What is driving fans of China’s elite athletes crazier than those who idolise entertainment stars?

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Brain OF FANS

To understand the psyche of enthusiast crowds, CNA spoke to a previous fervent supporter of a Taiwanese singer-songwriter.

She requested to be referred to as Xiao J solely because she fears that some fans may become “quite sensitive” about certain remarks about their idols.

She frequently swooned over her hero in the past, which was admirable.

” My monthly salary was probably around 6, 000 or 7, 000 yuan ( US$ 850 to US$ 990 ), and just one concert could cost over 5, 000 yuan for a ticket alone. Plus, if the music was n’t held in Shanghai, I’d also need to spend for round-trip flights to that area, hotel and foods”, she revealed.

” Total, the total expenses of attending a concert could easily be higher than my whole monthly income.”

Counsellor Hu Miao Miao, chairman of Wan Xin Psychology Centre in Shanghai, said he has encountered much worse circumstances.

Dr. Hu once had a nurse who was a client who was chasing after her hero and owed 500, 000 yuan. After lenders started showing up at the hospital where she worked, he was called in to assist.

He noted that organized fan teams are motivated by corporate interests, while enthusiasts are looking for a sense of belonging.

” When the mental pull of supporters meets professional troops, the end result is explosive”, he added.

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Panna: Hunt for treasure in India’s diamond town in Madhya Pradesh

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BBC Hindi Prakash sharma, a diamond minor from Panna BBC Hindi

” I feel sick if I do n’t search for diamonds. It’s like a drug”.

Prakash Sharma, 67, shares his love for pearls, which has defined his life for the past five decades.

A stone warrior in India’s northern state of Madhya Pradesh, he spends most of his day in the mining of Panna area.

Panna is among the region’s most back regions- its occupants face hunger, water scarcity, and unemployment. However, it also holds the majority of India’s diamond reserves and is still a popular destination for stone hunters.

State authorities lease out tiny parcels of land to future miners annually at minimum prices, whereas the majority of mine are managed by the federal government. The city has the country’s even mechanised gemstone mine.

But, once known for its big and unique finds, diamonds mines of Panna are rundown today. Its deposits have declined as a result of decades of over-mining.

Despite this decrease, cheerful miners continue their mission.

They must turn over their discoveries to the state gemstone office, which reviews the stones and sells them at an auction.

The miners receive a melancholy praise for their tireless digging after deducting revenues and taxes.

Mr. Sharma claims that in 1974, right after graduating from high school, he began digging for pearls, following in the footsteps of his parents, who was once a well-known stone warrior in his community.

He immediately hit the jackpot after he found a six-carat stone, which was worth a fortune 50 years ago.

That, he says, fuelled a interest in him to maintain searching for more.

Instead of working for the government, he claims,” I wanted to keep doing this.”

BBC Hindi Diamond miner Prakash Sharma and his familyBBC Hindi

Mr. Sharma is one of the many young and old people who, in an effort to break the cycle of poverty, spends his days working in the mines.

In the morning, the miners begin digging through the sand. They therefore wash, clean, and sift through it until twilight to find diamonds. Their communities support them in their jobs.

It’s a physiologically demanding job- but for the citizens of Panna, it’s an inherent part of their lives, discussions and hopes for a better prospect.

For some, stone looking is a community tradition passed down through generations.

Shyamlal Jatav, 58, comes from one for home. His father started the project, and his brother, who works in the mines part-time while balancing his studies, is now doing it.

Mr Jatav says his father found some diamonds, but in those times, they did not sell for many.

However, with some of these stones then selling for tens of millions of pounds, things have changed.

One of the few fortunate people is Raja Gound. A worker by vocation, he was neck-deep in debt when he found a large 19.22-carat stone in July.

He sold the diamond at a government auction for about 8m rupees ($ 95, 178, £72, 909 ).

Mr. Gound claimed to have been leasing mine in the hope of finding a diamond for more than ten years.

Getty Images A miner sifting through gravel in Madhya Pradesh's Panna districtGetty Images

India has always been a significant player in the gemstone industry. For more than 3, 000 times, it was the world’s ultimate diamond source.

With revelations in Brazil and South Africa in the 18th century, this changed.

But Panna’s reputation as a gateway for diamond has endured.

The district’s Majhgawan mine, operated by the state-controlled National Mineral Development Corporation ( NMDC ), is the country’s only organised source of diamond production.

NMDC began mining in 1968 and by 2024, it had extracted over 1.3 million carats of diamonds.

Although anyone may mine diamonds in Panna, and at a low price, the majority of hunters steer clear of selling their gold.

There was a large market for illegally mined diamond, according to several citizens, but the precise figures of the business are unfamiliar.

A black-market vendor, who did not want to be named, said individuals sell their sees improperly to avoid fees and to ensure fast payments.

” If they go through formal programs, they only get paid after the stone is sold at auction, which can sometimes get years”, he said.

Because the majority of the diamonds mined are relatively small and do not command higher prices, Panna’s mine official Ravi Patel claims that authorities have taken steps to stop illegal sales but it’s challenging to trace them.

Officers acknowledge that there has been a decrease in the amount of diamonds that have been deposited for state auctions.

In 2016, the company received 1, 133 pearls, but the statistics shrank to only 23 in 2023.

Anupam Singh, a federal diamond appraiser in Panna, says restrictions on mine are behind this drop.

” The forest ministry has marked off major areas, turning them into no-go areas for stone hunting”, Mr Singh said.

BBC Hindi A woman working in one of Panna's diamond minesBBC Hindi

The Panna Tiger Reserve’s more than 50 lions live it, and recent government initiatives have raised many issues for the workers.

Diamond miners who when operated in wooded areas, including the reserve’s buffer zone, are prohibited from mining it and face severe penalties if found guilty.

Despite the difficulties and difficulties, thousands of men still labor in the deep mine, hoping to reverse their fate.

After the Covid-19 quarantine ended all the labor and planting work in his home, Prakash Majumdar began digging for pearls in 2020.

Within a quarter of mining, Mr. Majumdar, who was hungry and struggling to feed his family, discovered his second diamond, for 2.9 million rupees.

Since then, a lot has changed, including his election as the elected town leader and his family’s relocation to a practical home.

Still, his relentless search for more continues.

” Diamond looking will continue to be a part of my life, and I’m not going anywhere until I find a job,” he said.

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Small businesses, big challenges: The reality of China’s post-US Fed cut economy

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Additionally, analysts told CNA that the effect on small businesses would probably be generally direct and minimum. According to Mr. Bell,” I do n’t think Fed cuts will have much impact on Chinese consumers,” adding that” small businesses with a domestic focus are less impacted,” while citing low domestic confidence as a limiting factor. &nbsp,

” Frequently, small businesses and individuals are shielded from immediate effect by broader plan adjustments”, said American economic columnist Mr Daryl Guppy, even the CEO and founder of Guppytraders.com.

He noted that US economic policy may have a far greater impact on Chinese usage habits than US tariffs and punishment. &nbsp,

The main effect may be price changes for imported American items.

Next THE FED?

China’s central bank has implemented a number of smaller cuts, including a policy interest rate reduction of 0.2 % and a reduction of banks ‘ reserve requirements by half a percentage point, despite the Fed’s aggressive stance in cutting rates. &nbsp,

However, Mr. Guppy made it clear that the PBOC’s actions did not directly affect the US’s subsequent actions. &nbsp,

According to Mr. Guppy,” PBOC policy decisions are not made in a knee-jerk effect to US policy.” Lower rates often lead to a higher consumer and business confidence because they lower the cost of loans and paying off debt.

Experts believe Beijing’s factual response to the US Fed price cuts could also provide some much-needed information into its possible future actions.

According to Mr Bell, China generally “has had a very distinct economic policy platform than the Fed’s interest-rate focused strategy”.

” For much of the early 2000s, China pursued a dollar nail, and after that, a much more quantity-driven model focused on the quantity of credit rather than their cost”, Mr Bell told CNA. &nbsp,

He also explained that China was “more insulated”, because of its relatively” closed” investment account, at least until 2015, which helped it experience fewer spillovers from international financial situations. Companies and individuals are prohibited from moving money into and out of the country under strict regulations in a sealed capital account.

China focused on a lot of fiscal and credit stimulus when extreme crises struck and threatened to spread through the trade channel.

Some believe that Chinese politicians should concentrate on resolving these internal problems, such as revitalizing the faltering business, which may call for a more subtle approach this time around.

” China’s emotions are tempered by the demands of the local economy and policy information”, he said. ” US Fed rates movements are a factor that may make it easier, or more difficult, ( for China ) to continue with an appropriate domestic policy”, said Mr Guppy.

Although Mr. Bell believes that China” should not be in a location where Fed moves matter little,” he also acknowledges that “any global circumstances,” including Fed rate policy, had have” a more important impact on the Foreign economy.”

” But that is not a given, many more a representation of lacking plan activities in Beijing”, Mr Bell added. &nbsp,

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Don’t expect too much from Japan’s Ishiba – Asia Times

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Pacific Forum published this article at its original publication. It is republished with authority.

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party ( LDP ) got a facelift last month. The vote of Shigeru Ishiba, a five-time prospect, as party leader gives the group a fresh look. But, as with all plastic surgery, the adjustments are more simplistic than substantial.

Ishiba may have a difficult time guiding the group in the desired direction. The most sarcastic interpretation is that he was elected to help the group win the general election he has scheduled for later this month. After that task is finished, the old guard will begin working against him to regain its standing in the group.

Ishiba scored a come-from-behind get in the current group vote. Nine prospects, the most ever, contested the competition for LDP leader. ( Because the LDP holds a majority in the Diet, or parliament, the party president automatically becomes prime minister. )

He came in second in the first round of voting, but because no prospect secured a lot, a discharge was held among the top two vote-getters, Ishiba and then-Economic Security Minister Takaichi Sanae. One of the two people in the race for the position is Takaichi, a liberal separatist and supporter of former prime minister Abe Shinzo, who was killed two years ago.

Even though she received the most votes in the first round, Takaichi’s radical views and, let’s be honest, the idea of a person as prime minister are both deeply unpopular. In the next round, Ishiba won because Takaichi’s followers of the other seven individuals chose him over Takaichi.

Ishiba, the persistent opponent, owes his victory to a malfunction of the LDP’s corporate structure. It has remained largely ununified despite being a large, sprawling group that covers a range of viewpoints thanks to the advantages that come with electricity.

People have joined groups, habatsu, headed by senior officials. These groups offer funds to younger people and the chance to advance through the ranks. The party gives those elders status and authority within the group, which can change depending on the size of the party.

In the past, elders gathered before elections to choose the winners and distribute crucial party and cabinet positions. The result was a typical smoke-filled room. In his four prior events, Ishiba was sidelined during those discussion.

Next time, however, a political money controversy hit the biggest and most powerful parties the hardest, properly stripping them of their strength.

Additionally, it tarnished Fumio Kishida, the prime minister whose sluggish comment and ability to punish those who broke the law caused his and his Cabinet’s approval ratings to drop to historic highs and forced him to renounce his desire for a second term.

The LDP lawmakers who voted for celebration president were free to cast their ballots however top party members still had a lot of control because of their experience and age.

The victor’s expected effect on their electoral chances was intensely weighed in their deliberations. They were considering who they wanted to be seen standing following to in advertisements for their upcoming battle, according to a minister who explained.

Stand by me

Ishiba is that man. He has a sympathetic public support, and both his plans and his political stance are more in tune with the major Japanese views.

He is politically liberal, anxious about growing injustice and budget deficits. He thinks that Japan has obligations abroad, but he does n’t want to see the high profile that recent Tokyo governments have pursued.

He has faced opposition from former prime minister Abe in elections and on the Diet surface, giving him the nickname” the anti-Abe” and a striking contrast to him. His opposition to the LDP major, which has been shaped by and reflects Abe’s values and jobs, made him a leper in the group —until now.

Ishiba’s fresh Cabinet is distinguished by the presence of people of the biggest parties, those tarred by the incident. However, it looks a lot like its successors, with some lawmakers either remaining in their current articles or returning to those they held earlier.

There is stability in another, dispiriting sense: People are suddenly under-represented, holding only two of the 19 positions: minister of education and position minister in charge of children’s policies.

Yoshihide Suga and Kishida, his two immediate successors as prime minister, helped Ishiba win. Both concerned that Takaichi was very traditional and extreme, and that she threatened to end some of their most significant successes. They abused their control to win back the original entrepreneur.

Although that support may not be enough to stay Ishiba in the place he had long desired, it may not be enough to do so. The party may support him throughout the plan for the general election, profiting from his popularity and new photo for that ballot. However, once the voting is over and its parliamentary majority is secured, the old guard will begin pushing its mission and objectives.

It can get dirty. It has happened before. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faced like strong opposition to his plans that he wooed prospects to issue incumbents from his own party twenty years ago. He called them “assassins”.

While many of them won in public elections, his – and their – control proved limited. While he was in power, his attempts to implement significant reforms either failed or were later resisted by later governments.

Ishiba may face similar challenges. The state has fundamental problems. Japan is the world’s grayest nation, and it is already facing a statistical problems. The government may get more money to support an aging population, promote care, and meet the commitment to increase defence spending despite its national debt of 265 percent of GDP being the largest of any developed economy.

One of the main contradictions Ishiba has with the Abe tradition, which views quite finance as” an end in itself” is how he deals with reconciling those demands with revenue.

Addressing those problems would be a concern for any politician, much less one who is outside his own party’s popular. Worse, the old guard has previously drawn outlines and signaled that it is hesitant to deviate from party orthodox two days after winning.

While these are issues of Japan’s local politics, they matter a lot to the United States. Japan is a vital ally and companion in the Indo-Pacific, the most active region in the global market.

When the US has struggled, Tokyo has provided the intellectual framework for its thinking about this crucial region as well as the diplomatic energy to support crucial economic initiatives like the Comprehensive Partnership for Trans-Pacific Prosperity ( CPTPP ) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP ).

Japan is at the centre of the network of regional safety initiatives, connecting different channels and acting as the nation’s main local ally. No matter who the primary minister is, the United States wants security and stability in Japanese politics. Washington might want to plan for stress.

Brad Glosserman&nbsp, ( brad@pacforum .org ) is deputy director of and visiting professor at the Center for Rule-Making Strategies at Tama University as well as senior adviser ( nonresident ) at Pacific Forum. He is the author of” Peak Japan: The End of Great Ambitions” ( Georgetown University Press, 2019 ).

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The future is nickel in Indonesia – Asia Times

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Indonesia’s metal economy is booming. The global adoption of electric vehicles ( EV ) is driving demand for the metal, which is a key element in many EV batteries.

In 2023, Indonesia produced a large 40. 2 % of the world’s source, sparking hopes the country can utilize its copper reserves as a foundation to build a regional Volt industry.

At the same time, the metal surge has courted controversy. In September, the US Department of Labor reported that forced labour was being used in the Indonesian nickel market. Nickel firms have also faced accusations of ecological damage and pollution.

Geopolitics is also at enjoy. Foreign technical skills, funding and businesses have been central to the development of the Indonesian economy.

National business plan in the form of the Inflation Reduction Act has aimed squarely at Chinese supremacy of supply stores for natural materials – limiting the access of Chinese-made products to US businesses.

Meanwhile, technological changes like the mass adoption of cheaper lithium iron phosphate ( LFP ) batteries for EVs– which use no nickel – pose further challenges.

In a wide-ranging interview with Asia Times contributor Joseph Rachman, Indonesia’s Deputy of Investment and Mining Coordination to the Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs and Investments Septian Hario  Seto, the government’s point person on nickel policy, made the case for optimism and the nation’s plan to become a battery-making powerhouse.

AT: Where next for Indonesia’s nickel industry?

SHS: The next step, I think it ’s to build an ecosystem for electric vehicles. So not only talking about nickel. We’re talking about cobalt and manganese. We’re talking about LFP ( lithium iron phosphate ). We’re developing an LFP factory in Indonesia. We develop copper, aluminum.

AT: How far along are you with this?

SHS: Our first pCAM [precusor material for battery cathodes ] factory was commissioned this September, last month. We’ve built now two lithium refineries in Indonesia. I think they will be completed end of this year or early next year.

Even though we don’t have the lithium mine, we import it from Australia and Africa. And, even some from Latin America. We’ve already built the copper foil factory for the battery – built and operated already next to the Freeport smelter in Gresik. So it ’s already done. I’m not just talking about a plan. This factory is already in commercial operation.

We already have anodes. If you look at the market landscape now the biggest players in the world – number one, two, and three – are Chinese companies. So, we have this anode factory now in Java. I think if you remember, in early August, President Jokowi inaugurated this factory.

So, there’s only a few remaining processes we need to attract. And with anodes this is very fundamental. If you ( have ) LFP- or nickel-based batteries the anode is the same. So, if you already have the anode this ecosystem will be easier to attract. So, if you ask me outside of China, we now have the biggest capacity for battery materials in the world.

China, America and geopolitical risk

AT: Why is China so central to Indonesia’s nickel industry? Does this pose a problem?

SHS: You need to understand on this, [in ] nickel processing no-one beats China. Can you name me one Western company that has been very successful in developing this nickel technology?

AT: Maybe Japan’s Sumitomo?

SHS: Yes, but the ( high-pressure acid leaching ) HPAL that they built was so many years ago. They tried to build HPAL with Vale but failed.

[Vale signed an agreement to open a nickel processing plant in Indonesia in partnership with China ’s Huayou Cobalt and America’s Ford in 2023. ]

So, I think this is the problem. So how do you deal with this situation? So, what you see now is now a lot of non-Chinese firms are getting a partner or a Chinese technology provider. I’m talking specifically about HPAL.

So, we have one project, which I think will start commercial operation this quarter, where the Chinese only control less than 25 %. It’s about 20 % if I’m not mistaken. The Indonesian shareholder controls 60 % the South Koreans will control about 20 %. So, you will see this type of investment is happening more and more.

[America’s IRA regulation bans subsidies for electric vehicles which use too many materials produced by companies which are more than 25 % owned by a “foreign entity of concern. ” Exact definitions can be vague, but this is widely seen as including any Chinese company. ]

I think this the issue of familiarity and comfort. Because when these projects start only the Chinese know, only the Chinese understand the risks. But as one, two, three, four projects have been successful the Indonesian companies – especially the Indonesian who own the mines – of course they want to take a bigger a role. You will see this is going to be the trend.

AT: There’s been talk of restructuring existing partnerships to get Chinese ownership below these thresholds?

SHS: I think it ’s going to be mostly new investments. The ones that are already in operation that ’s going to depend on a B2B ( business to business ) basis.

I think one thing that you need to remember is that in the market now – you can check all these nickel buyers all these MHP buyers – there’s no IRA premium. The nickel that you sell to the US, Europe, China, South Korea, Japan, it ’s the same price.

AT: You say there’s no IRA premium. But, America is still a big market with a lot of growth potential. Are you still working towards a Critical Mineral Agreement with the US, which could help make Indonesian nickel eligible for IRA subsidies?

SHS: It’s [a Critical Mineral Agreement ] very important. We’ll see what happens with the election. We just finished our election. And, now we’re still during the transition in the US with the election in November and maybe the new Cabinet will be set up in February. So we’ll see. We need to wait.

But, I think what’s important for us is the CMA is part of our diversification strategy. Now the US, we know Indonesia nickel is flowing into the US. Even without the IRA, still we can sell to the US.

AT: How does it still get in?

SHS: There’s a lot of requirements in the IRA like the car price can’t exceed$ 80,000. So, for premium cars, trucks, for commercial cars, they’re going to use this nickel.

So, let’s see what’s going to happen with this CMA. We still, of course, expect we can get this CMA, but this also really depends on the US election.

AT: Can Indonesia reduce dependence on foreign expertise?

SHS: The problem in Indonesia is that before we focused on mining engineers. Meanwhile, smelters and HPALs are about metallurgy and material sciences. Do you know how many graduates we have every year in this area? It’s only 350.

So, this is the area we need to encourage. We opened several new faculties specifically for metallurgy and material sciences to increase the number of graduates. So that ’s first.

The second thing is we send people with undergraduate degrees to get a master’s degree in China. Now we have four batches already sent to China. Once they are graduated, they can come back and operate all these HPAL factories.

The third step we already did. About a month ago, we inaugurated the first HPAL hydrometallurgy lab in ITB Bandung. This HPAL lab is donated by one of these Chinese companies. It’s worth about$ 30 to$ 35 million. I think this the biggest hydrometallurgy lab, the biggest HPAL lab, in the world. Even bigger than what China has.

So, in Indonesia we can study this technology. I’m very confident that in the next two-three years we can introduce patents for this nickel processing technology.

On alleged labor and environmental abuses

SHS: With forced labor, obviously, we are quite surprised with the announcement. I don’t think we got consultation from the US about this. You see how many people are working in IMIP right? Can you do forced labor with so many people?

AT: With Chinese workers on the site, we’ve had reports of confiscated passports, limited ability to leave the industrial sites, use of debt for control.

SHS: Yes, of course, for these Chinese workers we don’t know how is the arrangement. But, I guess if you see the Chinese working over there, I think it ’s good, has good conditions. I’ve checked the dormitory and everything.

But, for the Indonesians. Can you employ so many people doing forced labor? It’s impossible. There are more than six labor unions there. So I think there’s proof these claims are not correct.

And then you see the wealth impact as well. So, I think several months ago the ILO ( International Labor Organization ) sent a mission. And, we discussed with them what are their findings. And they said there is no issue on … getting lower wages and everything. They did not find this in Morowali. What they gave us input on is the urban planning. And we need that. That’s the issue we need to handle.

Because we did n’t think when we started this Morowali ( Industrial Park ) we would have lots of people working over there. You see Morowali, before this IMIP, maybe there were only a few motorcycles. If you go to Weda Bay, the conditions are much better. The company built more housing, dormitories, inside to absorb the workers. So this is the feedback we got from the ILO, nothing about this forced labor and everything.

Because so many people, it attracts thousands of people. You have labor unions. You have free speech and everything over there. So I think forced labor is not a big issue. So that ’s first.

The second is on the ESG ( environmental, social and governance ) you mentioned. So, two things that we are now implementing.

The first one is actually regarding traceability of nickel. So you remember on July 22, Pak Luhut, Ibu Sri Mulyani, several other ministers launched the Simbara System. This is the traceability system we developed.

We already implemented it in coal. So that you know for every ton of the commodity that you produce – so every ton of coal we produce we know who is the producer, who is the buyer, what is the name of the vessel that transports this coal, when is the shipment date, are they paying the royalty.

So if there is any regulation violation made by the company, we can block the company so their shipment cannot leave Indonesia. Practically we ban the mining company making the violation from selling the product. And this system cannot be manually overridden so you have to resolve this issue if you want to take off the blocking system.

So it will be implemented the same for nickel and tin. We are not only including the mining company but also the smelter. So we can see the material balance. How much nickel ore that you produce, how much nickel ore you consume, how many products, what kind of product … So it ’s the same thing. Before, if the nickel company made a violation, we can block the system so there is no buyer of the nickel ore.

Number two, is that 75 % of the nickel reserve in Indonesia is controlled by not more than 10 companies. Weda Bay Nickel, Vale Indonesia, Aneka Tambang, Harita, Cheria, and then you have Merdeka Battery Materials. So, all these companies now we encourage them to actually participate in independent international ESG certification.

The IRMA, the RCMM, RMI and everything. So they have to ensure that their ESG practice is meeting the standards accepted internationally. With all these smelters, the buyer is actually doing their own due diligence to make sure the nickel is actually acceptable.

AT: What about unsafe working conditions? In addition to the explosion that killed 21 workers last year, we’ve had other fatal accidents since.

SHS: Well, I think first we take very firm action. You see during the accident late last year when many people died because of the accident in this smelter. You know what happened, we take action not using labor law.

We used a criminal prosecution to bring three Chinese people, who are the managers and the head of the smelting operation to court. For them to face more severe punishment. Because if we are using the labor law the punishment is light. So I think this is very important to set the precedent.

Yes, we understand there is a problem with health and safety in this area. So one thing is we are already in discussions with the Chinese government for them to send their experts to ensure the practice is … Because this is basically a Chinese technology. If you send maybe a Western consultant they might not fully understand how this is going to work and fit together. So we asked the Chinese government to send their people to help us on reviewing these practices.

First of all, I think in terms of the casualties even in the US I think they have this many people die. But, what for us is important is this smelter – especially on RKEF – is purely developed by the Chinese. So that ’s why I think we need to hire and get the help from the people who actually understand this thing.

AT: Having talked to workers in the industry, I think they would be skeptical. In their opinion the company ’s only priority is production. And – rightly or wrongly – they often see this as working culture imported from China.

SHS: You know if that kind of thing… Why we decided to talk to the Chinese government? Because, you know, of course, the Chinese government does n’t want their reputation to have a problem internationally because of all of these incidents.

So yeah, let’s see. Of course, you can be skeptical. But, I think if the Chinese government steps in reviewing and helping us with this, I’m carefully optimistic. I think we can fix the problem.

What we found out in this last accident, which made several people die late last year. Because, they are bypassing several standard operating procedures. This is why we decide to take this to criminal prosecution because this is something we don’t take likely. So let’s see, lah.

AT: There’s been reporting that poverty levels have risen in provinces with major nickel processing sites.

SHS: If you see on the provincial level aggregate in terms of the poverty and everything, there might be a slight rise, especially after Covid. You have to be careful. If you take the data after Covid all Indonesia sees poverty increasing. So I have the data until 2023 showing the numbers [poverty statistics ] are starting to decline.

So, if you see in Morowali specifically, in Central Halmahera, you see clearly the poverty rate is declining. But, if you take the provincial level data, I don’t think that will be representative.

I’ve given these statistics to so many journalists because they tend to see aggregates from different statistics. But if you see clearly in IMIP, Morowali, Central Halmahera, and Konawe you see the poverty rate and Gini ratio, it ’s clearly showing a decline.

[Data from Indonesia’s Central Statistical Body shows poverty rates have declined since 2015 in the three regencies named. However, rates have risen somewhat in Konawe since 2022. ]

AT: A new president ( Prabowo Subianto ) will be sworn in on October 20. He has promised to continue the nickel policy. But are you confident the new government will have the expertise to pull it off?

SHS: I’m pretty confident because the industry involves a lot of stakeholders now. A lot of local companies have participated in the downstream industry. So obviously, they can also give input and feedback for the next administration.

I think the challenge is different in the next five years. In the previous five years, we focused still on the upstream part, smelting, refining, process the nickel ore into MHP and nickel pig iron.

But, the challenge in the next five years is how to attract more for the midstream and the downstream – the battery cell, the battery pack, etc. How you actually find new innovation in processing the nickel. This is a different challenge. But with the stakeholders and ecosystem we have today, I’m pretty optimistic.

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No China stimulus? Time to buy – Asia Times

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It’s a wonderful time

Clouds falls, you feel like

It’s a wonderful time

Don’t let it get ahead

– U2

Do not get Taiwanese companies because you think a big fiscal stimulus is coming. Get Chinese shares because a big fiscal signal is not needed.

The bull situation for Chinese stocks is not that stimulus may save the economy. The bull event for Chinese stocks is that homeowners are sitting on US$ 20 trillion in payments with nowhere to go.

The managed destruction of the property market is ongoing. Authorities have curtailed money management products and their inherent guarantees.

Money controls prevent easy access to foreign goods. And the coming storm of high-tech technology companies in clean power, semiconductors, aviation, robotics and biotech will have a lively equity market to get off the ground.          

China ’s economic transformation will be ill-served by flood-the-zone stimulus which – if we recall – is what got us the real estate bubble and subsequent “three red lines ” credit limits in the first place. What China ’s economic transition needs is better execution of “establish the new before abolishing the old. ”

What if we generate of China ’s new stimulus methods? The grab bag of goodies – reserve requirement ratio ( RRR ) cut, lowered interest/mortgage rates, special local bond sales, cash for clunker programs– are all bullets pointing in the same direction. But the power falls well short of a bazooka.

Trillions of renminbi ( RMB) in fiscal stimulus have been dangled but apparently withheld given the non-meeting held by the National Development and Reform Commission ( NDRC ) after the holidays. What has been offered will help China achieve 5 % gross domestic product ( GDP ) growth this year, hardly a lofty goal.

The only interesting policy is the People’s Bank of China ’s ( PBOC ) unexpected support for equity markets through 1 ) a collateral replacement scheme to increase risk assets at institutional investors and 2 ) a program to encourage bank lending for share buybacks.

While some ascribe this to an effort to drink consumer confidence, the likelier inspiration is an effort by the PBoC to redeploy some of China ’s$ 20 trillion in family bank deposits.

China ’s roaring property market in the past couple of weeks has given the box of laws a vote of confidence. Note that private marketplaces are behaving far more sensibly than global markets.

China ’s markets took one year off from October 1-7for National Day breaks – enough time for global markets to roll wild and unrestrained thoughts about fiscal stimulus of RMB2 trillion, RMB4 trillion, RMB6 trillion and RMB10 trillion.

The following pain in Chinese stocks traded in Hong Kong and through global ETFs occurred in Shanghai and Shenzhen after industry reopened.

Properly attributing local business confidence is of course unthinkable. Low prices from beaten down shares provide a healthy surface.

The NDRC non-meeting may include lanced the cook of huge trigger expectations. The business has good determined that China is severe about utilizing capital markets. What it needs to figure out then is that China ’s financial woes are not as grave as made out to be.

How well has President Xi Jinping managed China ’s market? Much of the company hit is predicting Japan-style stagnation, if no inevitable decline. That, of course, has been the situation for years.

According to one famous China-based economist’s 2015 forecast, President Xi’s financial performance may have earned him God Emperor standing in the mythology of China ’s socialist officials:

My assumption is that, under President Xi’s name, 2013-2023, common growth rates are unlikely to reach 3-4 %. That’s not my prediction, that ’s the upper limit of my prediction… I think that if President Xi is able to pull off average growth rates of 3-4 % during his 10 years in office, he will have accomplished something that we should really be astonished. It would be truly impressive, almost on par with what Deng Xiaoping did in the 1980’s …

In President Xi’s first two conditions, China ’s economy grew at a 6. 2 % compound average growth rate ( CAGR ), nearly double the upper limit of said predictions. China substantially outgrew all major markets except India. Somehow, our analyst was hardly twice as dismayed.

Perhaps it was President Xi’s personal problem, extending his time in office past the usual two five-year words. Alternatively of graduating with double starred first accolades from our scholar, Xi has only extended his experiments trying to earn an extraordinary triple or even a double starred second.

Graphic: Asia Times

Han Feizi’s assessment of President Xi’s economic performance is considerably less generous. Economic growth of 6. 2 % CAGR in Xi’s first two terms is not at all astonishing; it was, in fact, modestly below expectations ( Covid 2000 to 2022, what can you do? ).

Han Feizi did not and does not share our Beijing economist’s bleak assessment of the economy that Xi inherited and thus cannot grant bonus points for outperformance:

[President Xi] inherited a much more difficult economy than we think. There’s a huge amount of debt. There’s a huge amount of unrecognized bad debt.                

While China did take on a lot of debt and take it on quickly, Han Feizi fundamentally disagrees that the amount of debt and the quality of the debt is all that problematic.

It has been his correspondent’s contention that the size of China ’s economy is significantly understated compared to OECD national accounts ( see here ).

China ’s debt-to-GDP ratio is, thus, closer to ~125-200 % instead of the often quoted ~300 %. Moreover, this debt largely financed housing and infrastructure – long-lived assets with relatively low maintenance capital – able to generate value for decades.

China still has 15-20 % of the population to urbanize. Given urbanization of 1 % of the population per year, overbuilt housing should naturally resolve itself by kicking the can down the road.

As such, China ’s debt is nowhere near capacity. Xi inherited an economy headed in the wrong direction, not an economy out of runway. With property investment hobbled by redline credit limits in 2020, China nonetheless continued to grow 5 % by redirecting lending to advanced manufacturing.

A sentiment that Han Feizi might share with our Beijing economist is that Xi’s record is incomplete. No marks can be given until he sees things through. Things being another transformation of China ’s economy and society, which Han Feizi has written about before ( see here ):

China wants America’s Silicon Valley but regulated, Japan’s car companies but electrified, Germany ’s Mittelstand but scalable and Korea’s Chaebols but without political capture. It wants to lead the world in science and technology but without cram schools. A thriving economy but with common prosperity. Industry without air pollution. Digital lifestyles without gaming addiction. Material plenty without hedonism. Modernity without its ills. This is, of course, a wish-list and unrealistically ambitious. But these mad scientists sure as hell are going to try. They’ve developed a taste for it.

Various pieces of this transformation have started to take shape. The anti-corruption campaign under Xi’s tenure has been unyielding and dare we say transformative. China ’s once low-trust and loutish public of the Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao eras is now unrecognizable, able to sustain high-trust business models like shared bikes and take-only-what-you-paid-for vending machines ( see here ).

The professional environment for China ’s young grads is surely far less treacherous than the get-rich-quick-at-any-cost mentality of the go-go days.

Output from the “new three” industries – solar, batteries and EVs – are surging, although capacity appears to be growing even faster. Deflation across multiple sectors has set off alarm bells. Although not ideal, China ’s deflation is fundamentally different from Japan’s in its lost decades.

Simplistically, deflation caused by decreasing consumption ( demand curve shifting in ) is bad; deflation caused by increasing production ( supply curve shifting out ) is good.

Unlike Japan, which suffered two recessions in the 1990s, demand in China is still growing, if weaker than optimal. Japan’s deflation started when Tokyo was the most expensive city in the world with cantaloupes selling for$ 100 each. This is not the same deflation China is currently dealing with.

China ’s real disposable household income grew 6. 1 % in 2023. In recent years, regulators have crimped the income of previously high-flying professionals in finance, tech and real estate. Upper-tier income growth has stalled while lower-tier income growth has been robust.

Economist Simon Kuznets ’s prediction that inequality would rise in the early stages of economic development before peaking and falling as wealth increases is playing out perfectly in China while it confounds expectations in more capitalist economies.      

Graphic: Asia Times

And, of course, Han Feizi does not believe China ’s economy is egregiously unbalanced ( perhaps not even unbalanced at all ) and thus has no need for massive consumption stimulus.

This is the key reason Han Feizi was not “astonished ” by China ’s ability to maintain growth over 6 % in Xi’s first two terms. There is no need for consumption to outgrow investment to signal economic health ( see here ) and thus no need for massive consumption stimulus.

China ’s regulators and anti-corruption investigators have ransacked the nation’s banks and brokerages and detained high-profile bankers, attempting to put a leash on an industry with a natural tendency to run amok. The PBoC’s support for equity markets may signal confidence in the clean-up work recently performed.

So yes, buy Chinese stocks. Valuations are still cheap, and$ 20 trillion of savings has nowhere to go. Equity markets are being prepared for China ’s high-tech future.

Growth is more sustainable in a high-trust and more equal society. No there will not be a massive consumer stimulus. But that is precisely why you should buy, not sell, China.

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The World Bank isn’t buying China’s stimulus talk – Asia Times

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To anyone who hopes 2025 will be a less terrible season for China’s economy, the World Bank has some bad news for you.

The international lender anticipates that Asia’s largest economy’s growth will decline also further next year, creating new headwinds for the region. This is in spite of Beijing’s current moves to boost economic growth in response to negative pressures and an initial global investor response that was at least initially passionate.

” Just signaled fiscal support may raise short-term progress, but longer-term development will depend on deeper structural measures”, the World Bank said on October 8. For three years, it said,” China’s expansion has spilled over advantageously to its companions, but the size of that motivation is today diminishing”.

The World Bank might be misinterpreting China’s efforts to resurrect its financial situation. It&nbsp, cut borrowing costs, slashed businesses ‘ supply need numbers, reduced loan rates and unveiled market-support resources to put a floor under share costs. In Beijing, stronger macroeconomic stimulus measures are also being considered.

If the world’s house crisis is allowed to enhance, furthering negative forces, some economists worry about a lighter course. The uncertainty issue is demonstrated by the extreme volatility in Chinese shares over the past ten days.

When the World Bank mentions the need for “deeper architectural changes,” plunging house prices are at the top of their record. Yet&nbsp, Chinese leader Xi Jinping appears to think period is on Beijing’s part in repairing the critical business. It might not be, as Japan has demonstrated over the years, &nbsp, some economists say.

China’s existing real estate troubles and Japan’s negative loan problems of the 1990s are n’t essentially analogous. The important resemblance is a critical driver of economic growth stalling out indefinitely, triggering bad knock-on implications in different industries.

In China’s situation, this likewise means municipal governments around the country. Provincial leaders have relied on area sales and tax revenues from sizable construction projects for many years.

” China’s boom-and-bust housing market is largely driven by local governments ‘ heavy reliance on expanding the real estate business to provide a major source of income”, said Tianlei Huang, an analyst at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, a Washington-based think tank.

Since 2022, Huang added,” the decline in the housing market has hurt native state funds and exposed a&nbsp, prone system&nbsp, in need of reform”.

It’s a portrait of what ails China. And still, Xi’s Communist Party continues to treat the signs of financial issues, not the underlying problems themselves. The longer they fester, the stronger the resulting headwinds.

Rather than the 4.8 % the World Bank sees China’s economy growing this year, it sees the nation expanding at just 4.3 % in 2025. Both readings are below Beijing’s current 5 % target.

Of course, for an economy at China’s level of development, 4.3 % is effectively recession territory. And if Xi’s team does n’t act boldly and expeditiously to revive growth, that figure could prove too optimistic.

One wildcard is the&nbsp, November 5&nbsp, US election. The upcoming trade wars would disproportionately hit China if Donald Trump were to win.

During his first presidency from 2027 to 2021, Trump imposed harsh tariffs on China. Xi’s government has n’t seen anything yet if Trump comes back to power. Trump has already predicted a generalized global levy on all imports into the US and a 60 % tax on all Chinese goods.

” With higher US tariffs, a number of highly open economies in the Asia-Pacific are at risk of GDP falling below their baselines”, said Deborah Tan, an analyst at Moody’s Ratings. Along with China, they include Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

According to Tan,” these are primarily economies with high participation in global value chains and high exposure to US and Chinese intermediate goods supply and final goods demand.”

Vietnam, for example, has a high export share of gross domestic product ( GDP ) with strong linkages with&nbsp, Chinese manufacturing&nbsp, supply chains. ” Our simulation shows that within Vietnam, the high-tech goods sector will take the largest hit to output”, Tan said. ” China, similarly, the high-tech goods sector takes the largest hit to output followed by the low-tech goods sector”.

As this threat percolates, Xi’s team in Beijing risks losing even more trust among global investors.

One thing is to discredit them on the stimulus front. The slower pace of fixing the housing sector, strengthening local government balance sheets, and establishing social safety nets so that households save less and spend more are the bigger issues.

However, these measures “do not replace the more thorough structural reforms that are required to promote longer-term growth,” according to World Bank economist Aaditya Mattoo. The majority of the measures and bond proceeds will carry over into the following fiscal year given the lead time for implementation of the policy.

Mattoo notes that “even then, consumers may be reluctant to splurge because a one-time transfer would not boost longer-term incomes or address concerns about aging, illness and unemployment”.

In the interim, billionaire Ray Dalio sees this as Xi’s party’s “do what it takes” to change the gloomy narrative that may be evoking global investor sentiment. Draghi’s 2012 declaration as head of the European Central Bank is referenced here.

Last week “was a big week” ,&nbsp, said Dalio, founder of Bridgewater Associates. ” In fact, I think that it was such a big week that&nbsp, it could go down in the market-economic history books as comparable to the week Draghi said that he and the ECB would ‘ do whatever it takes,’ if China’s policymakers, in fact, do what it takes, which will require a lot more than what was announced”.

A long-time China bull, Dalio is increasingly vocal about his worries Beijing is sleepwalking into a&nbsp, Japan-like funk&nbsp, that history shows is challenging to exit. It’s taken Tokyo 25 years to begin exiting quantitative easing and its zero-interest-rate policies, and even that is proving challenging for the Bank of Japan.

To avoid it, one must devise a “beautiful deleveraging” strategy that balances printing enough yuan to support growth without causing inflation to rise too quickly while restructuring the entire economy. ” Doing these things starts to rekindle’ bottom fishing ‘ ]in stocks ] and ‘ animal spirits,'” he said. ” That is clearly happening right now,” he says.

Any new deleveraging efforts by Xi and Premier Li Qiang, Dalio said, will undoubtedly disorient and likely lead to more wealth destruction. That, it follows, will require considerable political courage, with Xi and Li having to decide where the costs and fallout of debt losses will be concentrated.

To Dalio, it all depends on “how well China’s domestic debt-money-economy challenges will be handled”.

At the same time, demographics are complicating the deleveraging process. The numerous moving parts that Xi and Li are struggling to manage are given a unique dimension by China’s aging population and shrinking working-age population. &nbsp,

” While last week saw some amazing actions and words that I’m certain will be followed by highly stimulative policies that will greatly boost asset prices,” Dalio said.” I think there are several important other things to keep an eye on to see how well China’s domestic debt-money issues will be handled,”

That’s not to say there are n’t some reform wins that Xi and Li can tout. As Sherry Zhao, analyst at&nbsp, Fitch Ratings, pointed out, refinancing risks for China’s local-government financing vehicles ( LGFVs ) have “reduced in the short term following government debt-relief measures and policy support, which will limit systemic risk”.

Provincial governments, Zhao said, continue to issue special refinancing bonds to swap “hidden debt”. The central government, meanwhile, has increased transfers to shoulder more infrastructure spending.

However, Zhao stressed,” we believe those support measures focus on the prevention of short-term&nbsp, systemic risk rather than a full-scale bailout. There continue to be longer-term risks associated with&nbsp, LGFVs ‘ debt burdens, and their resolution will hinge on China’s overall economic and fiscal strength”.

The Third Plenum meeting in July made it clear that local and regional governments may have more revenue flexibility to better accommodate their expenditure demands. ” The credit effects”, Zhao said,” will depend on how the changes are implemented, and on local governments ‘ willingness to use any additional revenue-raising powers given to them”.

The official Fitch view is that overall&nbsp, LGFV&nbsp, debt growth will be curbed as local governments tighten control of new debt, especially in regions that Beijing views as a priority for debt resolution.

The danger, however, is that these regions ‘ long-term debt default risk “remains and may even rise because of imbalances in economic and debt growth, as well as the potential inability of local governments to generate sustainable revenue for debt service.”

There are encouraging indications that China is currently developing a plan to stabilize the financial system and lessen risks.

Zheng Shanjie, the head of the National Development and Reform Commission, told reporters on October 8 that Beijing is developing” comprehensive policy measures to help stop the decline in the real estate market.” Shanjie said this in response to the National Development and Reform Commission’s announcement to stop housing sales and prices.

Zheng added that” we will take a number of potent and effective measures to try to boost the capital market in response to volatility and declines in the stock market.”

Even so, many economists and investors were disappointed that more short-term stimulus is n’t being deployed. ” Tuesday’s press briefing from China’s top economic planner … was supposed to be the big moment, the one where Beijing unleashed a&nbsp, stimulus bazooka“, said economist Stephen Innes at SPI Asset Management. ” Instead, it was more of a pop gun”.

Innes added that” Beijing’s reluctance to roll out a bigger package is seriously questioned about the viability of this rally” in stocks.

James Sullivan, head of Asia-Pacific equity research at JPMorgan, told CNBC that” the million-dollar question in China right now is, does the stimulus only flow into the supply side of the equation, or does it ultimately flow through into consumer demand? That’s not our expectation right now”.

Follow William Pesek on X at @WilliamPesek

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Court orders man to pay AIA team leader S,000 loan he used to pass financial soundness test

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In: South-East Asia

SINGAPORE: A boss who left Great Eastern Financial Advisers to take over the management of an AIA Singapore group offered to take over as his former subordinate and offered to pay some of his debts to make the junior’s change.

However, the subordinate failed to repay S$ 12, 000 ( US$ 9, 200 ) of the loan, and the team leader sued him to claim it back.

The subordinate claimed that the group leader was unable to recover the outstanding amount because the product was” for illegal reasons” to persuade AIA in its evaluation of his financial viability.

A judge rejected the claim that the loan was illegal in a judgment made public on Wednesday ( October 9 ). He mandated that the money be repaid, with curiosity at 5.33 per cent per year from the beginning of the state to the view.

THE Event

The claim, Mr Chong Kuan Siong, second got to know the plaintiff, Mr Lennard Goh Boon Kiat, in February 2018 when they worked for Unioracle Alliance, a financial service organization.

From June 2019 to November 2021, they were even coworkers at Great Eastern Financial Advisers, where Mr Goh was a financial advisor reporting to Mr Chong, his boss.

On Nov 2, 2021, Mr Chong left Great Eastern to meet AIA Singapore. &nbsp,

He made the decision to hire Mr. Goh to meet his AIA staff several weeks later, in May 2022. In reply, Mr Goh resigned from Great Eastern on May 29, 2022.

In October 2022, AIA sent a letter of intent to Mr. Goh, a place as economic service manager, with certain requirements.

These include passing a financial integrity check, which required that Mr. Goh’s personal debt for unsecured loans be no more than S$ 30, 000.

Mr. Goh informed Mr. Chong that he owed more than S$ 60,000 in unsecured debts, generally as debts from credit cards.

In response, Mr Chong extended a specific product of S$ 24, 000 to Mr Goh, to support him discharge his debts. &nbsp,

Mr Goh took up the product and ultimately cleared all of AIA’s “fit and appropriate people” assessments.

He eventually made several payments to Mr Chong, but left an amount of S$ 12, 000 excellent.

Mr Chong therefore sued Mr Goh to get the S$ 12, 000 up.

ENFORCEABLE?

The mortgage contract was entered into with the intention of deceiving the AIA of its assessment of Mr. Goh’s financial viability, according to Mr. Michael Ng and Mr. Clement Yong from Beyond Legal, and it was not binding, according to Mr. Goh’s attorneys, Mr.

They claimed that the loan did not actually lower Mr. Goh’s level of unsecured debt and that it was only used to cover up his actual debt in order to defraud the Monetary Authority of Singapore ( MAS ) and deceive AIA.

Mr Chong’s group of doctors from Shook Lin &amp, Bok, comprising Mr Lin Ruizi, Ms Denise Yong and Ms Nikhita Mulani, argued that the mortgage contract was legal.

Mr. Goh’s problem was to demonstrate that the loan deal was a deal that fell under an established circumstance where the goal was to undertake an illegal act, and Mr. Goh had failed to do so, according to the attorneys.

District Judge Chiah Kok Khun pointed to an AIA email that stated there was no requirement for Mr. Goh to declare that he had” no unsecured debt owed to people other than financial establishments.”

He said there was “nothing unpleasant” in Mr Chong assisting Mr Goh to lower his debt to financial institutions.

The prosecutor argued that the defendant’s ability to pass the financial soundness analysis does not violate the loan’s purpose.

The defendant’s correct amount of unsecured debts were not the object of the loan’s giving, in order to deceive AIA into thinking the plaintiff had passed the financial soundness assessment.

He continued,” It is of relevance to bear in mind that borrowing money to pay off bills is not illegitimate.”

” Refinancing a mortgage is no per se illegitimate, as the plaintiff admits”, added the judge.

He found there was” no purpose” why the loan contract was not legal.

He ordered Mr Goh to give Mr Lee charges of S$ 3, 500, on top of repaying the owed amounts of S$ 12, 000, with curiosity.

According to a method implemented in the State Courts to speed up the settlement of disputes where parties are at odds, the situation was tried on a documents-only base.

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AIA team leader successfully sues ex-colleague to return him loan of S,000

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In: South-East Asia

SINGAPORE: A boss who left Great Eastern Financial Advisers to lead a group at AIA Singapore recruited his former inferior to meet him, offering to pay part of his debts to help the dean’s change.

However, the subordinate failed to repay S$ 12,000 ( US$ 9,200 ) of the loan, and the team leader sued him to claim it back.

While the superior did not dispute the excellent number, he argued that the team leader was barred from recovering it because the product was extended” for illegal functions”, to persuade AIA in assessing his financial soundness.

In a judgment made available on Wednesday ( Oct 9 ), a judge rejected the argument that the loan was illegal. He ordered the total to be repaid, with interest at 5. 33 per cent per capita from the time of the emerging say to the day of judgment.

THE Event

The claim, Mr Chong Kuan Siong, second got to know the plaintiff, Mr Lennard Goh Boon Kiat, in February 2018 when they worked for Unioracle Alliance, a financial service organization.

From June 2019 to November 2021, they were even coworkers at Great Eastern Financial Advisers, where Mr Goh was a financial advisor reporting to Mr Chong, his boss.

On Nov 2, 2021, Mr Chong left Great Eastern to visit AIA Singapore.  

Some months later in May 2022, he decided to enlist Mr Goh to meet his group at AIA. In reply, Mr Goh resigned from Great Eastern on May 29, 2022.

In October 2022, AIA issued a letter of intent to Mr Goh, offering him the place of financial services manager content to specific circumstances.

These include passing a financial integrity judgment, which included a condition that Mr Goh’s individual obligations for unsecured debts should not be more than S$ 30,000.

Mr Goh told Mr Chong that he had unsecured debts of more than S$ 60,000, primarily in the form of credit card debts.

In response, Mr Chong extended a personal loan of S$ 24,000 to Mr Goh, to help him discharge his debts.  

Mr Goh took up the product and ultimately cleared all of AIA’s “fit and appropriate people” assessments.

He eventually made several payments to Mr Chong, but left an amount of S$ 12,000 excellent.

Mr Chong then sued Mr Goh to get the S$ 12,000 back.

ENFORCEABLE?

Mr Goh’s doctors, Mr Michael Ng and Mr Clement Yong from Beyond Legal, argued that the loan contract was not legal because it was entered into with the purpose of misleading AIA in its evaluation of Mr Goh’s financial integrity.

They argued that the loan did not reduce Mr Goh’s level of unsecured debt in reality, and that the loan served only the purpose of masking his true level of debt to circumvent regulations by the Monetary Authority of Singapore ( MAS ) and mislead AIA.

Mr Chong’s team of lawyers from Shook Lin & Bok, comprising Mr Lin Ruizi, Ms Denise Yong and Ms Nikhita Mulani, argued that the loan agreement was enforceable.

It was Mr Goh’s burden to prove that the loan agreement was a contract falling within an established situation where the objective was to commit an illegal act, and Mr Goh had failed to discharge this burden, the lawyers said.

District Judge Chiah Kok Khun  pointed to an email from AIA, saying there was no item requiring Mr Goh to declare that he has” no unsecured debt owed to persons other than financial institutions”.

He said there was “nothing objectionable” in Mr Chong assisting Mr Goh to reduce his indebtedness to financial institutions.

” That the loan enabled the defendant to pass the financial soundness assessment does not render the purpose of the loan illegal,” said the judge.

” The loan was not given for the purpose of masking the defendant’s true level of unsecured debts in order to mislead AIA into believing that the defendant had passed the financial soundness assessment. “

He added that “it is of pertinence to bear in mind that it is not illegal to borrow money to repay and reduce debts”.

” Refinancing a loan is not per se illegal, as the defendant admits,” added the judge.

He found there was” no reason” why the loan agreement was not enforceable.

He ordered Mr Goh to pay Mr Chong costs of S$ 3,500, on top of repaying the owed sum of S$ 12,000, with interest.

The case was tried on a documents-only basis, under a protocol implemented in the State Courts for quicker settling of cases where parties agree.

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