US dares world to tell Russia to stop using Ukrainian grain as ‘blackmail’

of State

adding that an estimated 148.1 million children under the age of five suffer from stunted growth because of malnutrition.

The United States circulated a communique to the 193 UN member states seeking commitments “to take action to end the use of food as a weapon of war and the starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare.” Blinken said 91 countries have signed, less than half the membership.

The Security Council statement stressed the need “to break the vicious cycle between armed conflict and food insecurity.”

PBOC chief meets with property developers, vows funding help

food insecurity. He called for a single body to galvanize collective action—the UN High Level Task Force on Preventing Famine established in 2021 and headed by Reena Ghelani.

Ghelani said international collaboration is essential. She told the council that in too many nutrition wards and camps for the displaced she has visited, the eerie silence of small children fighting for their lives who are too weak to cry because of malnutrition “never leaves you.”

“That silence is also a call for action,” she said. “Business as usual will not work.”

CHINA’S central bank said it would increase funding support for the private sector after meeting with executives from the property industry, identifying several companies by name in a statement that underscores growing urgency among regulators to boost market confidence.

America’s top diplomat lashed out at Russia at a UN Security Council meeting for ignoring the world’s appeals and pulling out of the year-old deal that allowed Ukraine to ship more than 32 tons of grain from Black Sea ports to needy countries.

“And what has Russia’s response been to the world’s distress and outrage? Bombing Ukrainian granaries, mining port entrances, threatening to attack any vessel in the Black Sea,” he said.

Blinken was chairing the signature event of the United States’ council presidency this month on conflict as a key driver of hunger and famine.

He announced that the United States, which has provided more than $17.5 billion since January 2021 to address famine and food insecurity, will give $362 million more to tackle the drivers of hunger in Haiti and 11 African countries.

He pointed to the UN World Food Program, which said last week it needs $20 billion to deliver aid to everyone in need but was aiming for between $10 billion to $14 billion, the amount it has received in the past few years. So far this year, however, WFP said it had received only around $5 billion and therefore 38 of 86 countries where it operates have already seen cuts or are planning cuts in food assistance soon.

“The cost of that shortfall will be measured in growth stunted and in lives lost,” Blinken said.

He also implicitly criticized China, which is the world’s secondlargest economic power behind the United States, saying “the world’s largest economies should be the world’s largest donors, for member states to consider themselves global leaders. This is your chance to prove it.”

Blinken added that “All of us. All of us can dig deeper.”

At the start of the meeting, the Security Council adopted a presidential statement, approved by all 15 members, strongly condemning “the use of starvation of civilians as a method of warfare” and expressing concern at the growing number of armed conflicts all over the globe.

In 2022, “armed conflict was the most significant driver of high levels of acute food insecurity for roughly 117 million people in 19 countries and territories,” the council said,

China eases business visa rules in bid to further open borders

CHINA released a series of measures intended to ease movement across and within its borders, as the country’s post-Covid economic recovery stalls.

The Ministry of Public Security released 26 new measures on Thursday, with some intended to ease visitation rules, including allowing travelers to upgrade their singleentry arrival visas to multiple-entry versions valid for as many as three years.

Foreign nationals who travel to China for reasons such as business negotiations, investment and entrepreneurship, and exhibitions and conferences can apply for landing visas with an invitation letter and supporting materials, according to the measures. Those with additional business needs can convert the visa-on-arrival to a multiple-entry visa after entering the country.

The new rules also allow foreign nationals to keep their passports while their residence permits are being processed. Previously, authorities would issue a temporary travel document that was not as widely accepted as passports for arranging travel.

“While a welcome step in the right direction, these measures by themselves will not be sufficient to restore business travel to pre-pandemic levels, nor to restore China’s attractiveness as a destination for foreign talent,” said Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in Beijing. Other issues affecting foreign companies, including the lack of transparency and predictability of China’s policy environment, need to be addressed, he added.

China’s top leaders have been trying to signal that the country is open for business and investment after closing its borders during the Covid-19 pandemic. The country’s economic growth is sputtering amid a build up of risk in local government debt and the property sector, while geopolitical risks continue to weigh on confidence.

Meanwhile, raids and detentions at foreign firms and those serving overseas clients have raised questions among executives on whether it was safe to travel to the country.

The measures also detail plans to scrap restrictions on household registration in cities of less than 3 million people and relax policies for those with a population between 3 million and 5 million people, state-owned Global Times reported, citing comments by Ministry of Public Security official Yuan Xiguo at a briefing on Thursday. China’s household registration system, known as hukou, restricts people from accessing government services outside the area where they are registered as residing.

T he Ministry of Public Security said it plans to implement the measures by the end of August, according to the Global Times. Bloomberg News

David Miliband, president of the International Rescue Committee, reminded the council it called for that link to be broken five years ago, but today “there is more armed conflict, more famine, more malnutrition, and more and more food insecurity.”

He said every assessment has the same list of countries where conflict is driving hunger: Somalia, Afghanistan, Yemen, Nigeria, South Sudan, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Mali, and Haiti.

Miliband called for action— not more words—to help the 375,000 people who faced famine-like conditions at the end of 2022 and the 35 million on the brink.

As an example, he said, 80 percent of acutely malnourished children aren’t getting any treatment because of divided approaches toward moderate and severe malnutrition. He said the solution is simply to put a tape around a child’s arm and measure the circumference to diagnose malnutrition and provide one or two doses of therapeutic food per day depending on whether the case is severe or moderate.

Miliband told the council there is also a proliferation of different global initiatives on famine and

Representatives of 80 countries were on the list of speakers at the day-long council meeting.

Russia’s deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky responded to the criticism over its withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal by claiming that it had become commercial, not humanitarian. He accused the West of becoming interested in the threat of world hunger “only insofar as they think they can attempt to exploit this topic to demonize Russia” and indulge their “pipe dreams” of defeating it in Ukraine.

Nonetheless, Polyansky held open the possibility of resuming the Black Sea deal if the West ensures that Russian grain and fertilizer can get to countries in need “without hindrance.”

Blinken told reporters after chairing the meeting that if Russia returns to the agreement, the US will continue “to do whatever is necessary to make sure that everyone can export their food and food products freely and safely, to include Russia.”

“We want to see that food on world markets,” he said. “We want everyone to benefit from the lower prices.” AP

Newly appointed People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Governor Pan Gongsheng met with representatives from eight private firms, including developers Longfor Group Holdings Ltd., CIFI Holdings Group Co. and Midea Real Estate Holding Ltd. to hear about their difficulties and corporate financing needs, the PBOC said in a statement on Thursday. Banks like Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Ltd. were present as well.

The meeting is the latest in a series of attempts by regulators across China’s government to shore up the private sector as the country’s economic recovery sputters and stress in some corners of the bond market increases. Reviving the property market would be key to boosting growth, with the Communist Party’s Politburo last week signaling a shift toward looser policies for the sector.

Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management Ltd., said the message from top officials is to support the housing market, although it’s unclear if any new measures are coming.

“Under-stressed sectors require more financial help, and that’s the property sector, which is clear,” said Zhang.

Chinese high-yield dollar bonds gained about 1 cent Friday morning, according to credit traders, after dropping earlier this week.

The strongest-performing developer was investment-grade rated Longfor, whose 3.375 percent bond due 2027 jumped 3.5 cents to 73.9 cents, set for the largest advance in over a week.

Pan said the central bank would expand a support tool for private companies’ bond issuance and meet the reasonable financing needs of developers to foster the healthy development of the housing market. Last year, China’s financial regulators widened a bond financing program to about 250 billion yuan ($34.9 billion) for private companies including developers. The PBOC didn’t provide details on what the latest changes would entail.

Zerlina Zeng, a senior credit analyst at CreditSights, said the meeting echoed the Politburo’s dovish tone “but fell short of new funding support measures for the property and private sectors.” Confidence among private developers and appetite for borrowing, investing, or hiring won’t be meaningfully restored “until the policymakers come up with a more predictable, rule-based, and well-communicated regulatory framework for the sector,” she said.

Other businesses that were present at the meeting included dairy producer Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co. and aluminum maker China Hongqiao Group Ltd.

While supportive statements like the PBOC’s have helped buoy markets somewhat, skepticism remains elevated among investors and company executives burned by years of unpredictable policy shifts.

Sentiment in China’s property sector has been particularly fragile, with bonds of real estate companies including Country Garden Holdings Co., Dalian Wanda Group and Sino-Ocean Group Holding Ltd. coming under pressure in recent weeks. The three companies weren’t among those mentioned by the PBOC.

“Developers have had some refinancing troubles again recently,” said Ding Shuang, chief economist for Greater China and North Asia at Standard Chartered Plc. “Support will be targeted toward highquality companies.” Bloomberg News