« La trahison de l’Ukraine signerait l’arrêt de mort du projet européen » L ’Ukraine vit des heures angoissantes. L’armée russe, forte d’un budget militaire de 106 milliards d’euros, qu’elle veut porter à 135 milliards en 2025, poursuit son invasion au prix de dizaines de milliers de morts et de la destruction systématique des infrastructures vitales de l’Ukraine : ses centrales énergétiques, ses hôpitaux, ses usines. Malgré la résistance héroïque des Ukrainiens, elle gagne du terrain grâce aux demi-mesures et aux retards de l’aide apportée par leurs alliés, qui se gardent bien de désigner la seule issue admissible de cette guerre : le retrait de la Russie dans ses frontières. Paralysés par le « chantage au nucléaire » de Vladimir Poutine, Joe Biden et les dirigeants occidentaux ont livré à contretemps des armements en quantité et de portée limitées, sans procurer à l’Ukraine les moyens de la victoire. Préoccupés avant tout par le souc...
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Opinion | What ‘Engagers’ Got Right About China Chinese-made cars waiting for shipment in Yantai, China, Dec. 25. Photo: Cfoto/Zuma Press Having been in the general vicinity of the creation, I don’t recognize today’s straw-man version of 1990s engagement with China. This newspaper in the ’90s favored trade but also emphasized military preparedness and deterrence in defense of Taiwan. An editorial demanded that Bill Clinton deploy the Seventh Fleet to ward off one of Beijing’s early missile intimidation exercises around the island. Then as now, any thinking person also saw that Western hopes for China’s evolution were at odds with the interests of the Chinese Communist Party, promising only conflict in the future. A couple of decades later this column saw the cyber threat from China but also saw the Obama-prompted attack on Huawei as less a solution than a throwing away of leverage. Ditto TikTok today: The Chinese spying, propaganda and cyberwa...
Singapore Mansion Deals Are Increasingly Shrouded in mainly Chinese Secrecy Good Class Bungalows in some of Singapore’s most exclusive neighborhoods.Photographer: Ore Huiying/Bloomberg 12 December 2024 at 12:00 am GMT+1 Updated on 23 December 2024 at 11:43 am GMT+1 Save Translate CORRECTION NOTICE: This post communicates false statements of fact. For the correct facts, visit: https://www.gov.sg/article/factually231224 Under Singapore’s Prevention of Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act, Bloomberg is required under threat of sanction to publish this Correction Direction. Bloomberg respectfully disagrees with it, and reserves its right to appeal and challenge the Correction Direction. We stand by our reporting. Singapore’s ultra-rich are increasingly cloaking their purchases of mansions in the city-state in secrecy, to avoid drawing attention to their wealth and social status. The market for exclusive, multimillion-dollar houses called Good Class Bungalows has heated...
How a Mao-era system creates second-class citizens in modern China Calls grow to scrap hukou household registration system to unleash pent-up consumption © FT montage: Gilles Sabrie/FT Not until Kim reached middle school in Beijing did she discover that a piece of Communist party bureaucracy would shape her life — as it does for many of China’s 1.4bn people. Because her family was not originally from Beijing, she was required under arcane residence laws known as the hukou system to finish her schooling and sit the country’s gruelling university entrance exam in her parents’ distant home village. The daughter of successful businesspeople, Kim refused to go, arguing she had never lived in the village. This cost her access to university, ruining her career prospects. “The hukou system has caused me many problems,” said Kim, who is now in her 30s and works at her cousin’s small company. The system “represents inequality and has affected me throughout my life”. China’s hukou system, which i...
Fine wine market in the red as Chinese demand dries up Prices of top-end Burgundies and vintage Champagnes fall for second straight year © Getty Images Fine wine investors have been left with little to toast this year, after prices of top-end Burgundies and vintage Champagnes fell sharply as demand from Chinese buyers dried up. The price of Burgundy dropped 14.4 per cent this year to the end of November, according to wine exchange Liv-ex’s Burgundy 150 index. Vintage Champagne fell 9.8 per cent while a broad index of Bordeaux lost 11.3 per cent. The falls mark a second consecutive tough year for the fine wine market, which was hit in 2023 by higher interest rates — which make assets without a yield such as wine less attractive to investors — and dwindling demand from Asia, traditionally a major buyer of French red wine. “It’s been super tough,” said Gregory Swartberg, chief executive of London-based wine investment company Cru Wine. “November [2024] was on...
At last, Europe stands up for itself. Chinese EV Makers Hit EU Wall as Tariffs Add to Import Costs 23 December 2024 at 09:00 GMT+4 Updated on 23 December 2024 at 12:10 GMT+4 Save Translate 3:23 Chinese automakers captured their smallest share of Europe’s electric-vehicle market in eight months, after new tariffs added as much as 35% to the cost of importing cars to the region. Manufacturers such as BYD Co. and SAIC Motor Corp. ’s MG accounted for 7.4% of EV registrations across Europe in November, down from 8.2% in October, according to automotive researcher Dataforce . That’s the lowest level since March. New EU Tariffs Hit Chinese EV Brands in First Month Source: Dataforce Note: Based on battery-electric unit sales in EU, EFTA countries + UK. Hungary and Slovakia excluded for November 2024. Chinese brands include Polestar, DR and Evo, exclude Smart. The European Union imposed the added tariffs at the end of October, after an investigation found that...
CHINA INC IS THE NEW NAZI LAGER Brazil Halts BYD Site After Workers Found in ‘Slave’ Conditions Save Translate 2:05 BYD Co. has severed ties with a construction firm after Brazilian authorities halted construction of a new electric-vehicle plant where workers were found working and living in “slavery”-like conditions. Brazilian authorities on Monday said they had rescued 163 Chinese workers building a new EV factory for BYD in the northeast state of Bahia, and ordered a halt to construction, according to a statement by the Labor Prosecutor’s Office. The Chinese EV giant has terminated ties with Jinjiang Construction Brazil Ltd. and pledged to protect the rights of subcontracted workers, the company said in a statement Monday. All workers will be transferred to hotels, it said. “BYD Auto do Brasil reiterates its commitment to full compliance with Brazilian legislation, especially with regard to the protection of workers’ rights and human dignity,” said Alexandre Baldy, ...