Raffles, Wallich statues in Fort Canning: Singapore does not glorify its colonial past, says Desmond Lee

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Singapore’s National Development Minister Desmond Lee commented on the recently installed statues of Sir Stamford Raffles and Dr. Nathaniel Wallich in Fort Canning Park on Tuesday ( Jul 2 ) that it takes a” clear eyed-view” of its colonial past and does not glorify or celebrate it.

Given the “more new changes” toward decolonization and the “re-examining of imperial histories,” NMP nominee Usha Chandradas had a question about the foundation of the monuments ‘ placement.

The monuments prompted online discussion and censure, with some questioning the assembly.

Mr. Lee stated in his published political response that Singapore has charted its own course since decolonizing in 1963 and gaining its independence two years later.

He said that by decolonisation, &nbsp, Ms&nbsp, Chandradas was likely referring to “more new techniques in some places to remove all and anything that may be a warning of a imperial history”.

” Re- evaluation of imperial histories, on the other hand, involves looking again at record through a current lens”, he added.

It “takes various types and locations,” he said. It sometimes involves a reimagining of situations or how they are perceived. In some cases, it has resulted in a later-day criticism of everything deemed to be colonialism-related.

Singapore acknowledges that a period of its history has left legacy that the nation is “build, adapt, and transform,” but does not glorify or celebrate it.

This includes Singapore’s operational, administrative and political structure, with its legislature based on the Westminster model.

He argued that the popularity and presentation of the regulations should be viewed in this light and that it acknowledges the efforts of Raffles and Wallich to Singapore’s horticultural heritage.

” The prior must not be a worry for us.” We should be able to rely on it with confidence, considering everything we have accomplished as a people and as a country since our democracy, and confident in the information that we will continue to shape our own course and shape our future.

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Indonesia president-elect Prabowo’s leg surgery renews concern about his health, but could help him perform duties better: Analysts

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He also underwent a medical test by the General Election Commission (KPU) in October 2023 before he could officially qualify as a presidential candidate. The medical report declared him fit to run for the election. 

Dr Cecep Hidayat, a political observer from the University of Indonesia, said the test was to ascertain whether the presidential and vice-presidential candidates were physically and mentally fit.

“This is one of the requirements that must be fulfilled before being declared qualified to participate in the election. All six candidates passed the test,” Dr Cecep told CNA, referring to the three pairs of presidential and vice-presidential candidates in the 2024 election.

FITTER FOR THE TOP JOB AFTER SURGERY?

After Mr Prabowo is sworn in as president in October, his health will continue to be monitored by the presidential medical team, added Dr Cecep.  

Should he be unable to discharge his duties, the Indonesian constitution states that the vice-president will take over, said Dr Cecep.

If this happens, Mr Gibran will have the discretion to appoint his father as a key advisor, Mr Dedi Dinarto, lead Indonesia analyst at strategic advisory firm Global Counsel, told the South China Morning Post.

“If Gibran becomes president, Joko Widodo will likely serve as a key adviser to his administration, taking on whatever role his eldest son assigns to him,” Mr Dedi said.

BRIN’s Mr Wasisto said it would depend on Mr Widodo’s political moves after he steps down as president. 

“But, at least indirectly, Jokowi’s influence on Gibran certainly exists because of the relationship between father and son,” Mr Wasisto said, using Mr Widodo’s moniker.

Dr Ujang Komarudin, a political expert from the University of Al Azhar Indonesia, believes Mr Prabowo’s decision to undergo surgery will put him in a better position to do his job, and called on the public not to engage in negative speculation. 

“Going for surgery is a natural thing as everyone must be sick (at some point) and no one has never been sick,” Dr Ujang told CNA. 

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BlackRock tasks Yik Ley Chan to lead SEA private credit as demand increases | FinanceAsia

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Global investment giant BlackRock has appointed Yik Ley Chan to lead the firm’s private credit team in an expanded remit for Southeast Asia (SEA). 

Chan (pictured) will be based in Singapore and will become responsible for the origination and execution of private credit investments. The appointment takes effect next month in July, according to a company media release. He will also join the firm’s Asia Pacific (Apac) private credit leadership team. 

Chan has 16 years’ experience in financial services, of which more than 13 years were spent on structuring private credit and financing solutions. He was most recently Asia head of private credit at Jefferies, where he oversaw markets in SEA including Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Yik Ley previously played a senior structurer role for Credit Suisse, covering SEA and frontier markets.

BlackRock’s global private debt platform manages $85 billion across the asset class. The global private debt team has over 200 investment professionals in over 18 cities globally as of December 2023.

BlackRock’s Apac private credit platform currently invests in opportunities throughout Australasia, South Korea, Japan, Greater China, India, and SEA.

Celia Yan, head of Apac private credit, BlackRock, said in the release: “SEA is an exciting region offering promising opportunities for private credit, as corporates look for ways to finance transformation beyond traditional avenues. Yik Ley’s wealth of investment experience and local insights will be of immense value to our clients, while strengthening our investment capabilities throughout developed and emerging markets in Apac.”

Deborah Ho, country head of Singapore and head of SEA, BlackRock, added: “Client demand for private markets investments has increased dramatically – a trend we believe is here to stay.”

For more FinanceAsia people moves click here. 


¬ Haymarket Media Limited. All rights reserved.

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Commentary: The world came dangerously close to full-scale conflict in the South China Sea

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Based on previous encounters with the Chinese, Manila had diligently abstained from the prayer of the agreement. Even though the term “armed attack” in the agreement was not specifically defined, the Taiwanese acts would have amounted to non-kinetic means of the use of illegal force in American military-legal terms.

This day, Manila continued to try to calm the issue, most glaringly due to the severity of the Jun 17 event, which could have put the nations, and perhaps even the Americans, on the verge of total armed conflict.

In a statement to soldiers of the product overseeing the South China Sea on June 23, Mr. Marcos stated that the Philippines is” not in the firm to provoke wars.”

PROBING THE” RED LIN E” IN THE SOUTH CHINA SEA

All these could be song to China’s lips. Beijing has been able to further examine the American-Filipi “red range”

The Jun 17 incident highlighted two crucial data points: Manila’s resistance to intensify tensions and Washington’s visible ambivalence about offering Philippines more robust support even without using the Mutual Defense Treaty.

China also showed how it would go to stop the Filipinos ‘ movements and its growing supremacy. A few weeks after the conflict, the largest Chinese coast guard vehicle, which displaced more than 10,000 kilograms, was deployed close to the Sierra Madre island.

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North Korea condemns drills by US, Japan, South Korea as ‘Asian NATO’

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” We clearly denounce… provocative military muscles- stretching against the DPRK”, Pyongyang’s international ministry said in a statement carried by the state- run KCNA news agency Sunday, referring to the North’s established name.

” The US- Japan- South relations have taken on the total- formed presence of an Eastern- type NATO”, it said, warning of “fatal consequences”.

The US and its supporters ‘ efforts to strengthen the defense bloc will never be overlooked by the DPRK, according to the statement.

The latest combined drills involved Washington’s radioactive- powered aircraft ship USS Theodore Roosevelt, Tokyo’s guided- weapon destroyer JS Atago, and Seoul’s KF- 16 fighter jet.

Similar mixed activities have always been condemned by Pyongyang as practices for an war.

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China keeps pressure on Philippines despite US ally – Asia Times

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The Philippines and the United States ‘ annual Balikatan joint military exercises this year ( April 22 through May 10 ) broke new ground. Thus did China’s answer to it. The South China Sea and Taiwan Strait spots were demonstrated by the practice areas and the weapons deployed. Beijing’s rebellion amid the group’s show of force is exposed by a rise in Chinese vessel presence in Manila’s eastern exclusive economic zone and another harsh maritime incident over a disputed reef.

The display of strength and the response to it heightened tensions in the turbulent waters and posed concerns about the drill’s warning price. The parties are allowing more hazard while reducing the scope for politics, according to the symbolism and messages.

expanded and developed display of supporters ‘ power

The 39th Balikatan training was billed as the “most powerful, most ambitious and most complicated” however. It expanded on improvements made in more new drills, which had turned into a field testing facility for new defence ideas and arms.

In Cagayan, one of the Philippines ‘ northern provinces opposite Taiwan, US-made Patriot weapons were amphibiously inserted by land and sea in 2022.

In Zambales, a southern province facing the West Philippine Sea, live-fire demonstrations of Patriot and Avenger weapons took place last year. For the first time, a sinking exercise ( SINKEX ) was also conducted with a decommissioned corvette as a mock target hit by volleys from land, air, and sea platforms. The occasion was likewise held off Zambales, 235 km from Scarborough Shoal, a contested have between Manila and Beijing.

This time, it was the change of the Typhon floor- based weapon, with a range of 1600 kilometers, to appear in a mutual military exercise preceding Balikatan. Patriot missile missiles were likewise deployed for the first time at Clark, a former US airport in northern Luzon.

It’s interesting to watch whether these weapons will eventually be prepositioned in agreed locations under the Philippino-US Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement ( EDCA ). The Mod missiles have been stationed in unknown locations for a long time following the training, which has fueled speculation that they are now stationed in the nation. The number of EDCA foundations increased from five to nine next year, adding three new locations in southern Palawan and northern Luzon.

Will China react the same way it did when South Korea approved the installation of US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense ( THAAD ) missiles on its soil if they ever get fixed in these locations? If so, Manila’s waning relationships with its big cousin and largest business partner perhaps more crumble. Beijing condemned the weapon deployment. Wu Qian, a spokesperson for the PRC Defence Ministry, stated that the region was “heard a lot of risk of war” and that “intermediate-range missiles are proper and offensive weapons with a powerful Cold War colour.”

New Balikatan rounds have sharpened the additional defense and multi-domain orientation. Island security and conquering, air and missile protection, as well as security and information operations were included in this year’s iteration. The Philippine Coast Guard, an organization that is leading the charge against China in challenging circumstances, participated for the first time.

In Palawan, a crucial state facing the South China Sea, US HIMARS missiles were even fired.

In the state of Ilocos Norte, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s official residence, a SINKEX was held, which is also in northeastern Luzon. Despite claims that the incident was accidental, a Chinese-made original naval tanker became the target.

Most notably, for the first time, sea activities went beyond the government’s 12 navigational- mile regional seas. France, which hopes to provide Manila with boats, dispatched a ship to visit their Filipino and American peers, who sailed from the Sulu Sea to the South China Sea. Paris’s entrance was its first. Fourteen states, including brother South China Sea littoral states Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam, even sent spectators.

China: angry and unaffected

Manila’s extraordinary movements were met by Beijing’s strong measures. Near Spanish military installations in the South China Sea, Chinese government and army vessels were spotted. Three Chinese sea study vessels were among them when they were discovered in the Second Thomas Shoal, a new collision between the two companions. Another was seen off Catanduanes and Samar, manner off in the country’s south facing the Pacific Ocean.

Four Chinese PLA Navy vessels tipped off the allied fleet of four ships, two from the Philippines, one from America, and one from France, who were conducting international maritime drills in the South China Sea.

While Balikatan was afoot, a fresh event happened in Scarborough Shoal. Three Chin Coast Guard ships rammed and used water cannons to harm two Asian state arteries. That incident followed a March March incident in which two Chinese coast guard ships blew up a Philippine human vessel while also being impacted by high-pressure water blasting.

The assumption that Balikatan would urge China to behave politely and restrain from acting assertively sprang up, especially given the presence of foreign fleets. The most recent sea event was denounced by a number of nations. But beyond flouting international law and social costs, China’s rebellion made a strong statement: The upgraded exercising no longer deters Beijing, nor does Manila’s clarity travel in the contested water.

Will this cause the alliance to adjust its response? Despite suffering injuries to sailors and property damage, Chinese actions continue to fall short of the definition of an “armed attack” required to stoke the much-detested US pledges of ironclad commitment to its junior ally. China may be encouraged by the Scarborough Shoal water-blasting scandal. More untoward instances, in turn, may erode trust in the alliance’s ability to push back beyond rhetorical denunciations.

In order to ward off China, the Philippines has deepened defense relations with the US and other partners. This includes creating a more expansive and evolved Balikatan. A failure to obtain satisfactory outcomes may necessitate a new analysis. This may serve as a catalyst for China’s desire to lessen Manila’s strong ties with its former colonist and long-standing ally and to obliterate non-regional powers from the intractable sea dispute.

Yet, close calls and all, disputants still tolerate further risk. With its vigorous coverage of Chinese activities in tense situations and its involvement in coordinated activities with allies and partners, Manila continues to stand strong. No anticipated high-level discussion with Beijing has been sparked by diplomatic protests.

The first defense chiefs to meet on the sidelines of the this year’s Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore since 2022, marked a stark contrast. As the US approaches elections in the late summer, it is one of a number of high-level official contacts to try to bolster ties between the two rivals.

Last April, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of State Janet Yellen made quick trips to China. Blinken’s trip coincided with the early days of Balikatan.

The South China Sea is only one of the many contentious thorny issues that divide the two biggest powers, and it might not even be the most pressing one. Beijing, on the other hand, is not backtracking and exerts pressure on its smaller neighbor despite having a major ally nearby.

If China’s response to this year’s Balikatan shows the limits of deterrence, the South China Sea may be in for more turbulence.

Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, a research fellow at Asia-Pacific Pathways to Progress Foundation, is the president of the Philippine Association for Chinese Studies.

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Yen slumps to lowest since 1986, putting traders on alert

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Masato Kanda, a bottom dollar minister, stated on Monday that Japan was always ready to take action against extreme market movements, but traders ignored the warning after the most recent treatment failed to stop the selling. Because it’s not being supported by any shift in levels, Tuckey said, “perhaps thatContinue Reading

Energy transition will propel Malaysia’s economy, needs to ‘survive multiple administrations’: Economy minister

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MANAGING SOCIETAL IMPACT IS THE INTELLIGENT PART.

Companies and even the general public are aware that high-quality opportunities” come with needs for natural energy,” according to Mr. Rafizi. &nbsp,

” That realization sort of provides a balance to the negative social narrative against any plan that has a knock-on effect on the public.”

He claimed for CNA that controlling the impact on society is the trickiest element. &nbsp,

” I wo n’t say that we have done it well”, he said. There is still a long way to proceed, but we put significant factors first.

Malaysia has reached a crucial inflection point in its energy needs, he noted, referring to a name for a nation that goods more than it exports. Beyond this, he noted, it could become” a gross supplier” of oil and gas.

We are making our best efforts to inform the public that our energy mix is unsustainable if we do n’t pivot, he continued. &nbsp,

” And therefore, the sooner ( we ) pivot, the better” .&nbsp,

Continuous WITH SUBSIDY RATIONALISATION&nbsp,

In the discussion with CNA, Mr Rafizi furthermore defended the president’s move to cut domestic energy incentives as a vital part of fiscal combination.

Malaysia on Jun 10 cut most of its diesel subsidies, which the authorities said was costing the country RM4 billion ( US$ 849 million ) annually. &nbsp,

Following last year’s announcements to rationalize subsidies for chicken sales and electricity tariffs, the next government initiative was implemented to rebuild the country’s subsidy distribution system.

The changes are a result of a larger trend to stop paying for overly expensive cover grants.

The emphasis has always been on putting together the necessary system in place, according to Mr. Rafizi, “if you notice how we have managed the sequencing of sympathetic and significant policies, like the advertising of gas subsidies. &nbsp,

When it meets certain internal standards, the state will decide whether to roll it out.

Business observers are currently carefully monitoring the upcoming step in the payment rationalization program.

” But I hope at the same time, the market understands by now that we intend to do it, and we have done it”, said Mr Rafizi on the president’s intention to continue with the program. &nbsp,

Our fiscal combination strategy’s fundamental component is the payment rationalization program. It’s just that given the very dark of it and the awareness, it is best that the action- by- action is kept close to the president’s chest”.

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25-year weak yen obsession is blowing up on Tokyo – Asia Times

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Forex traders who are betting on a yen bounce should talk to policy veterans who are more knowledgeable and not the current ones.

Officials from the Bank of Japan, Shunichi, Suzuki, Masato Kanda, and Kazuo Ueda, the yen’s government, argued that the renminbi is a victim of the Japan-US offer gap, while the yen was at its lowest point over the past year.

This is bedroom, as Hiroshi Watanabe, past vice minister of finance for foreign affairs, tells Nikkei Asia. Yet if Tokyo participates suddenly, there’s little opportunity for the yen to march from 159 then history, say, 150 to the US dollar, he says.

In the days to come, the chances are that the yen will continue to decline. The purpose: Tokyo’s 25- year- ancient poor- yen strategy is blowing up on Asia’s next- biggest economy in real time, leaving the currency on a upward path.

” The level of japanese loss in recent years is startling”, says Robin Brooks, scholar at the Brookings Institution. The Turkish lira, which has traditionally been the weakest money in the major markets, has lost more in real terms than the renminbi. However, since the end- 2019 – since only before Covid hit – only one money, the Egyptian pound, has fallen more than the yen in true terms”.

Brooks adds that,” no surprisingly, the level of this loss has sparked controversy on its drivers and how much further it can expand”. On some level, he explains, “yen weakness stems from Japan’s extremely high debt, which forces the bank to cover long- term government bond yields via available- ended bond buying”.

Finally, Brooks concludes,” Japan is a sobering stories about letting debt fall unchecked. Countries can impose limits on state bond yields with the help of their main businesses, but doing so only leads to weak currency depreciation.

Now that Watanabe is no longer employed directly by the government and is leading a Tokyo think tank, he can explain why the yen should n’t be viewed as a safe haven asset. And why does the market wager that the Ministry of Finance’s intervention wo n’t succeed?

A number of Asian governments have been using a weak yen-only strategy to encourage growth and combat inflation since the late 1990s. After Chinese officials claimed they were moving away from the old beggar-thy-neighbor policies, the ploy gained perhaps more significance.

The Liberal Democratic Party’s resumption of power in late 2012 is referenced below. With a strong plan to boost the business, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came back into power.

Abe compared victory to the warrior analogy, which depicts how three projectiles fired at a target. Abe’s bolts, aimed at slaying depreciation, included intense monetary easing, more imaginative macroeconomic policies and a reform Big Bang.

However, structural changes to cut red tape, revive innovation and productivity, enable people and attract more major global skills were few and far between. Similar to how to create a new fiscal stance. Over the past 14 plus years, debt has remained high.

Instead, Abe prioritized lower interest rates and a weaker yen. To further the quantitative easing initiative that Tokyo had instituted in 2001, he appointed Haruhiko Kuroda as governor of the Bank of Japan in 2013. The BOJ had more stocks and bonds than it had in 2013 and 2018, so much so that its balance sheet surpassed Japan’s US$ 4.7 trillion gross domestic product.

Count the ways this strategy is backfiring. As the Fed tightened in 2022 and 2023, the yen’s weakness deepened. That made Japan vulnerable to rising oil, food, and other important imports.

According to economist Atsushi Takeda of the Itochu Research Institute,” the ideal scenario would be for wage gains to be passed on to prices and for prices to rise steadily.” Instead, “bad” inflation imported from abroad is undermining household and business confidence.

Goushi Kataoka, a former BOJ board member, notes that” cost- push pressure is heightening at a degree never seen before, prodding firms to raise prices”.

The yen’s decline is also gaining new life. It is possible that yen selling as a result of a certain threshold, as long as US-Japan rate differentials are above a certain threshold, even with some rate differential narrowing, says Barclays ‘ strategist Shinichiro Kadota.

However, the yen is falling because of investor confidence in the currency. So far this year, the yen is down more than 13 %. Its current course is raising questions about whether China will decide to accept a lower exchange rate as well. The yuan is on the verge of breaking point since 2008;

A weaker yuan is suggested as the best way to address the deflationary pressures on China. However, Japan’s experience serves as a warning about the advantages of putting aggressive monetary policy policies before policies to boost competition and disruption.

The BOJ basically inaugurated the biggest political and corporate welfare scheme in history. Since the late 1990s, it has made it more important for the 13 governments to rebalance growth engines and establish level playing fields.

Corporate executives felt less pressure to innovate, change, and take significant risks. For two- plus decades, it’s been easier to harness BOJ support than for CEOs to disrupt industry. In 2024, Ueda’s BOJ team is currently plagued by that BOJ-enabled complacency.

The yen is sagging again because it is Tokyo’s only real policy, as Watanabe and other Japanese policy veterans now acknowledge. This explains, in part, why Ueda has avoided any chance even just to start the process of normalizing rates. Ueda has jumped at every chance he has had to signal that change is on the way in his 14 plus months in charge.

The yen is still in secular-declining mode even if the MOF intervenes in the coming days. Too quickly is the BOJ able to feel at ease braking against the economy. Nor does Tokyo’s political environment encourage tighter policy.

The approval rating for the LDP’s current prime minister, Fumio Kishida, who is now 21 %, is the only factor that is falling faster than GDP. Ueda wants to blame the BOJ for causing Japan to go into recession, but that is last. The BOJ keeps its foot on the gas, but the yen drops as it goes.

According to Kelvin  Wong, senior analyst at currency broker Oanda,” softer prints of Japanese economic data may cause BOJ to delay its next interest rate increase to September in addition to the near-term increase in geopolitical risk premium coming out of the Eurozone as a result of the looming first round of French legislative elections scheduled this Sunday, June, supporting potential bids on the US dollar due to safe-haven demand.”

Japan contracted 1.8 % year on year in the January- March quarter. The one bright spot is exports, which are “having a positive impact”, says Yeap Jun Rong, market analyst at&nbsp, IG Asia Pte.

There’s an argument, though, that Japan’s economy is in worse shape than the official data suggest. &nbsp, Marcel Thieliant, economist at Capital Economics, points to hopes that exports alone will save the day.

He claims that the majority of the rise in trade values was caused by the yen’s sharp decline rather than by any discernible increase in volumes.

One wild card is the November 5 US election. If Beijing lets the yuan weaken, too, exchange rates could become a big controversy in Washington. No issue brings together Republicans led by President Joe Biden and Donald Trump like beggar-thy-neighbor scheming in Asia. That could add fresh fuel to trade- war politics in Washington, provoking retaliation in Beijing.

However, making up a claim that Japan is responsible for Washington’s policy is ineffective is not more credible. The preponderance of the data refutes both contentions.

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Beijing: new Treasury rules amount to ‘decoupling’ – Asia Times

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Following Washington’s suggestion to establish a set of specific regulations that would hinder and track American investments in China for semiconductors, artificial intelligence, and classical computing, Beijing has expressed major problems. &nbsp,

The Chinese Commerce Ministry stated on Monday that, despite the US’s repeated efforts to say it has no intention of dissociating from China or preventing the country’s economic growth, Washington has insisted on preventing American firms from investing in China and preventing the government’s normal growth. &nbsp, &nbsp,

A spokesperson for the government referred to the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden in the US in November as” a typical broad approach to national security,” saying that this method goes against the two faces of state’s discussion at the conference in San Francisco.

He predicted that the restrictions may have a negative impact on Chinese and US businesses ‘ regular economic and trade cooperation, undermine the world’s economic and trade balance, and deteriorate global commercial and supply chains ‘ security and stability.

He added that China is entitled to take the same actions as the United States is against. He demanded that the US government prevent politicizing and stifling business.

Researchers at the Ministry of Commerce, Zhou Mi, predicted that Washington’s purchase regulations will make high-tech cooperation between the US and China more difficult. He claimed that it will also stifle global technical innovation and scientific advancement. &nbsp,

Beijing made the comments after the US Treasury Department released a notice of proposed rule-making ( NPRM ) on June 21 to implement Biden’s executive order, which was first announced in August and had the title” Addressing US investments in specific national security technologies and products in countries of concern.”

According to the Treasury, the NPRM establishes a procedure for creating a new federal security software to combat threats from foreign direct investments in China, Hong Kong, and Macau.

The proposed NPRM developments our national security by preventing, according to Paul Rosen, assistant secretary of the Treasury for Investment Security, the numerous benefits that some US opportunities offer besides only capital from supporting the development of delicate systems in nations that might use them to harm our national security.

The Treasury requests comments on the proposal through August 4 and anticipates that the regulation will be in effect by the end of this year. &nbsp,

The secretary of the Treasury must enact laws that prohibit US citizens from operating AI, chip, and quantum computing businesses in China, according to Biden’s executive order. &nbsp,

Additionally, the regulations should mandate that US citizens notify the Treasury of specific other transactions that might involve these products and technologies that could compromise US national security.

The NPRM said a” covered transaction” may be a prohibited transaction, or only a notifiable one. &nbsp,

Covered transactions include the provision of debt financing, the conversion of convertible debt, greenfield investments ( a type of foreign direct investment where a company establishes operations abroad ), joint ventures, and limited partner ( LP ) or equivalent investments.

China’s FDI

The Chinese Commerce Ministry reported on June 21 that its total foreign direct investment decreased by 31 % to US$ 57.9 billion in the first five months of this year from US$ 84.3 billion during the same time period in 2023. &nbsp,

FDI in China’s high technology manufacturing sector rose 2.7 % to US$ 6.9 billion. FDI coming from Germany and Singapore to China rose 24 % and 16 % year- on- year, respectively. However, the commerce ministry did not make the detailed FDI figures available for each country. &nbsp,

China’s high technology development certainly needs the participation of foreign funds, but it mainly relies on domestic funds and policy environment, said Xiang Ligang, director- general of the Zhongguancun Information Consumption Alliance, a Beijing- based telecom industry association.

China must now send a clear message that it needs to develop its own AI technology, according to Xiang, who stated that the proposed US investment restrictions were a result of this. He made mention of Beijing’s recent national policy to support Chinese technology startups.

On June 15, China’s State Council published a document to encourage local governments, state- owned- enterprises, banks, private equity and asset management firms and long- term fund management companies to provide loans, subsidies and funds to technology startups.

According to the statement, financial authorities should foster a favorable lending climate for technology companies to grow and raise money. China will tweak its laws in order to promote FDI, according to the statement. &nbsp,

In an article published on June 23, Guan Quan, a professor at the Renmin University of China, writes that the US has recently sent an official to Japan and the Netherlands and urged them to tighten their export controls for chip-making equipment. &nbsp,

Besides, he says, Washington also plans to add 11 Chinese chip foundries to its Entity List. He says all these moves have shown clearly&nbsp, that the Biden administration will not stop suppressing China’s chip sector.

He claims that until one day China can self-supply all the necessary chip-making tools, the only way to put an end to all these restrictions is to use technological advancements. However, Guan did not provide a roadmap or schedule for how China would go about accomplishing its objectives.

Chinese students repatriated

China can still use this opportunity to attract American investments into its high technology sectors, according to some commentators, because it may take up to six more months before the proposed US investment restrictions go into effect. &nbsp,

Meanwhile, the immediate effect of imposing a ban on Chinese students from studying or obtaining AI technology in the US is. &nbsp,

On June 22, China Daily, a state- owned publication, reported that four Chinese students who traveled to the US for academic conferences had recently suffered from the US border officers ‘ “unwarranted harassment, interrogation and repatriation” .&nbsp,

Border agents questioned the four science students, two of whom have research interests in AI, about their personal and family histories and whether they were affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party, according to the report. &nbsp, &nbsp,

It said the US has repatriated more than 30 Chinese students, mostly master’s or doctoral degree candidates in computer- related fields, in recent years.

Read: China hawk: Fix symbolic, ineffective US sanctions

Follow Jeff Pao on X: &nbsp, @jeffpao3

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