Grifter Guo Wengui charged with fraud in U.S.
News briefing for March 15, 2023
Here’s what else you need to know about China today:
Top story: Warming ties between Seoul and Tokyo has raised concern in Beijing that greater cooperation between two close U.S. allies would give Washington more clout in the region. Scroll down for a summary or click through for the whole thing.
Self-promoting Chinese billionaire Guō Wénguì 郭文贵 has been charged with a billion-dollar fraud by the U.S. government for misusing funds raised by promising online followers outsized investment returns. Guo (aka Miles Kwok) has lived in New York since 2014. He is a conspiracy theorist and supporter of U.S. right wing entrepreneur Steve Bannon, and has also previously paid for thugs to harass Chinese dissidents in the U.S.
Honduras wants to establish diplomatic ties with China, which would add to a dwindling number of countries that officially recognize Taiwan. Beijing requires that countries with which it holds formal diplomatic relations cannot have official ties with Taipei, putting pressure on the island’s president, Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文 Cài Yīngwén), ahead of a trip to the United States and Central America.
- See also our story from yesterday: China’s Pacific Island push is all about Taiwan.
Hong Kong is sending its economic chiefs to the West for the first time in three years, as the city seeks to revive its status as a global financial hub despite growing political tensions. Plans for Hong Kong’s finance and treasury ministers to pay trips to the U.S. and the U.K. in the next two months comes as 40 U.S. senators urged Washington to strengthen its response to Beijing’s crackdown on the semi-autonomous territory.
China plans to raise the retirement age, according to one official quoted by state media. The country’s pension system is set to come under stress due to demographic trends, and it currently has one of the lowest retirement ages in the world, at 60 for men and 55 for women. (The official did not specify new retirement ages.) Also in today’s Business briefs from the Chinese media:
- The latest economic data from China bodes well for a steady economic recovery, but not in tourism and real estate.
- Another profit decline for insurance giant Ping An.
- China’s electric car companies are putting the brakes on a price war.
