Donald Trump pledges to intervene in renewed Thailand-Cambodia conflict

Good morning and welcome again to FirstFT Asia. In at the moment’s publication:

• Thailand-Cambodia dispute flares

• US cuts charges to three-year low

• Singapore’s newest delinquent scourge: pickleball

US President Donald Trump has stated he would name the leaders of Thailand and Cambodia after armed clashes between the south-east Asian nations broke out this week.

What’s taking place: Thai and Cambodian forces resumed preventing on Monday in a number of areas alongside their shared 800km border, the worst outbreak between the neighbours since a five-day battle in July that killed not less than 48 individuals. All sides has accused the opposite of initiating hostilities and of focusing on civilians, as a Trump-brokered truce that had paused the July battle broke down. Greater than 500,000 individuals have been evacuated from the border area.

This week’s clashes reignited a dispute that has dragged on for greater than a century. Thailand and Cambodia have competing territorial claims over a number of temples and surrounding areas. 

Trump’s position: In July, the US president had threatened to lift tariffs on the export-dependent nations if they didn’t cease preventing, forcing them to achieve a ceasefire. In his first feedback because the resumption of the battle, Trump stated late on Tuesday that he would name each nations. “Tomorrow I’ve to make a cellphone name,” Trump stated at an occasion in Pennsylvania. “Who else may say ‘I’m going to make a cellphone name and cease a struggle of two very highly effective nations’.” Read more about the escalating conflict.

• US-Indonesia commerce pact at risk: Indonesia’s commerce cope with Washington is at risk of collapsing as US officers develop into more and more annoyed at what they view as Jakarta reneging on the phrases of the settlement

Right here’s what else we’re conserving tabs on at the moment:

5 extra high tales

1. The Federal Reserve has reduce rates of interest to a three-year low after a divisive assembly that uncovered deep fractures in the central bank over whether or not to prioritise weakening employment or elevated inflation. The central financial institution lowered its benchmark price by 1 / 4 level for the third time in a row to a variety of three.5 per cent to three.75 per cent, matching Wall Avenue forecasts.

2. China has put home synthetic intelligence chips on an official procurement listing for the primary time, bolstering the nation’s tech sector forward of Trump’s transfer to permit Nvidia exports to the nation. The step was designed to reinforce the usage of home semiconductors in China’s public sector and might be worth billions of dollars in new sales to local chipmakers.

• Chinese language financial system: IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva has stated that China wants to repair “significant” imbalances in its financial system, together with deflation that has pushed a depreciation of the renminbi and boosted exports.

3. Funding bankers in Hong Kong have been warned over the standard of their paperwork in filings for preliminary public choices after a growth in listings within the Chinese language territory. Hong Kong monetary regulators despatched letters to banks within the territory highlighting a number of considerations — together with text that was copied and pasted from previous prospectuses.

4. The European Fee has carried out raids at Temu to research whether or not the Chinese language ecommerce group obtained unfair subsidies. The probe into Temu, a part of Chinese language group PDD, comes amid a broader crackdown by the bloc on the flood of low-cost imports from China from on-line retailers that additionally embody Shein.

5. Trump stated US forces have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, escalating tensions with the regime of Nicolás Maduro. The seizure comes because the US president raises pressure on the Venezuelan leader to step down.

• Extra Venezuela information: Venezuelan opposition chief María Corina Machado has slipped out of hiding for the primary time in additional than a 12 months to journey to Oslo the place her Nobel Peace Prize was awarded, although she didn’t arrive in time for the ceremony.

Information in-depth

Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Qatar are offering $24bn of economic muscle for Paramount CEO David Ellison’s $108bn hostile bid for Warner Bros Discovery, underlining the Gulf’s place as a financier of alternative for mammoth US offers. The association is an unusual case of collaboration between the jockeying Gulf powers, who’re set to contribute nearly 60 per cent of the $41bn fairness in Paramount’s bid. For the Gulf buyers, the deal provides a uncommon alternative to amass a sizeable stake in a high US media model.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Singapore pickleball: The game has develop into a lightning rod issue, pitching enthusiastic picklers towards neighbours pushed mad by the sport’s relentless noise, writes Owen Walker.

• Knowledge breach: The chief government of South Korea’s greatest on-line retailer has stepped down, after taking accountability for a massive data leak.

• Immigration knowledge dragnet: The Trump administration is gathering huge quantities of private info in its drive to deport 1mn individuals this 12 months.

Chart of the day

Greenback-based stablecoins provide advantages for the US, which could promote their use, partly so as to improve the dominant position of the greenback and so assist finance its enormous fiscal deficits. Britain and the EU, nevertheless, are higher off resisting them, according to Martin Wolf.

Take a break from the information . . . 

Columnist Jemima Kelly will get up shut — sometimes a little too close — with the wildlife on safari in western Uganda.