China Evergrande is seeking protection from creditors in the United States under Chapter 15 of the U.S. bankruptcy code, court documents showed on Thursday.
 
Earlier this week, the embattled property developer resolved to delay its meetings for the Hong Kong CEG Class A and Class C holders of debt to provide them more time to consider its fresh restructuring plan.
 
Since the sector's debt crisis unfolded in mid-2021, companies accounting for 40 per cent of Chinese home sales have defaulted, most of them private property developers.
 
Trading in the company's shares was suspended on March 21 last year.

Unemployment among urban Chinese aged 16 to 24 has been running at over 20% for months, about double the age group’s pre-pandemic level.

Our calculations show that in 2021 over 70% of those unemployed youngsters were graduates.

According to one academic study of Zhaopin, a recruitment portal, 39% of job-seekers in first-tier cities had at least two surplus years of education, over and above those required by the jobs they sought. Outside these big cities, the proportion was more like 70%.

Between 1998 and 2021 homes in Chinese cities became four times less affordable, judged by the ratio of average house prices to median disposable incomes. In the capital, Beijing, this ratio rose to 25 in 2021, more than twice that of London.

China’s Housing Slump Is Much Worse Than Official Data Shows

New-home prices have slipped just 2.4% from a high in August 2021, government figures show, while those for existing homes have dropped 6%.
 
But the picture emerging from property agents and private data providers is far more dire.
 
These figures show existing-home prices falling at least 15% in prime neighborhoods of major metropolitan areas like Shanghai and Shenzhen, as well as in more than half of China’s tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Existing homes near Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s headquarters in Hangzhou have dropped about 25% from late 2021 highs, according to local agents.

In Hangzhou, close to where Alibaba is headquartered, home prices in some neighborhoods are down 25% to 28% from a peak around October 2021, agents said. In Lianyang, a downtown area popular with expats and financiers in Shanghai, residential prices have slid 15% to 20% from record highs in mid-2021, they said.
 
Even as of March, before a fresh slowdown, more than half of tier-2 and tier-3 cities saw existing-home prices fall more than 15% from peaks, Guolian Securities Co. economists wrote in a report citing data by existing housing transaction services provider KE Holdings Inc.

Aux Etats-Unis, le géant immobilier chinois Evergrande se place sous la loi sur les faillites
En faisant appel à la procédure américaine du « Chapter 15 », le conglomérat privé chinois vise à pouvoir gérer la restructuration d'une partie de sa dette qui dépend du cadre législatif américain tout en protégeant ses actifs aux Etats-Unis. Symbole des difficultés du secteur chinois de l'immobilier, le groupe est endetté à hauteur de 300 milliards de dollars.

@spectatorindex
JUST IN: The Wall Street Journal reports investors are fearing a 'Lehman moment' in China, threatening the solvency of the country's financial system.

@KobeissiLetter
Evergrande, one of China’s real estate giants, just filed Chapter 15 bankruptcy.
 
Meanwhile, China’s HY real estate index is down a massive 82% in just over 2 years.
 
This puts the index back down to 2008-levels.
 
All while China just “unexpectedly” cut interest rates.
 
Is China is on the brink of a credit event?
 

@gdp1985
 
The US economy is CRUSHING it! All the US needed was lots of inflation, a strong exchange rate, and deflation in China amid a property crisis.

@TomOrlik
Tired of winning? China GDP now shrinking as a share of US GDP finds  
 

U.S, Japan and South Korea pledge close cooperation at historic summit

The military agreements include a multiyear military exercise plan, deeper coordination on ballistic missile defense, and a new crisis-communication hotline.

In a joint statement, released prior to the press conference, the three leaders said they "strongly oppose any unilateral attempts to change the status quo in the waters of the Indo-Pacific." They also urged "stability across the Taiwan Strait."

@spectatorindex
 
BREAKING: China starts military drills around Taiwan, calls it a 'stern warning'

China sends dozens of warplanes near Taiwan after vice-president’s US stopover
Chinese state media says military exercises involving planes and vessels were intended as a ‘stern warning’ against colluding with ‘foreign elements’

China launched military drills around Taiwan on Saturday as a “stern warning” after voicing anger over a stopover in the United States by the island’s vice-president, William Lai.

China has reacted angrily to the US stops, and on Saturday reiterated that Lai was a “troublemaker” while vowing to take “resolute measures … to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “launched joint air and sea patrols and military exercises of the navy and air force around the island of Taiwan” on Saturday, state media outlet Xinhua quoted military spokesperson Shi Yi as saying.
 
Taiwan said 42 warplanes had entered its air defence zone since 9am local time (0100 GMT), and that eight Chinese vessels had also cooperated in the exercises. Twenty-six of the warplanes involved crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait, the island’s ministry of defence said in a statement.

Japan, Philippines on verge of VFA defense pact

This week, Philippine Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo effectively confirmed long-running speculation about a possible new defense pact between Japan and the Philippines.
 
During a congressional hearing on the latest tensions in the South China Sea, the Philippines’ diplomatic chief acknowledged that a new Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) is in the works with a key Asian partner “near China.”
 
Shortly after, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr met a top representative from the KomeitoParty, a key partner in Japan’s ruling coalition, to reiterate his commitment to upgrading already-robust bilateral ties to new heights.
 
Manila reportedly seeks to transform its economics-heavy ties with Tokyo into a full-fledged alliance. Deepening military cooperation between the two Asian nations is also part of a broader emerging trilateral alliance between Japan, Philippines and the US (JAPHUS), which will be central to the Biden administration’s “integrated deterrence” strategy in the Indo-Pacific, especially over Taiwan.

Intel has officially terminated its acquisition of Tower Semiconductor, the Israeli chipmaking company it announced its intention to buy for $5.4 billion in February 2022. In a press release Intel blamed its “inability to obtain… the regulatory approvals required under the merger agreement” in a timely manner, adding that both parties agreed to terminate the deal. Intel had originally hoped to close the transaction in 12 months, but will now pay a termination fee of $353 million to Tower

Although Intel’s press release doesn’t mention the regulator directly, Bloomberg reports that it was the Chinese authorities who hadn’t approve the deal ahead of the transaction’s deadline at midnight California time on August 15th

US, Japan and Australia plan joint navy drills in disputed South China Sea, Philippine officials say

The United States, Japan and Australia are planning a joint navy drill in the South China Sea off the western Philippines this week to underscore their commitment to the rule of law in the region after a recent show of Chinese aggression in the disputed waters, Filipino security officials said Sunday.

The drill will include three aircraft and helicopter carriers sailing together in a show of force and undertaking joint drills. Their commanders are set to meet with Filipino counterparts in Manila after the offshore drills, two Philippine security officials told The Associated Press.

L'Inde et la Chine achètent de nouveaux chars conçus la guerre dans l'Himalaya
 
L'Inde et la Chine achètent de nouveaux chars conçus pour combattre sur l'un des champs de bataille les plus hauts du monde.
 
• Trois ans après un affrontement meurtrier, la frontière contestée entre l'Inde et la Chine dans l'Himalaya reste tendue.
 
• Les deux parties renforcent leur présence dans cette région, en y basant davantage de troupes et en y construisant davantage d'infrastructures.
 
• Les deux pays investissent également dans de nouveaux chars légers conçus pour les hautes altitudes et les terrains accidentés.
 
Trois ans après le premier affrontement meurtrier sur la frontière himalayenne contestée par l'Inde et la Chine depuis des décennies, la région reste tendue.
 
Les négociations répétées sur le désengagement ont échoué, et des soldats chinois et indiens ont été blessés lors d'une nouvelle rixe en décembre. Les deux pays continuent de renforcer leurs forces militaires et leurs infrastructures autour des points chauds de la frontière.
 
Le déploiement par la Chine de chars légers, capables de manœuvrer aisément sur un terrain montagneux et de se déployer rapidement en grand nombre, a constitué un élément important de ce renforcement. Leur présence a mis en évidence les lacunes de l'inventaire blindé de l'armée indienne, qui s'appuie fortement sur des chars de combat principaux qui peinent à évoluer en haute altitude.
 
https://www.businessinsider.com/ind [...] ?r=US&IR=T