Monday, February 17 2020 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
BEIJING - China's new Encryption Law will regulate all types of encryption used in China and follows implementation on December 1 of what the State Council describes as the Multi-Level Protection Scheme 2.0 -- a cybersecurity law that expands on the types of IT systems requiring Government inspection.
SEOUL - Meeting at a bi-lateral summit in Beijing, South Korea's President, Moon Jae-in, and Chinese President Xi Jinping have reaffirmed the desire of both sides to co-operate for peace on the Korean Peninsula.
MADRID - In a report detailing global trends in migration, the Spanish banking group BBVA says there were 272 million migrants in the world in 2019, 23.0% more than in 2010, with Mexico ranking as dthe country with the second-largest number of migrants globally -- in 2019 there are 12.4 million Mexican migrants in the U.S.
KUALA LUMPUR - Global raatings agency Standard and Poors today affirmed its A- rating for Sarawak, saying that an exceptional budgetary performance and liquidity would likely mitigate the Malaysian State's elevated debt, supporting its creditworthiness.
SHANGHAI - Ant Financial, a fintech affiliate of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, has acquired a significant stake in the Vietnamese digital payment firm eMonkey as part of the Chinese fintech unicorn's strengthening efforts to capture more global opportunities, according to a report in Caixin.
BEIJING - China's State newsagency, Xinhua, is reporting that the leaders of Japan and South Korea will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping here today amid heightened concerns that North Korea may be about to return to confrontation with Washington.
HONG KONG - Asia is ending 2019 not with a bang but a whimper as investment and consumptions sag on beleaguered domestic demand and worsened external conditions, exacerbated by the US-China trade-war, says Natixis in a year-end review.
HANOI - The National Assembly of Vietnam has adopted a new Labour Code after an amendment process lasting nearly four years. It will take effect from January l, 2021.
SHANGHAI - Alibaba has disclosed a string of leadership changes , marking continued restructuring at the Chinese e-commerce giant after Daniel Zhang took the helm as executive chairman from founder Jack Ma in September.
BEIJING - China's Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security has issued Interim Measures on Social Insurance Contributions for Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao Residents to take effect on January 1, 2020.
BEIJING - Trade between China and Russia is expected to hit a record high of US$110 billion this year, China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced.
HONG KONG - After experiencing rapid slowdown in 2019, China's, economy is expected to moderate its deceleration in 2020, according to Natixis, which says the general slowdown pattern is in line with structural trends such as aging, high leverage, and, more recently, geopolitical tensions. However, the economic slowdown will become more moderate, Natixis says, due to both the base effect (2019 has been a difficult year) and continuation of demand policies (fiscal and monetary).
CANBERRA - In an assessment of the Australian Government's mid-year fiscal update today, HSBC suggests that Australia could end up with budget surpluses at the same time as having an (effective) zero-policy rate and central bank sovereign bond buying. "This would be a truly unusual policy configuration," HSBC says.
BEIJING - China and the US have reportedly met each other half-way and reached consensus on multiple issues regarding intellectual property rights (IPR) protection, accosrding to China's Vice Minister of Commerce, Wang Shouwen.
SEOUL - The Foreign and Defence Ministers of South Korea and Australia have urged North Korea to stop actions that heighten military tensions on the Korean Peninsula -- and to resume inter-Korean dialogue and talks with the U.S.
SINGAPORE -- Amid an entrenched trade war, historic Asia-Pacific debt issuance, and record U.S. economic expansion, world credit markets are being pushed and pulled in several directions, says a new report from S&P Global Ratings.