FirstFT: China investigating its defence minister for alleged corruption

In immediately’s publication:

• The PLA’s newest corruption scandal

• BYD squeezes suppliers amid value conflict

• An AI prediction from Infosys chair Nandan Nilekani

Good morning. We start with the newest corruption-related scandal to hit China’s navy amid President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on graft.

Defence minister Dong Jun is underneath investigation as a part of a broader probe into corruption within the Folks’s Liberation Military, based on present and former US officers accustomed to the scenario.

Dong was named to the place in December 2023 after his predecessor was fired for corruption. He’s the third consecutive serving or former defence minister to be investigated for alleged graft.

China’s international ministry spokesperson Mao Ning yesterday dismissed this report of Dong’s investigation as “catching wind and shadows”, suggesting that the claims have been unfounded.

The information comes every week after Dong attended an Asian defence assembly in Laos, the place he refused to fulfill US defence secretary Lloyd Austin. China’s defence ministry blamed the US for the rebuff, saying Washington was “solely responsible” as a result of it had lately permitted a bundle of weapons for Taiwan.

Christopher Johnson, a former prime CIA China analyst who now heads danger consultancy China Methods Group, stated the event raised issues about how Xi was selecting defence ministers.

With the investigation of Dong, stated Johnson, “Xi is left to wonder, what corner of the PLA is not corrupt?” Learn the complete story. 

Right here’s what else we’re maintaining tabs on immediately:

• Financial information: Commerce statistics are due from Japan.

• Financial coverage: South Korea pronounces its rate of interest choice.

• US: Monetary markets are closed for Thanksgiving Day.

Premium subscribers can enroll right here for Commerce Secrets and techniques, Alan Beattie’s must-read publication on the quickly altering nature of worldwide commerce and globalisation.

5 extra prime tales

1. BYD, Tesla’s largest rival in China, has demanded its suppliers slash costs by 10 per cent, because the Chinese language auto market braces for a contemporary salvo in a cut-throat value conflict. “In 2025, the EV market . . . will go into a grand final battle and a knockout tournament,” government vice-president He Zhiqi wrote in an e-mail, urging suppliers to mark down costs beginning subsequent 12 months.

2. A former senior Chinese language monetary regulator has stated prime Beijing leaders set “psychological” targets for the nation’s inventory markets and foreign money alternate fee that aren’t primarily based on fundamentals. The feedback by Xiao Gang provide a uncommon perception into the customarily murky world of elite monetary policymaking.

3. SoftBank is planning to up its stake in OpenAI by $1.5bn, which might make the Japanese group one of many largest traders within the $150bn firm. The funding comes as chief government Masayoshi Son pursues an bold plan to place SoftBank as a pacesetter in AI.

• Extra AI information: Traders in Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter are set to make a large windfall from a surge within the valuation of his AI start-up, reaping rewards from being loyal backers of the billionaire’s enterprise empire.

4. France has instructed it might not essentially detain Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he entered the nation regardless of an impressive arrest warrant issued by the Worldwide Legal Courtroom over alleged conflict crimes in Gaza. Right here’s the French assertion, which got here a day after Paris helped the US dealer a ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon.

• Israel-Hizbollah ceasefire: The deal appeared to carry on its first day because the Israeli navy warned displaced Lebanese civilians to not attempt to return to properties close to the border.

• US arms sale: President Joe Biden has provisionally permitted a $680mn weapons sale to Israel, a contemporary cargo of precision weapons that Netanyahu cited as one purpose for backing the ceasefire with Hizbollah.

5. The EU has threatened to open a probe into TikTok over its alleged failure to forestall the unfold of disinformation and unauthorised campaigning on the platform within the run-up to Romania’s election final week. Romania’s nationwide media watchdog lodged a criticism with Brussels after a far-right candidate who went viral on the Chinese language platform unexpectedly topped the primary spherical of the presidential vote. 

Interview: Infosys chair Nandan Nilekani

Indian expertise grandee Nandan Nilekani expects corporations around the globe will construct their very own AI fashions, a prediction that raises questions in regards to the income mannequin for start-ups which have invested in massive language fashions. The chair of IT providers main Infosys advised the FT he was “not so sure” corporations would need to shoulder the excessive prices and the potential “black box” of information and copyright liabilities related to LLMs behind widespread functions, equivalent to OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• ‘Adios Adani!’: The reversal of Kenya’s help for the Indian group’s $1.85bn airport venture reveals how US bribery costs are threatening its ambitions in Africa.

• Chinese language economic system: Jianguang Shen, chief economist of JD Group, explains 5 issues the market bought unsuitable about China’s newest fiscal stimulus bundle.

• Suave banana? What’s crazier, asks Jonathan Guthrie: a crypto millionaire spending $6.2mn on a banana caught to a wall or concerning artwork as a sound funding?

Chart of the day

French sovereign bonds and shares fell yesterday as issues intensified amongst traders that a dispute over a belt-tightening draft finances may deliver down the authorities.

Take a break from the information

In your marks. Get set. Glow? Main feminine athletes, together with Serena Williams, clarify why their magnificence regimes have develop into core to game-day preparations.