BEIJING: China will step up monetary and credit support to enterprises helping its fight against the deadly new coronavirus, the central bank said Saturday (Feb 1), as the disease threatens to further dent a slowing economy. The government will provide support to key enterprises, urging financial institutions to provide “sufficient credit resources” to hospitals and […]

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia’s anti-graft agency is investigating allegations by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office that Airbus paid a bribe of US$50 million to win plane orders from Asia’s largest budget airline group, Malaysia-based AirAsia, it said on Saturday (Feb 1). The SFO said on Friday that Airbus had failed to prevent individuals associated with it bribing executives […]

WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump is set to sign a trade deal with China on Wednesday (Jan 15) that he will trumpet as a major victory, but it comes at a steep cost after a two-year standoff between the world’s two top economic powers. “The hard issues between the United States and China are still outstanding,” said […]

WASHINGTON: Negotiations for the second phase of a pending US-China trade deal will begin promptly but the outcome may wait until after this year’s elections, President Donald Trump said Thursday (Jan 9). Trump’s remarks come days before Beijing’s trade envoy is due in Washington to sign a “phase one” agreement, marking a pause in the […]

UNITED NATIONS, United States: A Chinese-Russian resolution aimed at easing international sanctions on North Korea is a “timely” step in the “right direction,” China’s UN ambassador Zhang Jun said Friday (Jan 3). His comments came only days after Pyongyang, deeply frustrated that those sanctions remain in place despite its suspension of nuclear and long-range missile testing, […]

BEIJING: China has decided to keep its inflation target unchanged this year at around 3 per cent, sources say, suggesting policymakers will continue to roll out economic stimulus gradually and avoid more aggressive measures. Some analysts have speculated that Beijing will raise the inflation target to 3.5 per cent, which would give authorities more room […]

BEIJING: China’s factory activity expanded at a slower clip in December, pulling back from a three-year high the previous month as new orders softened, a private survey showed on Thursday (Jan 2). But production continued to grow at a solid pace and business confidence shot up amid thawing trade tensions with the United States, offering some […]

BEIJING: Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei said on Tuesday (Dec 31) that “survival” was its first priority after announcing 2019 sales were expected to fall short of projections as a result of US sanctions. Chairman Eric Xu said Huawei – banned from working with American firms over national security fears – estimates sales revenue will reach […]

NEW DELHI: Indian mobile operators are losing around 24.5 million rupees (US$350,000) in revenue every hour they are forced to suspend Internet services on government orders to control protests against a new citizenship law, a top lobby group said on Friday (Dec 27). Countrywide protests have raged for three weeks after parliament passed legislation which […]