US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called Friday for a level playing field for American companies and workers as she began a five-day visit to China in one of the country's major industrial and export hubs. Yellen told Wang Weizhong, the governor of Guangdong province, that it's important for the U.S. and China to have open and direct communication on areas of disagreement. "This includes the issue of China's industrial overcapacity, which the United States and other countries are concerned can cause global spillovers, she said. Yellen, the first Cabinet-level official to visit China since President Joe Biden met Chinese leader Xi Jinping last November, has telegraphed that she will raise what the U.S. considers to be unfair Chinese trade practices, a concern shared by many European countries. Before talks with the governor, she met with American, European and Japanese business representatives to hear their concerns, ahead of what will likely be tough talks on trade and other issue
ASML dominates the market for lithography tools - huge expensive, complex machines that perform one step in the chipmaking process, helping to create circuitry
Since 2019, the US has restricted Huawei's access to US technology, accusing the company of activities contrary to US national security, which Huawei denies
The International Monetary Fund currently forecasts China's 2024 real GDP growth at 4.6%, falling to 4.1% in 2025
Washington has raised concerns with Beijing for years over restricted access to the Chinese market for US companies
Since September 2020, China has increased its use of grey zone tactics by incrementally increasing the number of military aircraft and naval ships operating around Taiwan
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is headed to a China determined to avoid open conflict with the United States, yet the world's two largest economies still appear to be hashing out the rules on how to compete against each other. There are tensions over Chinese government support for the manufacturing of electric vehicles and solar panels, just as the U.S. government ramps up its own aid for those tech sectors. There are differences in trade, ownership of TikTok, access to computer chips and national security all of them a risk to what has become a carefully managed relationship. The 77-year-old Yellen, a renowned economist and former Federal Reserve chair, laid out to reporters the issues that she intends to raise with her Chinese counterparts during her five-day visit. Yellen is headed to Guangzhou and Beijing for meetings with finance leaders and state officials. Her engagements will include Vice Premier He Lifeng, Chinese Central Bank Governor Pan Gongsheng, former Vice Premier Li
Hong Kong listed Wuxi shares pared earlier gains of nearly 5 % to trade 1% higher, while Shanghai-listed shares were up 0.4%
Republican legislators in Kansas advanced proposals Wednesday aimed at preventing individuals and companies from China and other US adversaries from owning farmland or business property, limiting state investments in foreign companies and restricting the use of foreign-made drones. Some GOP conservatives, including state Attorney General Kris Kobach, want the state to enact even tougher restrictions, even as Democratic critics suggest the measures are fuelled by xenophobia. Kansas already limits corporate ownership of agricultural land, and more than 20 other states restrict foreign land ownership, according to the National Agricultural Law Center. Supporters of such measures argue that they protect military installations and US citizens from spying and other national security risks. The Republican-controlled Kansas House approved three bills addressing activities by individuals and companies from "countries of concern" -- China, Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Venezuela -- and groups .
TikTok, used by about 170 mn Americans, has been seeking to strike the right balance between pursuing rapid growth and managing regulatory risks
Hackers linked to the Chinese government launched a state-sponsored operation that targeted New Zealand's Parliament in 2021, the country's security minister said on Tuesday. New Zealand's allegation comes a day after US and UK authorities announced a set of criminal charges and sanctions against seven hackers, all believed to be living in China, who targeted US officials, journalists, corporations, pro-democracy activists and the UK's election watchdog. "The use of cyber-enabled espionage operations to interfere with democratic institutions and processes anywhere is unacceptable," Minister Responsible for the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) Judith Collins said in a media statement. Collins said the agency had also established links between a state-sponsored actor linked to China and malicious cyber activity targeting parliamentary entities in New Zealand. "The GCSB's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) completed a robust technical assessment following a compromi
Hackers linked to the Chinese government launched a sweeping, state-backed operation that targeted US officials, journalists, corporations, pro-democracy activists and the UK's election watchdog, American and British authorities said on Monday in announcing a set of criminal charges and sanctions. The intention of the campaign, which officials say began in 2010, was to harass critics of the Chinese government, steal trade secrets of American corporations and to spy on and track high-level political figures. Western officials disclosed the operation, carried out by a hacking group known as APT31, while sounding a fresh, election-year alarm about a country long seen as having advanced espionage capabilities. The US Justice Department charged seven hackers, all believed to be living in China. The British government, in a related announcement, imposed sanctions on two of the defendants in connection with a breach that may have given the Chinese access to information on tens of millions o
He said China is promoting tech innovation, and that sectors like artificial intelligence and cloud computing offer massive opportunities to companies like Apple
Secretary of State Antony Blinken will underscore Washington's ironclad commitment to its alliance with the Philippines on Tuesday, as clashes between Chinese and Filipino forces in the disputed South China Sea turn more hostile, the U.S. State Department said. Blinken, the latest high-level official to visit the U.S. treaty ally, met his Philippine counterpart, Enrique Manalo Tuesday, before planned meetings with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and other top officials in Manila. Next month, President Joe Biden will host Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in a White House summit amid growing concerns over increasingly aggressive Chinese actions in the South China Sea and North Korea's nuclear program. The Chinese coast guard blocked and used water cannons against Philippine vessels in a confrontation two weeks ago that slightly injured a Filipino admiral and four of his sailors near the disputed Second Thomas Shoal. The March 5 faceoff in the high seas also
A Chinese billionaire has pleaded guilty to federal election crimes, admitting that he made thousands of dollars in contributions to New York and Rhode Island political candidates in the names of others. Hui Qin, a Chinese cinema magnate, faces up to 27 years in prison on charges that include orchestrating a straw donor scheme, immigration fraud and using false identification documents. Beginning in December 2021, Qin began working "to find individuals to make more than USD 10,000 in straw donor contributions" to an unnamed candidate running for citywide election in New York City, prosecutors said. At least one individual donated USD 1,000 on Qin's behalf to the citywide candidate. The following day, Qin reached out to a co-conspirator, who told him they expected to be able to obtain up to USD 20,000 in straw donor contributions for the candidate. Prosecutors also say he engaged in similar straw donor schemes to funnel donations to a US representative in New York and a congressiona
Prime targets are firms looking to expand manufacturing facilities beyond China as tension with the United States and other countries takes off some of its shine
Apple has agreed to pay USD 490 million to settle a class-action lawsuit alleging CEO Tim Cook misled investors about a steep downturn in iPhone's sales in China that culminated in a jarring revision to the company's revenue forecast. The preliminary settlement filed on Friday in Oakland, California, federal court stems from a shareholder lawsuit focused on the way Apple relayed information about how iPhone models released in September 2018 were performing in China, one of the company's biggest markets. Cook signalled that the new iPhones were off to a good start during an investor conference call in early November 2018, according to the complaint. That reassurance dissolved into a huge letdown on January 2, 2019 when the Cook issued a warning that Apple's revenue for the just-completed quarter would fall USD 9 billion below management's forecast for the period. What's more, virtually all of the sales drop was traced to weak demand in China. It marked the first time Apple had cut i
legislators have raised fears that TikTok's US user data could be passed on to China's government
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un joined his troops in training to operate newly developed battle tanks as he called for bigger efforts to prepare for war, state media reported on Thursday. The North's tank training was seen as a response to the annual 11-day South Korean-US military drills that are to end later Thursday. The North views its rivals' exercises a rehearsal for invasion. The North's training on Wednesday was designed to inspect tankmen's combat capabilities and involved the new-type main battle tank that Kim called the world's most powerful, the official Korean Central News Agency. During the training, heavy tanks moved around various simulated harsh combat circumstances and fired rounds at targets. Kim mounted one of the new-type tanks and drove it himself, adding to the high militant spirit of the tankmen of our army, KCNA said. North Korea's Defense Ministry earlier vowed to carry out responsible military activities in reaction to the ongoing South Korea-US military
US lawmakers on Wednesday cited the bold move by India to ban TikTok four years ago as they voted in support of legislation about the Chinese app. In a major bipartisan move, the House of Representatives passed by 352 to 65 votes the Protecting Americans From Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act co-authored by Indian American Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat, and Congressman Mike Gallaghe from the Republican party. The bill, which seeks to control the ownership of foreign apps like TikTok in the US, now heads to the Senate for it to be sent to the White House for the President to sign it into law. Several lawmakers referred to the decision taken by India in 2020 to ban the app. In 2020, India banned 59 Chinese-created apps, including TikTok, emphasising their priority to defend India's national security, said the office of Congressman Greg Murphy in a statement. Lack of transparency from TikTok executives and their unwillingness to protect user privacy and ...