Day: December 13, 2023

Seoul beefs up efforts to diversity supply chain amid China concerns

Media Library

South Korea is intensifying its efforts to diversify the supply chain for its semiconductor industry, among others, in a move to reduce its reliance on China for importing crucial materials necessary for its key sectors.  South Korea has “completed” forming an alternative “global chip supply chain alliance that spans from design to materials, components, equipment, and manufacturing,” the South’s Presidential Office said in a statement Thursday. The statement comes as South Korea’s President Yoon Suk Yeol and the Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte made a joint press conference in Amsterdam…

UK chosen as headquarters for fighter jet project with Japan and Italy

Media Library

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Aerospace & Defence myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. The UK has been chosen as the headquarters for a project with Italy and Japan to build a new fighter jet, as the three nations push forward ambitious plans to have the aircraft flying by 2035. Under the plans, confirmed in a trilateral convention signed in Tokyo on Thursday, the UK will host the government headquarters of the Global Combat Air Programme, supporting hundreds of jobs in the country.…

Chinese banker jailed for life in US$483 million corruption case, largest ever in country’s history

Media Library

The court ruled that Xu, in his role as bank chief, and his accomplices had embezzled more than 900 million yuan (US$125.4 million) in US dollars, Hong Kong dollars and German marks. Their misdeeds transpired through fraudulent loans, misappropriated loan repayments and the siphoning of bank funds to other accounts, it added. The group was also found to have misappropriated more than 1.4 billion yuan worth of bank money for other illegal purposes. “The amount of their embezzlement is particularly large,” the court said. “They have caused particularly significant damage…

Japan’s PM Kishida to purge ministers to save premiership

Media Library

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is on Thursday expected to remove influential cabinet members as he seeks to save his premiership from Japan’s biggest political funding scandal in more than three decades. The expected purge by the increasingly unpopular prime minister is aimed at shielding him from the effects of a widening slush funds investigation. Four ministers targeted by Kishida submitted their resignations on Thursday. Analysts said the gambit, which would…

US, Taiwan Discuss Broadening Taiwan’s International Participation

Media Library

State Department —  The United States and Taiwan are exploring ways to expand Taiwan’s participation in the United Nations system and other international forums, as well as addressing a range of global challenges, including public health, aviation safety and climate change. The most recent routine consultation between the U.S. and Taiwan took place Wednesday, days after the Chinese delegation at COP28 opposed calls to include Taiwan in the United Nations climate talks in Dubai. All participants in the latest U.S.-Taiwan talks “recognized the importance of working closely with likeminded partners…

China’s military uses Microsoft mixed-reality HoloLens 2 headsets to maintain equipment, video shows

Media Library

China’s military is apparently using mixed-reality goggles made by US tech giant Microsoft to maintain its equipment, according to a video clip released by state broadcaster CCTV. In a post on social media network Weibo on Tuesday, CCTV said a unit of the Eastern Theatre Command Air Force was using a “mixed-reality maintenance system” for its daily operations. The accompanying video clip shows a member of the PLA Air Force wearing the HoloLens 2 headset developed by Microsoft. A 3D hologram in front of him shows an interface with Microsoft…

West’s love for Shein and Temu drives ecommerce boom for air freighters

Media Library

Booming western demand for fast fashion and ecommerce goods sold by Chinese online brands like Temu and Shein is buoying air freight rates and creating fierce competition among logistics companies shipping from Asia. Consumers in the US and Europe began buying more from Chinese ecommerce platforms during the pandemic, with some orders being delivered within a week. That demand has continued and sustained air freight rates, supporting logistics companies in an otherwise weak cargo market. Some ecommerce platforms have been willing to pay close to double what general cargo customers…

China bets on security versus reform in 2024 outlook

Media Library

Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Chinese politics & policy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. China’s leaders have given almost equal weight to security and reform at an annual economic meeting that sets policy for the following year, according to FT analysis, amid investor concern that policymakers are more concerned with geopolitics than much-needed structural changes. Beijing released a detailed statement on the Central Economic Work Conference, which was held on Monday and Tuesday, and pledged to pursue measures ranging from “proactive fiscal…

Millions of Chinese Blacklisted for Debt as Loan Defaults Hit Record High

Media Library

Hong Kong —  Zhang Congzhi started borrowing money two or three years ago when online loans were easy to get. Now, the Changsha businessman has no money to repay those loans. “I’m in debt for more than 100,000 yuan [approximately $13,700],” Zhang told VOA Mandarin. “Nobody can help me. The only solution I can think of is to delay repayment.” Zhang is one of the millions of Chinese people who are in debt from loans they took out to get by during the economic disruption caused by the COVID pandemic…

China’s ‘involuted’ new-energy industry is awash with overcapacity that could stall new economic driver

Media Library

In recent years, the term has become synonymous in China with being locked in an endless cycle of self-defeating competition. And perhaps nowhere is that better embodied than new energy. From carbon cuts to common prosperity, China’s Politburo course corrects policy “When the price of lithium rose crazily last year, everyone rushed in. Now it has plummeted, and a large number of firms have failed,” Xie Runqing, the manager of a battery recycler, said in late November at the China International Supply China Expo in Beijing. Indeed, the market price…