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☆ With Zelensky call, Xi Jinping steps up bid to broker peace – but does he have a plan?
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Simone Mccarthy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin shake hands after signing a joint statement in Moscow on March 21, 2023. But another set of optics, Beijing’s close rapport with Moscow, has already embedded a deep skepticism in the West over China’s potential role as mediator. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Xi has claimed China’s neutrality, but has spoken with Putin five times – including twice in person – without picking up the phone to call Zelensky, despite a years-long strategic-level partnership between their countries. It calls for a ceasefire but includes no provision that Moscow first withdraw its troops from Ukrainian land. But this rapport has also been the reason that some leaders, including Zelensky and Macron, have expressed hope that Xi could leverage his clout to influence Russia to respect international law.

Zelensky, who has long expressed interest in speaking with Xi, said he had “a long and meaningful phone call” with the Chinese leader. Wednesday’s phone call is the first time Xi has spoken to Zelensky since Russia invaded Ukraine in February last year. China’s positioning as a mediator was also viewed critically as Xi visited Moscow but had still yet to speak with Zelensky. “Xi Jinping doesn’t want to put political capital behind an effort that then blows up in his face. In this case, this could mean Putin indicated to Xi that he was willing to talk to Kyiv, Menon added.

Two months after issuing a vague plan for ending the war in Ukraine, China’s leader, a close ally of Vladimir V. Putin, on Wednesday acceded to repeated requests from the Ukrainian president to talk. The one-hour telephone discussion between China’s Xi Jinping and President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine was the first known contact between the two leaders since Russia invaded Ukraine last year. China’s official account of the discussion was notable for its omission of two words: “Russia” and “war.” It referred instead to the need for a “political settlement of the Ukrainian crisis,” and warned of the danger of nuclear escalation. For his part, Mr. Zelensky said the two leaders “had a long and meaningful phone call.”In recent months, Mr. Xi has been trying to burnish his image as a global statesman by helping restore diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran and by rolling out the red carpet in Beijing for visiting world leaders like President Emmanuel Macron of France.

☆ China's Xi is trying to play the role of peacemaker in Ukraine, but won't even acknowledge publicly that Putin started the war
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-26 | by ( John Haltiwanger | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Xi and Zelenskyy spoke for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine. The Chinese leader spoke a lot about peace, even as he continues to support Putin in numerous ways. The Chinese government has claimed neutrality in the Ukraine war, while maintaining close ties with Moscow throughout. Along these lines, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader in March. Xi visited the Russian leader in Moscow shortly after, offering Putin an opportunity to tout his relationship with his Chinese counterpart.

☆ Ark's Cathie Wood once again hypes Tesla – expecting her darling stock to hit $2,000 in five years thanks to a robotaxi boom
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-21 | by ( Zahra Tayeb | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Famed money manager Cathie Wood has made an eye-popping prediction about Tesla, once again. The Ark Invest CEO said the electric vehicle-maker's stock could hit $2,000 by 2027 on a robotaxi boom, per CNBC. Under her bear-case scenario, Wood sees Tesla stock hitting $1,400, while her bull case sees the automaker surging to $2,500. Each one of them now presents the potential for robotaxi and robotaxi fleet," Wood said. In February, the money manager also made a monster forecast for bitcoin, predicting the world's largest cryptocurrency could hit $1.5 million by 2030.

☆ Global rice shortage is set to be the largest in 20 years – here's why
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( Lee Ying Shan | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

The global rice market is set to log its largest shortfall in two decades in 2023, according to Fitch Solutions. "At the global level, the most evident impact of the global rice deficit has been, and still is, decade-high rice prices," Fitch Solutions' commodities analyst Charles Hart said. That would mar the largest global rice deficit since 2003/2004, when the global rice markets generated a deficit of 18.6 million tonnes, said Hart. "The global rice production deficit situation will increase the cost of importing rice for major rice importers such as Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia and African countries in 2023," said Tjakra. "It is our view that global rice production will stage a solid rebound in 2023/24, expecting total output to rise by 2.5% year on year," Fitch's report forecast, hinging on India being a "principal engine" of global rice output over the next five years.

☆ China resorts to extraordinary measures to soothe entrepreneurs amid deep retreat of private business
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Laura He | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Hong Kong CNN —After years of regulatory crackdowns and draconian Covid curbs, private entrepreneurs in China are low on enthusiasm. If anything, the private sector seems to be retreating even more so far this year. State-led investment surged 10.5%, while private investment increased a mere 0.8%. In 2022, state investment rose 10.1%, while private investment ticked up 0.9%. “We always regard private enterprises and private entrepreneurs as people on our own side,” Xi said.

☆ Brazil's Lula calls for 'peace group' to broker Ukraine-Russia deal
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-16 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

He cited Xi and the president of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, both of whom he met this week. Lula had previously said the group should gather countries not "encouraging" war, adding that nations that are supplying weapons should be convinced to stop doing so. Germany earlier this year reportedly asked Brazil to supply arms as well, but Lula refused. Lula had a call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy earlier this year. Reporting by Gabriel Araujo and Eduardo Simoes in Sao Paulo; Editing by Bill BerkrotOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Opinion: Amid fallout of Macron-Xi meeting, another world leader tries his luck
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-13 | by ( Frida Ghitis | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN, a contributing columnist to The Washington Post and a columnist for World Politics Review. Like most of China’s diplomacy, the country paints itself as champion of global peace, even as it launches menacing military maneuvers. French President Emmanuel Macron and Chinese President Xi Jinping shake hands at a signing ceremony at the Great Hall of the People, Beijing, April 6. Just hours after Macron left, China launched an alarming military operation, encircling Taiwan in a simulation of an assault.

☆ Donald Trump called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a 'brilliant man' and said there is no one in Hollywood with the good looks or brains to play him in a movie
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Aditi Bharade | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Donald Trump gushed about Chinese leader Xi Jinping's looks and brains in an interview on Fox News. Trump also called Xi's translator a "beautiful female interpreter." If you went all over Hollywood to look for somebody to play the role of President Xi, you couldn't find it. "A beautiful female interpreter, she was very beautiful," Trump said. Xi, in return, called Trump his "friend" at an economic forum in Russia in 2019, per Reuters.

☆ Macron criticised for saying Europe should take independent stance on Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-10 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

PARIS, April 10 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron has caused a stir by saying Europe has no interest in accelerating the conflict in Taiwan and should become a "third pole" independent of both Washington and Beijing. Political actors on both sides of the Atlantic criticised the president's position as being too accommodating of China, just as it carries out military drills around Taiwan. China views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control. He added that the French president was "increasingly isolating himself in Europe." If Europe doesn't "pick sides between the U.S. and China over Taiwan, then maybe we shouldn't be picking sides either [on Ukraine]," the Republican senator said.

[1/2] Sophie Luo Shengchun, the wife of jailed Chinese human rights lawyer, Ding Jiaxi, poses with a photo of him at her home in Alfred, New York, U.S., July 28, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidBEIJING, April 10 (Reuters) - A Chinese court sentenced two prominent human rights lawyers on Monday to jail terms of more than a decade each, a relative and rights groups told Reuters, the latest move in a years-long crackdown on civil society by President Xi Jinping. "I will not let them put Ding Jiaxi and Xu Zhiyong in jail so easily." Hundreds of rights lawyers were detained and dozens jailed in a series of arrests commonly known as "709" cases, referring to a crackdown on July 9, 2015. China rejects criticism of its human rights record, saying it is a country with rule of law and that jailed rights lawyers and activists are criminals who have broken the law.

☆ Macron says Europe should not follow U.S. or Chinese policy over Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-09 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

April 9 (Reuters) - French President Emmanuel Macron said in comments published on Sunday that Europe had no interest in an acceleration of the crisis over Taiwan and should pursue a strategy independent of both Washington and Beijing. Macron has just returned from a three-day state visit to China, where he received a warm welcome from President Xi Jinping. "The worst thing would be to think that we Europeans must become followers on this topic and adapt to the American rhythm or a Chinese overreaction," Politico quoted him as saying. On Friday, an adviser to Macron told reporters in Guangzhou that Xi and Macron had a "dense and frank" discussion on the issue of Taiwan during their meetings. Macron travelled to China with a 50-strong business delegation including Airbus and nuclear energy producer EDF, which signed deals during the visit.

Noah Barkin, an analyst with the Rhodium Group, said China's chief objective was to prevent Europe from aligning more closely with the United States. Macron travelled to China with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen, both pressuring China on Ukraine, but failing to wrest any public shifts in position from Xi. Xi did not mention a possible conversation with Zelenskiy in China's official reports of his comments after the meetings. "Macron seemed to believe he could charm Xi into shifting his approach on the war," he said. "China and Europe can still be partners," said Wang Yiwei, director of Center for European Studies at Renmin University in Beijing.

☆ Saudi Arabia and Iran met in China to start thawing their fierce rivalry — a striking victory for Xi and a potential humiliation for the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Mia Jankowicz | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Saudi Arabia and Iran's foreign ministers held a historic meeting in Beijing on Thursday. While China has maintained close ties with both countries, the US and Iran have not had diplomatic relations in decades. The meeting between Prince Faisal bin Farhan of Saudi Arabia and Hossein Amirabdollahian of Iran was the first of its kind since 2016. They also discussed visas, as well as a visit to Saudi Arabia by Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi, per The Guardian. CIA director William Burns was in Saudi Arabia this week to discuss mutual intelligence cooperation and counterterrorism, Al-Arabiya reported.

LONDON, March 31 (Reuters) - China’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) imports fell sharply in 2022 because of the disruption caused by lockdowns to control the coronavirus epidemic and the massive exit wave of infections when they were lifted. But the import rebound could be smaller than some analysts anticipate because domestic gas production is rising strongly and the country has mostly completed its transition to natural gas for urban residents. Both LNG and pipeline imports remained subdued in the first two months of this year with any rebound delayed until later in 2023. China’s LNG purchasers have proved price-sensitive and will likely wait for prices to decline before increasing imports and refilling storage. PIPELINES NOT LNGThe shift from LPG and especially gasworks gas has turbocharged consumption of natural gas over the last decade.

☆ Xi and Putin share a deep resentment of the US, but China's new dominance over Russia could eventually shatter the alliance
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-28 | by ( Tom Porter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Russia and China have formed closer ties to counter the power of the US. But China is the dominant one in the partnership, with Russia weakened by the Ukraine war. At last week's summit, Xi proposed a peace plan in Ukraine that critics said mainly reflected Russian demands. Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21, 2023. But despite such tensions, the Russia-China alliance will likely persist because of the deep resentment Putin and Xi share over the US' status as the world's top superpower.

☆ Japan's business services prices perk up near BOJ's inflation target
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( Leika Kihara | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

TOKYO, March 27 (Reuters) - Japan's business-to-business services inflation picked up in February on a tourism rebound and rising labour costs, data showed, offering the central bank hope that steady wage hikes would aid in sustainably hitting its 2% inflation target. The services producer price index, which measures the prices companies charge each other for services, rose 1.8% in February from a year earlier, up from a 1.6% gain in January, BOJ data showed on Monday. Fees for services such as office cleaning, taxi and software development also rose, reflecting higher labour costs. "For services, the pass-through of rising costs isn't as smooth as those for wholesale goods," said Masato Higashi, head of the BOJ's price statistics division, told a briefing. "But when you look closely, the pass-through (of higher labour costs) is gradually broadening," he said.

☆ Ukraine war live updates: Russian strikes overnight kill civilians; Estonia calls China peace plan 'extremely unfair'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Natasha Turak | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Several people were killed in different parts of Ukraine after overnight Russian strikes, Ukrainian state media reported, claiming the attacks were carried out by Iranian-made "Shahed" drones and fighter jets. Power was lost again for a number of towns as emergency teams work to bring it back, local authorities said. A much-talked about Chinese peace plan presented by Beijing was branded as "extremely unfair" by Ukraine ally Estonia, whose leadership says that the 12-point plan does not respect Ukraine's territorial integrity. Chinese President Xi Jinping's highly publicized visit to Moscow earlier this week failed to achieve any sort of breakthrough in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but visibly touted the closeness between Xi and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. Meanwhile, Ukraine's military leadership is signaling that a much-anticipated counteroffensive is coming "very soon" as Russian forces appear to lose momentum in parts of eastern Ukraine.

☆ Estonia says China's peace plan to end Ukraine's war is 'extremely unfair'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

watch nowChina's peace proposal to end the war in Ukraine is "extremely unfair," since the plan doesn't respect the territorial integrity of the country, said the permanent secretary of Estonia's Ministry of Defense. Beijing issued a 12-point peace plan in February. But China's plan hasn't been fair to Ukraine's people, he said. "That is something I would say [is] extremely unfair to Ukrainian people who have been fighting for their freedom." No breakthrough at Xi-Putin meetingChinese President Xi Jinping's three-day visit to Russia concluded on Wednesday.

☆ Ukraine wants to win China over as Russia's invasion continues. Some say it shouldn't bother trying
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Holly Ellyatt | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Ukrainian servicemen head toward Bakhmut in a BMP infantry fighting vehicle, in eastern Ukraine on March 22, 2023. The Kremlin said Wednesday that Ukraine's "peace formula" had not been discussed by Xi and Putin. Russian President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping leave after a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21, 2023. "I'm not confident that China's plans, and 12-point peace plan, is good for Ukraine — I think that this is a very bad deal for Ukraine, and that this is a plan for Russia. The proposed peace plan and latest talks between Xi and Putin offer little tangible substance on how a lasting peace could actually be achieved in Ukraine.

WASHINGTON, March 22 (Reuters) - China is "very carefully" watching how Washington and the world respond to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but has not yet crossed the line of providing lethal aid to Moscow, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday. "The stakes in Ukraine go well beyond Ukraine. However, he said he did not believe that China has been providing lethal aid to Moscow. "As we speak today, we have not seen them cross that line," Blinken told a Senate Appropriations subcommittee hearing, the first of four times he will testify to congressional committees this week. "The post-Cold War world is over, and there is an intense competition under way to determine what comes next," Blinken said.

☆ Xi and Putin: A Friendship Forged Against the West
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Kate Bubacz | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

In many ways, the two economies complement each other. Russia is a powerhouse in natural-resource and energy exports, which China needs to fuel its manufacturing sector. Despite this, China still does far more trade with the West than with Russia. Maxim Shipenkov/pool/Shutterstock

March 22 (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping for a two-day summit in Moscow this week. UKRAINEPutin said Chinese proposals could be used as the basis of a peace settlement in Ukraine, but nothing emerged from the meeting to tie his hands militarily. Bottom line: The agreed summit language suits Putin's purposes, enabling him to continue fighting while saying he is open to talk peace. Bottom line: Russia is still waiting on a deal and China has powerful leverage to secure advantageous price terms. Putin said Chinese companies would be first in line to replace Western companies that have quit Russia.

☆ Traveling to Asia for work? This city is its most expensive business destination
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-22 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Hong Kong has been named the most expensive location in Asia for business travelers — for the second year in a row, according to a new report. watch nowTokyo, which dropped from second- to third-most expensive city in Asia, also experienced a 5% rise in daily costs for business travelers in local currency terms. "With average daily costs of $424 per day [in Tokyo], business travel to the city is now almost 20% cheaper than first-placed Hong Kong." "Even a tourist hub like Bangkok, which typically receives many business travelers, only saw a moderate 4% increase in business travel costs," Quane added. World's most expensive placeFor yet another year, New York received the dubious honor of being the most expensive place in the world for business travelers.

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