FirstFT: US sanctions China-based network accused of fentanyl production

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Good morning. The US Treasury has put sanctions on 25 Chinese language people and entities for his or her alleged involvement in drug manufacturing and smuggling, as Washington steps up efforts to crack down on the proliferation of fentanyl.

The Treasury mentioned it was disrupting a China-based community that’s liable for making and distributing fentanyl, methamphetamine and elements to make ecstasy. It additionally put sanctions on one particular person and two teams in Canada that had allegedly imported drugmaking chemical substances from China.

In a associated motion, the justice division unsealed eight indictments in opposition to Chinese language teams and 12 executives for allegedly making and supplying methamphetamine, fentanyl and different artificial opioids.

“The worldwide fentanyl provide chain, which ends with the deaths of Individuals, typically begins with chemical corporations in China,” mentioned US attorney-general Merrick Garland, who added it was “vital that the PRC authorities stops the unchecked movement of precursor chemical substances which might be coming from China”. Here’s more on Washington’s move — and the response from Beijing.

• Extra information from Washington: Kevin McCarthy has been ousted as speaker of the House of Representatives, turning into the primary chief within the historical past of the decrease chamber of Congress to be faraway from the place.

• Extra on US-China relations: The US has expressed concern to Peru that China is gaining control over vital components of the South American nation’s infrastructure.

Right here’s what else I’m maintaining tabs on as we speak:

• Financial knowledge: S&P World/Cips providers buying managers’ index knowledge is revealed for Canada, EU, France, Germany, Japan, UK and the US.

• Tech: TikTok has mentioned it would halt transactions as we speak on its platform in Indonesia, one in every of its largest markets, to adjust to a new rule banning transactions on social media platforms.

• Extreme climate: Storm Koinu is predicted to make landfall on Taiwan’s far south-east coast late on Wednesday as a class two storm. (Reuters)

5 extra prime tales

1. Unique: India has demanded Canada withdraw roughly 40 diplomats by October 10, based on folks accustomed to the matter, in an escalation of the disaster that erupted when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mentioned New Delhi could have been linked to the homicide of a Canadian Sikh. Demetri Sevastopulo has more details from Ottawa.

• Extra India information: Police in New Delhi have raided the homes of greater than 40 journalists and contributors of NewsClick, in a crackdown on a information web site that Indian officers have described as an outlet for Chinese language propaganda.

2. The seek for 12 jurors who will resolve the destiny of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried started in New York on Tuesday, as dozens of candidates had been quizzed over their attitudes to cryptocurrencies and their talents to stay truthful and neutral within the blockbuster prison case. The 31-year-old faces expenses of fraud and cash laundering associated to the multibillion-dollar collapse of his trade final yr. Joe Miller reports from the first day of trial.

3. Singapore could topic luxurious property, together with vehicles, watches and purses, to anti-money laundering controls and enhance scrutiny of single household workplaces because the Asian monetary hub reels from a S$2.8bn (US$2bn) money-laundering scandal. However the authorities cautioned in opposition to “knee-jerk” reactions, saying they might make the city-state a more durable place to do enterprise. Here’s more on the new rules under consideration.

4. India and its neighbours are anticipated to develop extra rapidly than some other area this yr, the World Financial institution mentioned, defying gloomy outlooks for China and far of east Asia. The financial institution on Tuesday raised its 2023 forecast for progress in south Asia, which additionally contains the likes of Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, from 5.6 per cent to five.8 per cent. Nonetheless, the financial institution mentioned the area still has “a long way to go” to hit development targets.

5. The EU is to look at bloc-wide export controls in delicate expertise as a part of its try to “de-risk” its relationship with China and different authoritarian regimes. The bloc will take into account limiting gross sales of some semiconductors, AI, quantum computing and biotechnology. “Expertise is presently on the coronary heart of geopolitical competitors and the EU needs to be a participant, and never a playground,” Věra Jourová, the EU’s digital chief, told the FT.

The Large Learn

ESG rankings affect, and in some circumstances dictate, which shares and bonds make it into the $2.8tn of funding funds which might be marketed as sustainable, lending legitimacy to corporations and traders that declare to be inexperienced. But that energy is now coming beneath intense formal scrutiny. Regulators and politicians world wide are asking questions on how the rankings are derived — and whose interests they really serve.

We’re additionally studying . . . 

• Covid vaccine market: The autumn in coronavirus infections has meant a reversal in fortunes for the traders who clamoured to purchase vaccine makers on the top of the pandemic.

• look wealthy: “Quiet luxurious” is a kabuki efficiency of moneyed ease and indifference. But it can be done right.

• Coaching AI: Many authors are discovering that their writing has been lifted to coach generative-AI methods. The FT’s Nilanjana Roy is among them.

Chart of the day

Can China overcome its demographic deficit? UN knowledge means that by 2100, the share of the over-65s shall be an astonishing 41 per cent of the inhabitants. This is able to be a rustic simply filled with previous women and men, writes Martin Wolf in his latest column.

Take a break from the information 

As outposts of the previous British empire, Vancouver and Hong Kong have lengthy been linked, from reverse sides of the Pacific Ocean. The 1997 handover led to a surge of emigration from Hong Kong to Vancouver, ushering in a golden age of Cantonese eating in Canada’s west coast metropolis. Here are Vancouver’s most mouthwatering Cantonese restaurants.

Further contributions from Tee Zhuo and Gordon Smith