Michael Palin on the Philippines and China’s Power
The Monty Python star reinvented himself as a travel filmmaker, and has now visited more than 100 countries — most recently, the Philippines. (Source: Bloomberg)
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The Monty Python star reinvented himself as a travel filmmaker, and has now visited more than 100 countries — most recently, the Philippines. (Source: Bloomberg)
We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Chinese scientists say they spotted possible Israeli electronic warfare units Chinese military scientists claim they have developed an algorithm that could help identify electronic warfare units using civil aviation flight data. 2....
Indonesian officials, looking to alleviate poverty in their country and eyeing the rise of rural economies in China, are turning to Beijing for help that may include stoking the exports of a potentially lucrative durian crop. Indonesian Transmigration Minister Muhammad Iftitah Sulaiman Suryanagara began a seven-day visit to China on Monday, with Indonesia’s state-owned Antara news agency saying consultations with Beijing’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, companies and academic...
'The Palestinian question is the greatest historical injustice of this century,' China's foreign minister said.
The most consequential outcome of President Xi Jinping’s Washington visit might be his US counterpart Donald Trump’s unusually lavish welcome. It told Beijing, US allies and global markets that, however fierce the strategic rivalry, China’s importance makes sustained diplomatic engagement essential. The airport greeting, lavish banquet at the White House and flyover by military aircraft restored the appearance of a workable relationship between two powers. Even so, Beijing has learned not to...
The coming Apec finance ministers’ meeting in Hong Kong will demonstrate “China’s voice” in regional stability, with the city uniquely placed to bring together regional leaders for important exchanges in a geopolitically charged world, the treasury chief has said. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post on Thursday, Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury Christopher Hui Ching-yu said the timing of the meeting of finance ministers from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic...
China’s campaign to promote the global use of the yuan appears to be accelerating as the authorities seek to build a more comprehensive financial ecosystem for the currency beyond just trade settlement.
Talk of global decoupling from China has persisted for years, as has speculation that emerging economies such as India and Vietnam could soon replace it as the “world’s factory”. But for Indian hardware engineer Neeraj Arora, the growth of India’s electronics manufacturing industry has not eliminated the need to source components from China. Instead, it has changed the nature of those imports. A decade ago, Arora imported finished phone chargers from the world’s second-largest economy. Today,...
White House press secretary Katie Zacharia has acknowledged that she never passed a bar exam, days after telling reporters she had passed one “when I moved to China”. In an interview with the conservative commentator Jack Posobiec on right-wing streaming channel Real America’s Voice on Thursday, Zacharia said she sat the California bar exam after graduating from Pepperdine University’s law school in 2011 but did not pass. She said the results were “somewhat inconsequential, because I knew I...
Trade between Brazil and China reached a record US$143 billion in the first nine months of the year, driven by Brazilian oil sales that surged after the war on Iran disrupted Gulf supply, according to a report by the Brazil-China Business Council. Brazilian exports to China rose 12 per cent to US$84.7 billion between January and September, while imports from China grew 9.9 per cent to US$58.6 billion, the council said in its quarterly analysis of government data. The resulting US$26.1 billion...
Chemicals and industrial machinery were identified as the top priority industries the EU needs to shield against Chinese imports during a meeting between the EU’s top leaders in Brussels on Thursday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told the bloc’s 27 member states that the EU should consider quickly introducing safeguard measures, which can involve import quotas and tariffs, to shield these sectors from a wave of cut-price alternatives from China, according to people familiar...
Canada and Singapore are among the countries that remain committed to strengthening trade ties with China, despite growing global fragmentation and a push by governments towards greater self-sufficiency, officials from both countries said on Wednesday at an economic forum in New Delhi. Canada’s minister of international trade Maninder Sidhu said China was the country’s second-largest trading partner and highlighted opportunities for cooperation in areas where the two economies had complementary...
When US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet again in Shenzhen next month, and then in Miami in December, the world will watch for signs of progress on trade, technology, security and other contentious issues. Such high-level diplomacy is indispensable. But the future of the US-China relationship also depends on something less visible: whether their people, especially the young, can still understand one another. As Washington and Beijing navigate intensifying strategic...
China and North Korea formally opened the Yalu River Bridge on Thursday, connecting Dandong in China with Sinuiju in North Korea. Beijing says the bridge will promote economic and trade cooperation.
A China-led international team has reported a new pre-earthquake phenomenon that has shown strong predictive potential for major earthquakes since 2022 with minimal failures. The anomalous seismic, magnetic and ionospheric resonance signals they observed – termed “seismo-ripples” by the researchers – are ringlike disturbance patterns triggered before earthquakes happen. Their findings challenge the long-standing scientific belief that these events are unpredictable, opening up a promising new...
China and North Korea officially opened their most significant land border crossing on Thursday, aiming to rejuvenate trade and commerce after years of strained ties and pandemic-related disruptions. Trucks festooned with the national flags of the neighbours drove across the long-delayed 3-km (2-mile) New Yalu River Bridge, its towering pylons also decked in flags, linking the Chinese city of Dandong with North Korea. FRANCE 24's Jan Camenzind Broomby reports.
China and North Korea have officially opened the New Yalu River Bridge after a 12-year delay.
China’s premier has reaffirmed his country’s support for North Korea and its leader during the much-delayed opening of a new bridge between the neighbours. In a taped speech to the opening ceremony on the New Yalu River Bridge on Thursday, Premier Li Qiang said the link was a landmark in Chinese-North Korean friendship. Li said the bridge would promote economic and trade ties, expand personnel exchanges and tighten the bond between the two peoples, according to state news agency Xinhua. The...
A new four-lane road bridge linking China and North Korea finally opened on Thursday, 12 years late, enabling the Asian giant and its isolated nuclear-armed neighbour to step up cross-border trade substantially. China is its neighbour's largest trading partner and a vital diplomatic and political backer, although relations have not always been smooth with the ruling Kim dynasty.
China and Russia’s foreign ministers have discussed their relations with the United States, paving the ground for a possible meeting between their respective leaders at next month’s Apec summit in Shenzhen. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov met in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan, on Thursday, where they discussed “relations with the United States and the developments involving the Ukraine and Iran crises as well”, according to Moscow. China did not...
Authorities in the central Chinese province of Hunan have warned of the potential risks of cross-border arranged marriages, saying some relationships lack genuine emotional foundations and can lead to financial ruin or legal trouble. Marriages can be risky when they are organised by illegal matchmaking agencies that charge high fees, according to a post on the Xintian county police branch’s social media account on Tuesday. For-profit international matchmaking is illegal in China. The post...
China and North Korea opened a new four-lane road bridge on Thursday, 15 October, ending a 12-year delay and creating a major new route for cross-border trade.
Three weeks into his tenure as Anhui provincial party secretary, Li Lecheng carried out an on-site inspection at China’s home-grown memory chip giant ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) on Wednesday, pledging to grow integrated circuits (ICs) as an emerging pillar industry. During the visit to the company’s headquarters in the provincial capital Hefei, Li urged CXMT to further refine its product portfolio and actively expand into domestic and overseas markets. He emphasised home-grown...
A grassland fire in Mongolia has raised fresh concerns in China, underscoring the recurring risk of cross-border environmental hazards. This is not the first time an environmental disaster originating in Mongolia has threatened to cross the 4,700km (2,920 miles) border into China, with the impacts sometimes also affecting the Korean peninsula and Japan. The blaze, which erupted on October 8 in the inland country’s easternmost Dornod province bordering Russia and China, advanced rapidly towards...
“Bloomberg: The China Show” is your definitive source for news and analysis on the world's second-biggest economy. From politics and policy to tech and trends, Yvonne Man and David Ingles give global investors unique insight, delivering in-depth discussions with the newsmakers who matter. (Source: Bloomberg)
Pernod Ricard SA’s sales fell less than expected last quarter as growth in India cushioned persistent weakness in the US and China.
The EU’s surprise deal with China on hybrid cars last week was supposed to ease the pressure on Beijing. Instead, Brussels is preparing to intensify its crackdown on Chinese trade practices, emboldened by the discovery that its threats are finally delivering results. Now, those driving trade policy for the bloc believe they have landed on a two-track formula. Intensive dialogue is seen to have yielded results and will continue. But so too will the European Union’s efforts to counter what they...
Iron ore futures in Singapore slipped to a two-year low under $90 a ton, extending a retreat fueled by soft demand in China and too much global supply.
North Korea has opened two major bridges connecting it to key trading partners in the last month, with the latest — a bridge link to China — inaugurated Thursday after a more than decade-long delay.