TOKYO -- Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Friday voiced his determination to strengthen the Quad alliance -- a bloc to counter Chinese assertiveness that also includes the U.S., Australia and India -- while also stabilizing relations with China.

In his first policy speech, Kishida, who was elected as the nation's 100th prime minister on Monday, pledged to "strongly promote a free and open Indo-Pacific by cooperating with allies" and through the Quad. He also emphasized that "at

Tetsushi Takahashi was Nikkei's China bureau chief from April 2017 to March 2021 and the writer for the Beijing Diary column.

TOKYO -- When you read "Kishida Vision: From Division to Collaboration," a book published last year by Fumio Kishida, Japan's new prime minister, you find many references to the importance of fiscal discipline.

"I think Japan needs to continue to demonstrate at home and abroad that the state's stance and the administration's guiding principles are

PALO ALTO, U.S. -- Tesla held its annual shareholder meeting in its Austin, Texas, Gigafactory for the first time on Thursday and announced it will move its headquarters to the southern state from its longtime base in Fremont, California.

The U.S. EV-maker said it will continue to expand production in California despite the move -- though the company also revealed that in terms of output, its Fremont factory had been overtaken by its Shanghai plant.

"We are continuing to expand our activity

SEOUL -- Samsung Electronics reported a double-digit increase in operating profit during the third quarter from a year ago, boosted by demand for semiconductors, foldable smartphones and the effects of a weak local currency against the U.S. dollar.

The South Korean tech giant said Friday in releasing earnings guidance for the three months ended Sept. 30 that its operating profit jumped 27.9% to 15.8 trillion won ($13.3 billion) from the same period last year.

The

S. Alex Yang is an associate professor at London Business School, specializing in supply chain finance and management. Angela Zhang is an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong, specializing in Chinese regulatory governance. She is the author of Chinese Antitrust Exceptionalism: How the Rise of China Challenges Global Regulation.

Two emerging threats to the Chinese economy have alarmed global investors.

The first is the Evergrande debt crisis, which has sent shock waves across financial markets and left investors feeling worried that another Lehman moment could be imminent.

The

HONG KONG -- Shares of noodle shop chain Tam Jai International, a unit of Japan's Toridoll Holdings, fell 7.5% on their debut Thursday on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong.

The company raised 1.04 billion Hong Kong dollars ($134.59 million) after pricing its offering at HK$3.33, the bottom of the marketed range. The shares closed Thursday at $3.08 after falling as low as HK$2.98

HONG KONG -- Chinese Estates Holdings, a Hong Kong-based developer and once-major shareholder in crisis-stricken peer China Evergrande Group, has proposed going private in a deal worth about 1.9 billion Hong Kong dollars ($244 million).

The family of billionaire former chairman Joseph Lau, which controls the company, would buy out minority investors for HK$4 per share, according to a disclosure on Wednesday. That represents a 38% premium over the closing price Sept. 29

DUBAI/TOKYO -- Saudi Aramco's market capitalization has topped the $2 trillion mark in October on the back of surging prices for crude oil and natural gas, rapidly approaching top-ranked Apple's $2.3 trillion.

The company now ranks third in the world by market capitalization, also behind Microsoft's roughly $2.2 trillion. This marks the first time that the state-owned oil giant recovered to above the $2 trillion target, set by de facto Saudi leader Crown Prince

JAKARTA -- A wave of consolidation is hitting Indonesia's crowed wireless telecom sector, a market that once featured seven operators jostling for position, as the strain of 5G investment winnows out the field toward possibly having just three big players.

The stakes are high. Indonesia is the most populous Southeast Asian country and is expected to have one of the world's biggest digital economies at $124 billion in 2025, data from Google and others show, triple the size last year.

The