Day: April 8, 2024

Oil and water: why Nissan and Honda are setting aside their rivalry

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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. In the summer of 2020 when the Financial Times reported that Japanese government officials had tried to merge Honda and Nissan, sceptics scoffed at the idea as akin to mixing “oil and water”. Nearly four years later, Japan’s second- and third-largest carmakers (behind Toyota) are planning to combine forces to develop electric cars in a bid to survive the coming wave of high-tech, low-cost models from China. While Honda has ruled…

China pledges US$69 billion in credit backing for tech after resurrecting dormant financial tools

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The refinancing will cover 60 per cent of the principal for qualifying loans to tech-based small and medium-sized enterprises, and can be extended twice for an additional year each time, the central bank said in an online statement. “[The loans] will guide financial institutions to provide credit support to tech-focused enterprises in their start-up and growth phases, as well as projects focusing on digitalisation, intelligence enhancement, high-end upgrades, eco-friendly technological transformation and equipment renewal in key sectors,” it said. The PBOC had 17 structural support tools in active use by…

China is not to blame for the snail’s pace of US EV progress

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Tai called for “defensive” US-EU countermeasures such as tariffs, along with measures that are “more on the offence”, like incentives “to correct for a market dynamic that is not playing out in our favour”. What Tai’s comments really reveal is US discomfort with Chinese innovation in EV and other technology areas. In conflating overcapacity and the broader issues of the EV market, Washington’s narrative is way off the mark. It is the US market’s high prices, not Chinese overcapacity, that hinder widespread EV adoption, given that Chinese EVs are completely…

With $6.6B to Arizona hub, Biden touts big steps in US chipmaking

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President Joe Biden on Monday announced a $6.6 billion grant to Taiwan’s top chip manufacturer for semiconductor manufacturing in Arizona, which includes a third facility that will bring the tech giant’s investment in the state to $65 billion. VOA’s White House correspondent Anita Powell reports from Washington, with reporter Levi Stallings in Flagstaff, Arizona. Voice of America

Chinese nationalist trolls pretend to be Trump supporters ahead of US elections

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washington —  British researchers say Chinese nationalist trolls have been posing as American supporters of former President Donald Trump on X to try to exploit domestic divisions ahead of the U.S. election. A report released April 1 by the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, a London think tank, says it found four previous Mandarin-tweeting accounts that went silent before re-emerging as American Trump supporter personas tweeting in English. It linked them to China’s so-called Spamouflage network, which it described as a “long-running and widespread but largely ineffective” campaign to promote pro-Chinese…

8 Lao women arrested in Thailand for prostitution

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Authorities in Thailand have arrested eight Lao women, seven of whom entered the country illegally to work as prostitutes, and one who worked as their madam, Radio Free Asia has learned. According to the Anti-Trafficking in Person Unit of the Thai Department of Special Investigation, the seven women were aged 21 to 36, and they were arrested at a karaoke bar in Bang Pakong district in the southern province of  Chachoengsao. The eighth woman is the wife of the bar’s owner.  A police officer in Bang Pakong district confirmed Monday…

Russia’s Lavrov visits Beijing to discuss Ukraine war, Asia-Pacific situation 

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Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in Beijing on Monday to highlight diplomatic ties and to discuss the war in Ukraine and the situation in the Asia-Pacific region. The meeting between Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, comes as the two countries align on several issues and have increasingly been in disputes with democracies and NATO members. Lavrov’s visit will last until Tuesday and coincides with the end of U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen’s four days of talks in Beijing to speak with Chinese officials about economic issues. Yellen…

France, Europe engage with China on their terms, in their own interests: envoy

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Not only did he hold very productive talks with Premier Li and Foreign Minister Wang Yi, he also inaugurated the exhibition “Versailles and the Forbidden City” and the French cultural festival Croisements. As far as we are concerned, we have set a very ambitious cultural programme in China for this year, with more than 300 major cultural activities in more than 30 cities. We want these activities to be as close as possible to the widest possible audience in China – in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, but also in Hohhot or…

Uyghurs remember 1990 Baren Uprising over China’s forced abortions

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Uyghurs and sympathetic protesters rallied in Washington, Istanbul and Munich on Friday to remember a 1990 uprising in Xinjiang triggered by anger over China forcing Uyghur women to get abortions and sterilizations. The death toll from the Baren uprising – put down by Chinese troops – ranges from a couple dozen to as many as 3,000, according to the World Uyghur Congress.  Chinese authorities never held a public investigation, and Human Rights Watch said that a reliable tally of the casualties may never be known. The rebellion started on the…

FirstFT: US, UK and Australia consider working with Japan on part of Aukus pact

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Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Global Economy myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Good morning. The US, UK and Australia yesterday said they were considering working with Japan through their Aukus security pact aimed at boosting deterrence against China. The Aukus nations’ defence ministers said they would consider bringing Japan into Pillar II, the part of the partnership that focuses on advanced technology, ranging from artificial intelligence and quantum computing to undersea capabilities and hypersonic weapons. “Recognising Japan’s strengths and its close bilateral…