China’s government is moving to curb domestic companies’ investments abroad in property, sports, entertainment and other fields following a series of high-profile, multibillion-US dollar acquisitions by Chinese firms.
A document released on Friday by the State Council was the latest move by regulators to tap the brakes on a string of foreign acquisitions, citing concerns that the companies involved might be taking on too much debt.
One of those conglomerates, Dalian Wanda Group Co (萬達集團), became the world’s biggest cinema operator with its purchase of a majority stake in US chain AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc in 2012 for US$2.6 billion.
It added rival Carmike Cinemas Inc last year in a US$1.2 billion deal and also bought film production house Legendary Entertainment LLC for US$3.5 billion.
The document limits overseas investments in areas such as hotels, cinemas, the entertainment industry, real estate and sports clubs. It also bans outright investments in enterprises related to gambling and the sex industry.
At the same time, it encourages companies to plow money into projects related to the “Belt and Road” project, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) signature foreign policy initiative that seeks to link China with other parts of Asia and eastern Europe through multibillion-dollar investments in ports, highways, railways, power plants and other infrastructure.
“There are great opportunities for our nation’s companies to embark on foreign investment, but they also face numerous risks and challenges,” the document said.
Through the guidance, the government hopes to promote the “rational, orderly and healthy development of foreign investment while effectively guarding against risks,” it said.
As part of his drive for stronger government leadership over the economy, Xi has been moving to reassert control over top state enterprises while reining in sprawling conglomerates including Wanda, Anbang Insurance Group Co (安邦保險集團), Fosun International Ltd (復星國際) and HNA Group Co (海航集團) that have expanded rapidly through debt-fueled foreign acquisitions such as New York’s famed Waldorf Astoria Hotel.
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”
TRANSFORMATION: Taiwan is now home to the largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, thanks to the nation’s economic policies President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday attended an event marking the opening of Google’s second hardware research and development (R&D) office in Taiwan, which was held at New Taipei City’s Banciao District (板橋). This signals Taiwan’s transformation into the world’s largest Google hardware research and development center outside of the US, validating the nation’s economic policy in the past eight years, she said. The “five plus two” innovative industries policy, “six core strategic industries” initiative and infrastructure projects have grown the national industry and established resilient supply chains that withstood the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsai said. Taiwan has improved investment conditions of the domestic economy
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