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China reaffirms tariff, trade wars serve no one’s interests

By continuing to browse our site you agree to our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. You can change your cookie settings through your browser. Containers dock at the Lianyungang Port in Jiangsu Province, east China, June 24, 2026. /VCG The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Friday reaffirmed its consistent and clear-cut stance on China-US economic and trade issues, emphasizing that tariff and trade wars run counter to the interests of all parties involved. China opposes all forms of unilateral tariff measures, said Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the ministry, at a regular press briefing. Lin's remarks come after the United States said on Thursday that it will impose tariffs of 10 to 12.5% on imported goods from 60 economies starting on Friday, citing Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

July 24, 2026

Business

Czech Speaker’s China Visit | Czech Firms Eye China Market

By continuing to browse our site you agree to our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. You can change your cookie settings through your browser. Marking the first official visit by a Czech lower house speaker in nearly seven years, a high-level delegation led by Chamber of Deputies Speaker Tomio Okamura is touring China, right as the two countries celebrate the 10th anniversary of their strategic partnership. The five-day trip spans Shanghai, Hangzhou and Beijing, centering on pragmatic cooperation in trade, tourism and corporate engagement. Czech enterprises, covering e-commerce, aerospace and renewable energy, gathered in Beijing for the Czech-China Economic and Trade Cooperation Conference, exploring targeted partnerships with Chinese counterparts. CGTN's Feng Yilei spoke with Czech business delegates to discuss market opportunities and the outlook for two-way economic and people-to-people exchanges.

July 24, 2026

Business

AI spending rattles investors as US tech stocks plunge after earnings

By continuing to browse our site you agree to our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. You can change your cookie settings through your browser. Shares of Alphabet and Tesla plunged on Thursday after both companies reported negative free cash flow in their latest quarterly earnings and signaled plans for even heavier investment in artificial intelligence. Tesla shares closed 14.5% lower, wiping out about $200 billion in market value and marking the stock's worst single-day performance since March 2025. Meanwhile, Alphabet, Google's parent company, tumbled 7.1%, losing roughly $300 billion in market capitalization. Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, US, July 23, 2026. /VCG Soaring AI spending overshadowed stronger-than-expected revenue in Q2, as investors grew increasingly concerned about the rapid expansion of capital expenditure. Alphabet lifted its capital expenditure forecast for the year to between $195 billion and $205 billion, up from its previous estimate of $180 billion to $190 billion, while warning that spending could rise further in 2027.

July 24, 2026

Business

BizTalk | China capital market H1 review and outlook

By continuing to browse our site you agree to our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Use. You can change your cookie settings through your browser. International investors' confidence towards China continues to rise, with foreign capital steadily flowing into its equity and bond markets. In this episode of BizTalk, CGTN's Michael Wang speaks to guests from J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and Eurasia Group to analyze the first half of the year and the reason behind the accelerating allocation in Chinese assets by foreign financial institutions.

July 24, 2026

Business

HSBC agrees to US$2 billion deal to sell Singapore insurance branch to Allianz

Allianz is set to buy the bank’s Singapore insurance arm, entering a 15-year distribution pact as HSBC streamlines its global operations HSBC has agreed to sell its Singapore life and health insurance business to Germany’s Allianz for S$2.7 billion (US$2.08 billion), with the deal expected to be completed in the first half of 2027, HSBC Group announced on Friday morning before the start of trading. The disposal is expected to generate a pre-tax gain of US$1.8 billion and boost HSBC’s common equity tier 1 ratio by up to 15 basis points, the bank said. As part of the deal, HSBC Singapore will enter a 15-year exclusive bancassurance distribution agreement with Allianz, receiving an initial S$200 million cash payment for distributing insurance products to its retail and high-net-worth clients. Completion remains subject to regulatory approval. If finalised, Allianz will own HSBC Life Singapore and retain all of its employees.

July 24, 2026

Business

Typhoon Noul to come closest to Hong Kong late Saturday into Sunday

Forecaster says hot, sunny weather up to 34 degrees on Friday, with winds strengthening and showers increasing on Saturday as Typhoon Noul nears Typhoon Noul is expected to come closest to Hong Kong between Saturday night and Sunday morning, according to the city’s weather forecaster, which is considering issuing the No 1 warning signal later on Friday. The tropical storm near the Philippines was officially named Typhoon Noul. The name, provided by North Korea, means “glowing crimson skies”. As of Friday morning, Noul was about 500km (310 miles) northeast of Manila and moving northwest at 26km/h (16mph), according to the latest track forecast. “[Noul] is expected to move across the Luzon Strait and enter within 800km of Hong Kong later on Friday,” said Yeung Hon-yin, a senior scientific officer at the Hong Kong Observatory. “At that point, the Observatory will consider issuing the No 1 typhoon signal.” Yeung said the storm was forecast to reach the northeastern part of the South China Sea near the coast of eastern Guangdong over the weekend, when it would be closest to Hong Kong.

July 24, 2026

Business

Australia ramps up Aukus funding with US$3.2 billion for nuclear submarine yard

Aukus, designed to check China’s military advance in the Indo-Pacific, is expected to cost Canberra up to US$250 billion over 30 years But the deal has faced scrutiny over whether slow submarine production rates in the United States and Britain will leave Australia without the vessels it needs. Defence Minister Richard Marles said the additional investment of A$4.6 billion (US$3.2 billion) at a shipyard in Osborne in South Australia “demonstrates that Aukus is on track and happening now”. “This investment is another important step in building the sovereign capability Australia will need to build, operate, maintain and sustain our future submarine fleet,” he said. The money will go to new infrastructure and the training of workers. The planned submarine construction yard will be 10 times the size of the current shipyard, which is already building surface ships for the navy, according to Peter Malinauskas, the premier of South Australia.

July 24, 2026

Business

As Laos’ methanol poisoning case begins, victims’ families, friends slam ‘cover-up’

Almost two years after six travellers died and one survivor was left blind from suspected methanol-tainted drinks in Laos, the criminal case over the incident is finally proceeding with charges filed against a distillery owner as families of the victims continue to demand answers and stern punishment. Last Friday, the owner of the distillery where the drinks linked to the deaths were thought to have originated was given one charge of running an illegal business and one charge of selling harmful...

July 24, 2026

Business

Hong Kong must wake up to the cold hard geopolitics of AI

Officials talking about artificial intelligence (AI) often speak in terms of the next industrial revolution or existential risks. Such rhetoric ultimately does little to capture how AI filters into the ordinary workings of a city like Hong Kong. The geopolitics of AI are no longer abstract. They are beginning to shape who can use which tools – and on what terms. Over the past few months, two major international banks in the city have reportedly felt the impact. Anthropic’s Claude, a generative...

July 24, 2026

Business

Chinese nationals plead guilty to illegally shipping turtles from US to Hong Kong

The pair – both residents of Staten Island in New York – are facing jail terms and fines for exporting native species without a licence Kin Keung Ho pleaded guilty on Thursday while Lihua Owen Ma pleaded guilty to a similar charge on July 1. Both are residents of Staten Island, one of the five boroughs of New York City. “During the plea hearing, the government proffered that Ho shipped approximately 99 packages containing 578 turtles,” the agency said. “Ho falsely labelled the contents as containing crystals or stones.” According to court documents, Ho and Ma were charged separately with exporting several species of US native turtles, including eastern box turtles, western box turtles, three-toed box turtles, spotted turtles and diamondback terrapins. The pair face up to five years in prison and a US$250,000 fine, or twice the economic gain. A sentencing date has not yet been set. Lawyers representing Ho and Ma could not be reached for comment.

July 24, 2026

Business

Eye-rubbing, poor hygiene to blame for Chinese man’s severe mite-induced vision loss

Doctor examines Hubei man’s eyelids, estimates more than a thousand tiny creatures are infesting his eyelash follicles A Chinese man suffered from vision loss after over a thousand mites infected his eyes, and it turned out that his life habits were to blame. The 36-year-old man in central Hubei province, surnamed Yu, experienced eye discomfort. His eyes felt dry, itchy and sticky for six months. He rubbed his eyes more vigorously, and bought eye drops, but they did not help. He then experienced a sharp decline in vision. He had his eyes checked at a clinic and was diagnosed with demodex blepharitis, an eyelid inflammation caused by an overgrowth of demodex mites. His doctor, Qin Jiao, found that his eyelash follicles were teeming with demodex mites. She randomly selected eight eyelashes from each eye for observation, and found chilling results: each hair follicle contained eight or nine wriggling mites. Based on the fact that a single eye has around 100 to 150 eyelashes, Qin estimated that the number of demodex mites in Yu’s eyes could reach from the hundreds to over a thousand.

July 24, 2026

Business

Why the divorces of China’s A-share firm owners provoke market nerves

Retail investors worry about secondary share-price movements following equity transfers resulting from large shareholders’ divorces China’s A-share market has seen another high-profile divorce case result in a massive asset split, involving the transfer of 6 billion yuan (US$886 million) – the highest this year – and raising concerns over corporate governance stability and share price fluctuations. Although the scope of the divorce settlement is not at all comparable to that of Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates, it has made tens of thousands of retail investors worry about their portfolio holdings and paper wealth. Maxone Semiconductor Suzhou Co, the first domestic probe card maker listed on Shanghai’s Sci-Tech Innovation Board, said in an exchange filing last week that its president, Zhou Ming, 53, had completed all the legal procedures and divided his shareholdings following his divorce. Zhou transferred half of his personal equity holdings in the company, or 10.86 per cent of the total issued shares, to his ex-wife. Based on calculations after Wednesday’s closing share price, the equity division is worth about 6 billion yuan each. The announcement was made less than one year after the company’s initial public offering in December.

July 24, 2026