Analysis: Xi's 'common prosperity' feels the heat as economy fizzles
Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff writer and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.
TOKYO -- Amid growing signs of weakness in the Chinese economy, President Xi Jinping's policies are facing headwinds as he pursues the goal of "common prosperity," or sharing the fruits of development.
An article published on Oct. 24 by state-
Kishida seeks to meet with Biden again by year-end
TOKYO -- Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday he will try to arrange a meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden soon, possibly by year-end, following up a chat on the sidelines of the United Nations climate conference.
Kishida returned to Japan on Sunday from the COP26 summit in Glasgow, where he met separately with the prime ministers of the U.K., Australia and Vietnam. He decided to go on the unusually short trip despite a tight political schedule for the opportunity to meet with
'Common prosperity' push will further entrench Alibaba and Tencent
Nina Xiang is the founder of FutureLogic, a media platform bridging the Asian and global innovation economy. She is the author of "US-China Tech War: What Chinese Tech History Reveals About Future Tech Rivalry."
The stated aim of President Xi Jinping's "common prosperity" drive is to ease China's worsening inequality.
But when tech giants including Alibaba Group Holding and Tencent Holdings announced last month that they would pledge hundreds of billions of yuan toward Xi's initiative, commentators were quick to brand the
Tokyo Electron leads drive to purge CO2 from chip supply chain
TOKYO -- Tokyo Electron, Japan's top maker of chipmaking equipment, is spearheading an effort to reduce carbon dioxide emissions throughout its supply chain as Apple's push to have its suppliers go carbon-neutral this decade reverberates through the industry.
Under its E-Compass sustainability initiative announced in June, the company is taking steps to lower CO2 emitted from transportation, including switching to rail and reducing packaging. It is considering ways to cut assembly-related emissions as well.
Cutting carbon emissions has increasingly become a
Panasonic nears mass production of Tesla's next-gen cells
OSAKA -- Panasonic is technologically almost ready to start commercializing the cheaper, higher-capacity battery cells Tesla unveiled last year, the head of the Japanese industrial giant's newly consolidated battery division told Nikkei.
October saw Panasonic bring all of its battery-related operations under a new in-house energy company with Kazuo Tadanobu as its CEO. In a recent interview, Tadanobu discussed its partnership with Tesla and the possibility of working with other electric-vehicle companies, as well as plans for the energy company.
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Central bank digital currencies can save $100bn a year: report
TOKYO -- Setting up a cross-border payments network for central bank digital currencies can save companies nearly $100 billion a year in transaction costs, according to a report that J.P. Morgan and Oliver Wyman released on Wednesday.
The report highlights the potential positive impact of central bank digital currencies as central banks around the world explore their feasibility.
Currently, banks rely on correspondent banks and other intermediaries to process international money transfers. This leads to hefty transaction fees and is often time-consuming as banks
Moderna leads all drugmakers in market-cap gain during COVID
TOKYO -- Moderna has increased its valuation more than any other drugmaker in the world during the pandemic as new opportunities arising from the coronavirus boost sharp-focused newcomers to new heights.
Moderna's market capitalization rose by more than $130 billion between the end of September and Thursday to nearly $140 billion, according to a ranking compiled by QUICK-FactSet.
Its gains, largely propelled by the success of its mRNA coronavirus vaccine, outpaced pharmaceutical giants that have been around for a century or more
ByteDance founder Zhang Yiming quits board of TikTok parent
HONG KONG -- Zhang Yiming, the ByteDance co-founder who earlier this year stepped down as chief executive of the parent company of TikTok, has relinquished his position as chairman and left the company's board.
Liang Rubo, who succeeded Zhang as CEO in May, has now also assumed the chairmanship as management thinks "the best development model for the company is that the CEO and chairman are the same person," a senior executive told Nikkei Asia.
Liang co-founded the company and was Zhang's
Mongolia pushes Rio for more concessions in $7bn mine talks
ULAANBAATAR -- The Mongolian government is seeking further concessions from Australian mining company Rio Tinto after it proposed new terms for financing the $6.75 billion underground expansion of the vast Oyu Tolgoi copper mine.
"Mongolia wants Rio to clear Mongolia's debt," said Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai on Monday, ahead of a meeting with company officials later in the week, insisting the company should shoulder responsibility for delays and cost increases with the project.
"The Mongolian government didn't make mistakes,"
China must not shut the door to cultural exchanges with the U.S.
Minxin Pei is professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and a nonresident senior fellow of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
Harvard University recently announced that it will relocate its summer language program next year from Beijing to Taipei.
The ostensible reason given by Harvard was the difficulty it was having arranging student accommodation at its host campus, the Beijing Language and Cultural University. But there is more to the story.
As bilateral ties between Beijing and Washington have steadily deteriorated in recent years, the cultural ties that bind the two
