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Forbes
25-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
China Market Update: Baidu Releases New AI Model, Week In Review
CLN KraneShares Asian equities mostly followed Wall Street higher overnight as Japan and Taiwan outperformed, while India and Singapore underperformed. The Politburo issued a press release reiterating that it is willing to step in and support the market through its various mechanisms. These include the 'National Team', which refers to investment firms associated with sovereign wealth. It also mentioned supporting consumption, cutting rates at opportune times, and lowering some regulatory barriers. We are likely to see a cut to the reserve requirement ratio (RRR), though we may have to wait for more clarity on tariffs or for the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China's central bank, to gain the confidence necessary to make the cut. Baidu unveiled a new AI model, ERNIE 4.5 Turbo, overnight. The new large language model (LLM) is being offered at an even lower price point than previous versions. Combined with upgrades, it could offer Baidu a new edge in the ongoing price war between China's LLM and cloud providers, chiefly Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu. Baidu shares were up in Hong Kong overnight and are trading slightly higher in the US this morning. Electric vehicle names struggled overnight after Tesla's disappointing earnings, though the China-based players are in a very different situation. Xpeng led declines and is down -3% this morning in US trading. Mainland media reported that certain semiconductor and technology imports from the US were to be exempted from retaliatory tariffs. Bloomberg reported that China is also mulling exemptions for medical equipment and chemicals, including methane. This makes sense and mirrors the US' move to exempt electronics, as no one wants to pay $2,000 or more for an iPhone. This is more evidence that tariffs will not be sustainable and are likely still opening gambits for negotiations, albeit very strong ones. Alternatively, tariffs could be in place long-term, but with so many exemptions as to make their overall impact. Any long-term tariffs are likely to target specific industries. After Xi's recent visit to Kenya, China will finance the country's construction of roads and railways. China's Belt & Road Initiative has expanded China's trade with African nations. Trade tensions could give China a new zeal to make deals and increase trade with Africa, which could benefit the infrastructure industry. New Content Read our latest article: New Drivers For China Healthcare: AI Med-Tech Innovation, Cancer Treatment, & Favorable Balance of Trade Please click here to read Chart1 KraneShares Chart2 KraneShares Chart3 KraneShares Chart4 KraneShares Chart5 KraneShares Chart6 KraneShares
Express Tribune
13-03-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Tariff hearing held for Thar Block-1 mine
The report notes that excessive levels of selenium, arsenic, mercury, chromium, and lead are of recent origin and associated with coal activities in the Thar coalfields. PHOTO: file Listen to article The Thar Coal & Energy Board (TCEB) held a public hearing on Thursday to review the tariff petition filed by Sino Sindh Resources Pvt Ltd (SSRL) for its 7.8 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) lignite mine at Block-1 of the Thar Coalfield. The session, conducted at a local hotel in Karachi, was attended by stakeholders, experts, and the public. According to a statement, TCEB MD Tariq Ali Shah, along with Ammar Habib Khan, Member Finance/Power, and Dr Fahad Irfan Siddiqui, Member Mining, led the hearing. SSRL CEO Li Jigen presented details of the project, highlighting its significance as a China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative under the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI). Developed by Shanghai Electric under a Build-Own-Operate (BOO) model, the project represents a $3 billion investmentthe largest single Chinese investment in any country. The Thar Block-1 Integrated Energy Project includes two 660MW supercritical coal-fired power plants, supported by an open-pit mine spanning 150 km² with coal reserves of 2.6 billion tonnes. Positioned favourably in the National Transmission and Dispatch Company (NTDC) merit order, it offers electricity at Rs5.52/KWh ($0.02/KWh), making it a cost-effective alternative to hydropower. SSRL has proposed a levelised COD Stage Coal Tariff of $48.71 per tonne, reflecting necessary cost adjustments. The total project cost is estimated at $949.54 million, with projected operational costs of $13.72 per tonne for variable O&M and $12.74 per tonne for fixed O&M. TCEB reaffirmed its commitment to transparency, stating that stakeholder feedback would be considered before finalising the tariff decision.
Asia Times
03-03-2025
- Politics
- Asia Times
Ukraine debacle signals the death of Atlanticism
The public spat between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and US President Donald Trump at the White House last week sent shockwaves through Europe, and rightly so. With Trump advocating for an end to the Ukraine war and signaling a hard shift in US policy, Europe finds itself caught in a geopolitical non-man's land. It alienated China, severed economic ties with Russia and failed to anticipate Trump's historic strategic shift. Making matters worse, Europe disqualified itself as a reliable interlocutor after EU leaders publically admitted that the Minsk negotiations were used to buy time for Ukraine's military buildup. In a few short years, Europe managed to isolate itself on the world stage. Henry Kissinger once said that the US has no permanent friends, only interests. The war in Ukraine is a case in point. Starting about 30 years ago, most European countries, influenced by a neoliberal wave in the US, elected a slew of Atlanticist-minded political leaders who agreed with US neoliberal policies. Consecutive US administrations, including Bush, Clinton and Obama, supported NATO expansion. The pretext was the spread of democracy and freedom, which obscured the geopolitical and economic reasons that can be traced to the colonial era. The Heartland Theory, developed by British geographer Halford Mackinder in the early 20th century, argued that Western hegemony relied on a divided Eurasian continent. Mackinder addressed the battle as one between emerging maritime powers (mostly Western European) and land-based powers (Russia, China, India). The development of railroads challenged the maritime hegemonic power of the West. From Halford Mackinder's Heartland Theory. Railroads changed military logistics. In the 1980s, American geopolitical strategist Zbigniew Brzezinski updated the Heartland Theory and identified Ukraine as the pivotal nation in the battle for the Eurasian continent. NATO's expansion since the 1990s was orchestrated by Brzezinski's proteges, and championed by successive US administrations. Only by keeping the Eurasian continent divided, the reasoning was, could the maritime powers of the West remain global hegemony. China's Belt & Road Initiative (BRI), which stretches across the Eurasian continent, also concerned the Atlanticists. China's Belt & Road Initiative will ultimately integrate the Eurasian continent. From an Atlanticist perspective, the Ukraine war accomplished its mission: cutting Europe off from the Eurasian continent. Blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline connecting Russia and Europe was part of the program. But the Atlanticists could not have foreseen that Trump would so drastically change the strategic chess board. The old adage 'Follow the money' still holds true. The US is facing a growing and unsustainable national debt, a perennial budget deficit and ever-growing trade deficits. These triple deficits can only be sustained as long as the dollar is the world's reserve currency. The US earns trillions as the 'toll booth' of the global dollar system. However, the US government has now borrowed US$36 trillion to cover its budget deficits. Interest payments on the national debt are larger than the defense budget, and rising. On the current trajectory, the US is heading for default or hyperinflation. Trump's priority is restoring the fiscal health of the US, and to make sure the dollar remains the world's reserve currency. It explains both his ruthless cost-cutting and why he threatens sanctions on countries that try to de-dollarize. The West was never able to convince Russia that NATO expansion to the Russian border was no threat to it. Unconcerned about the possible Russian reaction, they framed NATO expansion as an exercise of democracy and freedom. Ideology trumped pragmatism. But the climb down will be painful. Early on in the war, Western media depicted Russia as weak and corrupt, with a dying economy and an inefficient military. Overly confident or historically naive, the West relied on three pillars that crumbled one after another: – Sanctions to weaken or collapse the Russian economy and cause an uprising against Putin failed – Isolating Russia from the Global South, including China and India, failed – Inflicting strategic defeat on Russia with superior NATO weapons failed Convinced that Russia could be brought to its knees, the West did not bother to formulate a backup plan. When it became clear Russia was not to be defeated, the West flipped the script. Russia was no longer a weak state with an impotent military, it was an existential threat to Europe. Russia has an economy the size of Spain, less than one-third of the European population, and a quarter of the European defense budget (about $84 billion vs Europe's $326 billion). But Europeans are now told that if they don't defend Ukraine, they may have to fight the Russians at their own borders. Fully in denial that the end game has begun and incapable of offering peace proposals, the Europeans are doubling down on their strategic folly. They are discussing a collective European defense fund, and building up a defense industry that does not rely on the US. Experts predict that it could take ten years for Europe to reach military self-sufficiency, not to mention that a growing number of countries in Europe are expressing dissatisfaction with the Ukraine policy. Most EU leaders have approval ratings of under 30%. Europe's weakness is intrinsic and can't be papered over. A Chinese geopolitical analyst recently described the dilemma: 'Europe consists of small countries and countries that don't realize they are small (in the context of geopolitics).' Should the US, Russia, and China discuss a postwar architecture – a Yalta II – Europe may find itself relegated to the sidelines. When the chips are down, Europe lacks the strategic leverage that can be yielded by the 'Big Three.' The biggest challenge for the EU elite is to manage public opinion during the unavoidable climb-down from their ideological crusade. Since 2014, when Russia regained control of Crimea, the Western media has served as the propaganda arm of the Atlanticists, some sponsored by USAID. They demonized Putin and Russia 24/7. Anyone uttering a word of critique of Zelensky or Ukraine was depicted as a Russian asset. The non-stop barrage of anti-Russian propaganda was highly effective. A recent poll in Britain indicated 80+% in favor of boots on the ground in Ukraine. Never mind that the entire British army would fit in Wembley Stadium. The Atlanticist virus that infected Europe in the past three decades has transformed the ideological landscape. Today, the proverbial right, like the AfD in Germany, calls for peace, while the proverbial left, including the 'Greens', are the cheerleaders for continuing the war. This historic role reversal is hardly discussed in Europe. Europe's Green Parties have roots in the student uprisings of 1968 and the anti-Vietnam war protests in the early 1970s. The Dutch Green Party resulted from the merger of pacifists and environmentalists, yet the 'Green' major of Amsterdam displayed a burned-out Russian tank in the center of Amsterdam as a war trophy. When peace returns to Ukraine, Europe would do well to analyze the ideological role reversal that contributed to the Ukraine tragedy.
Asia Times
12-02-2025
- Business
- Asia Times
Russia better than China for making Afghan-Pakistan peace
Russian Ambassador to Pakistan Albert Khorev told TASS over the weekend that his country supports Pakistan and Afghanistan's respective counter-terrorism efforts. He then added that it encourages both of them to resolve their border tensions through bilateral or multilateral means. This suggests a desire to mediate between them. China has already tried to do so but has struggled to achieve anything, yet Russia has a better chance of success. Russia's grand geo-economic plan in this part of Eurasia is to pioneer parallel connectivity and energy corridors to India via Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. To that end, Russia must cultivate equally excellent relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan, help resolve their border tensions, and then do the same with Pakistan and India's. The first step has already been achieved upon strategically partnering with the Taliban last summer and then clinching a strategic resource pact with Pakistan in December. The second step will be much more difficult to fulfill but therein lies the purpose behind Ambassador Khorev's latest remarks regarding Russia's support for Pakistan and Afghanistan's respective counter-terrorism efforts. On the one hand, he acknowledged his host country's problems with Afghan-emanating terrorist threats, but on the other, he shied away from blaming the Taliban for them like Islamabad does and instead offered to provide them with vague 'necessary assistance'. The goal appears to be to empower each to in their own way, the first through political support for stopping all terrorist infiltration from Afghanistan and the second by possibly equipping them with small arms and potentially training their special forces to fight ISIS-K. Left unsaid is any reference to Pakistan's claims that the Taliban backs the TTP ('Pakistani Taliban') and other terrorist groups, however, though commenting on this either way would ruin Russia's careful balancing act. To be sure, China has already applied the same approach towards this issue, but it lacks the geo-economic vision that Russia does wherein the improvement of Afghan-Pakistani ties is integral to the success of its broader regional policy. Pakistan and Afghanistan don't need to trade across one another's territory in order to do business with China since the first employs the Belt & Road Initiative's China-Pakistan Economic Corridor flagship to that end while the second has rail access to it via Central Asia. Therefore, although China does indeed want its neighboring partners to work more closely together, this isn't required to advance its geo-economic interests. The situation is altogether different with Russia, whose grand geo-economic plan necessitates Afghanistan and Pakistan patching up their problems in order to pioneer parallel connectivity and energy corridors that could one day ideally reach India. Those two, therefore, naturally understand that Russia has much greater stakes in mediation than China does. Neither Afghanistan nor Pakistan would receive additional economic benefits from China upon resolving their tensions, but Pakistan could finally receive more direct overland connectivity with Russia and perhaps even energy from it with time too if that happens, both via Afghanistan. Likewise, Afghanistan could profit from its middleman role in these corridors, especially if they ever extend to India. No such benefits stand to be reaped from China if Beijing were to successfully mediate between them. Accordingly, it's incumbent on Russia to utilize creative means for moving this diplomatic process along to the best of its ability, which could include sharing detailed plans of its proposed connectivity and energy investments in both in Afghanistan and Pakistan should they agree to resolve their disputes. These could include specific projects, the estimated amount that'll be invested, lending terms if required, the possibility for joint ownership of some sort, and the local labor that might be employed. It might still not be enough for a breakthrough, but it would still be more than what China has offered to do if they make peace, which is nothing. Moreover, such a detailed proposal could later be returned to if the political and/or military situation changes and they decide to patch up their problems, in which case they'd have a mutual interest in reviving Russia's plans. It's too early to predict what'll happen either way, just that Russia is expected to push for peace, and its efforts will be more meaningful than China's. This article was first published on Andrew Korybko's Substack and is republished with kind permission. Become an Andrew Korybko Newsletter subscriber here.
Express Tribune
06-02-2025
- Business
- Express Tribune
Zardari, Xi vow to maintain positive trajectory in ties
BEIJING: President Asif Ali Zardari on Wednesday met with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping wherein the two sides discussed the positive trajectory of the bilateral relationship, high-quality development of CPEC 2.0, and the significance of people-to-people linkages and cultural exchanges. In the meeting held at the Great Hall of the People during the five-day official visit of President Zardari to China, the two leaders also discussed regional and international issues of common interest, and opportunities to even further expand the scope of bilateral partnership, especially through continued high-level exchanges. They highlighted the vital role of CPEC 2.0 in promoting regional connectivity, shared benefits and common prosperity, including through partnerships with other countries. Both sides also underlined the significance of people-to-people linkages and cultural exchanges for strengthening the China-Pakistan Community of Shared Future in the New Era. Underlining the enduring friendship between the two countries, both leaders also reaffirmed support for each other on the issues of core interest. President Zardari reaffirmed Pakistan's steadfast commitment to its all-weather strategic cooperative Partnership with China and underlined the unique, time-tested and special relationship between the two countries. He also commended China's exemplary development, progress and prosperity, calling it a manifestation of the vision of the Chinese leadership and the dynamism of the Chinese people. President Zardari also paid rich tribute to President Xi Jinping for China's profound contributions to global development under the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI). He termed China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as a shining model of the BRI's visionary concept of win-win cooperation. President Zardari extended the invitation to President Xi to visit Pakistan, emphasising that the people and government of Pakistan hold him in high esteem as a visionary leader and as a special friend of Pakistan. The meeting was followed by an MoU signing ceremony where the two leaders witnessed the signing of MoUs to enhance cooperation in the fields of science & technology, media, clean energy and socio-economic development, among others. Earlier, President Asif Ali Zardari was warmly welcomed by President Xi and presented with the guard of honour upon his arrival. A group of children also extended a warm welcome and offered a heartfelt reception to the President. After the ceremony, President Xi Jinping hosted a state banquet in honour of President Asif Ali Zardari and his accompanying delegation. Meeting with Leji President Asif Ali Zardari and Chairman of the Standing Committee of National People's Congress, Zhao Leji on Wednesday underscored the time-tested and all-weather friendship between the two countries, which continued to grow in depth and scope over the decades. The president met with Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress of the People's Republic of China, Zhao Leji, President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release. They also underlined strategic mutual trust as the cornerstone of the China-Pakistan relationship and emphasized the importance of continued high-level exchanges to further deepen the ongoing practical cooperation. The two sides also discussed the high-quality development of CPEC 2.0, with a particular emphasis on promoting cooperation in science & technology, renewable energy, infrastructure and agriculture sectors. They described CPEC as a shining example of people-centric development, with its focus on win-win cooperation, shared benefits and common prosperity. The two sides discussed the opportunities to strengthen institutional linkages, including through parliamentary exchanges and participation in the CPEC Political Parties Joint Consultative Mechanism, to further solidify the bilateral cooperation.
