China

Hong Kong, Singapore to be biggest winners as global capital flows shift to Asia: DBS CEO
9Feb mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
Asia, China, Singapore

Hong Kong, Singapore to be biggest winners as global capital flows shift to Asia: DBS CEO

The two financial hubs are best choices for global investors seeking to diversify their portfolios amid geopolitical risks, Tan Su Shan says Hong Kong and Singapore are set to be the biggest winners in attracting new capital inflows as global investors diversify their asset allocations amid geopolitical risks and trade tensions, according to the top executive at DBS Group. The two Asian financial centres would be the best choice for international investors who previously held overweight positions in US markets but now sought to diversify their portfolios, Tan Su Shan, CEO of the largest lender in Southeast Asia, said in an interview last week. US interest rate cuts and ongoing geopolitical tensions have prompted international investors to eye faster-growing Asi...
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China’s infrastructure finance in Africa: impacts and lessons
7Feb mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China

China’s infrastructure finance in Africa: impacts and lessons

China has been a major financier of African infrastructure over the past two decades, supporting large-scale projects in sectors such as hydropower, mining and rail. But this role is changing. As bilateral lending declines and the Belt and Road Initiative shifts towards a ‘small and beautiful’ approach, China’s infrastructure finance is increasingly shaped by new priorities – including digital and green technologies – and a more competitive global landscape. This paper takes a retrospective view of China’s infrastructure finance in Africa to draw policy lessons for today’s infrastructure investors. Using case studies across hydropower, rail, digital and renewable energy in Angola, Ethiopia, Guinea, Kenya and Zambia, it examines both the development impacts of Chinese-financed pr...
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China’s financial powerhouse Shanghai aims for 5% growth, ‘global influence’
4Feb mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
China

China’s financial powerhouse Shanghai aims for 5% growth, ‘global influence’

Chinese megacity ranks in the world’s five most powerful metros after New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles, with a GDP of 5.67 trillion yuan China’s economic locomotive Shanghai is aiming for a growth rate of around 5 per cent this year, after gradually rebounding since 2023 and reaching a better-than-expected 5.4 per cent growth last year.The megacity, whose economic size is comparable to that of Belgium with last year’s GDP totalling 5.67 trillion yuan (US$816.2 billion), is upgrading its role as a global financial, trade and shipping centre, Mayor Gong Zheng told the city’s annual plenary sessions on Tuesday.The government is leading more foreign businesses to invest in advanced manufacturing, modern services, cutting-edge technologies and green projects, with research and developmen...
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China Highlights Xi’s Old Speech on Risks, Powerful Currency
2Feb mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
China

China Highlights Xi’s Old Speech on Risks, Powerful Currency

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s pledge to curb financial risks and build a powerful currency with global reserve status, reiterated in a state publication, is boosting expectations of an accelerated push for yuan internationalization. “What constitutes a strong financial nation?” according to Xi’s remarks published Saturday by the Qiushi magazine, based on his 2024 speech. “First, it should have a powerful currency, widely used in international trade, investment and foreign exchange markets, holding the status of a global reserve currency.” The remarks in Qiushi, the Communist Party’s flagship journal and a window into high-level policy intent, likely signal China’s drive to internationalize the yuan and expand its financial clout. The timing is pivotal, as the dollar’s haven app...
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Xi’s article on boosting China’s financial strength to be published
1Feb mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
China

Xi’s article on boosting China’s financial strength to be published

An article by Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, on following the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics and boosting China's strength in finance will be published on Sunday. The article by Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, will be published in this year's third issue of the Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee. China's financial development with Chinese characteristics not only follows the path of the development of modern finance, but also has distinctive features that suit China's national conditions, which is different from the Western financial development model, according to the article. It notes that a financially robust country ...
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One year after DeepSeek, Chinese AI firms from Alibaba to Moonshot race to release new models
28Jan mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
Asia, China, World

One year after DeepSeek, Chinese AI firms from Alibaba to Moonshot race to release new models

Chinese companies are accelerating the rollout of new artificial intelligence models as competition with U.S.-based rivals OpenAI, Anthropic and Google intensifies. Just over a year ago, China-made DeepSeek rocked global markets with the release of an AI chatbot that undercut OpenAI’s ChatGPT on usage fees and production costs, raising questions about the efficacy of U.S. tech restrictions on China. On Tuesday, Beijing-based startup Moonshot AI revealed Kimi K2.5, which claimed to have video-generation and agentic capabilities that outperformed all three of the leading U.S. AI models. Agentic AI broadly refers to AI systems capable of carrying out tasks on behalf of people. The ultimate goal is to have sophisticated agents that work autonomously with minimal user interaction. ...
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China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan Railway Financing Loan Signed 
28Jan mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
Asia, China

China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan Railway Financing Loan Signed 

CKU Railway Company LLC, a joint venture formed by the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan and a syndicate of PRC banks, signed a loan agreement to finance the  $4.7 billion China–Kyrgyzstan–Uzbekistan (CKU) railway construction project on December 16 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan (Times of Central Asia, December 17, 2025). Under the deal, the PRC will provide $2.3 billion, approximately half of the project’s cost, as a 35-year loan to be repaid by the joint venture company. The remaining amount will be provided by the three countries, with the PRC contributing 51 percent and Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan each contributing 24.5 percent. Speaking at the signing ceremony, Kyrgyzstan’s Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Ministers Bakyt Torobayev said, “This achievement ...
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China’s ISSB-aligned reporting rules ‘go beyond many global standards’, say experts
26Jan mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
China, World

China’s ISSB-aligned reporting rules ‘go beyond many global standards’, say experts

China has finalised its first national climate disclosure standard, which now ties corporate reporting to national targets. The finalised rules are broadly aligned with the International Sustainability Standards Board (ISSB)’s rules and incorporate double materiality, requiring companies to identify the impact of their operations on the climate, beyond how climate risks affect them financially. “It goes beyond many global standards in terms of its rigour,” said Christoph Nedopil Wang, an expert on Chinese green finance policies and director of Brisbane-based Griffith Asia Institute. The new rules are “very ambitious” for mandating a double materiality lens, on top of disclosures of direct scope 1 emission and supply chain emissions – or scope 2 and 3 emissions, he added. ...
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The West can learn from China’s investment approach
25Jan mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
China

The West can learn from China’s investment approach

Beyond Belt and Road: the balance-sheet alternative the West has ignored For more than a decade, China’s Belt and Road Initiative has framed how development, infrastructure investment and geopolitical influence are discussed. Responses – from the European Union’s Global Gateway to Japan’s ‘quality infrastructure’ agenda – have largely followed the same logic: mobilise alternative financing, co-finance through multilateral banks and mitigate risk for private capital. What has been almost entirely missed is a more powerful alternative – one that does not rely on exporting capital at all. China’s appeal lies not only in the scale of its financing, but in the concreteness of its offer: visible assets, execution and speed. Yet this debt-led model carries well-known risks, including r...
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House Seeks Say Over AI Chip Sales After Nvidia’s China Win
22Jan mmBy Brian ThompsonNo Comments
Asia, China, World

House Seeks Say Over AI Chip Sales After Nvidia’s China Win

Congress is one step closer to gaining the authority to review artificial intelligence chip sales to China, a move likely to open a rift with the Trump administration over plans to let Nvidia Corp. sell its powerful H200 processors to the world’s second-largest economy. A House committee focused on foreign affairs approved bipartisan legislation Wednesday that calls for arms-sale style congressional oversight of advanced AI chip exports. Beyond oversight, the text endorsed by the panel’s Republicans and Democrats would outright ban sales of Nvidia’s more advanced Blackwell chips to China for at least two years, codifying existing export controls into law. The bill marks a response to President Donald Trump’s decision last month to ease longstanding export controls on China, a mo...
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