ASIA: China may ban the export of rare-earth refining technology to countries or companies it deems as a threat to state security, according to a person familiar with the matter. While China has no plans to restrict shipments of rare earths to the US, it is keeping the plan in its back pocket should a […]

QUESTION: Martin, I wonder if you can comment on the potential of the swift system being replaced by Ripple lab’s XRP as a bridging currency between currency pairs making use of their patented “On-Demand Liquidity” system. If this is the case then it would appear the USD is set to be replaced as the world reserve currency […]

ASIA: Japan’s exports accelerated in January, led by a jump in Chinese demand, and manufacturers’ sentiment turned positive for the first time since 2019, signaling a gradual recovery from last year’s deep coronavirus slump. Ministry of Finance data showed on Wednesday exports rose 6.4% in January from a year earlier, roughly in line with a […]

ASIA: China’s National Radio and Television Administration (NRTA) announced BBC World News has been barred from airing in China saying some BBC’s reports on China infringed the principles of truthfulness and impartiality in journalism. Chinese observers said the BBC has turned into “a rumor mill” that deliberately throws mud at China, and the decision to […]

ASIA: China’s factory gate prices rose in annual terms in January for the first time in a year, as months of strong manufacturing growth in the world’s second-largest economy pushed raw material costs higher, Reuters reported. China’s the national Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said in a statement the producer price index (PPI) rose 0.3% from […]

ASIA: International experts investigating the origins of Covid-19 have all but dismissed a theory that the virus came from a laboratory in China. Peter Ben Embarek, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) mission (Mission to China), said it was “extremely unlikely” that the virus leaked from a lab in the city of Wuhan. […]

ASIA: China’s capital city, Beijing, will hand out about $1.5 million in a limited trial of the central bank’s digital currency, the municipal government announced over the weekend. That marks the third major test of the digital currency under development by the People’s Bank of China. The cities of Shenzhen and Suzhou held similar experiments […]

ASIA: Australian farmers have warned that the country’s trade dispute with China and supply chain disruption linked to the coronavirus pandemic will cost the industry $28bn over the next decade. In a pre-budget submission published on Friday, the National Farmers’ Federation appealed to the government to invest A$3.5bn (US$2.66bn) to support a trading strategy aimed […]

ASIA: China’s growth is likely to moderate in the coming months as the country faces risks on two fronts, according to the chief Asia economist of Goldman Sachs. Goldman Sachs economist Andrew Tilton said the policy makers are quite comfortable with the recovery so far and are starting to pull back on policy stimulus to […]

ASIA: A World Health Organization (WHO) team has come out of quarantine and will start on-the-ground investigations into the origins of the coronavirus in the Chinese city of Wuhan. The scientists will begin interviewing people from research institutes, hospitals and the seafood market linked to the initial outbreak. Their research will rely upon evidence provided […]