TrendLines

Intro

AUSTRALIA is one of the fastest-recovering international markets for Vietnam Airlines, which is rapidly increasing frequencies to key markets across Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States . . .

SYDNEY -- Vietnam Airlines has increased its flight frequencies out of Sydney and Melbourne to meet increasing post-COVID travel demand.

 Improved connections for onwards journeys from Vietnam to Europe will also be offered as the airline increases frequencies into Europe for the Northern summer.

 From July, the Vietnamese flag carrier is scheduling seven flights weekly out of Sydney and four from Melbourne.

 "We are about to resume for the northern summer five direct weekly services between Sydney and Ho Chi Minh as well as four from Melbourne, in addition to two direct weekly return services between Sydney and Hanoi. 

"This reflects our strong commitment to the Australian market," Truong Tran Ngoc Hung, deputy director of marketing and sales for Vietnam Airlines, told ATI. 

 Hung said VN had also adjusted its schedule to improve connections from Europe into Australia.  "We are flying 4 days a week to London, 3 days to Paris and 5 days to Frankfurt," he said.

Addressing agents and industry partners at a Rediscover Vietnam forum in Sydney, he said: "These frequency increases and improved connection times will hopefully encourage you to consider Vietnam Airlines as a partner in getting your clients to Europe.

 "Our frequency increases to many locations show a solid market recovery now, and that is in part due to the agents and partners here with us tonight."  

THE Greater Bay Area is a business-to-business arrangement that already exists, says Hong Kong's Edward Yau. GBA already accounts for US$1.7 trillion of China's gross domestic product, roughly the size of Australia's total GDP, he says -- and a number expected to reach US$4.6 trillion by 2030 . . .

HONG KONG's Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Edward Yau, has offered a "special ticket" to Australian companies to "ride the fast lane of growth" -- the Hong Kong-Macau-Greater Bay initiative.

Yau says the Greater Bay Area (GBA) promises huge potential in coming years as its 11 cities grow their collective economic strength.

In terms of land area, the nine cities plus Hong Kong and Macau constitute only 1% of the terrain of the Mainland, he says. But GBA is already home to 5% of China's population  --  and it accounts for 12% of China's GDP and 37% of its national trade.

INVESTHK in 2015 assisted the offshore development arm of the University of Wollongong (UOW Global Enterprises) into Hong Kong, where it purchased a university college and is now building its second campus. UOW courses are also being delivered into mainland China through UOW twinning arrangements in Beijing, Tianjin and Zhengzhou, with UOW considering expansion of its physical presence into the GBA Mainland . . .

Standard & Poor's is predicting continuation of a crackdown on shadow banking in China in 2021. The government has moved to take control of Sichuan Trust Co, which reportedly faces an estimated RMB20-30 billion of losses from its trust products under management . . .

HONG KONG -- China's move to take control of Sichuan Trust Co. Ltd. signals a growing assertiveness with the sector, according to global ratings agency Standard and Poor's. Chinese officials said the entity was plagued with governance issues, resulting in a swath of defaulted trust products, but S&P Global Ratings believes the authorities' action on Sichuan Trust demonstrates China's intention to continue its crackdown on trust entities specifically, and China's shadow bank sector generally, in 2021.

WHILE stabilisation of markets seems to be within reach with the introduction of new COVID-19 vaccines and new leadership in the US, investors should expect the process to be gradual and long, Manulife Investment Management says in its regional outlook for the year ahead . . .

HONG KONG -- Structural changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will take time to reverse, Manulife Investment Management says in its assessment of the year ahead.

In a video address to two US-based think tanks, the Hudson Institute and the Centre for American Progress (CAP), Taiwan's President, Tsai Ing-wen, has reiterated her four principles for management of cross-strait relations, mooted a Free Trade Agreement with the United States, and called on  the international community to speak out and act against the demise of Hong Kong's freedoms. This is an edited transcript . . .

TAIPEI - People say that the second term is supposed to be easier than the first. They must be people who have not experienced the year 2020 like we have.

We are gathered at a time when billions around the world are reeling from the unprecedented effects of COVID-19. When over half a million people have lost their lives and millions more have been sickened.

There is tremendous economic uncertainty around the world, with soaring unemployment and disruptions to global trade.

While Taiwan has fared relatively well in the current pandemic, we are not immune to its aftershocks. We are also worried about its broader political implications across the region.

When the rest of the world has been distracted in responding to one of the most significant crises in recent history, we have seen a growing effort to pose ever more challenging threats to free and democratic societies.

Nowhere is this more apparent than in Hong Kong.

The issue of trust may greatly impede any restoration of normalisation, perhaps for decades . . .