Daily Buzz: 17 October 2025

China's US Envoy Urges 'Return to Reason'

Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng urged Washington to "return to reason" and "stop applying maximum pressure" on China, warning that "a trade war serves no one's interest in the end." He said China is not looking for a fight but won't stand by idly if its national interests are threatened, and he called on the US to resolve differences through negotiation and not go down the "old path" of escalating tensions.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration said it will urge allies in Europe and Asia to decouple their supply chains from China as quickly as possible, with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent calling Beijing an "unreliable" trading partner. The rhetoric is the latest US salvo against China's announced tightening of export controls on rare earth minerals critical to industrial production. "China's actions have once again demonstrated the risk of being dependent on them," Bessent said. "This is China versus the world."

Trump to Meet Putin in Hungary

US President Donald Trump said he will meet Vladimir Putin in Budapest to discuss the war in Ukraine after a more than two-hour phone call initiated by the Russian president, but no date was given. The announcement came a day before Trump is due to meet Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. Plans for the meeting in Hungary come two months after a summit between Trump and Putin in Alaska produced no momentum toward a negotiated end to the war. Trump, fresh from success brokering a ceasefire in Gaza, has recently hinted the US may supply Ukraine with Tomahawk long-range missiles, which have the capability of striking Moscow.

US efforts to force Russia to the negotiating table by curtailing global purchases of its oil and gas

that it says finance the war gained support after the UK added Chinese refiner Yulong

Petrochemical and Shandong port operators Jingang, Baogang International and Haixin to its

sanctions list. In China, the world's largest buyer of Russian energy, the Foreign Ministry

condemned London's action, saying Beijing "firmly opposes unilateral sanctions."

The US earlier this year slapped a punitive tariff on India, the second-largest buyer of Russian oil.

On Thursday, Trump said Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi told him oil purchases will cease,

but New Delhi said it isn't aware of the conversation.

Top Business

TSMC Posts Record Profit on AI Chip Demand

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, reported net profit in the third quarter increased 39 percent from a year earlier to a record T$452.3 billion (US$15.1 billion), beating analysts' forecasts. Revenue rose 10 percent to T$990 billion. The company, whose customers include Nvidia and Apple, said chips for artificial intelligence and 5G telecommunications comprised 57 percent of revenue. TSMC raised its revenue forecast for the full year after reporting profit in the first nine months surged 52 percent to T$1.21 trillion on a 36 percent increase in revenue to T$2.76 trillion. The company's shares in New York initially rose but closed lower as a wave of concern over the China-US trade war washed over markets.

Singapore Fund Sues Nio, Carmaker Denies Charges

Government Investment Corp, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund, sued Shanghai-based Nio in US district court in New York, accusing the electric carmaker of inflating revenues and profits. The lawsuit names Chief Executive William Li and former chief financial officer Feng Wei as defendants, along with the company itself. Nio shares in Hong Kong on Thursday plunged 9 percent on the news, but they later closed flat in New York after Nio publicly denied any wrongdoing. The carmaker accused GIC of dredging up old, false allegations published in a 2022 report by short-selling firm Grizzly Research that accused Nio of using an unconsolidated battery-services affiliate to exaggerate revenue and profit. Nio said the report was riddled with errors, unfounded speculation and misleading conclusions, and was subsequently deemed false by an independent review panel.

US Seeks to Boot Out Hong Kong Telecom

The US Federal Communications Commission said it is taking steps to revoke authority for HKT, formerly known as Hong Kong Telecom and the successor to Cable & Wireless Plc, to operate in the US, citing national security concerns. The regulator cited HKT's affiliation with China Unicom, which had its authority revoked by Washington three years ago.

Chinese Breakthrough in Solid-State Batteries

Chinese scientists made a major breakthrough in solid-state lithium batteries by resolving problems between electrolytes and electrodes, long a bottleneck, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The new technology could potentially double the driving range for electric vehicles. Solid-state batteries are considered the next frontier in electric car technology, offering higher energy density and lower fire risk than conventional lithium-ion cells.

Economy & Markets

Italy Mulls Levy on China Fast-Fashion Imports

Italy plans to impose an extra levy on Chinese fast fashion products to help its fashion industry compete against low-cost imports, Reuters reported, citing China's fast-fashion e-commerce platforms Temu and Shein among those affected. Some European countries claim Chinese goods diverted from the US by Washington tariffs are flooding into their economies, hurting domestic producers. Shein and Temu are no strangers to push-back from Europe, where several regulators have fined them for unfair competition. Italy has an estimated 23 million users on the Shein app.

China Money Supply Rises 8.4 Percent

China's broad M2 measure of money supply, covering cash in circulation and deposits, stood at 335.4 trillion yuan (US$47 trillion) at the end of September, up 8.4 percent from a year earlier, the People's Bank of China said. Outstanding loans at September 30 totaled 270.4 trillion yuan, up 6.6 percent. Loans to household loans grew by 1.1 trillion yuan, and lending to companies and public institutions increased by 13 trillion yuan.

Finance Ministry Issues More Yuan Bonds

China's Ministry of Finance this week issued its fifth group of yuan-denominated treasury bonds in Hong Kong. The debt, totaling 11 billion yuan (US$1.55 billion), carry maturities of two, three and five years. The ministry earlier announced it will issue six rounds of the bonds, valued at 68 billion yuan, in Hong Kong this year.

Visa-Free Policy Benefits 7.3 Million Tourists

China's short-stay visa-free policy benefited 7.3 million foreign tourists in the third quarter, a 48 percent increase from a year earlier, according to the National Immigration Administration. The policy, which allows 30-day stays for foreign nationals from about 75 countries, was launched last year to revive the tourism industry still reeling from the coronavirus pandemic.

Corporate

Apple Posts Gain in China Shipments

Apple shipments in China in the third quarter grew 0.6 percent from a year earlier to 11 million devices, fueled by the release of the iPhone 17 in September, Reuters reported, citing International Data Corp. The US company held a 16 percent Chinese market share in the quarter. Its main domestic rivals fared less well in a market where demand has eased. Vivo shipments fell 7.8 percent to 12 million units; Huawei was down 1 percent at 10 million; and Xiaomi lost 1.7 percent to 10 million. International Data said it expects a pickup in sales in the fourth quarter with the release of new flagship models.

Mindray Bio-Med Seeking HK Listing

Shenzhen-based Mindray Bio-Medical Electronics is seeking a listing in Hong Kong, reportedly hoping to raise at least US$1 billion to use in overseas expansion. The company, founded in 1991, is a supplier of medical devices, including medical imaging equipment, patient monitors and life-support systems. The company reported sluggish demand in the past year and rising competition. For the first half, Mindray net profit fell 33 percent from a year earlier to 5.1 billion yuan (US$716 million) on an 18 percent revenue decline to 16.7 billion yuan.

Alibaba Cloud Lowers Some Prices

Alibaba Cloud said it is lowering prices of products under its Elastic Computing Services by as much as 10 percent in Frankfurt, Tokyo and Dubai as part of its overseas expansion. The services offer high-performance virtual cloud servers. Alibaba Cloud ranks fourth in the global cloud computing market, behind Amazon, Microsoft and Google Cloud, but is the leader in the Asia-Pacific region.

Nestle to Cut 16,000 Jobs

Swiss food giant Nestle said it will slash 16,000 jobs, or 6 percent of its global workforce, over the next two years as part of a cost-cutting plan to revive growth amid falling sales. The announcement came as Nestle reported a 1.9 percent drop in nine-month sales to 65.9 billion Swiss francs (US$83 billion).