19/09/2025

BIZ & FINANCE FRIDAY | SEPT 19, 2025

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Investors in Vietnam to face strict police screening

China youth unemployment hits record high BEIJING: China said yesterday its youth unemployment rate hit a record in August since publication resumed under a revised calculation last year, adding to a recent string of gloomy economic data. The government’s jobless rate for people aged between 16 and 24 had soared to more than 21% in June 2023, after which the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) paused its monthly publication. The rate dropped by more than six percentage points when figures resumed for December of that year – though derived from a new methodology that excluded students. The number has fluctuated over the past year as Beijing sought to breathe new life into a struggling economy that has amplified anxieties in the labour market. Official NBS data showed yesterday that the youth unemployment rate reached 18.9% in August – the highest level since the change. The increase marks the latest development in a recent streak of disappointing figures showing strain on the world’s second-largest economy. Factory output and retail sales rose last month at their slowest pace in around a year, authorities said earlier this week. NBS chief economist Fu Linghui acknowledged on Monday “weak” demand in the domestic economy, noting that “some enterprises are facing operational difficulties”. The intensified headwinds come as Beijing confronts a multi-sided battle to ensure stable growth. A yearslong debt crisis in the property sector, persistent sluggishness in domestic spending and heightened trade tensions with Washington are among the thorny issues facing Chinese leaders. The NBS announced on SHANGHAI: Huawei outlined its long-term chip plans for the first time yesterday and said it would launch the world’s most powerful computing clusters – underscoring China’s drive to wean itself off foreign semiconductor suppliers like Nvidia. In an announcement that broke years of secrecy about its chips business and which could increase the stakes in the US-Sino war for tech supremacy, Huawei detailed timelines for its Ascend artificial intelligence chips and Kunpeng server chips. Eric Xu, Huawei’s current rotating chairman, also revealed in a presentation that the company now has proprietary high-bandwidth memory –

o Plan concerns critical projects and also golf, industrial parks

HANOI: Investors in Vietnam in energy, telecommunications, construction and other sectors will need police approval for projects, under a major reform meant to boost security and ensure the “absolute leadership” of the ruling Communist Party, a draft decree says. The proposed text from the Public Security Ministry, which is still subject to changes, could increase compliance costs for business while significantly expanding the powers of the security apparatus. “In socio-economic development, security must be ensured, without sacrificing national interests for economic benefits,” said the proposal published on the ministry’s website, which other ministries can comment on until Sept 22. It could then be signed into law by the prime minister provided no major changes are requested. Export-reliant Vietnam is highly dependent on foreign investors and currently conducts limited security checks on most development projects, giving the police largely a consulting role. It is unclear how extensively the new rules would be applied, if approved, and whether they would concern only future projects. In a separate explanatory document, the ministry said the new provisions were necessary to deal with a more complex international situation dominated by strategic competition meant “to increase the sphere of influence of strong countries”, without specifying which nations. The ministry did not reply to a request for comment. In Communist-run Vietnam, police already play a crucial role beyond security, encompassing a major influence on legislation and growing interests in the economy. technology currently dominated by South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics . “We will follow a 1-year release cycle and double compute with each release,” Xu told the annual Huawei Connect conference in Shanghai. China has in recent weeks stepped up efforts that target Nvidia, the world’s dominant AI chipmaker, while trumpeting domestic chip manufacturing. Chinese authorities on Monday accused Nvidia of violating the country’s anti-monopoly law. The internet regulator has also ordered top tech firms to halt purchases of Nvidia’s AI chips and cancel existing

VietJet Air stewardesses posing at the 55th International Paris Airshow at Le Bourget Airport. – REUTERSPIC The party leader and Vietnam’s most powerful man, To Lam, headed the Security Ministry before moving to the top job. present, according to Vietnam Golf Association. The family business of US President Donald Trump is

be launched next year and will come in two variants, Xu said. That will then be followed by the 960 version in 2027 and the 970 in 2028. In addition, Huawei plans to roll out new computing power supernodes that allow chips to interconnect at high speeds. Nodes can be described as a rack system that contains numerous chips. Nodes are then grouped into clusters. “Huawei is leveraging its strengths in networking, along with China’s advantages in power supply, to aggressively push supernodes and offset lagging chip manufacturing,” said Wang Shen, data center infrastructure practice lead at tech research firm Omdia.– Reuters companies had expressed concerns about the draft document, fearing it could increase compliance costs and delay projects. Other corporate, diplomatic and legal representatives contacted by Reuters about the draft decree did not comment, with some declining to discuss the matter because of the sensitive nature of the issue or due to lack of clarity around the proposed rule. Under the proposal, the Security Ministry will also develop a mechanism to supervise and inspect foreign aid projects and will “comprehensively appraise the impacts on security, social order and safety on foreign-invested projects, implemented in many key localities and areas, where many labourers and workers live”, the document says. A similar decree was implemented in 2019 to guarantee defence priorities were taken into account for economic projects, but gave the army less explicit powers and was more limited in its scope. – Reuters

moving in the right direction, that US-China tensions will be eased to some extent but I’m thinking this is not the case, actually it’s quietly escalating.” Huawei first announced plans to enter chipmaking in 2018. But it went dark about those efforts after it was sanctioned by the US in 2019, accused by Washington of presenting a national security risk. It denies that charge. Since then, however, analysts say it has become a leader in Chinese efforts to develop a domestic semiconductor manufacturing industry. Huawei just launched the Ascend 910C AI chip in the first quarter of this year. Its successor, the Ascend 950 will partnering with a local developer on a large golf resort to be built close to Hanoi. The country is also home to huge industrial operations of multiple multinationals, including South Korea’s Samsung Electronics, Japan’s Honda and US chipmaker Intel, which are attracted by low labour costs but have at times voiced concerns over slow project approvals. The ministry, supported by national and local police forces, will establish whether yet-to-be-defined security conditions are met for projects to go ahead, including those involving foreign investors, according to the draft proposal. A Vietnam-based legal consultant, who declined to be named to speak more freely, said the decree would effectively give the police the power to veto projects, and noted some

orders, according to a Financial Times report. Huawei’s announcement is likely to be seen as carefully timed for maximum impact ahead of a meeting by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping today. The meeting follows the conclusion of talks by US and Chinese trade negotiators this week. “China is trying to say that they’re doing very well on many fronts ... Xi Jinping will be more confident when speaking with Donald Trump,” said Alfred Wu, associate professor at the National University of Singapore. “People assume that the situation is getting better, that everything is Separately, the army oversees a wide array of businesses, including banks and the largest telecom operator Viettel. The planned reform would give the Security Ministry the power to vet development projects on security grounds for a broad variety of critical infrastructures like nuclear power plants, telecommunication and satellite services with foreign involvement, ports and oilfields. US companies SpaceX and Amazon are planning to launch their satellite communication services in Vietnam. Seemingly less critical operations would also need the ministry’s approval, including industrial parks and golf courses, according to the draft document.

Monday that China’s overall unemployment rate last month stood at 5.3% – up slightly from 5.2% in July. – AFP Huawei outlines chip and computing power plans Vietnam plans to expand its golf industry from nearly 100 courses at