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Trump-Xi summit preparations falter as planning gaps...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Less than six weeks ahead of a likely summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, preparations are inadequate, bilateral contacts anaemic and outcomes diminished, according to analysts and former government officials familiar with planning. The shortfall reflected in part Trump’s reluctance to delegate, disdain for process and focus on quick wins, banking instead on personal magnetism and his “gut” as summit organising principles, they said. The planning deficit

Denmark PM calls snap election amid row with Trump...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen called an early election for March 24, betting a popularity boost from a stand-off with US President Donald Trump over Greenland will help secure her another term in office. The move comes after the US president revived claims over the Arctic territory in early January, causing a diplomatic rift with Europe. The rupture in relations bolstered Frederiksen’s domestic standing, reinforcing her image as a disciplined and steady leader during periods of...

Germany’s Merz leaves China with stronger ties as...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has concluded his first visit to China, hailing the “good cooperation” with Beijing as Berlin seeks to rebalance ties with its biggest trading partner amid the unpredictability of the Trump administration. Merz characterised the visit as “worthwhile”, noting that China would buy up to 120 additional aircraft from Airbus SE. The company operates two assembly lines in the northern port city of Tianjin that mainly produce A320 jets for Chinese carriers. In his...

Hong Kong records HK$2.9 billion consolidated surplus...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

A combination of a strong initial public offering (IPO) market and bond sales has helped put Hong Kong’s financial health back in the black sooner than expected, with analysts expecting a robust pipeline of listings to be key to sustaining the city’s surplus. In his budget speech on Wednesday, Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po said the city was previously expected to record a HK$67 billion deficit for the 2025-26 financial year, which ends on March 31, but emerged with an estimated HK$2.9...

Residents of fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court can retrieve...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Hong Kong authorities have said that residents of fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court will be allowed to return to their flats to collect personal belongings by late April – nearly five months after the city’s deadliest inferno in decades killed 168 people and displaced nearly 5,000 at the Tai Po estate. The announcement came a day after more than 630 displaced homeowners petitioned the government for their “humble and urgent” wish to retrieve cherished possessions that were not destroyed in the...

China’s top legislature removes 9 military officials...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

China’s top legislature has removed nine military officials from its list of deputies ahead of Beijing’s biggest annual political meeting next week, according to state news agency Xinhua. The National People’s Congress (NPC) updated its list of deputies from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and People’s Armed Police delegation on Thursday, reducing the total to 243. Among the deputies removed were five full generals, one lieutenant general and three major generals. The five generals are...

World Economic Forum CEO Borge Brende resigns over...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

The president and CEO of the World Economic Forum, Borge Brende, said he was stepping down on Thursday, a few weeks after the forum launched an independent investigation into his relationship with sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Brende, who became president of the WEF ‌in 2017, announced his decision in a statement following disclosures from the US Justice Department that showed the Norwegian had three business dinners with Epstein and had also communicated with the disgraced financier via

Hong Kong open to backing universities issuing bonds...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Hong Kong authorities are open to supporting universities in issuing bonds to fund the development of the proposed University Town in the Northern Metropolis, with lawmakers calling for a dedicated approval and credit rating mechanism. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po told a meeting of the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee on Thursday the issuance of a “tertiary education bond” to support the University Town’s construction would be considered. The University Town, which will include

Russia and Ukraine’s war of attrition leaves no easy...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Four years after launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia has not achieved any of its strategic goals. The conflict – now lasting longer than the Soviet Union’s fight against Germany in World War II – has only caused Moscow to lose its influence dramatically in the post-Soviet space. Is there a way out of the Kremlin’s Ukraine adventure? In the early days of war, which erupted on February 24, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that his “special military operation” in...

Hong Kong banks’ collateral asset valuations to...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

The value of collateral assets used by banks for commercial property loans is expected to continue declining in 2026, according to S&P Global Ratings, as the sector has yet to find a clear bottom. “More collateral pain is likely this year for Hong Kong banks,” the credit rating agency said in a report published on Thursday, adding that a subset of small banks could face more acute strain. That assessment comes as Hong Kong’s commercial property market remains on a sustained downturn that

Why is China ‘reminding’ its male citizens in Russia...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

A Chinese consulate in Russia has issued a rare reminder to Chinese nationals about a new, little-discussed Russian law requiring foreign men under 65 applying for long-term residency to agree to do at least a year of military service for Moscow. In a notice on its social media account on Sunday, the Chinese consulate in Vladivostok advised Chinese nationals to “take note of” new regulations on the processing of Russian long-term residence permits. It said that under these provisions, foreign...

Poland tells US it won’t be a ‘sucker’ as Trump...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

The ⁠US remains Poland’s most ⁠important partner in military ⁠cooperation and Warsaw has been and will remain a loyal ally, but it can’t be a “sucker”, Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said in a speech to parliament on Thursday. His comments reflect the ‌delicate balancing act that Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s pro-EU government must perform in maintaining the strong transatlantic bond they see as crucial for national security at a time when US President Donald Trump is upending old...

Hongkongers rush to showrooms as EV tax breaks end,...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Hong Kong’s decision to end tax breaks for private electric cars has sparked a rush to the showrooms, with some residents even selling their eligibility for the incentive scheme. A car dealer told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that sales had surged by a factor of 17, adding that one customer broke into tears just after midnight, fearing he had missed the registration deadline. “Last night there were many people … there was a queue at one point,” said Eric Wong Ngai-lik, the Hong

Fok welcomes ‘inspiring’ budget, says Asian Games...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Hong Kong lawmaker Kenneth Fok Kai‑kong welcomed the government’s HK$1.2 billion investment in sports development as “a timely boost that will inject fresh momentum”, while also urging a more strategic approach to building a sustainable sports industry. Fok, who is also vice-president of the city’s Sports Federation and Olympic Committee (SF&OC), said details on how the money could be spent would be decided following “a comprehensive review of athlete support planned after the Asian...

Normalisation of Trump’s chaos can only go so far

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

It is one of the oldest sayings on Wall Street, yet the adage “markets hate uncertainty” has never stood up to scrutiny. Like most maxims, it has a ring of truth but is a gross oversimplification. What is indisputable, however, is that for several decades investors took major economic, financial and political trends for granted. For a long period beginning in the 1980s, the world was relatively predictable. Many economists dubbed this era “the great moderation”. Others pointed to the impact

AI committee can help Hong Kong start-ups ‘tackle...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

A proposed high-level committee that will focus on artificial intelligence (AI) could help tech start-ups in Hong Kong mitigate legal and geopolitical challenges, as well as gain access to important databases for model training, market leaders have said. But the experts also told the South China Morning Post on Thursday that the committee, which was proposed in the latest budget and will be led by the city’s finance chief, would need to involve a diverse panel of experts and be

SHKP, Hong Kong’s bellwether developer, posts 36%...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Sun Hung Kai Properties (SHKP), Hong Kong’s largest developer by market capitalisation, reported a 36.2 per cent year-on-year jump in first-half net profit to HK$10.25 billion (US$1.3 billion). Revenue rose 32 per cent to HK$52.7 billion for the six months ended December from a year earlier, while operating income increased 10.7 per cent to HK$13.4 billion, the developer said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Thursday. Underlying profit, which discounts property revaluations,

China-EU trade ties are at a crossroads. Could tech...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

Premier Li Qiang has called for deeper technological cooperation with Germany and highlighted opportunities under China’s latest five-year plan – a move that could help ease tensions with the EU over the war in Ukraine and years of trade disputes. “We support bilateral flows of innovation resources between enterprises and research institutions in both countries,” Li told a symposium attended by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and more than 60 business representatives from both sides. “We can...

China influencer earns US$7 million from wish candles...

News - South China Morning Post ·

2026/02/26

In China, some young people are paying steep prices for wish candles sold by influencers, hoping to rekindle a romance. One such influencer, Li Zhuofan, built a following of more than 600,000 on mainland social media after appearing on the Russian reality show The Battle of Psychics, where she used a candle to “locate” a person hidden in a car boot and claimed she could sense that someone had once died in another vehicle. After returning to China, Li began selling handmade wish candles

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