Day: December 4, 2023

China could help fight illegal arms trade fuelling conflict in Africa, experts say

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He said Beijing would support efforts to “build a new Africa that enjoys peace, unity, prosperity and strength” including the African Union’s initiative to “silence the guns” across the continent. China is Africa’s largest trading partner and a major financier of mega infrastructure projects such as ports, railways, highways and power dams under its trillion-dollar Belt and Road Initiative. But growing insecurity has been a challenge, with some countries where China has heavily invested – especially in the Horn of Africa and the Sahel region – hit by military coups.…

Farmers weather upheaval as climate change brings a storm of challenges

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After generations of tilling the land in central Nepal’s mid-hills, 47-year-old Purna Lama’s family is at a daunting crossroads.  Weather patterns, shifting dramatically over the past 5-6 years, have posed difficulties for farmers like Lama, who supports a family of eight on a plot of land smaller than two acres (0.8 hectares). “Swathes of farmland in our area are barren because farmers could not depend on weather for agriculture,” Lama told Radio Free Asia.  “Cultivation is completely disrupted due to drought and unseasonal rain. We are deflated.” The severe threat…

China’s services activity accelerates to 3-month high in November on boost from new orders

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China’s services activity expanded at a quicker pace in November, a private-sector survey showed on Tuesday, as the upturn in new businesses were the best seen for three months amid reports of firmer market conditions. The findings present a mixed picture of the vast services sector as an official survey last week showed the sector unexpectedly contracted for the first time since December last year, prompting calls for more stimulus measures. The Caixin/S&P Global services purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose to a three-month high of 51.5 in November from October’s…

China tries to bridge economic policy ‘credibility gap’

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After one of the toughest years for China’s economy and its investors, the country’s central bank governor had a sobering message: there may be more pain to come. Speaking to bankers in Hong Kong last week, Pan Gongsheng warned that the country’s economy was embarking on a “long and difficult journey” away from its traditional growth engines of property and infrastructure investment. Pan’s comments point to the principal challenges facing Chinese policymakers as they prepare for the central economic work conference expected this month. The annual policy-setting meeting will send…

Investors hope for road map for China’s economy

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After one of the toughest years for China’s economy and its investors, the country’s central bank governor had a sobering message: there may be more pain to come. Speaking to bankers in Hong Kong last week, Pan Gongsheng warned that the country’s economy was embarking on a “long and difficult journey” away from its traditional growth engines of property and infrastructure investment. Pan’s comments point to the principal challenges facing Chinese policymakers as they prepare for the central economic work conference expected this month. The annual policy-setting meeting will send…

Toyota’s $2bn Denso share sale spurs hopes of governance revolution for Japan

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Toyota’s decision to sell part of its $40bn portfolio of stakes in other companies is spurring hopes of similar action across Japan to unwind complex cross-shareholdings and improve corporate governance. Japan’s most influential industrial company is selling a stake worth close to $2bn in car parts maker Denso, lowering its stake from 24.2 per cent to 20 per cent. The stake is one of a web of interconnected equity holdings that Toyota holds across more than 35 suppliers and affiliate automakers. While Japanese companies have defended cross-shareholdings as a way…

China’s Third Plenum Delay in ‘Uncharted Territory’

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Washington —  The world is looking at a bleak economic picture in China, the world’s second-largest economy: a real-estate crisis on a historic scale, record-high youth unemployment, a deepening crisis of confidence among consumers and investors, the teetering mountain of local government debt and other setbacks. How does Chinese President Xi Jinping, who just started his unprecedented third term a year ago, plan to turn the economy around? China’s Third Plenum, the economy-focused, agenda-setting meeting that happens twice a decade, was supposed to answer that. However, the high-profile meeting that…

Cop28: China, India drove the world’s global fossil fuel emission growth, study finds

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Global fossil fuel emissions are on track to grow by 1.1 per cent in 2023 compared to last year, hitting a record high mainly driven by China and India, according to projections from the annual Global Carbon Budget. Fossil fuel emissions in 2023 are expected to increase by 4 per cent in China, 8.7 per cent in India and 0.5 per cent for the rest of the world, while dropping by 7.4 per cent in the European Union and 3 per cent in the United States, a team of more…

UK’s Giant Pandas Leave Edinburgh Zoo, Return to China

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London —  The U.K.’s only giant pandas left Edinburgh for China on Monday after spending 12 cub-less years in the Scottish capital. It was hoped that female Tian Tian (“Sweetie”) and male Yang Guang (“Sunshine”) would produce a cub during their stay at the Edinburgh Zoo. But the bears, who even had a special black, white, grey and red tartan created in their honor, never succeeded in conceiving. “It’s sad that Tian Tian hasn’t bred here. We would obviously really have liked her to have done so, but this is…

China opens world’s tallest unmanned veggie farm as more urban agriculture advancements take root

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Chinese scientists have put the world’s tallest unmanned vertical farm into operation in the southwestern province of Sichuan, in response to President Xi Jinping’s call to reinforce the nation’s food security through technological innovation. The 20-storey urban farm, built under the oversight of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in a downtown part of the provincial capital Chengdu, represents world-leading automation in farming, according to state broadcaster CCTV. It also marks the latest effort to leverage technological innovation to ensure there is enough food to feed the country’s 1.4 billion…