FirstFT: Xi Jinping praises ‘deep friendship’ with Vladimir Putin as leaders meet

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Good morning. China’s president Xi Jinping lauded record high trade with Russia and stressed his “deep friendship” with Vladimir Putin as the two leaders met in Beijing.

Meeting on the sidelines of a forum to celebrate 10 years of his flagship Belt and Road foreign policy initiative, Xi told Putin annual bilateral trade between their countries had reached a “historic high” of nearly $200bn.

Putin was visiting Beijing for the first time since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February last year. Notably, Xi did not mention the term “no-limits” partnership, which was used to describe the relationship during Putin’s last visit to Beijing in February 2022, days before Russia’s attack on its neighbour.

But Xi’s renewed praise for the relationship will do nothing to improve ties with the EU, one of China’s biggest trading partners. Western nations are also concerned China’s increasing trade with Russia is propping up its economy and helping to finance the conflict in Ukraine. Read the full story on Xi and Putin’s meeting.

We have more China coverage below — and scroll down to today’s chart of the day for more on the country’s better than expected economic growth figures.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

Economic data: China publishes new home prices for September, amid concerns over the health of its property sector.

Companies: Blackstone, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Nokia, L’Oreal and Nestlé are among those reporting results.

Israel-Hamas war updates:

Biden’s Israel visit: US president Joe Biden urged Israel not to be “consumed” by rage in its reaction to Hamas’s deadly assault, to avoid “mistakes” Washington made after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

‘It was like doomsday’: Recriminations over Tuesday night’s deadly explosion at Al-Ahli Arab hospital are reverberating around the region and beyond. Biden yesterday joined Israel in blaming the blast on a misfired rocket by Palestinian militants, citing Pentagon data.

The Palestinian Authority: Mahmoud Abbas’ West Bank-based organisation is seen as impotent by many Palestinians in the face of Israel’s decades-long occupation. Get the latest stories here.

Five more top stories

1. Exclusive: The China committee of the US House of Representatives has asked Sequoia Capital to provide details about investments in artificial intelligence and other high-tech sectors in the country made by the venture capital firm and its former Chinese arm since 2010. The request for information — made in a letter to Sequoia obtained by the FT — comes four months after Sequoia moved to separate its China and US arms.

2. Trump ally Jim Jordan has lost his second attempt to become Speaker of the House of Representatives, after 22 members of his own party rejected the firebrand Republican’s efforts to seize the gavel. That was a worse result for Jordan than just a day earlier, when 20 Republicans voted against him in an initial ballot. Read more on the stalemate in Washington.

3. India’s main opposition party has called for an investigation of the country’s Adani Group over allegations reported by the FT that the conglomerate appeared to have inflated the cost of imported coal, leading to higher electricity prices for consumers. India’s main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said: “When you turn on a fan, [or when] poor people switch on a tubelight, please remember . . . the minute you press the button, the money goes into Adani’s pocket.” Read the full story.

4. Bain Capital’s ambitions to create a US-Japan chip champion through the merger of Kioxia and Western Digital are in jeopardy owing to opposition from one of its key investors. South Korea’s SK Hynix has refused to sign off on the deal in the final phase of merger negotiations, according to four people with direct knowledge of the talks. Here’s why SK Hynix is pushing back.

5. Argentina has borrowed another $6.5bn-worth of renminbi from Beijing in a last-ditch effort to stabilise the economy ahead of presidential elections on Sunday. Amid its worst economic crisis in two decades, Argentina has been forced to draw on a currency swap line between its central bank and the People’s Bank of China.

The first issue of our Central Banks newsletter by Chris Giles launched on Tuesday. You can read it here if you’re a premium subscriber, or upgrade your subscription.

News in-depth

Soldiers atop a tank — © FT montage/Reuters

Diplomats are warning that western support for Israel’s assault on Gaza has poisoned efforts to gain support from developing countries on condemning Russia’s war against Ukraine. “We have definitely lost the battle in the Global South,” said one senior G7 diplomat. “All the work we have done with the Global South [over Ukraine] has been lost . . . Forget about rules, forget about world order. They won’t ever listen to us again.”

We’re also reading . . .

Japan’s pandemic-era shift: Changes to how people live and work have depressed demand in areas such as fitness clubs, pachinko parlours and after-office restaurants.

Sport: Clara Wu Tsai and her husband, Alibaba chair Joseph Tsai, own the New York Liberty and Brooklyn Nets US basketball teams. She spoke to the FT as the Liberty battle in the WNBA finals.

FTX trial: The New York fraud trial of Sam Bankman-Fried has not only shed light on the chaotic collapse of the crypto exchange but also on his fateful rivalry with Changpeng Zhao.

Chart of the day

China’s economy grew faster than expected in the third quarter, expanding 4.9 per cent year on year as Beijing has tried to stabilise the property and banking sectors. Here’s more on the latest data — and why Chinese officials struck a cautious tone in response.

Take a break from the news

FT film critic Danny Leigh sits down with filmmaker Errol Morris, whose new documentary adapts John le Carré’s memoir The Pigeon Tunnel. Morris discusses interviewing the late spy novelist and former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld — but why he won’t touch Donald Trump.