Day: January 25, 2024

Hong Kong to focus on security laws over economic revival

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Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee has vowed to complete legislation of the city’s own security laws this year, reiterating its priority on national security in the face of what he describes as increasingly complex geopolitics and secretive espionage tactics over public discontent as well as economic and social issues. To effectively deal with sudden and unpredictable new risks, Lee stressed that legislating Article 23 of the Basic Law – Hong Kong’s mini constitution – with laws to prohibit acts of treason, secession, sedition and subversion against Beijing is urgent.…

Heads of chip giants Nvidia, TSMC meet in Taiwan as tight chip supply threatens to hinder AI boom

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The heads of the world’s two most valuable chip firms met in Taipei over dinner to discuss the Taiwanese firm’s role as producer of the Nvidia chips that now power the majority of generative AI training systems worldwide, Huang told reporters in Taipei. 01:36 AI chip maker ordered by US government to halt exports to China AI chip maker ordered by US government to halt exports to China While Nvidia has said little about that low-profile tour, Huang talked openly Thursday about Taiwan and TSMC’s pivotal role in Nvidia’s business…

Tuvalu goes to the polls in election watched by China and Taiwan

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Voting has started in the tiny Pacific island nation of Tuvalu, in a national election that could reverberate from China to Australia, amid a tussle for influence in the region. With just over 11,500 people spread across nine islands, Tuvalu is one of the smallest nations in the world, but the election for the 16-seat parliament was being closely watched. After the vote count, parliamentary negotiations will form a new government and elect the prime minister. Polls opened at 8am and were to close at 4pm. Prime minister Kausea Natano…

Hong Kong to attract top stars like Taylor Swift, Chinese scientists create ‘dream bullet’: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

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Hong Kong’s tourism minister has pledged to take steps to attract more international stars to boost the local economy after lawmakers questioned why the city had missed out on performances by global artists such as Taylor Swift and Beyoncé. 3. ‘Dare not spend’: China seeks fix as slowing economy may shrink middle class China’s middle class continues to face economic pitfalls that threaten to wipe out wealth. Illustration: Davies Christian Surya For China’s middle class, things have never looked harder. No signs have yet emerged to upend their frustration as…

Chinese Student Convicted of Stalking, Threatening Pro-Democracy Activist in US

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boston, Massachusetts —  A federal jury in Boston has convicted a Chinese music student on charges of stalking and harassing one of his Chinese classmates after she posted flyers in support of democracy in China around the campus of the Berklee College of Music in the fall of 2022. According to evidence presented at the trial and court documents, Xiaolei Wu, 25, sent his classmate online messages in late October of that year after she posted flyers that read: “We want democracy,” “We want freedom” and “Stand with the Chinese…

China sends top diplomat to Pyongyang amid N Korea’s economic woes

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China sent its vice foreign minister to Pyongyang for a discussion that could set the stage for high-level bilateral engagements including a summit, as North Korea aims to concrete its relations with its regime backer in the face of its economic difficulties. “A delegation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China headed by Sun Weidong, Vice Foreign Minister, arrived in Pyongyang via Sinuiju, on the 25th,” North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said Friday. “He was greeted at the border bridge by the officials…

US and China to hold back-channel talks in Thailand

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the US-China relations myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan will hold a private meeting with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi in the coming days, as the pair resume communications through a back channel that has been critical to stabilising relations. Sullivan will meet Wang in Thailand for what will be their first such contact since President Joe Biden met his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in San Francisco in November, according to two people familiar…

Closer Vietnam-US ties not based on Beijing issues, says conference

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There are stark differences in the ways the United States and Vietnam approach their relationships with China, participants at a recent U.S.-Vietnam conference in Washington, D.C. said.  Yet they agreed that the strategic alignment between Vietnam and the United States is not all about how Washington deals with Beijing.  “The strategic interests that the U.S. and Vietnam share … are about far more than China and how we think about the China relationship,” Lindsey Ford, deputy assistant secretary of defense for South and Southeast Asia, told the meeting held by…

Bollywood banks on India’s ‘Top Gun’ to extend box office revival

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Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter. Bollywood is banking on its star-studded answer to Top Gun, premiering this week, to extend a run of blockbusters that has lifted India’s box office revenues to all-time highs and yanked the giant entertainment industry out of a historic slump. Fighter, a patriotic action film in which heart-throb megastars Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone play elite air force pilots doing battle with Pakistani enemies in between extravagant dances on the…