India's top think tank recommends easing investment rules for Chinese firms, sources say
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RTHK
2 hours ago
- RTHK
LDP setback looms in Japan upper house election
LDP setback looms in Japan upper house election Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba says he plans to stay on despite what appears to be an election setback. Photo: Reuters Japan's shaky ruling coalition is likely to lose control of the upper house, exit polls showed after Sunday's election, potentially heralding political turmoil as a tariff deadline with the United States looms. While the ballot does not directly determine whether Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's minority government falls, it heaps pressure on the embattled leader who also lost control of the more powerful lower house in October. Ishiba's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and coalition partner Komeito need 50 seats to secure the 248-seat upper chamber in an election where half the seats were up for grabs. They are forecast to hold 32 to 51 seats, the exit poll by public broadcaster NHK showed. Other broadcasters forecast the ruling coalition would return 41-43 seats. If the coalition drops below 46 seats, it would mark its worst result since it was formed in 1999. That comes on top of its worst showing in 15 years in October's lower house election, a vote which has left Ishiba's administration vulnerable to no-confidence motions and calls from within his own party for leadership change. Speaking two hours after polls closed to public broadcaster NHK, Ishiba said he "solemnly" accepted the "harsh result". Asked whether he intended to stay on as prime minister and party leader, he said "that's right". "We are engaged in extremely critical tariff negotiations with the United States... we must never ruin these negotiations. It is only natural to devote our complete dedication and energy to realising our national interests," he later told TV Tokyo. Japan, the world's fourth largest economy, faces a deadline of August 1 to strike a trade deal with the United States or face punishing tariffs in its largest export market. The main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party is projected to win 18 to 30 seats, from 22 held previously, NHK's exit poll showed. The far-right Sanseito party, birthed on YouTube a few years ago, has been the surprise package with its "Japanese First" campaign and warnings about a "silent invasion" of foreigners. It is forecast to win 10-15 seats in the chamber, up from one held previously, yet it holds only three seats in the lower house. Opposition parties advocating for tax cuts and welfare spending have struck a chord with voters, the exit polls showed, as rising consumer prices – particularly a jump in the cost of rice – have sowed frustration at the government's response. "The LDP was largely playing defence in this election, being on the wrong side of a key voter issue," said David Boling, a director at consulting firm Eurasia Group. "Polls show that most households want a cut to the consumption tax to address inflation, something that the LDP opposes. Opposition parties seized on it and hammered that message home." The LDP has been urging for fiscal restraint, with one eye on a very jittery government bond market, as investors worry about Japan's ability to refinance the world's largest debt pile. (Reuters)
South China Morning Post
4 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
The future of surveillance tech is already here – in the US, not China
Out of story ideas about China? One default topic for Western hacks is to warn against the repressive nature of China's pervasive 'hi-tech' public surveillance. But a recent one in The New York Times takes the cake. Forgive the long quote, but it helps to fill up column space. It's also necessary to show the person's pathos or value system. I don't know. But here goes: 'I heard some surprising refrains on my recent travels through China. 'Leave your bags here,' a Chinese acquaintance or tour guide would suggest when I ducked off the streets into a public bathroom. 'Don't worry,' they'd say and shrug when I temporarily lost sight of my young son in the crowds. 'The explanation always followed: 'Nobody will do anything,' they'd say knowingly. Or: 'There's no crime.' And then, always: 'There are so many cameras!' I couldn't imagine such blasé faith in public safety back when I last lived in China, in 2013, but on this visit it was true: Cameras gawked from poles, flashed as we drove through intersections, lingered on faces as we passed through stations or shops.' The writer, an American, is troubled. 'I felt that I'd gotten a taste of our own American future,' she wrote. 'Wasn't this, after all, the logical endpoint of an evolution already under way in America?' Oh dear! In fact, high-resolution public security cameras with facial recognition features are so yesterday's tech. The Times article is titled, 'Can we see our future in China's cameras?' Well, no, lady, you want to see your future, go back to your own country.
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
As US and Europe cut aid budgets, China's star is on the rise in Southeast Asia, report says
China's role as Southeast Asia's largest infrastructure financier is increasing its regional influence at a time when the United States and the European Union are slashing their foreign aid budgets, a new report by an Australian think tank said. With the Trump administration in the United States scrapping about US$60 billion in aid and European countries pulling back more than US$25 billion, 'the centre of gravity' in Southeast Asia's development finance landscape 'looks set to drift East, notably to Beijing, but also Tokyo and Seoul', the Lowy Institute report, which was released today, said. 'China is the single largest partner on infrastructure financing in Southeast Asia, but traditional donors combined still outspend it,' the report's lead authors, Alexandre Dayant, Grace Stanhope and Roland Rajah, wrote. 'As Western aid declines and China recalibrates its strategy, Beijing is well positioned to regain dominance.' Southeast Asia's traditional partners include countries such as the US and Australia, and international organisations such as the United Nations, the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank. With the US expected to cut its foreign assistance by 83 per cent this year, the retrenchment of funds from Europe and tariff uncertainties undermining trade ties between the US and other countries, China is enhancing its influence in the region through infrastructure connections. Recent examples include work on high-speed railway links with Vietnam and Thailand. China International Development Cooperation Agency spokesman Li Ming told a news conference in March that China's 'principles related to foreign aid, including non-interference in internal affairs, no political strings attached and no empty promises made, will not change'. 'A major country should act like a major country by shouldering its due international obligations and fulfilling its responsibilities, rather than renege on its promises, be mercenary or bullying,' he said.
