Stock markets in Hong Kong and Shanghai fell sharply on Monday (October 24) as China’s new leadership was formed after the week-long 20th Communist Party National Congress closed on Saturday. The Hang Seng Index fell 1,030 points, or 6.36%, to 15,180, the lowest level in 13 years. Technology and property stocks fell by more than […]Continue Reading
Southeast Asia’s second-largest and once one of its most dynamic economies is struggling under the weight of an aging population, a deteriorating education system and low-yield rice farming. Thailand looks trapped as a middle-income country, unable to get rich, and stuck between a younger, dynamic Vietnam and a larger Indonesia. Getting out of its economic […]Continue Reading
TOKYO – On October 18, the top article on the front page of Japan’s leading business daily screamed that cutting off imports from China would cost Japan 53 trillion yen (US$353 billion) in lost production, or about 10% of annual gross domestic product (GDP). Meanwhile, the yen has depreciated by 31% against the US dollar […]Continue Reading
It’s never been a better time to be in the red in Hong Kong. The financial hub plans to ease its listing rules to allow more firms that have never turned a profit to go public as part of a plan to attract at least 100 innovative tech firms to list on the local bourse […]Continue Reading
The European Union has just approved new sanctions against Russia, including a price cap on oil sales, following the United States’ September 30 announcement of new economic sanctions. Both announcements are in response to Russia’s annexation of four regions of Ukraine. The goal of sanctions against Russia is to cripple Russia’s capacity to wage war […]Continue Reading
China aims to recruit and groom a new team of strategic scientists and engineers in an inward-looking reaction to new US sanctions that will force American experts to quit working at Chinese semiconductor fabs. On October 18, the Ministry of Industrial and Information (MIIT) suggested in an opinion document that China should encourage top graduates […]Continue Reading
In late August 2022, news broke that Apple was in talks to manufacture its famed Apple Watches and MacBooks in Vietnam for the first time. Some view this as a move by transnational corporations and their core suppliers to diversify their production away from China, buffering themselves from intensifying US-China geoeconomic competition. Others interpret this as a sign of […]Continue Reading
Beijing is bidding to highlight its European Union partnership following news that the bloc’s foreign service is preparing to call on member states to diversify their supply chains from China. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on October 17 that the EU should view Sino-EU cooperation objectively, expand common interests and contribute to the stability […]Continue Reading
Chinese real estate developers are desperate to recover from the prolonged lockdowns driven by China’s zero-Covid policy. But the slowdown in home sales is also related to the collapse of household confidence in the country’s real estate market. The mortgage boycott in China is a direct consequence of the bankruptcies of an increasing number of developers. […]Continue Reading
Nippon Steel and ArcelorMittal, two of the world’s largest steel companies, have turned their attention to India and Thailand amid weakening demand in Japan and the energy crisis in Europe. The ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India joint venture (AM/NS India) has announced two new initiatives to expand operations in India: New construction and capacity expansion of […]Continue Reading