German foreign minister heads to Beijing as Berlin toughens China stance German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul attends a press conference in Berlin, Germany, November 19, 2025. REUTERS/Nadja Wohlleben/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights , opens new tab BERLIN, Dec 8 (Reuters) - German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul heads to China on Monday for his first visit as Berlin toughens its stance on Beijing over trade disputes and geopolitical conflicts, in line with European partners. Wadephul is set to meet on Monday with his Chinese counterpart, as well as the trade minister and head of the Communist Party's international relations department, a German foreign ministry spokesperson said. The Reuters Daily Briefing newsletter provides all the news you need to start your day. Sign up here. His trip was postponed from October at the last minute, because China had only confirmed one of his requested meetings. The Beijing talks would focus on economic relations betwe...
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China's property crunch throws state-backed developer into turmoil Vanke's bond extension request signals waning government support WATARU SUZUKI and LORRETTA CHEN December 8, 2025 06:00 JST SHANGHAI/HONG KONG -- Turbulence surrounding one of China's biggest property developers is underscoring the depth of the country's real estate crisis. At the center of the storm is China Vanke, still the country's sixth largest developer by contracted sales. The trigger was a filing on Nov. 26. "To ensure the smooth progress of principal and interest payments for this bond issue, a bondholder meeting will be convened to review matters related to the extension of the bond issuance period," the filing read, referring to an onshore bond set to mature on Dec. 15. The company and bondholders are set to meet virtually on Dec. 10 to review the extension proposal. As concerns over its ability to pay back debt mounted, the company's publicly traded bonds plunged by more t...
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Navigated Menu Back Financial Times Financial Times Europe 8 Dec 2025 Buttons.Search Options Europe can’t afford to balk at funding Ukraine’s war effort Settings Print Share Listen Europe is struggling to come up with the cash to fund Ukraine’s war effort. Its debt-laden countries would rather not stump up themselves. And the European Commission is still attempting to get full support for its proposal to use frozen Russian assets to back up to €210bn in loans. The danger, however, is that inactivity will be far more costly. Think of this for a moment as a purely financial question. On the one hand, Europe commits to funding Ukraine’s war efforts for, say, four years, whether through one of the various schemes to leverage frozen Russian assets or, at a pinch, with member states putting up the money themselves. Estimates over how much this would cost vary: the IMF calculates a financing gap of $136bn to 2029, while a report from consultancy Corisk and t...