Wednesday, August 21 2019 | ASIA TODAY INTERNATIONAL - Reporting the Business that Matters in Asia
SEOUL - South Korea has become the first county in the world to offer a 5G commercial service, with President Moon Jae-in saying the Government will push ahead with a national 5G strategy to create the world's best 5G ecosystem.
SEOUL - The U.S. Administration has called last week's summit between President Moon Jae-in and U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington "positive," saying the talks showed a strengthened bilateral alliance and trading partnership.
SYDNEY - Qantas Freight is to wet-lease two new Boeing 747-8F freighter aircraft to service 10 key cargo hubs in its Australia-China-US network.
NEW DELHI - In a new research report, ANZ Bank says it believes India's election results will have a larger bearing on economic policy than near-term macroeconomic fundamentals, with a comfortable win for any coalition positive for domestic asset prices.
HANOI - Standard and Poor's has raised its long-term sovereign credit rating on Vietnam to 'BB' from 'BB-', and says the outlook on the long-term rating is stable. S&P has also affirmed its short-term rating on Vietnam at 'B'.
HONG KONG - The Hong Kong Government and China's Supreme People's Court have entered into a landmark arrangement that will allow, for the first time, parties to arbitrations seated outside of Mainland China to obtain interim relief protection from the Chinese Courts that will be enforceable in China.
BANGKOK - Thailand elections on March 24 still await official results, but observers are already cautious on the implications for the new Government in making decisive choices.
GUANGZHOU - China's leading carmaker, BYD, launched the world's longest pure electric bus in Shenzhen on Monday, as a precursor to providing comprehensive e-bus production lines in overseas markets.
SHANGHAI - China's State newsagency, Xinhua, reports that a 5G network in Shanghai's Hongkou District, backed by China Mobile, started trial runs on Saturday. A total of 228 5G base stations have been deployed in Hongkou, making it the first district in Shanghai fully covered by a 5G network and a gigabit broadband network, Xinhua said.
SEOUL - South Korea's President, Moon Jae-in, is to visit Washington on April 10-11 for a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump. "The two Heads of State will have in-depth discussions on how to work together to further strengthen the ROK (Republic of Korea)-U.S. alliance and establish a peace regime on the Korean Peninsula through complete denuclearisation," Senior Presidential Secretary for Public Relations Yoon Do-han told a news briefing.
HONG KONG - China Exchanges Services Company Limited (CESC) today launched its CES Greater Bay Area Industries Select Index, which aims to track the performance of Hong Kong- or Mainland China-listed companies benefiting from Greater Bay Area's development.
SINGAPORE - Today sees formal entry of onshore China bonds into the Bloomberg Barclays Global Aggregate Index, another important milestone in China's financial market liberalisation. ANZ Bank estimates potential foreign bond inflows of US$150 billion from asset managers tracking the Global Aggregate Index over the 20-month phase-in period.
SYDNEY - Hong Kong and Australia today formally signed off on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and an Investment Agreement, which are comprehensive in scope, covering trade in goods, trade in services, investment, intellectual property, Government procurement, competition and other related areas.
MELBOURNE - The U.S. Federal Reserve's pause on interest rate hikes and China's loosening of its credit purse strings have eased credit conditions in Asia-Pacific, but economic growth remains soft and macro risks persist, says a report released today by S&P Global Ratings.
HONG KONG - S&P Global Ratings said today that China's further cuts to subsidies on new energy vehicles (NEV) will increase pressure on the country's evolving and highly-competitive car market. However, given that NEVs make up a small proportion of current sales, subsidy phase-outs are not the biggest challenge on the horizon for rated Chinese car.
BEIJING - Construction of two underwater tunnels for the China-Russia natural gas pipeline has been completed, according to a report by China's State newsagency, Xinhua. It says the two tunnels, each 1,139m long, connect Heihe in Heilongjiang province and Blagoveshchensk in Russia.