Free Republic

China's 'big four' banks took the top spots in The Banker's latest global ranking, with JPMorgan Chase following in fifth place China's "big four" state-run banks are the largest in the world in terms of asset scale, a new report has found, underscoring Beijing's rising ambitions to build the country into a global financial powerhouse. The ranking released by The Banker magazine on Wednesday was topped by the four Chinese banks - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China and Bank of China - with JPMorgan Chase following in fifth place. Chinese banks collectively...

An Asian media outlet accused of alignment with the Chinese Communist Party lists Politico as a strategic partner for a scheduled China-related event in the United States.....The event is to be SCMP’s first U.S. conference, according to a Politico spokesperson....SCMP is owned by Chinese e-retailer Alibaba, whose billionaire co-founder 'Jack Ma is a member of the Chinese Communist Party.'..... Alibaba’s own “position aligns closely with that of the Communist Party.” SCMP itself has faced accusations of “toeing a pro-Beijing line.” Alibaba acquired SCMP “to use the paper to counteract the negative portrayal of China in the western media,” according to...

E-commerce company Alibaba is buying Hong Kong's South China Morning Post for 2.06 billion Hong Kong dollars ($266 million), it said Monday, in a deal that's stirred concern the English-language paper's reporting may be softened under new Chinese owners. The Chinese e-commerce giant is paying cash for the newspaper and the SCMP Group's other media assets, including magazines, outdoor advertising and digital media, the company said in a filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange. The deal was announced on Friday but no amount was given for the transaction. ...