- Reuters reports that China will accept applications early next year from foreign insurers seeking to take control of their local joint ventures and is even weighing giving them full ownership earlier than flagged, people with direct knowledge of the matter said. The regulator is expected to publish its final guidelines as soon as the first quarter of 2019 and would begin taking applications from interested foreign insurers soon after that, they said Britain's Prudential Plc (PRU.L) and Canada's Sun Life Financial Inc (SLF.TO) are among insurers who expressed interest in recent months in owning more of their China operations. And Hong Kong-based FWD Group, owned by tycoon Richard Li, is also in the process of obtaining regulatory approval for a majority-owned China insurance joint venture, according to a separate person with knowledge of the matter. China has set an agenda to open up its financial sector and has already taken steps this year to relax foreign ownerships in securities ventures. Beijing said in November last year that for insurance ventures it would first raise the foreign ownership cap to 51 percent from 50 percent. It has also pledged to remove the limit completely in three years.
The Financial Times reports that rivalry between the US and China was laid bare at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation meeting over the weekend, as Xi Jinping, China's president, and Mike Pence, US vice-president, sparred over trade and security. The tension between Mr Pence and Mr Xi at the Apec summit — which failed to issue a joint communiqué for the first time in its 29-year history — damped hopes that a detente between Washington and Beijing could be in store at the G20 world leaders summit in Argentina later this month. At the upcoming gathering in Buenos Aires, starting on November 30, the Chinese president is set to hold much-anticipated talks with Donald Trump, his US counterpart. Many investors and policymakers have been hoping that the encounter would yield a truce to stave off an escalation in the trade war between the two countries, one of the biggest clouds hanging over the global economy. Unless a deal is reached, US tariffs on $250bn of Chinese goods are scheduled to rise from 10 per cent to 25 per cent in January. Mr Trump has also threatened to impose levies on a further $267bn of goods from China, covering all imports.
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- Reuters China says no developing country will fall into debt trap by cooperating with China
- The Guardian Maldives' new president warns treasury 'looted' during China-led boom
- The Washington Post Pacific summit ends with no communique as China, US differ
- The Straits Times US allies counter China with alternative electricity plan for PNG
- www.straitstimes.com 'Beware China's debt diplomacy'
- The Washington Post US military chief says tech giants should work with Pentagon
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- CNN 'Do you have the paper?': Washington scrambles for details ahead of US-China trade talks
- Financial Times US to join Australia in South Pacific naval base expansion