A 14-year absence from China could be over for Facebook’s owner Meta with a deal with a major Chinese video game company. A top investment bank says big business now goes hand in hand with geopolitics, adding some investments risk plummeting overnight. President Joe Biden signed off on $80 million for Taiwan’s defense, but it’s not a loan. The money comes straight from American taxpayers—a move not seen in over 40 years. A trio of giant pandas has left Washington’s National Zoo, marking the end of over 50 years of panda diplomacy. Topics in this episode: Meta Reportedly Cuts Deal to Return to China Investing in China Could ‘Go to Zero Overnight’: CEO Indo-Pacific Strategy Overhaul? Graceffo on U.S. $80 Million Aid to Taiwan Hackers Hit U.S. Arm of Chinese Bank ICBC Washington Zoo’s Pandas Return to China India, U.S. ‘In Agreement’ on China: New Delhi Sec. Yellen Meets Chinese Counterpart in San Fran EV Industry to Cut China’s Dependency on Rare Earth Portugal Faces Lithium Mining Challenges Mining Giants Look to Break China’s Export Grip U.S. Medical Supply Chain at Risk from CCP: Lawmakers Japan Seeks to Resume Koi Export to China How the CCP ‘Killed Off Its Future’: Steven Mosher ...Read more https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/meta-reportedly-cuts-deal-to-return-to-china-5527345
The fiscal crisis plaguing China’s largest private asset management corporation, Zhongzhi Enterprise Group (ZEG), has reverberated through multiple industries in China. Often dubbed China’s “Blackstone,” ZEG managed assets exceeding approximately $516.7 billion. But when it was learned in August that it was facing a liquidity crisis, panic in the market followed. Concerns arose that ZEG’s crisis could be as dire or worse as the Evergrande or Country Garden crises, posing a substantial financial threat to China. ZEG’s core investment management platform, Zhongrong International Trust, and its subsidiaries, namely Hengtian Wealth, Datang Wealth, Xinhu Wealth, and Gaosheng Wealth, all experienced significant defaults.... 
During a Friday press conference, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said talks with Indian officials had been “very productive” as he concluded a 9-day diplomatic tour addressing the Israel–Hamas conflict. On his third visit to India this year, Mr. Blinken was joined by U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to meet with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Minister of Defense Rajnath Singh for the annual “two-plus-two” talks between the countries, which center on defense and security cooperation. “We continue—India and the United States—to deepen our partnership, to deepen our collaboration on everything from emerging technologies to defense to people-to-people ties, as well as our shared diplomacy to try to advance an Indo-Pacific region that’s free, that’s open, that’s prosperous, that’s resilient,” Mr. Blinken said....
The United States and China must deepen their communication and work towards mutual economic benefit, according to U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. The comments followed the conclusion of Ms. Yellen’s second day of discussions with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member and Vice Premier He Lifeng in San Francisco. The secretary used the occasion to underscore the importance of the U.S.-China relationship to the global economy. “The relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China is one of the most important relationships of our time,” Ms. Yellen said during a press conference following the meeting....