Latest news with #Chinesecompanies
South China Morning Post
5 hours ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
How Indonesia can maximise benefits from Chinese investments
Indonesia must tighten oversight of Chinese-funded infrastructure projects to maximise their economic benefits while guarding against debt risk, environmental harm and lack of transparency, according to a new report by leading policy researchers. Advertisement The study by US-based AidData and Indonesian think tank Foreign Policy Talks draws on more than two decades of investment data and urges Jakarta to play a more assertive role in ensuring that such projects deliver long-term public benefit. While the report, titled 'Balancing Risk and Reward', raises red flags about the scale and structure of Chinese financing, it also pushes back against alarmist narratives that cast Beijing as predatory or portray Indonesia as a passive victim. Instead, it calls for greater domestic accountability and stronger governance to ensure foreign-backed development works in the national interest. Between 2000 and 2023, Chinese state-linked financing in Indonesia reached US$69.6 billion, with a further US$94.1 billion invested by private Chinese companies between 2010 and 2024. According to the report, 90 per cent of China's state-directed funding was issued as debt, while only 3 per cent took the form of grants or concessional loans. Advertisement That approach differs from countries such as Japan, where development assistance is more often provided on concessional terms. But the authors cautioned against interpreting China's model as predatory.
South China Morning Post
a day ago
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong's financial recovery shows the power of synergy with Beijing
After several years of challenges, the Hong Kong economy is showing surprising strength. This has largely come about due to a rebound in financial services, with sectors in Hong Kong not involved in finance still stuck in a slump. However, a bit of recovery is better than none at all, especially since 2025 had been expected to be tough for Hong Kong, which is caught up in the geopolitical tensions between China and the United States. Ironically, it's those precise anxieties that have brought relief to Hong Kong. Crisis becomes opportunity as the Chinese government moved decisively last year to boost Hong Kong's status as an international financial centre. The Hong Kong stock exchange has become the world's busiest in terms of initial public offerings (IPOs) this year. Beijing is supportive of mainland Chinese companies wishing to raise capital in Hong Kong, making it easier to do so. Indeed, there is good reason for Chinese companies to turn to Hong Kong. Funds are raised in the Hong Kong dollar, a fully convertible currency that can be used for global transactions. Other push and pull factors are at work too. Facing a tide of anti-China sentiment, Chinese entrepreneurs are generally no longer attracted to listing in New York. For the 286 mainland Chinese companies already listed in New York, there is a 'homecoming' trend of seeking an alternative listing in Hong Kong, amid reports that the US government may delist them . Consequently, Hong Kong is playing a more pivotal role for companies seeking funding. Perhaps the factor that helps most is the sheer amount of Chinese money in the market. Without this money, it would be difficult for Hong Kong to find sufficient demand for its growing supply of IPOs and other financial products. A man walks past an advertisement promoting exchange services for the Chinese yuan, US dollar and the euro in Hong Kong, in 2015. Photo: Reuters
Bloomberg
a day ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Alibaba to Baidu Lead Surge in Equity-Linked Bond Sales in Asia
By and Dave Sebastian Save Asian sales of bonds that can be turned into shares have soared in 2025, heading toward multiyear highs, as interest rates remain elevated and rallying stocks create the right conditions for this corner of the market to thrive. Led by Chinese companies, firms in the region have sold more than $30 billion of convertible and exchangeable bonds this year, up from over $20 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Offerings denominated in US and Hong Kong dollars have been particularly popular.
France 24
5 days ago
- Business
- France 24
US targets attempts to dodge Trump tariffs with China in crosshairs
The issue is "transshipping," or having products pass through a country to avoid harsher trade barriers elsewhere, a practice Washington has accused Chinese companies of. "Goods transshipped to evade a higher Tariff will be subject to that higher Tariff," Trump warned in letters issued since Monday, days after unveiling a trade pact with Vietnam that promised steeper duties for such goods too. "The clause is less about Vietnam per se and more about signaling that rules-of-origin games across the broader Asian production network will attract a premium penalty," said Barath Harithas, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. He told AFP the White House is likely making two points at once: closing a back door to China and putting the rest of Asia on notice. Noting that Vietnam was "the single biggest winner from Chinese supply-chain diversion since the first Trump tariffs in 2018," Harithas said the US administration is keen to avoid a repeat of this situation. Ten of the 14 countries first to receive Trump's tariff letters this week were in Asia and mostly Southeast Asia, which sits between Chinese component suppliers and western consumer markets. "Washington's message seems to be: 'Either help us police Chinese evasion or absorb higher duties yourselves,'" Harithas said. 'Whack-a-mole' "I think it is clear that transshipment of Chinese goods so far this year is massive," said Robin Brooks, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. While there has been a drop in direct exports from China to the United States, this is "more than offset by" trade shifts elsewhere, he told AFP. In a recent report, Brooks noted that Chinese exports to both Thailand and Vietnam started surging "anomalously" in early 2025 as Trump began threatening widespread tariffs. It is unclear if all of these goods end up in the United States. But he cast doubt on the likelihood that domestic demand in both these countries rocketed right around the time that Washington imposed fresh duties, saying tariffs tend to instead bog down global trade due to uncertainty. Similarly, Chinese exports to the European Union, he said, also rose markedly in early 2025. "It's a little bit like whack-a-mole," Brooks said, adding that as long as Washington maintains different tariff rates for different countries, business will try to take advantage of the lowest levels. This in turn could be a reason that US inflation remains muted despite wide-ranging duties including a 10 percent rate on almost all US trading partners, and levels of up to 50 percent on sector-specific imports like steel and aluminum. Transshipment is not a China-specific issue. Concerns also flared in recent years over goods bound for Russia -- skirting European export controls -- after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. Complications But it is difficult to draw a line defining product origins. While Washington may take issue with Chinese-headquartered companies moving production facilities to third countries, for example, many firms genuinely export components for value-added manufacturing to take place. In Vietnam, raw materials from the world's second biggest economy are the lifeblood of manufacturing industries. There is massive uncertainty over how an incoming 40 percent US tariff on goods passing through the country -- double the 20 percent rate applied to Vietnamese goods -- might be applied. Emily Benson, head of strategy at Minerva Technology Futures, said the Trump administration appears to be trying to simplify an otherwise complex web of legal definitions. "But whether or not that will work for other trading partners remains to be seen," she said. While products from China might be impacted, she believes the White House's intentions stretch beyond Beijing. "They're trying to load a bunch of negotiations on to this reciprocal (tariffs) vehicle," she added. "And they want other countries to play by the rules."
