China Executive Insights
Shipping containers pile up at Nagoya Port in Japan's Aichi prefecture on Jan. 29. Rising prices are boosting Japan's trade value. (Photo by Kazumi Saito) TOKYO -- Japan recorded a trade deficit for the fourth consecutive month in August, as rising imports outweighed continued export growth, according to official data released on Wednesday.
Washington looks for quick options as it rebuilds shipbuilding base The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force's Mogami stealth frigate takes part in the International Fleet Review at Sagami Bay in 2022. © Reuters WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Navy is considering procuring warships constructed in such allied countries as Japan and South Korea, multiple naval officials told Nikkei, in what would be a highly unusual move aimed at keeping pace with China's blistering naval buildup.
Government looks to ease energy crisis through greater use of solar and batteries The Bangladeshi government is offering incentives for rooftop solar panels backed with batteries to add generation closer to consumers, while requiring millions of battery-powered rickshaws to charge from solar rather than the national grid. (Nikkei montage/Source photos by Getty Images and Reuters) DHAKA -- Bangladesh is looking beyond new large power plants to a more distributed energy system to ease an energy crisis that has at times pushed intentional power outages above 3,500 megawatts in recent weeks.
Pauline Hanson says Australia should demand assimilation from migrants One Nation party leader Pauline Hanson attends a press conference in Singleton, New South Wales, Australia, on Aug. 28. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi) SYDNEY -- Pauline Hanson says her far-right One Nation party does not want Chinese electric vehicles in Australia and called for the country to rebuild its manufacturing base.
'Urgency' of supplementary spending lost in budget integration push Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is pushing to integrate Japan's big supplementary budgets into the initial budget. (Photo by Akitoshi Sugiura) TOKYO -- In his 1975 novel, "Summer of the Bureaucrats," Saburo Shiroyama wrote of Japan's old Ministry of International Trade and Industry that its budget was a degree of magnitude smaller than those of other ministries because it mainly handled work such as administrative guidance that did not require big spending.
From Moscow to Paris, leader oversees deals covering energy and aviation Vietjet and Thales exchange agreements on aircraft maintenance and digital aviation at the Elysee Palace in Paris, witnessed by Vietnam's To Lam, second from left, and French President Emmanuel Macron, far right. (Vietnam News Agency) HANOI -- Vietnamese President and Communist Party chief To Lam has overseen a series of deals during overseas visits to France and Russia, his latest of numerous international forays aimed at boosting his country's annual economic rate of expansion to the 10%-level needed to achieve ambitious growth goals.
Lawyers say move raises compliance stakes for businesses in fields like chips, AI A border control point in Haikou, in China's Hainan Province: The government has imposed new entry and exit rules that observers say largely formalize existing practices, but raise additional considerations for certain types of travelers. © Getty Images HONG KONG -- A new set of Chinese exit and entry rules took effect Tuesday, as Beijing tightens its legal framework for border control and explicitly links the question of who can enter and leave the country with national security.
UNCLOS conciliation could shape negotiations over $300bn in offshore resources Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn arrives for the opening session of a U.N.-backed conciliation process with Thailand in Singapore on Sept. 15. The talks aim to address overlapping maritime claims in the Gulf of Thailand. © Reuters BANGKOK -- Thailand and Cambodia on Tuesday convened the first public session of a U.N.-backed conciliation process aimed at resolving competing maritime claims in the Gulf of Thailand, after Bangkok abandoned a two-decade framework for bilateral negotiations in May.
EQ Resources will hold a 10% stake in a project backed by Washington The Springer Mine complex in Nevada is part of U.S. plans to rebuild its tungsten supply chain. (Photo courtesy of EQ Resources) CANBERRA -- Australian tungsten miner EQ Resources will join a U.S. government-backed plan to revive production at a long-shuttered tungsten processing plant in the American desert, as Washington scrambles to rebuild its domestic supply chains in the face of Chinese export curbs on the widely used metal.
Latest premium smartphone chipset Dimensity 9060 Pro uses same TSMC tech in iPhone Duo MediaTek says its latest premium smartphone chip, the Dimensity 9600 Pro, pictured, enhances AI computing. (Photo by Cheng Ting-Fang) TAIPEI - MediaTek is working with customers to optimize the computing performance of its mobile chips in response to a memory chip supply crunch that is driving up the cost of components.
Analysts hail election as 'positive' for separatist-wracked Bangsamoro region People in the southern Philippine province of Lanao del Sur prepare to vote during the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao parliamentary election on Sept. 14. © Getty Images MANILA -- The historic election for a regional assembly in a separatist-wracked region of the southern Philippines is set to give no party a majority in the 80-seat parliament, initial results are indicating.
Poor inspections, modified aging vessels, rough seas blamed for rising tragedies An aerial view of the Virgo Transport 8 ferry that capsized in Indonesia's Java sea on Sept. 13, in this still image taken from video. © Reuters JAKARTA/MANILA -- Two deadly accidents involving passenger ships in the Philippines and Indonesia over the past week have raised maritime transport safety concerns in Southeast Asia's two biggest archipelago nations, where millions rely on ferries to travel between islands.