Top News
Hong Kong hunkers down as super typhoon nears, Shenzhen to evacuate 400,000
Hong Kong went on high alert as super typhoon Ragasa, the strongest global storm of the year, moved toward the city. Residents are being relocated from flood-prone areas. The Hong Kong Observatory said it raised its storm warning to Signal 8 later today, which essentially closes down schools, businesses, markets and transportation in the city. Some 700 flights at the city's international airport have already been canceled. The storm pummeled the northern Philippines on Monday with maximum sustainable winds of 185 kilometers an hour and gusts up to 239 kilometers before heading into the South China Sea. The observatory said it doesn't expect the storm to weaken before reaching the city.
Ragasa is also forecast to hit China's Guangdong Province, adjacent to Hong Kong. The city of Shenzhen across the border is evacuating 400,000 residents, and the province's railway system said on its WeChat account that it may suspend some services. Classes will be suspended at all kindergartens, primary and middle schools across the city. Neighboring Fujian Province warned its residents of strong winds and heavy rain. Hainan Province is also in the path of the storm.
France, other counties recognize Palestinian statehood
France officially recognized Palestine statehood as the 80th session of the UN General Assembly convened in New York, joining a host of countries denouncing Israel's continued war in Gaza as Israel and the US grew more isolated in defending it. "We must pave the way for peace," French President Emmanuel said in a speech to the assembly. "We must do everything within our power to preserve the very possibility of a two-state solution, Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security."
The UK, Canada and Australia, which recognized Palestinian statehood a day earlier, were joined by similar declarations from Europe's Belgium, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Andorra, and San Marino. China, which already recognizes Palestine as a state, will be represented at the session by Premier Li Qiang. The US has refused a visa for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to attend the conclave.
Top Business
Chery shares priced at top of range, takes backseat to Zijin as HK's second-largest IPO
China's Chery Automobile seeks to raise HK$9.1 billion (US$1.2 billion) in its initial public offering in Hong Kong Exchange, pricing its shares at a top of the range HK$30.75 each, Bloomberg reported. The company said last week in a regulatory filing that it will sell 297.4 million shares in a range of HK$27.75-HK$30.75. The shares are scheduled to begin trading on Thursday. Chery's IPO was initially hailed as Hong Kong's second-largest of the year after CATL's earlier US$4.6 billion share sale, but it has now been eclipsed by Zijin Gold International's planned US$3.2 billion IPO in Hong Kong.
Nvidia to invest US$100 billion in OpenAI
Nvidia, a leader in AI chips, said it will invest US$100 billion in US tech giant OpenAI and supply it with data center chips, linking two of the most high-profile players in the global artificial intelligence race, Reuters reported. The deal gives chipmaker Nvidia a financial stake in the world's most prominent AI company and provides OpenAI with financing it needs.
Luxshare signs deal with OpenAI
China's Luxshare, which assembles iPhone and Airpods for Apple, is reported to have signed a deal with US-based OpenAI to supply a device, currently under development, that would work with artificial intelligence models. Various media reports cite people familiar with the matter, while the firm has not yet commented. Technology analysts describe the new hardware as a screen-free, smart speaker-style device. No value for the deal was disclosed. The company's mainland shares in Shenzhen surged 10 percent on Monday on news of the OpenAI deal. Luxshare submitted an application for an initial public offering in Hong Kong on August 18.
Economy & Markets
China central bank governor responds to US rate cut
China's central bank is focusing its monetary policy on domestic conditions and not on following US interest rates moves, Governor Pan Gongsheng said on Monday, after the People's Bank of China kept its key rates unchanged just days after the US Federal Reserve cut its rates by a quarter point. At a press briefing, he said the goal of the People's Bank of China is to consolidate the country's economic recovery and maintain financial market stability, including the yuan. "Our monetary policy is guided by China's realities, while also considering internal and external balance." China's key interest rates are a full point lower than those of the US, even after the Fed cut last week.
Pan said Beijing would continue to use a range of monetary tools to ensure ample liquidity, lower financing costs and support investment and consumption. Beyond monetary settings, Pan highlighted efforts to defuse financial risks in key sectors. He said Beijing has made "important progress" in addressing local government financing entities, whose numbers are down more than 60 percent and related debt reduced by over 50 percent since early 2023.
Pan also revealed that China's bank assets of nearly 470 trillion yuan (US$66 trillion) at the end of June ranked top in the world, while the nation's foreign-exchange reserves have ranked No.1 for the 20th consecutive year. Stock and bond markets are the second largest in the world.
Technology stocks account for a quarter of Chinese market capitalization
Technology stocks comprise a quarter of the capitalization on Chinese mainland stock exchanges, China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Wu Qing said at a press conference on Monday. He added that 90 percent of newly listed firms in recent years are tech-intensive companies. Wu said that the current tech revolution is accelerating development in many sectors, including artificial intelligence, biopharma and blockchain, and the current trend is integrating new technologies with other industries and finance. Shares related to artificial intelligence and other advanced technologies have been behind huge market rallies in recent months. The overall market capitalization of Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges amount to around 104 trillion yuan (US$14 trillion) before market opens today.
Corporate
Huawei launches initiative to close gap with iOS and Android
Huawei Technologies has launched the Tiangong Initiative, pledging to invest 1 billion yuan (US$140.6 million) to support the development of the HarmonyOS artificial intelligence ecosystem, the tech giant announced at the Huawei Connect 2025 event. The initiative will focus on nurturing 10,000 AI-native meta-services, 1,000 intention frameworks, and 5,000 intelligent agents. Although the number of terminal devices running the company's HarmonyOS 5 has exceeded 17 million, the initiative aims to close an ecosystem gap with iOS and Android.
Meituan unveils second AI model
Chinese technology company and food-delivery giant Meituan unveiled its new high-efficiency inference, open-sourced large reasoning model LongCat-Flash-Thinking. The company said the model demonstrates more efficient agent tool invocation capabilities. It's the second large language model unveiled by the company this month as it expands into AI technologies.
Country Garden seeks restructure of publicly traded bonds
Chinese property developer Country Garden Holdings is seeking to restructure nine publicly traded bonds valued at 13.9 billion yuan (US$2 billion), proposing to extend repayments through 2035, Yicai Global reported, citing The Paper. The bonds, originally due between 2023 and 2026, would be repaid in nine semi-annual installments from September 2031 to September 2035. In 2023, Country Garden defaulted on offshore debt amid a widespread property sector downturn. The
developer has also offered creditors additional restructuring options, including a cash buyback and a stock-based swap.
FAW to buy stake in driver-assistance technology company
FAW, the second largest of China's state-owned auto companies, signed a contract to acquire a 35.8 percent stake in driver-assistance technology firm Zhuoyu, Reuters reported, citing a public notice for comment from the Chinese market regulator. It said FAW plans to buy the stake now held by Hong Kong-based New Territory Technology, whose holding in Shenzhen-based Zhuoyu will drop to 34.85 percent.
Sea Legend begins container shipping via the Arctic
China's maritime freight company Sea Legend has begun its first direct container service via the Arctic with a ship traveling from the eastern seaport of Qingdao to Gdansk in Poland, Global Times reported. The company, founded in 2022, said the new far northern route cuts shipping time between China and Europe by up to two weeks.