U.S. and China keep Singapore waiting on business mediation treaty
SINGAPORE -- Demand for international mediation is rising, but a United Nations treaty spearheaded by Singapore is in ratification limbo two years after its introduction, as the pandemic alters priorities and the world's two biggest economies stay on the sidelines.
The U.S. and China have both signed the Singapore Convention on Mediation with over 50 others. But the rival powers have yet to ratify it or give equivalent approval, and in fact only a handful of smaller countries besides the treaty's namesake have done so.
Why is Xi giving Evergrande founder Hui Ka-yan a free pass?
William Pesek is an award-winning Tokyo-based journalist and author of "Japanization: What the World Can Learn from Japan's Lost Decades."
As China confronts the great reckoning market players long feared, ghosts from crises past haunt the conversation: Alan Greenspan and John Meriwether.
Greenspan is the human bubble maker who ran the U.S. Federal Reserve in the frothy 1990s. Meriwether ran the hedge fund that the Fed chairman helped bail out in 1998, setting the stage
Key Evergrande backer Chinese Estates looks to dump stake
HONG KONG -- Embattled China Evergrande Group looks set to lose one of its top supporters in another sign of vanishing confidence in the world's most indebted property developer.
Chinese Estates Holdings and its leaders have been involved in almost every Evergrande fundraising since the latter's listing in Hong Kong in 2009. But in a filing on Thursday, the Hong Kong developer disclosed that it had sold 108.9 million Evergrande shares between Aug. 30 and Sept. 21 and said it would
COVID-19 adds urgency to Asia's push for boardroom diversity
TOKYO -- Asia is lagging in boardroom diversity even as COVID-19 highlights the need for a mix of skills and backgrounds to deal with crises, according to a recent report on the region's listed companies.
In a survey of six major Asia-Pacific economies, the CFA Institute, a U.S.-headquartered association of investment professionals, looked at factors such as the ratio of independent directors, average length of tenure and gender diversity on corporate boards.
In several of these areas, the region
Taiwan warns CPTPP entry at risk if China admitted first
TAIPEI -- Taiwan's bid to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) would face significant risks if China were to be admitted first, the island's top trade representative said on Thursday.
Taiwan officially submitted its application to join the Japan-led trade bloc on Wednesday, less than a week after China announced its own surprise bid for membership.
"China has been obstructing Taiwan's international presence. If China is admitted into CPTPP ahead of us, it will definitely risk
Indian startup Ola opens all-female electric scooter factory
NEW DELHI -- Ride-hailing service Ola has opened an electric scooter factory operated entirely by women, seeking to promote female participation in the labor force in India.
The 24 billion rupee ($325 million) "Futurefactory" in the southern state of Tamil Nadu will churn out 2 million units a year in an early stage.
The Ola Futurefactory will be "run ENTIRELY by women, 10,000+ at full scale! It'll be the largest all-women factory in
Vietnam's pandemic-induced cardboard shortage lifts prices
TOKYO/HANOI -- The price of used corrugated cardboard shipments to Vietnam have soared roughly 60% so far this year as coronavirus restrictions slash the amount of the material available from the Southeast Asian country's factories and households.
Used cardboard is a major input in paper product production. But as the usual sources dry up, prices have risen 20% since April. Imports are also on the rise, with Japan seeing the volume it exports to Vietnam rise around 60%.
Once a poster child for
ASEAN food makers look to correct labor abuses in supply chains
TOKYO/BANGKOK/SINGAPORE -- Thai Union has promised to deploy electronic monitoring systems in all of its suppliers' tuna fishing vessels by 2025 to crack down on labor rights violations, a move that could have a far-reaching impact on the industry's business practices.
The world's top producer of canned tuna will use equipment, including cameras, global positioning systems and sensors, that will track working conditions on board as part of the company's commitment to "100% transparency
Who's the Afghan rep? U.N. showdown faces Monday deadline
UNITED NATIONS -- A diplomatic face-off is developing in New York between two representatives of Afghanistan -- the Taliban and the remnants of the government led by former President Ashraf Ghani, who fled the country after the Islamist militants took over Kabul.
Both parties have sent letters to the secretary-general's office claiming to be the official representative of the country.
Some countries such as Pakistan have said that the "new reality" in Afghanistan is that the Taliban has control. Under that logic, the Taliban'
Seven-Eleven to offer app checkout in Japan, after US launch
TOKYO -- Convenience store operator Seven-Eleven Japan will start offering a smartphone app that allows customers to scan the prices of products and make electronic payments, Nikkei has learned.
Its group company is already offering the service in 3,000 stores in the U.S. and the Japanese chain now hopes to make the app available at its directly managed stores in Tokyo and Osaka by next spring. After that, it will expand the service to franchise stores.
Customers will no longer have to wait in lines