China has Plan to Challenge US Global Dominance

And thank you for joining me here, I'm Don Ma. Just a few China stories to start the show. Xi Jinping has a plan for how the world should work, and one year into his norm-shattering third term as Chinese leader, he's escalating his push to challenge America's global leadership, and as well put his vision front and center. Quote, changes of the world, of our times, and of historical significance are unfolding like never before, Xi told his audience at the Belt and Road Forum. Xi's vision, though cloaked in abstract language, encapsulates the Chinese Communist Party's emerging push to reshape an international system. It grows increasingly assertive and authoritarian. Beijing has come to believe that now is the time to shift that system and the global balance of power to ensure China's rise, and reject efforts to counter it. In recent months, Beijing has promoted its alternative model across hefty policy documents and new global initiatives, as well as speeches, diplomatic meetings, forums, and international gatherings large and small. For many observers, this campaign has raised concern that a world modeled on Beijing's rules is also one where features of its iron-fisted autocratic rule like heavy surveillance, censorship, and political repression would become global practices. It remains to be seen how many would welcome a future that follows China's worldview. While many nations may be skeptical of a world order pitched by autocratic China, some are actually listening. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China's U.S. arm was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted trades in the U.S. Treasury market on Thursday. This is the latest in a string of victims ransom-demanding hackers have claimed this year. Here's the report. China's biggest lender was hit by a ransomware attack. The U.S. arm of the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, or ICBC, became the latest victim of hackers demanding a ransom. The attack disrupted trade in the U.S. Treasury market on Thursday. ICBC Financial Services is the U.S. unit of China's largest commercial lender by assets. It said it was investigating the attack that disrupted some of its systems, and that it was making progress towards recovering from it. The Chinese government weighed in on Friday through Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin. According to our understanding, the ICBC has been closely monitoring the matter and has done its best in emergency response and supervisory communication to minimize the risk, impact and loss. Wang said business was normal at ICBC head office and other branches and subsidiaries around the world. ICBC further said it had successfully cleared Treasury trades executed on Wednesday and repurchase agreements financing trades done on Thursday. But some market participants said trades going through ICBC were not settled due to the attack and affected market liquidity. Ransomware attacks often involve hackers locking a victim organisation's systems, and they demand ransom for unlocking it, while often stealing sensitive data for extortion. Several ransomware experts said a cybercrime gang named Lockbit was believed to be behind the hack. Lockbit did not respond to a request for comment. U.S. authorities have struggled to stop a number of cybercrimes, mainly ransomware attacks, which hit hundreds of companies in nearly every industry each year. A half-century of giant pandas in our nation's capital comes to an end. Three beloved bears, the latest bunch to call the Smithsonian's National Zoo home for the last five decades, are now on a plane back to China. The popular animals were part of a long-time program between the two world's superpowers, often referred to as panda diplomacy. But with real-world diplomatic tensions brewing over a number of global issues, the recall of the pandas has become symbolic of that relationship. Here's more on the pandas' departure. But now the tumbling, crowd-pleasing, bamboo-eating giant pandas at the National Zoo will be seen no more. In recent weeks, visitors have been flocking to D.C. to say goodbye. I thought it was a good thing to take them out of school for. You get just so attached to them and so invested in them, but I'm sure they're going to have a good life overseas. Wednesday morning, the bear trio was carefully transported to a waiting FedEx plane for a 19-hour flight back to China. It's a program first started in 1972, during the Richard Nixon presidency, when two pandas were gifted to the states by China's then-chairman as a symbol of improving diplomatic relations. But in recent years, friction points have escalated over issues like human rights, trade, Chinese spy balloons over the U.S., and Beijing's tightening embrace with Moscow. Moscow Zoo received a new pair of pandas from China in 2019, with both leaders side by side for the bears' public debut. Now only four Chinese pandas remain in the U.S. at the Atlanta Zoo. Their contract expires next year, and no word from China on any extension, which could bring what's been known as panda diplomacy to an end. The National Zoo is calling Wednesday's departure a hiatus, and panda fans are hopeful their beloved bears will one day come back. Hopefully we get new ones, a new family to fall in love with, too. And U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday, snapping the longest winning streak for the Nasdaq and S&P 500 in two years. This is as Treasury yields climbed after a disappointing auction of 30-year bonds and comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Here's a recap of markets. U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq snapping their longest winning streaks in two years, following hawkish comments from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The Dow shed more than six-tenths of a percent, the S&P 500 lost more than eight-tenths, and the Nasdaq dropped over nine-tenths. The session began with a weak auction of 30-year Treasuries, pushing yields higher and stocks lower. Then came remarks from Powell, who said central bank officials are not confident that rates are high enough to tame inflation. Despite those comments, investors are still pricing in a rate cut for 2024. But Kevin Nicholson, Global Fixed Income Chief Investment Officer at Riverfront Investment Group, believes a rate cut for next year is now completely off the table. The expectation has been that we were going to see a dramatic slowdown of growth in the economy. But that is kind of hard to imagine right now, given the fact that in Q3, we saw GDP grow at 4.9 percent. So that means that we have to slow down. Not only do we have to slow down, but we have to slow down pretty rapidly to get cuts that soon. And I just don't foresee that happening at this moment. In company news, shares of Walt Disney jumped nearly 7 percent on a quarterly profit beat, and as Hollywood actors reached a tentative agreement with major studios. And semiconductor firm Arm Holdings dropped more than 5 percent on a downbeat third-quarter sales forecast. And Joe Biden on Thursday said he absolutely backed the United Autoworkers' efforts to unionize carmakers Tesla and Toyota, as the U.S. President sought to remind union workers of his long-running support ahead of next year's election. Here's more. U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday backed the United Autoworkers' plans to turn their unionization efforts to carmakers Tesla and Toyota, as he sets out to shore up blue-collar support ahead of next year's election. Wall Street didn't build America. The middle class built America. And unions built the middle class. Speaking in Belvedere, Illinois, Biden congratulated the UAW and its leader, Sean Fain, on achieving new deals with Detroit's big three automakers. That ended a nearly 45-day strike, saying he wants it for all autoworkers. These deals are game-changers. Not only for UAW workers, but for all workers in America. Just ask the folks at Toyota, which last week announced it would significantly finally increase wages for their workers. Thanks for — you had no choice. They had no choice because of what you did. You helped everybody. On route to the event, Biden told reporters that he absolutely supports the UAW's efforts to unionize Tesla and Toyota workers. In response to Biden's remarks, Toyota said it wants to foster positive morale and boost workforce productivity, adding that the decision to unionize is ultimately made by our team members. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment, though what Biden said on Thursday may renew friction between him and CEO Elon Musk, who has made anti-union comments before. Meanwhile, Biden also made sure to remind the autoworkers of his long history supporting unions, and pointed out how Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump visited a non-union factory in Michigan in September during the massive UAW strike. The UAW has yet to endorse Biden, unlike most other labor organizations, although labor leaders and Democratic officials say that endorsement is expected after the union's members approve their tentative contract deals with the Big Three. The agreements dramatically raise salaries for autoworkers and restricts use of lower-paid temporary workers. Many companies across the country have experimented with a four-day workweek for their employees. Now a new survey is providing more insight into the types of schedules people prefer, but experts say a four-day workweek may not be the best option for everyone. Take a look. Once considered a fantasy, more and more companies are experimenting with a four-day workweek, testing what's always been the norm. There are obviously benefits for individuals in the sense of having more time for family, rest and recovery. But the benefits don't stop with the employees. Having those boundaries really encourages companies to think about their processes, make them work more effectively, and make them more resilient and sustainable organizations. When people were asked how different options would impact their well-being at work, 77 percent of U.S. workers said a four-day, 40-hour workweek would have a positive impact, according to a new Gallup survey. But experts say those 10-hour days could lead to burnout. It's a question of, do you like a three-day weekend more than you hate 10-hour workdays? The COVID-19 pandemic forced employers to embrace work-from-home and hybrid options. But now economic uncertainty is leading large companies to order their employees to return to the office. So would a four-day workweek ever be embraced by the corporate world? We've seen a divergence between the largest companies really doubling down against flexibility over the past few months. But flexibility is still thriving among smaller and mid-sized businesses that are using that benefit, and flexibility is a benefit, as a way to attract workers who wouldn't necessarily consider them otherwise. An EU tribunal made legal errors when it ruled in favor of Apple over a 13 billion euro tax order and should review the case again. This is according to an advisor to Europe's top court on Thursday. And a potential setback for the iPhone maker. Here's more. Apple endured a setback in its fight against a $14 billion tax order by the European Union. An EU tribunal ruling in favor of Apple contains legal errors and must be reviewed. That's according to an advisor to Europe's top court on Thursday. Back in 2016, the European Commission argued Apple benefited from more than two decades from Irish legislation which artificially lowered its tax burden. But then three years ago, the EU's general court upheld a challenge from the tech giant. It argued regulators had not met the legal standard to show Apple had enjoyed an unfair advantage. Now Advocate General Giovanni Pitruzzella at the EU Court of Justice, or CJEU, is disagreeing. He says CJEU judges should set aside the general court ruling and refer the case back to the lower tribunal. The original tax case against Apple was part of a crackdown led by EU antitrust leader Margrethe Vestager. She looked into deals between multinationals and EU countries that regulators saw as unfair state aid. Ireland said it had not provided any such assistance to Apple. The CJEU will rule in the coming months. Hollywood actors ended a strike early on Thursday after their union reached a tentative agreement with major studios to resolve the second of the two strikes that rocked the entertainment industry as writers and performers demanded higher pay in the streaming TV era. Take a look. Hollywood actors were celebrating the end of their months-long strike in the early hours of Thursday after their union SAG-AFTRA reached a tentative deal with major studios valued at more than $1 billion. The second of two industry strikes this year took 118 days to resolve as performers demanded higher pay in the streaming TV era and protection from being replaced by AI-generated digital replicas. We have a lot of our strike captains on the line been close to eviction and have, while they're striking, so it has not been easy. It's such a feeling of joy and of triumph over adversity and not quitting. SAG-AFTRA said the agreement involves a new three-year contract that includes raises in minimum salaries and a new streaming participation bonus. It also provides protections against unauthorised use of images generated by artificial intelligence. The union's chief negotiator, Duncan Crabtree-Ireland, said the deal will make a long-term difference for actors. That's by far the largest set of gains we've ever achieved in a contract negotiation and there's really important protections built into this contract around things such as artificial intelligence protections and also including making sure that now there is a stream of revenue coming off of the streaming business that can actually sustain middle-class actors who are trying to make a career in streaming. He also praised union president Fran Drescher for her courage and compassion during the strike. Drescher, the star of 90s sitcom The Nanny, celebrated on Instagram that, we did it, the billion-plus dollar deal. SAG-AFTRA said its negotiating committee unanimously backed the agreement with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents Walt Disney, Netflix and other media companies. The alliance said Wednesday's agreement represented a new paradigm and that it, quote, looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories. The union's national board will consider the agreement on Friday and said it would release further details afterwards. The breakthrough means Hollywood can ramp up to full production for the first time since May once union members vote to ratify the deal in the coming weeks. The Writers Guild of America went on strike for almost five months starting early May while the actors began picketing in mid-July. The non-profit Milken Institute estimates the combined strikes cost California more than six billion dollars in lost output. The ongoing Hollywood actor strike appears to be over. SAG-AFTRA actors have reached a tentative agreement with the major film and television studios. Production has been shut down for nearly four months as the two sides battled over several issues. So now the big question is, when will filming begin for those halted projects? Here's a look at when the cameras will be switched back on. For months, the glitz in Tinseltown faded to black as filming shut down. Amid the ongoing strike between actors and the major studios. But overnight, Hollywood erupting in applause. A tentative agreement was reached between the actors union SAG-AFTRA and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, which represents the major studios. It is historic and we got so much. The studios saying the AMPTP is pleased to have reached a tentative agreement and looks forward to the industry resuming the work of telling great stories. For 118 days, scripted movies and TV shows were abruptly halted as the studios and actors clashed over a variety of issues from wages to protecting actors from being replaced by artificial intelligence. We worked hard to put together and have and push for a package that we felt comfortable with and that's not an easy thing to do around AI because everyone is nervous about AI. Actors saying they're eager to get back to work. Finally, action. So when can we actually see action? It's not as simple as just turning the cameras back on. Scripts have to be written, set designs created. There's a lot of prep work that needs to be done before actors can return to work. All this coming on the heels of the Writers Guild strike, which ended September 27th. Because of both strikes, upcoming seasons for shows like Euphoria, The Last of Us and White Lotus have all been pushed back to 2025. Sony's operating profit fell 29% in the July-September quarter as the company was hit by a weaker performance at its image sensor and financial divisions. Here are the details. Sony's operating profit was down a big 29% for the July-September period. The Japanese tech giant was hit by a weaker performance at its image sensor and financial divisions. Profit for the quarter reached $1.74 billion, much lower than analysts had forecast. Its chips division was a significant sore point with profit down 37% due to higher expenses and weaker image sensor sales. But there was better news for Sony's gaming division. The company hiked its full year sales forecast for the games unit by almost 5% to $1.25 billion. It also moved 4.9 million PlayStation 5 units in the second quarter. Sony kept its sales target of selling 25 million PS5 consoles this financial year. The recently released Marvel's Spider-Man 2 offers cheer going into the key year-end shopping season. Sony said it had sold 5 million units of the game by the end of October. Sony maintained its full year operating profit at $7.7 billion, but raised its sales and net income forecast by 2% each. Sony shares were down 0.8% on Thursday ahead of the earnings report. They've climbed almost a third so far this year. SoftBank Group had a $5.2 billion quarterly loss on Thursday, its fourth straight quarter in the red, as the Japanese tech giant took a hit from the bankruptcy of the once high-flying WeWork. Take a look at their report. WeWork is not working out for SoftBank. The Japanese tech group booked a $5.2 billion quarterly loss on Thursday, its fourth straight quarter in the red. It took a hit from the bankruptcy of the once high-flying WeWork, a company once valued at $47 billion. SoftBank also wrote down the value of tech investments. The results show the unpredictability of founder Masayoshi Son's strategy of betting big on often risky start-ups. The Japanese conglomerate said it was squeezed by weakness in the yen that drove up costs on its dollar-denominated debt. The $5.2 billion net loss for the three months to end September compares to a near $20 billion profit a year earlier. Its Vision Fund investment unit, meanwhile, booked an investment profit of $141 million in Q3 after posting a $1 billion profit three months earlier. SoftBank said it believed the group had seen the worst and was moving towards profitability. The downbeat results came even as it managed to achieve the initial public offering of its chip designer Arm. SoftBank said Arm would be the new driver of value for the investment giant. And shares in Walt Disney rose in after-hours trading following solid quarterly results that saw gains in Shanghai and Hong Kong theme parks offset a decline in advertising revenue at television network ABC. Here are the details. Walt Disney exceeded Wall Street's earnings expectations on Wednesday thanks to eager crowds at its Shanghai and Hong Kong theme parks. The company posted third-quarter revenue of just over $21 billion. Disney's newly named Experiences Group, which includes its theme parks, resorts, cruise lines and consumer products, pulled operating income up by nearly a third from a year ago. Adding to the gains, it said Disney Plus broadened nearly 7 million new subscribers in the three months up to September 30th. It also slashed quarterly losses across streaming, which includes Hulu and ESPN Plus. All that offset a drop in advertising revenue at television network ABC and Disney-owned TV stations amid declining viewership. Shares in the company rose 4% in after-hours trade, signalling investor confidence in CEO Bob Iger's aggressive cost-cutting. In a statement, Iger said the results reflected significant progress over the past year, saying quote, while we still have work to do, these efforts have allowed us to move beyond this period of fixing and begin building our businesses again. Disney says its cost cuts are now on track to hit $7.5 billion. That includes thousands of jobs axed this year. Interim Chief Financial Officer Kevin Lansbury also said the company plans to ask its board to bring back a dividend payment to shareholders by the end of 2023. And that's all for today's NTD Business. Thank you for watching and we'll see you next week.