debts. The next hearing will be on January 29, giving the Guangzhou-based developer eight weeks to get its house in order and stave off liquidation, Justice Linda Chan told a packed courthouse. This was the seventh time the petition has been adjourned. This came as a surprise as the High Court judge had…

As China mulls 2024 GDP growth target, Beijing must be willing to serve up more stimulus and economic reform

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China’s top leaders are expected to assemble at the central economic work conference in Beijing this month to hammer out economic goals for 2024. This is the first part in a series looking at what to expect from China’s economy next year. If China hopes to hit its ambitious target of doubling the national gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035, leadership should once again set a minimum growth target for next year of at least 5 per cent, according to analysts. But achieving that goal, some say, will boil down…

Japanese housebuilders hunt US M&A deals

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Property sector myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Three of Japan’s biggest developers are “aggressively” shopping for housebuilders to buy in the US as they hunt growth outside their shrinking domestic market. Daiwa House, Sekisui House and Sumitomo Forestry are all actively searching for US acquisitions and have approached multiple potential targets, according to four M&A bankers and lawyers familiar with the matter. The Japanese groups have market capitalisations ranging from Y770bn to Y2.7tn, or $5.3bn to $20bn,…

EU must stand up for Taiwan at China summit

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The writer is a former Nato secretary-general This week, EU leaders will touch down in Beijing for the first in-person EU-China summit in four years. The meeting comes at a moment of geopolitical chaos. Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine continues. War between Israel and Hamas could spiral into a wider regional conflict. At home, both Europe and China are grappling with difficult economic conditions. In the face of…

EU must stand up for Taiwan at Beijing talks

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The writer is a former Nato secretary-general This week, EU leaders will touch down in Beijing for the first in-person EU-China summit in four years. The meeting comes at a moment of geopolitical chaos. Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine continues. War between Israel and Hamas could spiral into a wider regional conflict. At home, both Europe and China are grappling with difficult economic conditions. In the face of…

China’s military says US combat ship illegally entered territorial waters in South China Sea

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China’s military on Monday said a US combat ship illegally entered waters adjacent to the Second Thomas Shoal, a disputed South China Sea atoll. “The US seriously undermined regional peace and stability,” said a spokesperson for China’s Southern Theatre of Operations in a statement. The spokesperson also said the US deliberately disrupted the South China Sea and seriously violated China’s sovereignty. South China Morning Post

Indonesia’s Marapi Volcano Erupts, Blankets Nearby Villages With Ash

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Panang, Indonesia —  Indonesia’s Mount Marapi in West Sumatra province erupted Sunday, spewing white-and-gray ash plumes more than 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) into the air and sending hot ash clouds several miles away. There were no immediate reports of casualties, said Ahmad Rifandi, an official with Indonesia’s Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center at the Marapi monitoring post. The two routes for climbers were closed after the eruption and villagers living on the slopes of the mountain were advised to stay 3 kilometers (1.8 miles) from the crater’s mouth because…