For many, South Korea’s decision to host a missile shield to defend against its hostile northern neighbour should not be controversial. In the past month alone, North Korea has fired six ballistic missiles, with a barrage of four successful launches on Monday trumpeted by Pyongyang as being a drill targeting US bases in Japan. But in a region riven by simmering historical grievances, Seoul’s move has sparked a bitter […]
By Rozanna Latiff and Liz Lee | KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak struck a softer tone with North Korea on Wednesday, a day after accusing it of treating Malaysians as “hostages” amid a diplomatic meltdown over the murder of the estranged half-brother of the North’s leader. Malaysian police have identified eight North Koreans wanted for questioning in connection with the killing of Kim […]
SEOUL A man claiming to be the son of the slain, estranged half brother of North Korea’s leader said he was lying low with his mother and sister, in a video posted online by a group that said it helped rescue them following the murder a month ago. The governments of Netherlands, China, the United States, and a fourth unnamed country provided emergency humanitarian assistance to protect […]
The Chinese government has long resented accusations that, as US President Donald Trump put it in a tweet in early January, it “won’t help with North Korea”. On Wednesday China’s foreign minister used a colourful metaphor to describe his government’s position on the crisis-prone Korean peninsula, likening Pyongyang, Seoul and Washington to “runaway trains” that Beijing was doing its best to stop. The press conference by Wang […]
By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Faced with a growing test of resolve for a new U.S. president who vowed while campaigning to get tough on North Korea, Donald Trump’s aides are pressing to complete a strategy review on how to counter Pyongyang’s missile and nuclear threats. Pyongyang’s latest missile launches and the assassination in Malaysia of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s estranged […]
By Saikat Chatterjee | HONG KONG HONG KONG Asian stocks edged lower on Wednesday after a strong start to the week due to profit-taking as investors lacked conviction to buy risky assets before a U.S. policy meeting next week that may see interest rates rising for the second time in three months. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.1 percent in early trade, a […]
March 8, 2017 by: Shawn Donnan and Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington ZTE has agreed to plead guilty to criminal charges of violating US sanctions on North Korea and Iran and to pay up to $1.2bn in fines, the largest sanctions-busting penalty levied against a Chinese company by Washington. The Chinese telecommunications group also admitted to obstructing a federal investigation as part of a settlement announced on Tuesday […]
Shanghai is regarded as the leading hub outside of Silicon Valley for technology innovations for the next four years, according to a KPMG report released on Monday. The report, claiming to reflect the viewpoints of over 800 global technology business leaders, placed Shanghai, New York, Tokyo, Beijing, and London in the first five places. The report explained that Shanghai became the top pick outside of Silicon Valley […]
How do you solve a problem like China’s excess corn stocks? Use it to make translucent film for greenhouses is one answer, its most influential agricultural expert said on Monday, as Beijing casts about for ways to rid itself of unwanted stores of corn and other agricultural commodities built up in recent years. The end of China’s failed minimum price policy for corn has forced a restructuring of […]
BEIJING China’s civil code pre-amble, expected to be passed next Wednesday by the National People’s Congress, promises to address a number of legal questions: – The pre-amble draft requires companies rights and obligations are determined in a “fair” and “reasonable” way. The previous principles only required “fairness”. Some lawyers say this could mean companies and individuals are compensated at market rates if they are forced to move […]
DUBAI // A fight between two rival gangs, captured on video, left one dead and one seriously injured, a Dubai court heard on Tuesday. A video shot by a tenant whose apartment overlooks the car park where the fight took place captured the moment dozens of Chinese men gathered at 9pm on March 23 last year armed with axes and metal bars. The fight lasted for 10 […]
SHANGHAI A senior Chinese nuclear power executive has said the country needs to accelerate the construction of new nuclear power plants if it is to meet targets to boost its use of nuclear energy, lower pollution and cut reliance on traditional fuel sources. He Yu, chairman of state-owned China General Nuclear Power Corp (CGN) said the country needed to build between four and six nuclear reactors each […]
We aren’t the world. The most talked-about brands of Mobile World Congress are almost entirely irrelevant to Americans. Some of that doesn’t matter, but the reasons for it are worth talking about. During the world’s biggest mobile conference, everybody was super excited about the Nokia 3310. I found the whole hullaballoo perplexing. But circa 2000, everybody in the UK owned this phone, and they have […]
By David Lawder | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON Trump administration trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Monday the $65 billion U.S. trade deficit with Germany was “one of the most difficult” trade issues, and bilateral discussions were needed to reduce it outside of European Union restrictions. Navarro, the director of the new White House National Trade Council, said at an economic conference in Washington that Germany has used the […]
By Liz Lee and Rozanna Latiff | KUALA LUMPUR KUALA LUMPUR Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak rebuked North Korea on Monday as his government expelled its envoy for casting doubt over the impartiality of the investigation into the bizarre murder of the North Korean leader’s estranged half brother. If North Korean agents did kill Kim Jong Nam, as U.S. officials and South Korean intelligence suspect, the decision […]
BEIJING China’s defence budget will rise 7 percent in 2017, to 1.044 trillion yuan ($151.43 billion), state media said on Monday, after the omission of exact figures from an annual report sparked questions over transparency on military spending. The budget increase, a figure that is closely watched around the world for clues to China’s strategic intentions, is the smallest in more than a decade, as economic growth […]
TOKYO U.S. stock futures dropped and Asian shares were on the defensive on Monday as investors weighed the near-certain prospect of an interest rate hike in the United States this month against news of slower growth in China this year. Risk appetite also took a hit on rising geopolitical tensions in East Asia, as North Korea fired four ballistic missiles early in the day, while a spat […]
By Balazs Koranyi | FRANKFURT FRANKFURT Two of the world’s biggest central banks are likely to find themselves with a bigger policy gap by the end of the coming fortnight The European Central Bank on Thursday will resist calls to start tightening policy against surging inflation but robust U.S. jobs data on Friday could seal the case for another Federal Reserve hike the week after. So, let’s […]
As part of the previously previewed “Two Sessions” which started on Sunday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday delivered the annual report on the work of the government in Beijing, summarizing the country’s achievements in the past year, and setting goals for this year. In his policy speech, lasting 97 minutes and 18,600 Chinese characters, Li signaled a course adjustment for the world’s second-largest economy and some […]
China’s banking system has surpassed the eurozone’s to become the world’s largest by assets, a sign both of the country’s increased influence in world finance and its reliance on debt to drive growth since the global financial crisis. While China’s gross domestic product surpassed the EU’s economic bloc in 2011 at market exchange rates, its banking system did not take over the top spot until the end […]
BEIJING The killing of the estranged half-brother of North Korea’s leader who had been living in the Chinese territory of Macau may be top news around the world, but for some Macanese legislators at China’s parliament it’s more a case of Kim Jong Who? Kim Jong Nam was killed on Feb. 13 at Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Malaysian police believe he was assaulted by two women who […]
After the Android bug bounty, Chinese researchers now receive the most rewards and the most cash from Google. Image: Google Google has raised its top reward for remote code execution bugs in its Google, Blogger and YouTube domains from an even $20,000 to $31,337, marking a 50 percent rise plus a bonus $1,337 or ‘leet‘ reward. It’s also bumped up its ‘Unrestricted file system or database access’ […]
China has lowered its annual economic growth target to “around” 6.5 per cent, as Beijing plans to focus on risk control in the final year of President Xi Jinping’s first term. The figure, down from the government’s target growth range of 6.5 to 7 per cent for 2016, was revealed on Sunday morning by Premier Li Keqiang in his annual “work report” to China’s parliament, the National […]
By Christian Shepherd and Philip Wen | BEIJING BEIJING China pledged more support to its military on Sunday including strengthening maritime and air defences amid efforts to safeguard sovereignty, but in a highly unusual move did not give spending figures for 2017 despite promises of transparency. Parliament’s spokeswoman Fu Ying said on Saturday defence spending for this year would rise about 7 percent, accounting for around 1.3 […]
