China Financial News

India confirmed on Friday that it has received an invitation from Pakistan for the upcoming Shanghai Cooperation Organisation's (SCO) Council of Heads of Government meeting to be held in Islamabad in October. Pakistan invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday to the SCO's Council of Heads of Government meeting. «Yes, we have received an invitation from Pakistan for the SCO's Council of Heads of State that is to happen. We do not have an update on that,» a spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in response to a reporter's question during his media briefing here. Pakistan holds the rotating chairmanship of the SCO Council of Heads of Government (CHG) and in that capacity, will be hosting the two-day in-person SCO Heads of Government meeting in October.

Japan's Defense Ministry Friday sought a record 8.5 trillion yen ($59 billion) budget for the next year to fortify its deterrence on southwestern islands against China's increasing threat, while focusing on unmanned weapons and AI to make up for the declining number of servicemembers as a result of the country's shrinking population. The ministry's request for 2025 marks the third year of Japan's rapid five-year military buildup plan under the government's ongoing security strategy. Japan aims to spend 43 trillion yen ($297 billion) through 2027 to double its annual military spending to around 10 trillion yen, making it the world's third-largest military spender after the United States and China. The budget request was approved at the Defense Ministry meeting Friday ahead of a submission to the Finance Ministry for negotiations through December.

Elon Musk and Tesla Inc. won dismissal of a lawsuit claiming they pumped up the price of the cryptocurrency Dogecoin into a $258 billion “pyramid scheme.”

nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) within six months, further strengthening its sea-based nuclear deterrent. This comes after the formal induction of the second SSBN, INS Arighaat, into the Strategic Forces Command at Visakhapatnam on Thursday. The upcoming third SSBN, currently undergoing trials and expected to be commissioned as INS Aridhaman early next year, is larger than its predecessors, INS Arihant and INS Arighaat, allowing it to carry more long-range nuclear-tipped missiles. INS Arighaat can also deploy K-4 missiles with a range exceeding 3,000 km, unlike INS Arihant, which is equipped with 750-km range K-15 missiles. This capability is vital for maintaining a credible strategic deterrent amid ongoing military tensions with China. SSBNs, capable of remaining submerged for extended periods, provide a secure and stealthy platform for second-strike capabilities, deterring potential first strikes.

Bitcoin trails traditional assets in August as the month draws to a close, hampered by ebbing liquidity and lingering worries that governments may sell from their stockpiles of the cryptocurrency.

Some investors are overestimating the stockpile of Chinese money that could be converted back into yuan, as firms may not yet be ready to abandon dollar holdings, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The Economist has adjusted SIPRI’s estimates for military purchasing-power parity (PPP), with help from Peter Robertson, a researcher at the University of Western Australia. This makes defence budgets comparable with America’s: pay is adjusted for wage differences and operating costs for general price levels. (Equipment costs are left the same, as much of the kit is imported, and its relative quality is hard to judge.) The adjustments show that Ukraine’s budget increases (though not its total budget) will stretch further than Russia’s, for example, even though its budget grew at a slightly slower rate in nominal terms (see chart 1).

Sensex and Nifty50, rebounded from a slow start to close at fresh record highs on Thursday, driven by gains in index heavyweights like Reliance Industries, as well as financial and IT stocks. The 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex advanced 349 points or 0.43% to settle at 82,134. The broader NSE Nifty gained 99.6 points or 0.40% to end at 25,152.

The convictions of two Hong Kong journalists who led a now-shuttered online news outlet have deepened concerns of media groups and foreign governments over the city’s press freedom

Awami League leader of Bangladesh, Ishaque Ali Khan Panna. His body was recovered from a betel nut plantation in East Jaintia Hills district. The district is in close vicinity of the Indo-Bangladesh border. East Jaintia Hills SP Giri Prasad M said that investigation was on into the matter. “On the evening of 26th August 2024, one unknown male dead body in a semi-decomposed state was found lying at the betel nut plantation located in the Dona Bhoi Area of East Jaintia Hills. One Bangladesh passport bearing the name of Ishaque Ali Khan Panna was recovered from the dead body,” the SP said in a statement. “Later, after observing all the formalities at the PO, the dead body was shifted to Civil Hospital Khliehriat for post-mortem examination.

para-archery event was sold out. And one of the reasons for it becoming such a huge draw for the spectators was India’s Sheetal Devi. “She is just 17 and is ranked No. 1 in her category. How she releases the arrows with her jaw is just incredible. She is a global story of inspiration,” said one of the members of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). A couple of days ago, the BBC did a detailed feature on Sheetal. The local press was curious to know more about her in the mixed zone.

The Consumer Product and Safety Commission says people should immediately throw out a magnetic game because it poses serious ingestion for children

(Bloomberg) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan discussed setting up new talks between their presidents in meetings aimed at managing the two nations’ difficult relationship.

Beijing, on a visit with the stated aim of keeping communications open between the two powers, as the relationship between China and the United States has become increasingly tense in recent years. Sullivan, on his first trip to China in his capacity as the main adviser to President Joe Biden on U.S. national security issues, has met with senior Chinese officials including Foreign Minister Wang Yi and a senior general of the Central Military Commission. China and the U.S. have become increasingly at odds over various issues, starting with a trade war dating back to 2018, and which now encompasses global security matters, such as China's claims over the South China Sea, and industrial policy on things like automobile and solar panel manufacturing. Sullivan's trip this week is meant to keep the tensions from growing further.

Sri Lanka's Debt Sustainability Agreement, Foreign Minister Ali Sabry has said resuming negotiations with the IMF could jeopardise its next tranche due in December and subsequent disbursements from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. The conditions for the Debt Sustainability Agreement (DSA) have now become part of the law and cannot be easily altered, Sabry said. He emphasised that renegotiating the deal could lead to further economic instability in the island nation, which is recovering from the worst-ever economic turmoil it suffered in 2022. Sri Lanka declared its first-ever sovereign default in mid-April 2022, having run out of its foreign exchange reserves. The halt to the debt services meant that the multilateral creditor nations and commercial lenders could not extend fresh financing to the country.

United States is pushing China to break a longstanding resistance to nuclear arms talks, seeing a «limited opportunity» for early two-way conversations on the superpowers' approach to the issue, a senior Biden administration official said. The renewed U.S. push for nuclear talks comes as U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met top Chinese officials in Beijing to try and resolve gaping differences on a broad range of issues. «We saw some limited opportunity to open, at least the beginnings of conversation on the subject in the last months, but it's been fits and starts, and I think it will continue to be fits and starts,» said the official, who sought anonymity because the matter is a sensitive one.

Chinese President Xi Jinping met with U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan

BEIJING — Chinese President Xi Jinping told U.S. national security advisor Jake Sullivan during a meeting Thursday that Beijing hopes Washington will find «a right way» to get along.

Betraying Big Brother: The Feminist Awakening in China, argued that feminism poses the biggest threat to China’s authoritarian regime, which is partly why it has faced such high censorship. Prominent activists have been detained.

Hurun India Rich List, surpassing Bengaluru for the first time to secure the third position in terms of the number of wealthy residents. The city added 17 new entrants this year, reflecting its growing prominence in India's wealth landscape.

Asian shares are mostly lower as market attention turns to upcoming data on the U.S. economy after Nvidia reported its financial results