Category: Business
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Japan’s Vaccine Strategy
COVID-19 is a once-in-a-century pandemic that has infected more than 110 million people worldwide and caused more than 2.4 million deaths. Many countries have implemented strict lockdowns to try to contain the infection, but the virus keeps mutating and infections persist. In this situation, vaccines are the only hope. The strategy of creating herd immunity…
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What Happened to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor?
The China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), one of the most ambitious components of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative, was announced to great fanfare in 2015. Since then it has consistently been held up as a “gamechanger” for Pakistan’s economy. But the road to completion has proved long and winding. Reports indicate that the pace of CPEC…
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Trafficking dreams – Why China’s Didi can succeed where Uber has struggled
“W E INVEST A lot of money here in China,” proclaimed Travis Kalanick, founder and then boss of Uber, at a confab in Tianjin in June 2016. But, he added with foreboding, “we have a competitor who is investing even more.” Two months later the American ride-hailing giant threw in the towel, selling its Chinese…
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Bill to help Hong Kong protesters stay in US as refugees revived
Hong Kong Safe Harbor Act aims to help residents of the Chinese-controlled city gain refugee status in the United States. A bipartisan group of legislators in Washington, DC, have reintroduced a bill to make it easier for Hong Kongers fearing persecution in the Chinese-controlled city to secure refugee status in the United States. The 12…
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The UK to Head East of Suez: Power Projection or Search for Trade?
As the HMS Queen Elizabeth and its entourage departs Portsmouth later this year, it will take with it a number of burdens and challenges. Later this year, the HMS Queen Elizabeth, the new Royal Navy aircraft carrier, will undertake its maiden deployment to the Asia-Pacific region. It will arrive as the flagship of a Carrier…
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US trade rep nominee says she will fight ‘unfair’ Chinese trade
Katherine Tai says she will will treat Chinese censorship as a trade barrier and fight ‘unfair’ economic practices. President Joe Biden’s US nominee for trade representative, Katherine Tai, says she will work to fight a range of “unfair” Chinese trade and economic practices and seek to treat Chinese censorship as a trade barrier. In written…
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Instability may make Ethiopia a hard sell to foreign investors
Once a frontier market superstar, Ethiopia has seen its investment lustre dimmed by conflict and the coronavirus pandemic. Since Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared victory over the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) in late November, Tigray’s airspace has opened and businesses are gradually picking up again, despite ongoing tensions and a vow by the…
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Business this week
Listen to this story Your browser does not support the element. Enjoy more audio and podcasts on iOS or Android. America’s tech giants reported quarterly earnings. Apple smashed analysts’ expectations, reporting record revenue of $111.4bn and a net profit of $28.8bn. Sales rose across all regions—the biggest gains were from China—and across all of Apple’s…
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How the Chinese State Mobilized Civil Society to Fight COVID-19
According to legend, the cradle of Chinese civilization was formed in the hands of the ancient King Yu (c. 2123-2025 BCE), whose greatest feat was rescuing the people from atrocious floods. He paid a hefty personal price in the form of calloused hands and long absences from family in order to save the kingdom from…
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Sri Lanka’s cremation of COVID dead a ‘human rights violation’
UN’s human rights experts says gov’t policy a violation of human rights and could ‘foment existing prejudices’. The United Nations has urged the Sri Lankan government to halt its policy of forced cremations of coronavirus victims, a practice it said went against the beliefs of the country’s Muslims and other minority populations. Ignoring the World…