Month: February 2024

A Philippine lawmaker has called on his government to question Singapore over the city state’s decision to offer American pop star Taylor Swift a significant monetary grant, supposedly to prevent her from performing anywhere else in Southeast Asia. 3. Chinese floating barrier at South China Sea flashpoint was ‘necessary’, Beijing says China on Monday said it was “necessary” to set up a floating barrier at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea, where it has had frequent flare-ups with Philippine forces. 4. Smells like victory: countries vie to…

China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs is heading off on another “shuttle diplomacy tour” to push for a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine, but observers say expectations are low. Li Hui will travel to Russia, Ukraine and the European Union headquarters in Brussels during the trip, which begins on Saturday. He will also visit Poland, Germany and France. It is Li’s second peace mission to the region after a visit in May last year that did not make any immediate progress. Li Hui, China’s special envoy for Eurasian…

China’s eastern economic powerhouse of Jiangsu has become the first province to invite foreign businesses to take part in its strategic industrial chains, part of a national effort to retain and attract foreign investors. But analysts expressed concerns over the strategy’s long-term viability as geopolitical tensions intensify. In a fresh batch of incentives for overseas capital, Jiangsu – China’s second-largest provincial economy after Guangdong – called for overseas participation in “strengthening, supplementing, and extending industrial chains.” “Foreign-invested enterprises are encouraged to participate in open innovation and development across the entire…

China’s manufacturing activity continued to fall for the fifth month in a row, despite Beijing having mobilised considerable resources to incentivise construction, foreign investment and consumption. The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) fell to 49.1 in February from 49.2 a month earlier, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. The new-orders subindex remained unchanged at 49, while the new export orders subindex stood at 46.3, compared to 47.2 in January. Meanwhile, the non-manufacturing PMI, which measures business sentiment in the services and construction sectors, climbed to 51.4 from…

Last month, Panzhihua, a city in western China’s Sichuan province, announced this would be its “breakthrough” year in establishing itself as a common prosperity pilot zone. It is following the example of Zhejiang province in the east, another such pilot zone which was set up in 2021. The idea is to push for a high-quality development that focuses on closing the economic gap between regions, between urban and rural areas, and in income. This is encouraging news, but will such efforts work? Will there be more pilot zones like these?…