Latest news with #BeltandRoad
HKFP
3 hours ago
- Business
- HKFP
Nat. sec clause in application for new scheme to convert commercial buildings into student hostels
A national security clause is included in the application guidelines of a new scheme that allows commercial buildings in Hong Kong to be converted into student hostels. The application guidelines were released on Monday, the same day as the Education Bureau and the Development Bureau announced that the Hostels in the City Scheme had started accepting applications. The new scheme has streamlined development control procedures, allowing commercial buildings to be converted into student accommodation to provide housing for local and non-local full-time students, the government said. According to the application guidelines, if any applicant 'has engaged in or is engaging' in activities which are 'likely to constitute or cause the occurrence of offences endangering national security or which would otherwise be contrary to the interest of national security,' the premises will be excluded from the scheme and the applicant will be barred from joining the scheme for the coming three years. During his policy address last year, Hong Kong leader John Lee announced the 'Study in Hong Kong' brand to attract more overseas students, especially those from ASEAN and other Belt and Road countries, to study in Hong Kong. He said that to increase the supply of student hostels, a pilot scheme would be introduced to facilitate the market to convert hotels or commercial buildings into student hostels 'on a self-financing and privately funded basis.' The government also said on Monday that applicants for Hostels in the City Scheme must ensure the premises are occupied by full-time local or non-local students of eligible post-secondary institutions. Currently, a total of 31 such institutions are listed as eligible for the scheme. Non-students, such as visiting scholars, are allowed to live in such accommodation, but the number should not exceed 10 per cent of the total residents. The applicants of the scheme must also make sure the hostels have 'effective access control,' and no part or parts of eligible student hostels, such as rooms, shall be sold off by whatever means. Shortage of student accommodation Hong Kong has seen a shortage of student accommodation as more and more mainland Chinese students are admitted to universities in the city. Real estate services company Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) estimated in March 2024 that the influx of non-local post-secondary students would fuel a shortage of 22,300 bedspaces for students in Hong Kong in the next four years. Bennett Yim, director of undergraduate admissions and international student exchange at the University of Hong Kong, told local media outlets in October that HKU supported the government's plan to create the 'Study in Hong Kong' brand, but universities in the city found it difficult to accommodate overseas students. Yim said HKU would consider cooperating with private developers to build student hostels.
News18
4 hours ago
- Business
- News18
After PM Modi's Croatia Visit, Indian Firms Take On China's BRI In Mega Infra Projects: Report
Last Updated: PM Modi's Croatia visit led Indian firms to bid for major infrastructure projects, competing with Chinese rivals, including railway and highway projects worth 1.1 billion euros. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi met his Croatian counterpart Andrej Plenkovic in Zagreb last month, Plenkovic praised India's growing interest in maritime trade routes to the Mediterranean. Barely weeks later, two top Indian infrastructure firms are looking to outpace Chinese rivals by bidding for some of Croatia's biggest rail and road projects, according to a report by Bloomberg, who were among the first to report the developments. PM Modi's visit has prompted growing interest from Indian firms eyeing big-ticket infrastructure projects in Croatia. In the past week, a leading Indian engineering and construction heavyweight which is known for its work in marine infrastructure, metros, bridges and tunnels has placed three bids for key state-backed railway and highway projects in the EU's newest member, with a combined value of 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion). Another Indian conglomerate, based in Nashik and known for its expertise in highway and transport EPC projects, is also competing for the same railway reconstruction contract. New Delhi is a relatively new player in the Balkans, a region where Beijing has long had a strong presence through its Belt and Road infrastructure push. One of the most prominent Chinese-led projects is the 2.4-kilometre Peljesac Bridge, Croatia's largest sea bridge, built by a consortium headed by China Road and Bridge Corporation. Opened in 2022 and largely funded by the European Union, the bridge linked Croatia's coastal regions, bypassing a narrow stretch of Bosnian territory, and gave a significant boost to transport and tourism. As part of the tender process, the Mumbai-based infrastructure player submitted the lowest bid for a major railway reconstruction project floated by HZ Infrastruktura, valued at around 620 million euros. The project, partly funded by the European Union, is among the largest rail ventures in Croatia's recent history. In two other highway construction tenders in southern Croatia, the same firm is competing with a Chinese consortium, placing bids of 240.5 million euros and 214.4 million euros respectively. A Nashik-based engineering and EPC major is also in the race for the railway project, signalling a stronger push by Indian firms into Croatia's infrastructure sector. view comments First Published: July 22, 2025, 19:55 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
First Post
8 hours ago
- Business
- First Post
China's Belt and Road Hits $1 Trillion as Economy Falters
China's Belt and Road Hits $1 Trillion as Economy Falters | Vantage with Palki Sharma China's Belt and Road Hits $1 Trillion as Economy Falters | Vantage with Palki Sharma China's Belt and Road Initiative is making a dramatic comeback. In just six months, Beijing has signed 176 new deals worth $124 billion, pushing the initiative's total value beyond $1 trillion. Kazakhstan, Thailand, and Egypt lead as top recipients, while investments in Pakistan's CPEC have fallen sharply. But even as China pours money into roads, ports, and railways abroad, cracks at home are widening. Property sales have collapsed, youth unemployment is near 15 per cent, and deflation is squeezing growth. Critics say Beijing is prioritising Xi Jinping's global ambitions over domestic challenges — leaving its citizens to struggle while it buys influence overseas. See More
Gulf Today
3 days ago
- Business
- Gulf Today
China reports robust trade, investment with Belt and Road countries
China has seen robust trade and investment with countries participating in Belt and Road cooperation over the past years, Vice Commerce Minister Li Chenggang told a press conference on Friday. The combined trade between China and its related countries increased from US$2.7 trillion in 2021 to US$3.1 trillion last year, with an average annual growth rate of 4.7 per cent, Li said. The volume accounted for 50.7 percent of China's total foreign trade in 2024, up from 45.3 percent in 2021, according to Xinhua. From 2021 to the first half this year, two-way investment between China and Belt and Road countries had accumulated to more than 240 billion U.S. dollars, including over 160 billion US$ dollars flowing into Belt and Road countries and over 80 billion dollars into China. Li said Belt and Road cooperation projects had advanced steadily, enhanced infrastructure connectivity, improved people's lives and fostered talent for local development. From 2021 to the first half of this year, China's overseas engineering contracts had reached a cumulative turnover of nearly 600 billion U.S. dollars. To develop emerging industries and expand cooperation space, China has signed investment cooperation memoranda with more than 50 Belt and Road countries in key sectors such as the digital, green, and blue economies. The Silk Road e-commerce cooperation has expanded to 36 partner countries. WAM
Sydney Morning Herald
4 days ago
- Business
- Sydney Morning Herald
Xi whiz! Australia's finally maturing as an international player
In Albanese's talks with China's president, he did not shrink from the difficult topics. He chided Xi for failing to give Canberra any notice of China's naval exercises and live-fire drill off the Australian coast earlier this year. He urged Xi to allow more Australian investment. He asked for the release of the detained Australian writer and onetime Chinese diplomat Yang Hengjun, under a suspended death sentence. Loading On Xi's part, he showered Albanese with every favour. The Chinese Communist Party has an elaborate system for managing foreigners, 'waishi', designed to achieve Mao Zedong's aim to 'make the foreign serve China'. Nothing is left to chance. 'It's increasingly clear that Chinese President Xi Jinping's preferred Western leader is Anthony Albanese,' the ABC's Bang Xiao concluded. 'The evidence? A six-day trip across China. A private lunch with Xi. The decision to prioritise Albanese over the foreign ministers of India and Russia, and more than four minutes of prime-time coverage of his visit on the 7pm CCTV News.' Further, Xi was punctiliously polite and calculatedly warm. From what we know, he chose to sidestep Beijing's gripes against Australia. For example, most Australian media outlets whipped themselves up into a lather anticipating that Xi would scold Albanese for daring to force the Port of Darwin out of Chinese ownership. The Chinese leader didn't mention it once. Much of the Aussie media wanted a drama. Xi had decided to give them only a romance. It was to be a happy visit for the Australian leader. Why was Xi so determined to hand Albanese a diplomatic bouquet? Three reasons. First, on the specifics of the Darwin Port, it's trivial in China's formulations. Beijing is manoeuvring to cement state shareholding in a portfolio of some 50 ports worldwide, all currently owned by CK Hutchison. This would give China's state-owned Cosco a stake in ports from London to Germany, from South Korea to Jakarta, from Mexico to Malaysia, and dozens more including ports in Sydney and Brisbane. Why make a fuss about Darwin? The second reason, and by far the most important, is that Xi and Albanese were acutely conscious that they were playing their parts in a pregnant moment: the reordering of global power. Xi has long said that 'the East is rising, and the West is declining'. But Donald Trump is accelerating the West's decline at a rate Xi could not have dreamt in his wildest fantasies. Xi is portraying China today in studied counterpoint to Trump's America. Where Trump is alienating allies, Xi is extending the hand of friendship. Where Trump is imposing tariffs, China is offering new deals. Where Trump is madly erratic, Xi is projecting calm stability. Loading One striking indicator of how Xi's China is offering benefits to other countries in contrast to the brickbats from Trump's America: The Griffith Asia Institute reports that Xi's Belt and Road initiative has entered into $US124 billion in new deals with other countries in the first six months of 2025. That is its fastest pace yet. Xi is determined to capitalise on the opportunity that Trump presents. Xi's lovemaking to Albanese this week was intended as a showcase moment for the rest of the world. And it worked for Albanese politically. With Trump refusing to meet him, he's demonstrating that Australia has other options, that Australia will continue to deal with the world without reference to the US. Besides, Australia has had a deal on the table in Washington for over three months now. Among other things, it's an offer to give the US guaranteed security of the supply chain of Australian critical minerals. The Trump administration hasn't bothered to respond. With no interest from Washington, Albanese proceeded to Beijing where a different deal, and potentially an enormous one, was on offer. It's the potential for Australian and Chinese companies to partner in the production of green iron. Australia's biggest existing export – iron ore – is facing a serious squeeze. Andrew Forrest's Fortescue is leading a push to create new trade: to process the ore into green iron in Australia, for export to China. Albanese promoted the plan this week; Beijing is interested. If it proceeds, it could be two to three more times as valuable to Australia as its current rock-based export trade. Economist Ross Garnaut advised Bob Hawke in how Australia could take advantage of China's nascent boom in the 1980s. This week, Garnaut told me that Albanese's 'trip is as important as Bob Hawke's trip to China in 1984 that set up the iron ore trade. It's the future of the Australian economy.' China and Australia are practising mutual geopolitical pressure, and mutual economic release. In 2014, I wrote a paper for the Lowy Institute titled 'The Adolescent Country'. It argued that Australia's foreign policy was parochial, US-dependent and immature. Albanese is showing evidence that it's maturing. He's not kowtowing to Beijing nor fearing Washington. Loading It's an improvement. But much more remains to be done. How would Australian foreign policy experts encapsulate the country's international stance today in a book title? I asked the heads of four research centres. The US Studies Centre's Mike Green, referencing Geoffrey Blainey's famous Tyranny of Distance, proposed The Tyranny of Disinterest. Why? He suggested that Albanese lacks interest in the China threat and that Trump lacks interest in the liberal world order. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Justin Bassi came up with Letting Others Decide. Why? 'Avoiding hard conversations with Trump,' he elaborates. 'Avoiding criticism of Beijing. Avoiding investing in defence that would actually give us some leverage. That means we're drifting, neither to safety nor nowhere but into rocky trouble.' Drift was also on the mind of Rory Medcalf of the ANU's National Security College. His title: Continental Drift. The Lowy Institute's Michael Fullilove, in counterpoint to Blainey's book, proposes The Predicament of Proximity. Meaning? 'We are closer to the world's booming markets – and closer to the world's future crises. We are less isolated – and less insulated. We have to decide whether we want to be a spectator or a participant.' It's striking that all four see a country that is too inert, a government that must get more active. One of Mao's catchphrases: 'World in great chaos – excellent situation.' Only for those able and willing to take advantage. That's pressure with no clear release.
