DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ China's true military spending in 2022 was likely worth $711 billion, or 'nearly equal' to the US military budget that year: US think tank
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-03 | by ( Matthew Loh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

A new report says China's $229 billion military budget in 2022 was actually equivalent to $711 billion. AdvertisementIn June 2023, Sen. Dan Sullivan of Alaska warned Congress that China's military was catching up to America's faster than previously imagined. That makes Beijing's spending in 2022 "nearly equal" to the US defense budget of about $740 billion that year, wrote Eaglen, a senior fellow at AEI. Using that factor, Eaglen wrote that it's highly likely China's spending on personnel that year was worth $293 billion of US military spending. US military spending is also often cited as higher than the actual defense budget.

Persons: —, Sen, Dan Sullivan, Mackenzie Eaglen, Sullivan, Eaglen, haven't Organizations: AEI, Service, Republican, American Enterprise Institute, Pentagon, Beijing, United Nations, Labor, US Army, People's Armed Police, Liberation Army's, Publishing, Getty, China's, Guard Locations: Alaska, Beijing, Washington, China, Nanning, South, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous, United States

☆ Congressional probe finds communications gear in Chinese cranes, raising spying concerns
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-07 | by ( Sean Lyngaas | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Some Chinese-made cranes used at US ports contain communications equipment with no clear purpose or record of their installation, according to a new congressional investigation that will heighten US concerns that the cranes could be used for surveillance or sabotage. It comes amid heightened US-China tensions over national security and as the Coast Guard last month ordered the ports to better secure the Chinese-made cranes. The modems were found “on more than one occasion” on the ZPMC cranes, the aide said. Chinese-made cranes account for nearly 80% of the cranes used at US ports, according to the Coast Guard. Having modems embedded in cranes’ operational systems “physically bypasses” the ports’ traditional IT security defenses, Ayala told CNN.

Persons: Mark Green, ZPMC, “, Liu Pengyu, ” Liu, John Vann, ” Cary Davis, ”, Biden, Marco Ayala, Ayala Organizations: CNN, Homeland Security, Coast Guard, CCP, Chinese Communist Party, ”, House Homeland Security, “, Embassy, Street Journal, Coast Guard Cyber Command, American Association of Port Authorities, U.S . Coast Guard, InfraGard National, Alliance Locations: China, Washington ,, Houston

☆ Watch Gavin Newsom accidentally tackle a kid while playing basketball in China
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-30 | by ( Kwan Wei Kevin Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Gavin Newsom plowed into a student while playing basketball in China. On Friday, Newsom and his wife, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, visited the Beijing Yuying School. As part of his official duties, he toured the school's farm-to-school and agricultural science programs, a representative for Newsom told Insider. California Governor Gavin Newsom accidentally topples little kid during pickup game of basketball in Beijing. We are interdependent," Newsom told Amanpour.

Persons: Gavin Newsom, Newsom, —, Gavin Newsom's, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Mike Sington, Xi Jinping, Xi, CNN's Christiane Amanpour, Amanpour Organizations: Service, Beijing Yuying School, Economic Cooperation, Politico Locations: California, China, Beijing, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Asia, San Francisco

☆ A China fund from Fidelity is beating the crowd. How it plans to keep doing it
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-03 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Fidelity's China Focus Fund is setting up for another year of outperformance, after ranking first last year among China equity funds tracked by Morningstar. With minimal losses of 0.66% for the year as of Aug. 31, the China Focus Fund has held up far better than the China equity category's decline of 9.45% during that time, according to Morningstar. The China Focus Fund is a "value contrarian strategy," said Catherine Yeung, a Hong Kong-based investment director focused on equities at Fidelity International. Consumer discretionary is the largest sector within the China Focus Fund's holdings, at about one-fourth of the names. Fidelity also has a dedicated China Consumer Fund, which is down by 8.75% year-to-date, only slightly better than its peers, according to Morningstar.

Persons: outperformance, Morningstar, Catherine Yeung, Yeung, hasn't, it's Organizations: Fund, Morningstar, China Focus, China, Fidelity International, CNBC, China Focus Fund, Galaxy Entertainment, Fidelity, China Consumer Fund Locations: China, Hong Kong, expansionary, Macau

☆ Value investing is having a moment in China. Here are some funds that are winning
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-20 | by ( Evelyn Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

They are: BOCIP China Value A Fidelity China Focus A Dist USD Ninety One GSF All China Eq A Acc HKD The first two have a value-style tilt – and not only beat the MSCI China Index in the first half of this year, but also in all of 2022, according to Morningstar. Although both value and growth China funds have generally posted losses over the three years ended July 2023, growth has lagged value by 12% a year, Liang said. However, she was quick to point out that just focusing on a single investment style such as value versus growth isn't enough. In terms of Morningstar's fund ratings — based on factors the firm calls people, process and parent — Schroder's ISF China Opps and FSSA China Growth have gold ratings for strong performance in the "people" and "process" categories. Closely watching valuations helped Schroders China's portfolio manager take some timely profits on "some overheated information technology" stocks, Liang said.

Persons: Warren Buffett, –, Claire Liang, Morningstar's, Liang, Benjamin Graham's, Goldman Sachs, It's, Timothy Moe Organizations: Morningstar, Fidelity, Acc, China, House Research Institute, Netflix, Suzhou Maxwell Technologies Locations: China, Fidelity China, Asia, Suzhou

☆ US starts new round of audit inspections on China firms- source
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-07 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The logo of China's Tencent Music Entertainment Group is seen next to an earphone in this illustration picture taken March 22, 2021. The PCAOB previously said it would demand complete access in mainland China and Hong Kong in their regular inspections from 2023. The PCAOB, Tencent Music Entertainment Group, Didi Global, and NetEase did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment. Washington's demands for access to the audits of Chinese companies follow a long-running dispute over auditing compliance of U.S.-listed Chinese firms. Reporting by Xie Yu in Hong Kong and Yana Gaur in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich and Sam HolmesOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Florence Lo, PCAOB, Didi Global, NetEase, Janet Yellen, Xie Yu, Yana Gaur, Rashmi Aich, Sam Holmes Organizations: Entertainment, REUTERS, U.S, Public Company, Reuters, Wall, Bloomberg, Tencent Music Entertainment, Global Inc, NetEase Inc, Music Entertainment, Authorities, Treasury, Thomson Locations: Hong Kong, U.S, Washington, Beijing, China, United States, Bengaluru

☆ The US Navy has its eyes on a new submarine base that will help it keep track of China's growing undersea fleet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Christopher Woody | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

As part of the AUKUS agreement, US and British subs will operate out of western Australia by 2027. The deal on the base comes as rivals, mainly China, increase their submarine activity in the region. Ray Mabus, then US navy secretary, departs a Chinese Yuan-class submarine in Ningbo in November 2012. The Defense Department report also says China's six operational Jin-class nuclear-powered ballistic-missile subs are likely already conducting "near-continuous at-sea deterrence patrols," a sign that China's submarine force continues to improve its operational capabilities. For the US Navy, those developments make the ability to base subs closer to the Western Pacific a greater priority.

There was more movement in currency markets, where the dollar rose across the board and the yen sank. Producer price inflation is expected to have fallen further in March, according to analysts' estimates of a year-on-year decline of 2.5%, which would be the fastest pace of deflation since June 2020. The annual rate of consumer price inflation is expected to remain unchanged at 1.0%, the slowest in a year, and the monthly rate is expected to rise to 0% from -0.5% in February. If these forecasts are broadly accurate, price pressures in China would appear to be extremely benign, giving the central bank room to loosen policy and stimulate the economy. In South Korea, the central bank looks to have ended its tightening cycle and will likely keep its main interest rate on hold at a 15-year high of 3.50% on Tuesday.

☆ Apple finds a happy home in India
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Pranav Kiran | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Helped by generous subsidies, Taiwanese Apple suppliers are starting to churn out more iPhones in India. Analysts at JPMorgan reckon India will have 6% of iPhone manufacturing capacity in 2022, and the rest will remain in China. Incentives and other subsidies partially compensate for inefficiencies in India, where demand for pricier devices is slowly picking up. HDFC Securities estimates that for an average smartphone, as little as 14% of the value is added in India. Whether or not India gets that far, Apple at least gets a happy new home.

☆ State Department launches 'China House' amid rivalry with Beijing
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The U.S. State Department on Friday launched its long-planned "China House" unit, an internal reorganization to help expand and sharpen its policymaking toward its top geopolitical rival. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in May announced the creation of China House, calling it a department-wide, integrated team that would coordinate and implement U.S. policy across issues and regions. China House will bring together China experts from throughout the department to coordinate with "every regional bureau and experts in international security, economics, technology, multilateral diplomacy, and strategic communications," the statement quoted Blinken as saying. It will replace the department's China Desk, but will continue to be overseen by Rick Waters, the deputy assistant secretary of state for China, Taiwan and Mongolia in the Bureau of East Asia and Pacific Affairs, according to an official. President Joe Biden's administration has laid out a strategy to compete with China focused on investing in U.S. competitiveness and aligning with allies and partners.

☆ U.S. criticizes China's zero Covid strategy, says Beijing needs to boost vaccination among elderly
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Spencer Kimball | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

The White House on Monday criticized Beijing's zero Covid strategy as ineffective and said the Chinese people have a right to peacefully protest. "We've said that zero COVID is not a policy we pursuing here in the United States," the NSC spokesperson said. Vaccination rates among the elderly, one of the groups most vulnerable to Covid, are low in China compared to other countries. Dr. Ashish Jha, head of the White House Covid task force, said China should focus on making sure the elderly get vaccinated. Lockdowns and zero COVID is going to be very difficult to sustain," Jha told ABC's "This Week" on Sunday.

☆ Republican U.S. House will sharpen China focus, monitor Ukraine aid
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( Patricia Zengerle | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +6 min

Representative Michael McCaul, the Republican in line to head the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said his top priority will be competing with a rising China, including monitoring high-tech exports. To become law, any bills must be passed by the Democratic-controlled Senate and be signed by President Joe Biden. McCaul said he expected the aid to keep flowing, noting bipartisan support for the Kyiv government. The House Foreign Affairs and Oversight committees also plan a joint investigation of business dealings that Hunter Biden had with a Chinese energy firm in 2017. The Democratic-led House impeached Trump in 2019 on charges that he withheld military aid to Ukraine to put pressure on President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to launch an investigation of Hunter Biden.

☆ China grants licenses to 70 online games in November
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-17 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

Republican U.S. House will sharpen China focus, monitor Ukraine aid, article with imageUnited States category · November 17, 2022 · 12:08 AM UTCRepublicans will use their new majority in the U.S. House of Representatives to intensify Washington's focus on China, and more closely monitor aid going to Ukraine, but they insist they have no plans to stop support for Kyiv in its fight with Russia.

By pointing to 2027 as the moment when East Asia's power balance may tip in China's favour, Japan's government can rally support for greater defence spending, he added. At a congressional hearing last year, U.S. Indo-Pacific commander Admiral Philip Davidson said that China's threat against Taiwan could "manifest" that year. Japanese defence ministry officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In July, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida won national upper house elections with a pledge to "substantially" increase defence spending. The splurge of defence spending should also benefit U.S. suppliers such as Lockheed, Boeing Co (BA.N) and Northrop Grumman Corp (NOC.N).

Search resuls for: "China Focus"

14 mentions found