Financial Times
Laos pushes into crypto as it authorises mining and trading
Laos has authorised the mining and trading of cryptocurrencies, in a policy shift by the debt-laden south-east Asian nation that positions it to profit from the crackdown on digital currency mining in China. Analysts said the move was a logical step for the landlocked, communist-ruled country ...
John Reed
The Mekong Delta: an unsettling portrait of coastal collapse
Some environmental disasters present themselves over years; others come with a bang — or a splash. The latter happened one day in August, when residents of Binh My, a commune in Vietnam’s lush Mekong Delta, heard a loud cracking sound. They went outside to watch ...
John Reed
Thailand to ban foreign plastic waste from 2021
Thailand plans to stop all imports of foreign plastic scrap by 2021 as it joins other south-east Asian countries looking to stem an influx of waste products that used to be recycled in China. Fleshing out details of the ban, which was initially announced in ...
China accused of using Belt and Road Initiative for spying
Chinese cyber espionage linked to the Belt and Road Initiative is increasing, with experts warning that Beijing is using the huge infrastructure project to spy on companies and countries as well as to damp down dissent. The country is alleged to have targeted Belarus, the ...
China eyes role as world’s power supplier
Deep in a tangle of planning bureaucracies in western Beijing, the future of a country nearly 3,000km away is under discussion. Xie Qiuye, president of China’s Electric Power Planning & Engineering Institute, has been charged with developing an electricity plan for Laos, a nation struggling ...
Silk Road revival needs to protect people and environment
IMF managing director Christine Lagarde’s cautionary words (April 13) on the debt burden likely to be borne by the 70 countries destined to be part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative are to be welcomed. Beijing has proposed major “Silk Road” infrastructure developments linking China ...
Janet Barber, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
China pressured to beef up response to US tariffs
China’s leaders have come under internal pressure to beef up their response to US trade sanctions, as Beijing struggles to prevent the outbreak of a trade war. On Friday China revealed a carefully calibrated response to US steel and aluminium tariffs aimed at demonstrating that ...
Charles Clover/Sherry Fei Ju
China warned of risk to banks from One Belt, One Road initiative
Beijing’s plan to invest almost $1tn in infrastructure in some of the world’s poorest countries is raising concerns of risks for the Chinese banks backing the projects. Turmoil in countries such as Venezuela, where China has lent $65bn during the past decade, has led to ...
