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☆ Taiwan's former U.S. envoy, vilified by China, is named vice presidential candidate
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-20 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Representative to the United States, Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office T.H. Lai, vice president and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential candidate, has led in most opinion polls ahead of the election, which is taking place as Taiwan comes under increased pressure from China to accept its sovereignty claim. The United States, as with most countries, has no formal ties with Taiwan, but is the island's most important international supporter and arms supplier. 'INDEPENDENCE ACT'Like Lai, Hsiao is despised by China, which has twice placed sanctions on her, most recently in April, saying she was an "independence diehard". The DPP's smooth handling of its vice presidential nominee stands in contrast with efforts by Taiwan's two main opposition parties to agree on a joint ticket.

Persons: Hsiao, Lai Ching, Lai, Democratic Progressive Party's, Rupert Hammond, Chambers, Chen Shui Organizations: Cultural, T.H, Sheraton, Democratic Progressive, U.S ., Taiwan Business Council, Reuters, The, ACT, Taiwan Affairs Office, DPP, Kuomintang, KMT, Taiwan People's Party, Facebook Locations: United States, Taipei, Sheraton New York, New York City, January's, Washington, Beijing, Taiwan, China, U.S, The United States, Japan

In a post on his Facebook page, Lai said he would formally present Hsiao as his running mate on Monday afternoon. "Bi-khim's relationships in D.C. will be invaluable to a President Lai, if he is elected, she's going to bring all of those relationships into his government and he doesn't have those," he told Reuters. The United States, as with most countries, has no formal ties with Taiwan, but is the island's most important international supporter and arms supplier. 'INDEPENDENCE ACT'Like Lai, Hsiao is despised by China, which has twice placed sanctions on her, most recently in April, saying she was an "independence diehard". The DPP champions Taiwan's separate identity from China.

Persons: Hsiao, khim, Morris Chang, Carlos Barria, Lai Ching, Lai, Democratic Progressive Party's, Rupert Hammond, Chambers, Chen Shui, Ben Blanchard, Yimou Lee, Muralikumar Anantharaman Organizations: APEC, Economic Cooperation, REUTERS, Rights, Democratic Progressive, U.S ., Taiwan Business Council, Reuters, The, ACT, Taiwan Affairs Office, DPP, Kuomintang, KMT, Taiwan People's Party, Facebook, Thomson Locations: U.S, Asia, San Francisco , California, Rights TAIPEI, United States, January's, Washington, Beijing, Taiwan, China, The United States, Japan

☆ Taiwan's Former US Envoy, Well-Known in U.S., Vilified by China, Named VP Candidate
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-19 | by ( Nov. | At P.M. | ) www.usnews.com time to read: +4 min

Persons: Ben Blanchard, Yimou Lee, Lai Ching, Lai, Democratic Progressive Party's, Hsiao, Rupert Hammond, Chambers, Chen Shui, Muralikumar Anantharaman Organizations: Democratic Progressive, U.S ., Taiwan Business Council, Reuters, The, ACT, Taiwan Affairs Office, DPP, Kuomintang, KMT, Taiwan People's Party, Facebook Locations: Yimou Lee TAIPEI, United States, January's, Washington, Beijing, Taiwan, China, U.S, The United States, Japan

Lai, vice president and the ruling Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) presidential candidate, has almost consistently led opinion polls ahead of an election taking place amid increased Chinese pressure on Taiwan to accept Beijing's sovereignty claims. Vincent Chao, spokesperson for the Lai campaign, declined to comment on Hsiao's role but said an announcement on a running mate would be made on Monday. Randall Schriver, the former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, described Hsiao as a "good partner in promoting U.S.-Taiwan relations." The DPP-led government says only Taiwan's people can decide their future, and has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing but been rebuffed. Like Lai, Hsiao is detested by China, which has on two occasions placed sanctions on her, most recently in April, saying she is an "independence diehard".

Persons: Lai Ching, Lai, Democratic Progressive Party's, Hsiao, Vincent Chao, Ivan Kanapathy, Randall Schriver, Chen Shui, Ben Blanchard, Yimou Lee, Michael Martina, Gerry Doyle Organizations: Democratic Progressive, APEC, Asia, U.S . National Security Council, Reuters, Georgetown University, Patriot, Pacific Security Affairs, U.S, DPP, Taiwan Affairs Office, Thomson Locations: TAIPEI, United States, Washington, Taiwan, San Francisco, U.S, Taipei, Ukraine, China, Beijing, Japan

☆ Golf simulators, doggy daycare, flexible leases, and free rent: Why now may be the best time to shop for a new office
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-17 | by ( Alex Nicoll | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +14 min

Now may be the time to shop for an office lease. As office vacancies soar to record highs in some markets, office landlords often have no choice but to find new and creative ways to attract new clients. "When you have 55-year-old managing partners of a law firm looking for office space, and they see the golf simulator, they get pretty excited," he said. Long-term leases, which usually feature landlord-financed renovations to the office space, are now being offered with lease-termination options. Office landlords without access to this capital level are often left with only one lever: renting below market price.

Persons: Michael Cohen, Michael Lirtzman, Anthony Tahlier, Andrew Lustgarten, Lirtzman, Sterling, Lustgarten, it's, Matt Petit, Goldman Sachs, Risa Letowsky, Letowsky, Watts, Tishman Speyer, aren't, That's, Cohen, they've, he's, hasn't Organizations: Colliers, Kastle Systems, West Chicago, Sterling Bay's, Century, El, New, Palm, Chase, Wall, JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, Adler, Stachenfeld, Silverstein, Lawyer Locations: Chicago, Bian, Sterling, Los Angeles, New York, Miami, Liberty, Chase Manhattan, Alamo, CBRE, Los Angeles and New York, LA, United States

☆ Sunac, Country Garden debt deals bring respite for China's property sector
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

HONG KONG, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Chinese developers Sunac (1918.HK) and Country Garden (2007.HK) brought some relief to the crisis-hit property sector by forging debt deals with creditors, but the outlook remained clouded by uncertainty about a recovery in home sales. Shares in Sunac China Holdings surged as much as 14% on Tuesday after creditors approved its $9 billion offshore debt restructuring plan, the first green light of such a debt overhaul by a major Chinese developer. The developments come as Beijing steps up efforts to revive the property sector, which accounts for roughly a quarter of the world's second-largest economy, with a raft of support measures unveiled over the last few weeks. While Sunac is among a string of Chinese developers that have defaulted on their offshore debt obligations since an unprecedented liquidity crisis hit the property sector in 2021, Country Garden has not missed any offshore payments yet. PROPERTY SECTOR OUTLOOKMajor developers in the process of restructuring their debt include China Evergrande Group (3333.HK), whose liquidity crunch was a turning point in the country's real estate crisis.

Persons: Sunac, Gary Ng, ANZ Senior China Economist Betty Wang, It's, Donny Kwok, Xie Yu, Steven Bian, Kevin Huang, Anne Marie Roantree, Sumeet Chatterjee, Lincoln Organizations: HK, Sunac China Holdings, Country Garden, Natixis Corporate, Investment Bank, China Evergrande, ANZ Senior China Economist, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Beijing, Hong Kong, Sunac, China, Shanghai

☆ Country Garden wins approval to extend another onshore bond
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

HONG KONG, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Embattled Chinese developer Country Garden (2007.HK) has won approval from creditors to extend repayment on another onshore bond, the last in the batch of eight bonds it has been seeking extensions for, two sources familiar with the matter said. The 492 million yuan ($67 million) onshore bond was issued by a subsidiary of Country Garden, and the company had delayed voting on this bond three times before creditors on Monday voted in favor to extend the maturity, the sources said. Under the terms of the agreement, the issuer, Guangdong Giant Leap Construction Co would provide no less than 200 million yuan as a pledged guarantee for the bond, the two sources added. Country Garden, whose financial woes have hit the Chinese property sector outlook, earlier proposed to extend maturities of eight onshore bonds worth 10.8 billion yuan by three years. ($1 = 7.2946 Chinese yuan renminbi)Reporting by Steven Bian in Shanghai, Kevin Huang in Beijing, and Xie Yu in Hong Kong; Editing by Sumeet Chatterjee and Lincoln FeastOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Steven Bian, Kevin Huang, Xie Yu, Sumeet Chatterjee Organizations: HK, Country, Thomson Locations: HONG KONG, Guangdong, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong, Lincoln

☆ Country Garden gets maturity extension approval for one more onshore bond - sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The company logo of Chinese developer Country Garden is pictured at the Shanghai Country Garden Center in Shanghai, China August 9, 2023. Shares in Country Garden, China's largest private property developer, jumped as much as 14% in Hong Kong on Wednesday. A Country Garden spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the maturity extension of the bond. Before the latest voting to extend the maturities of eight onshore bonds, Country Garden managed to avoid default at the last minute twice earlier this month, bringing some relief to the battered property sector. Of those eight Country Garden bonds, maturity extensions for six have been approved, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing sources.

Persons: Aly, Ting Meng, Shuyan Wang, Jing Bian, Xie Yu, Sumeet Chatterjee, Tom Hogue Organizations: Shanghai Country Garden, REUTERS, Rights, Reuters, Garden, Country Garden, ANZ, Thomson Locations: Shanghai, China, Rights BEIJING, HONG KONG, HK, Hong Kong, Beijing

☆ Country Garden secures bondholder reprieve, sources say; shares soar
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-12 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Country Garden did not immediately reply to a request for comment. The latest voting came after Country Garden on Sept. 1 gained approval from creditors to extend payments by three years for a 3.9 billion yuan ($533 million)onshore private bond. Country Garden, one of the few large Chinese developers that has not defaulted on debt obligations, has faced liquidity pressure with reduced available funds as sales plunged, its interim financial statements showed. It has 108.7 billion yuan ($14.9 billion) of debts due within 12 months, while its cash level are around 101.1 billion yuan as of end-June, according to the company's interim financial statement. Any default by Country Garden would exacerbate the country's spiralling real estate crisis, put more strain on its struggling banks and could delay the recovery of not only the property market, but the overall Chinese economy.

Persons: Shuyan Wang, Jing Bian, Xie Yu, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Jamie Freed Organizations: HK, Mainland Properties, Thomson Locations: SHANGHAI, BEIJING, Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai

Beijing has staged multiple military drills around the island in recent years, drawing condemnation from the United States and its allies. Before he announced his bid to run on Monday, Gou earlier this year sought the candidacy for the opposition KMT, which advocates for friendlier relations with Beijing. The KMT has not disguised its anger at Gou's entry into the race for president, seeing his move as opening the way to a victory for the DPP's Lai by splitting the opposition vote. Most recent polls put the DPP's Lai on around 35-40% of the vote, around 10 percentage points clear of his closest rival. To qualify as an independent, he has to collect close to 300,000 voter signatures by Nov. 2, according to election regulations.

Persons: Foxconn, Terry Gou's, Gou, William Lai, Hou Yu, Hou, Eric Chu, Ko Wen, Ko's TPP, Lai, Ko, Chen Shui, Wang Ting, There's, Ben Blanchard, Yimou Lee, John Geddie, Michael Perry Organizations: Kuomintang, KMT, Democratic Progressive Party, Apple, DPP, New, ih, Taiwan People's Party, Reuters, Facebook, Thomson Locations: TAIPEI, China, Taipei, Beijing, United States, New Taipei City, Taiwan

Thailand was the most popular outbound destination for Chinese travelers during the May labour day holiday, data from website Trip.com showed, followed by Japan and South Korea. "There is definitely demand from China for properties in Thailand," said Mesak Chunharakchot, the president of the Thai Real Estate Association. "Chinese are buying houses, sending their children to international schools and having their parents come stay in Thailand to take care of the grandkids." Nearly 270,000 Chinese tourists visited Thailand in March, government data shows, a three-year high, though well below the figure of 985,227 in March 2019, before the pandemic took hold. Therefore some would sell one of the houses in China and buy a property here for retirement."

☆ China may hold lending benchmarks steady as recovery remains on track -analysts
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

SHANGHAI/SINGAPORE, April 19 (Reuters) - China is widely expected to stand pat on lending benchmarks at the monthly fixing on Thursday, a Reuters survey showed, as economic recovery has been well on track - as seen from better-than-expected first-quarter data. China's economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the first quarter, reducing the urgency for authorities to ease monetary policy to aid recovery, traders and economists said. The loan prime rate (LPR), which banks normally charge their best clients, is calculated each month after 18 designated commercial banks submit proposed rates to the People's Bank of China (PBOC). In a poll of 30 market watchers, 27 predicted no change to either the one-year LPR or five-year tenor . The interest rate on medium-term lending facility (MLF) loans serves as a guide to the LPR.

☆ China central bank to maintain or increase policy-loan liquidity - Reuters poll
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-13 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The PBOC manages liquidity by extending loans to banks under its one-year medium-term lending facility (MLF). Twelve analysts expected the central bank to replace that debt exactly with 700 billion yuan of new lending, and 10 expected it to go further and lend a greater amount. A great majority - 21 traders and analysts - expected the MLF interest rate to stay unchanged at 2.75% this month, while the remaining four respondents expected a small rate cut. Markets still expect some monetary policy easing measures to support economic recovery, including cuts to policy rates and the amount of cash that banks must set aside as reserves. "The PBOC will likely cut interest rates soon to aid the expected economic recovery this year."

☆ Developer Sunac China seeks to extend payment for 4 bln yuan bond for the 3rd time-sources
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterAn advertisement of property developer Sunac China Holdings is seen at a residential complex in Shanghai, China March 25, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer ASHANGHAI, Sept 27 (Reuters) - Struggling Chinese property developer Sunac China (1918.HK) is seeking to extend the repayment for a 4 billion yuan ($558.35 million) bond for the third time by pushing out the deadline by another 6 months, two sources with knowledge said on Tuesday. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe Beijing-based developer is struggling to repay its creditors and it is undergoing an offshore debt restructuring after defaulting some dollar bonds this year. The payment extension for the onshore bond in question will require bondholders approval, the sources said. In April, Sunac extended the principal payment by 18 months, and then in June reduced amortization payments due in June and September.

☆ Ca pe Marte! IMAGINI SPECTACULOASE surprinse într-o zonă vulcanică greu accesibilă din SUA
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-24 | by ( Publika.Md - Aici Sunt Știrile | ) www.publika.md time to read: 1 min

Dealurile de bentonită din statul american Utah, care au o culoare deosebită datorită straturilor succesive de cenușă vulcanică, au fost surprinse în imagini impresionante de fotograful James Bian, potrivit digi24.ro. "Simți că ești pe Marte", a spus Bian, care a făcut fotografii din aer cu el și prieteni ai lui în această regiune fascinantă și greu accesibilă. Dealurile de bentonită au nuanțe variate de maro, roșu, violet, gri și verde-albăstrui. S-au format în epoca Jurasică, atunci când noroi, nisip fin și cenușă vulcanică s-au depus în mlaștini și lacuri. Argila bentonitică absoarbe apa și devine foarte moale când este udă, ceea ce face ca deplasarea cu mașina sau pe jos să fie dificilă sau chiar imposibilă.

Persons: James Bian Locations: american Utah

☆ (foto) Imagini surprinse într-o zonă vulcanică greu accesibilă din SUA, în care „simți că ești pe Marte”
▼ + stars: | 2021-05-23 | by ( Onixmedia Srl | ) diez.md time to read: 1 min

(foto) Imagini surprinse într-o zonă vulcanică greu accesibilă din SUA, în care „simți că ești pe Marte”Dealurile de bentonită din statul american Utah, care au o culoare deosebită datorită straturilor succesive de cenușă vulcanică, au fost surprinse în imagini impresionante de fotograful James Bian. „Simți că ești pe Marte”, a spus James Bian, care a făcut fotografiile în această regiune fascinantă și greu accesibilă. Dealurile de bentonită au nuanțe variate de maro, roșu, violet, gri și verde-albăstrui. S-au format în epoca Jurasică, atunci când noroi, nisip fin și cenușă vulcanică s-au depus în mlaștini și lacuri. Argila bentonitică absoarbe apa și devine foarte moale când este udă, ceea ce face ca deplasarea cu mașina sau pe jos să fie dificilă sau chiar imposibilă.

Persons: James Bian Locations: SUA, american Utah

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