SINGAPORE -- Troubled water treatment company Hyflux will finally go into liquidation now that a court has approved an application for winding up the company, marking the end to a charismatic founder's once high-flying startup.

"I am grateful for all the assistance rendered by all parties," Justice Aedit Abdullah said on Wednesday during the Singapore court hearing, conducted through videoconferencing, as he granted approval to begin Hyflux’s winding up -- more than three years after the company filed for bankruptcy protection.

The hearing was

Fraser Howie is co-author of "Red Capitalism: The Fragile Financial Foundation of China's Extraordinary Rise."

The investigation into newly listed ride-hailing giant Didi Global is the latest in an ongoing clash between China's tech sector and regulators as the state brutally exerts control after years of hands-off management.

Much of the drama has played out in the stock market, where Ant Group last year saw its initial public offering pulled only hours before trading was scheduled to start, while Didi had already started

TOKYO -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday said Washington maintains its longstanding stance on Taiwan but has deepened ties with the island, while looking to shore up deterrence.

"First of all, we are continuing our One China policy," Sherman told Nikkei Asia and other Japanese media outlets in a roundtable discussion in Tokyo. "That said, we have deepened our relationship with Taiwan."

Sherman is in Japan as part of a weeklong tour focused on Indo-Pacific security, with stops

HONG KONG -- The weeklong Hong Kong Book Fair closed on Tuesday after attracting far fewer people than last time, but books deemed politically sensitive won wide support from ordinary citizens who attended.

The event, a major book exhibit in the Chinese-speaking world, once was regarded as a symbol of publishing freedom in the territory under the "one country, two systems" arrangement. But this year's fair was the first held under the national security law imposed by Beijing in June 2020. Attendance sank

TOKYO -- Suzuki Motor and Daihatsu Motor are joining three other major Japanese carmakers, including Toyota Motor, to develop electrification technologies for commercial vehicles, Nikkei learned Wednesday.

Suzuki and Daihatsu will invest in a joint venture set up by Toyota, Hino Motors and Isuzu Motors in April. The companies are set to cooperate on costly research and development of advanced technologies, including self-driving and electrification.

TOKYO -- Japanese motor maker Nidec said Wednesday it will form a joint venture with Taiwan's Hon Hai technology group, known as Foxconn, in a move that is set to intensify competition between traditional automakers and new entrants over the rapidly growing segment in the auto industry.

The joint venture for EV motor production will be formed with Foxconn and its auto-making subsidiary in Taiwan in 2022.

Nidec has emerged as an auto industry disrupter by promising to supply drive motors to any aspiring EV makers, including

Boonsithi Chokwatana is the chairman of Saha Group, Thailand's leading consumer products conglomerate .

This is part 1 of a 30-part series and the latest installment of Nikkei's "My Personal History" ("Watashi no Rirekisho") autobiographies, the first of which was published in 1956. Since then, a variety of world-changing individuals have written or dictated their life stories for publication.

"Thailand's King of Consumer Goods" -- Like my father, I have been

Boonsithi Chokwatana is chairman of Saha Group, Thailand's leading consumer products conglomerate . This is part 2 of a 30-part series.

The Chokwatana family's history in Thailand began when my grandfather, Li Fook Ho, the eldest son of a farmer in China's Guangdong Province, moved to Bangkok with his family around 1900. He was one of many overseas Chinese who scattered throughout Asia to escape poverty.

My grandfather was a man of robust health. He worked all kinds of jobs

TOKYO -- Indian food delivery company Swiggy has raised $1.25 billion from investors including SoftBank Group's Vision Fund 2, as the startup aims to expand its business and capture India's growing online grocery market.

The company said on Tuesday that the latest fundraiser "was heavily oversubscribed following strong interest from investors, and comes on the back of Swiggy's rapid recovery from the impacts of COVID-19 and subsequent growth in 2020-21."

Swiggy was founded in