Day: April 21, 2024

East Asia joins global military spending surge over China concerns: report

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Global military expenditure recorded its steepest rise in 15 years amid ongoing wars in Europe and the Middle East, while East Asia saw the largest defence spending in a decade – coinciding with tensions over Taiwan, according to a Swedish think tank. In a report released on Monday, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) said military expenditure in East Asia grew by 6.2 per cent in 2023 to reach US$411 billion, the sharpest increase in 10 years. “Many of its neighbours perceive China’s growing military power as a reason…

Hong Kong stocks soar after China’s market regulator pledges support for city’s IPOs, connect scheme

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Hong Kong stocks leapt at the open after China’s market regulator unveiled a series of market reforms late on Friday aimed at enhancing the city’s status as a financial hub. The Hang Seng Index rose 1.54 per cent to 16,473.69 at 10am. The Tech Index rose 1.82 per cent, while the Shanghai Composite Index was flat. Among the most heavily traded were gaming giant Tencent, which rose 3 per cent to HK$312.80 and insurer AIA, which added 2 per cent to HK$48.15. The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced on Friday…

Philippines, US launch annual joint military drills

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Manila, Philippines —  Thousands of Filipino and American troops will kick off joint military exercises in the Philippines on Monday, as Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the region raises fears of a conflict. The annual drills — dubbed Balikatan, or “shoulder to shoulder” in Tagalog — will be concentrated in the northern and western parts of the archipelago nation, near the potential flashpoints of the South China Sea and Taiwan. China claims almost the entire waterway, a key route for international trade, and also considers self-ruled Taiwan to be part of…

Is South Korea’s economic miracle over?

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Outside the town of Yongin, 40 kilometres south of Seoul, an army of diggers is preparing for what South Korea’s president has described as a global “semiconductor war”. The diggers are moving 40,000 cubic metres of earth a day, cutting a mountain in half as they lay the foundations for a new cluster of chipmaking facilities that will include the world’s largest three-storey fabrication plant. The 1,000-acre site, a $91bn investment by chipmaker SK Hynix, will itself only be one part of a $471bn “mega cluster” at Yongin that will…

Pro-China party wins landslide victory in Maldives parliamentary elections

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Maldives voters have backed President Mohamed Muizzu’s tilt towards China and away from traditional benefactor India, with his party winning control of parliament in an election landslide. Muizzu’s People’s National Congress (PNC) won 66 of the first 86 seats declared, according to the Elections Commission of Maldives, already more than enough for a super-majority in the 93-member parliament. The vote was seen as a crucial test for Muizzu’s plan to press ahead with closer economic cooperation with China, including building thousands of apartments on controversially reclaimed land. The Maldives is…

Global defence budget jumps to record high of $2440bn

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Global military expenditure has reached a record high of $2440bn (£1970bn) after the largest annual rise in government spending on arms in over a decade, according to a report. The 6.8% increase between 2022 and 2023 was the steepest since 2009, pushing spending to the highest recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) in its 60-year history. For the first time, analysts at the thinktank recorded a rise in military outlay in all five geographical regions: Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania and the Americas. Nan…

China’s ambassador to Canada leaves his post

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China’s ambassador to Canada has left his post and returned to China, a source familiar with the matter said Sunday, with the news emerging during a senior Canadian diplomat’s visit to the Asian nation. Further details into why Cong Peiwu, who has served since 2019, left his post were not immediately available. The Chinese Embassy in Ottawa did not immediately respond to a request for comment. China’s foreign ministry said earlier that Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu held talks with visiting Canadian Deputy Foreign Minister David Morrison and the…

‘Reform and opening up are not dead’, but today’s China ‘looks risky’: veteran observer David Lampton

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Deng Xiaoping reflected his personal experience in the Cultural Revolution and earlier experience in Europe, and all this was reflected in the manner in which he promoted his policies. Then, president Jiang Zemin came along and not only reflected his experience in the Soviet Union but also his exposure to Western-style thinking in his youth when he grew up in China’s southeastern city of Yangzhou, one of the most open and economically advanced cities of his era. President Xi Jinping had his own experience in the Cultural Revolution and that…

Flooding expected in China’s Guangdong, threatening millions

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BEIJING —  Major rivers, waterways and reservoirs in China’s Guangdong province are threatening to unleash dangerous floods, forcing the government Sunday to enact emergency response plans to protect more than 127 million people. Calling the situation “grim,” local weather officials said sections of rivers and tributaries at the Xijiang and Beijiang river basins are hitting water levels in a rare spike that only has a one-in-50 chance of happening in any given year, state broadcaster CCTV news said Sunday. China’s water resource ministry issued an emergency advisory, CCTV reported. Guangdong…