China

Returning Singaporeans, PRs will need to test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours before departure
15Jun By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, World

Returning Singaporeans, PRs will need to test negative for COVID-19 within 72 hours before departure

SINGAPORE: Singaporeans and permanent residents will soon be required to present a valid negative COVID-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test taken within 72 hours before they depart for Singapore, said the Ministry of Health (MOH) on Wednesday (May 26). From 11.59pm on May 29, all Singaporeans and permanent residents, except those who have stayed in lower-risk countries and regions in the last 21 days before departure to Singapore, will have to present the negative test result. Only then will they be allowed to board their flight or ferry to Singapore, said MOH. The lower-risk countries and regions are Australia, Brunei, mainland China, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Macau. "All travellers will also be required to present their valid COVID-19 PCR test result at the air, sea and l...
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China’s exports up 28%, imports hit decade-high
15Jun By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, Market, World

China’s exports up 28%, imports hit decade-high

BEIJING: China's exports rose 27.9 per cent in May while imports grew at the fastest pace in more than a decade as the global economy powers back from the COVID-19 crisis, official data showed on Monday (Jun 7). Demand for China's goods has bounced after economically painful lockdowns last year due to the pandemic, and as vaccines are rolled out across much of the world. The figures are also boosted by last year's low base of comparison when the coronavirus was spreading rapidly. Exports from the world's second-largest economy posted strong growth but came in lower than expectations of 32 per cent. "To be honest, that is a cracking number by anybody's standard and shows that global demand remains robust," said OANDA's Jeffrey Halley. In May, import growth hit its highest rate sinc...
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Searches for crypto exchanges currently blocked in China
14Jun mmBy Joe RodriguezNo Comments
Asia, China, Market

Searches for crypto exchanges currently blocked in China

The Chinese government has possibly censored the internt as users are unable to search for popular crypto exchanges.Keywords searches for online trading platforms including Binance, OKEx and Huobi on popular internet services such as Baidu, Sogo, Zhihu, or Weibo are yielding no results. Other media outlets including CoinDesk first reported the possible blockage.The Chinese government has recently renewed a regulatory crackdown on crypto mining and trading, helping send Bitcoin down about 45% since its peak in April.The exchanges that appear to be impacted are some of the largest in the digital-asset world, with Asia-based users being among the earliest adopters. Binance is the world’s biggest crypto platform, with $30 billion in trading volume in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarket...
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Commentary: Sinovac use sparks new spat in politically split Thailand
13Jun By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

Commentary: Sinovac use sparks new spat in politically split Thailand

Widespread distrust of the Prayut government is aggravating Sinovac hesitancy in the country, says an analyst. BANGKOK: Thailand is suffering through the third – and the most serious – wave of COVID-19 infections that has surged since early April. As of May 27, the total infections since Apr 1 topped 112,354, with 785 related deaths. The more virulent variants first identified in India and South Africa have been detected, prompting the Prayut Chan-o-cha government to speed up the vaccine rollout. AstraZeneca and Sinovac are the two vaccines currently in use. The government has secured about 117,000 imported AstraZeneca shots, with another 61 million shots in local production. The first batch of these – about 1.7 million doses – will be distributed by June. Up to 6 million Sinovac d...
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China touts success building a Tibet less focused on religion
13Jun By Desk TeamNo Comments
Asia, China, USA, World

China touts success building a Tibet less focused on religion

China’s top leader in Tibet lauded the progress his country has made developing the region, touting an ethnic-assimilation campaign that has fueled international accusations of human rights abuses. “More and more believers have been trained from pursuing a good afterlife to living a good life in this life, and religion has been increasingly compatible with a socialist society,” Wu Yingjie, the Communist Party chief of Tibet, said at a press briefing in Beijing on Saturday. Wu also listed a wide array of ways the ruling party has transformed the region where most people are Buddhist — from building schools and paved roads to improvements in health care — as China marks the 70th anniversary on Sunday of an agreement giving it control of the region. The event puts a renewed focus on Tibet ...
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Battleship diplomacy: Britain’s new aircraft carrier joins NATO, has message for China
13Jun By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

Battleship diplomacy: Britain’s new aircraft carrier joins NATO, has message for China

CASCAIS, Portugal: The maiden voyage of a new British aircraft carrier will seek to show allies that post-Brexit Britain is ready to defend Western interests and eager to see China respect international rules, the vessel's commander said. HMS Queen Elizabeth took part in NATO exercises in the Mediterranean this week, ahead of the eight-month voyage that will cross through the South China Sea in a signal to Beijing that sea lanes must remain open. The carrier is "a hugely powerful statement," Commodore Steve Moorhouse, the ship's commanding officer and captain told Reuters on deck off the Portuguese coast as F-35B fighter jets took off around him. "It shows that we are a global navy and wanting to be back out there," he said. "The aim for us is that this deployment will be part of a...
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China’s May new yuan loans seen falling as central bank scales back stimulus
13Jun By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

China’s May new yuan loans seen falling as central bank scales back stimulus

New bank loans in China likely fell in May, a Reuters poll showed, as the central bank gradually scales back pandemic-driven stimulus to reduce debt and financial risks as the economy shows solid signs of recovery. BEIJING: New bank loans in China likely fell in May, a Reuters poll showed, as the central bank gradually scales back pandemic-driven stimulus to reduce debt and financial risks as the economy shows solid signs of recovery. Chinese banks are estimated to have issued 1.41 trillion yuan (US$220.54 billion) in net new yuan loans last month, down from 1.47 trillion yuan in April, according to the median estimate in the survey of 29 economists. That would be lower than 1.48 trillion yuan issued the same month a year earlier, when policymaking was firmly in emergency mode to cu...
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Myanmar military tribunal orders 20-year jail terms for torching Chinese-linked factories: Report
12Jun By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

Myanmar military tribunal orders 20-year jail terms for torching Chinese-linked factories: Report

YANGON: A Myanmar military tribunal has sentenced 28 people to 20 years in jail with hard labour for arson attacks on two factories, state media reported, after a string of mainly Chinese-financed factories were torched during unrest in Yangon in March. The army-run Myawady news portal said the offenders had targeted a shoe plant and a garment factory in the industrial Hlaing Tharyar suburb of Myanmar's biggest city. Martial law was imposed in the suburb after the blazes, with dozens killed or wounded when security forces opened fire on anti-military protesters, media and an activist group said. The Chinese embassy in Myanmar said at the time that many Chinese staff were injured and trapped in the arson attacks and called on Myanmar to protect Chinese property and citizens. A t...
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What Beijing’s new crackdown means for crypto in China
12Jun By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, Market, World

What Beijing’s new crackdown means for crypto in China

related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 3 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. SHANGHAI :Chinese regulators have tightened restrictions that ban financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrencies, marking a fresh crackdown on digital money. SHANGHAI -Chinese regulators have tightened restrictions that ban financial institutions and payment companies from providing services related to cryptocurrencies, marking a fresh crackdown on digital money. Compared with a previous ban issued in 2017, the new rules greatly expanded the scope of prohibited services, and judged that "virtual currencies are not supported by any real value". WHAT ARE THE NEW MEASURES? Three fin...
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UK report says Hong Kong security law used to ‘drastically curtail freedoms’
12Jun By Desk TeamNo Comments
China, World

UK report says Hong Kong security law used to ‘drastically curtail freedoms’

HONG KONG: Beijing has broken its legal obligations by undermining Hong Kong's high degree of autonomy and used a national security law to "drastically curtail freedoms" in the global financial hub, according to a report by Britain on its former colony. In a foreword in the six-monthly report covering July to December 2020, British Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said a sweeping national security law Beijing imposed on the city in June last year was being used to stifle political opposition. There had been "clear breaches" of the 1984 Joint Declaration, signed by then Chinese Premier Zhao Ziyang and British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher that guaranteed wide-ranging freedoms for Hong Kong, Raab said. The report criticised Beijing's overhaul of Hong Kong's electoral system, prosecuti...
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