Beijing

In a provocation that’s sure to raise eyebrows in Beijing, a US Navy destroyer on Tuesday sailed within 12 miles of Parcel islands in the South China Sea in what appears to be the first US “Freedom of Navigation” operation in two months.

Reuters reports that the USS Chafee, a guided-missile destroyer, challenged “excessive maritime claims” near the Paracel Islands, among a string of islets, reefs and shoals over which China has territorial disputes with its neighbors. The operation is believed to be the fourth of its kind to take place since Trump took office.

Authored by Andrew Korybko via Oriental Review,

The EU’s policy of “replacement migration” is an economic failure and threatens to undermine China’s New Silk Road strategy for Europe by diminishing the continent’s much-needed consumer market potential, which should thereby serve as an impetus for Beijing to consider investing in social programs there as a means of encouraging replacement fertility for the EU’s citizens.

It appears credit ratings agencies simply get no respect...

It's official: China's sharing economy has reached its peak.

After shared workout pods, stools luxury cars, and, of course, bicycles, Shanghaist reports that a Beijing-based startup now has come up with a "mesmerizingly grotesque" idea: what if people could rent sex dolls through an app and return them after a period of time so that other silicone slammers could take advantage of the very same product?

And no, sadly this is not a joke.

As discussed here in mid-August, when China reported its latest credit data, for the first time in 9 months China's trillion Shadow Banking Industry - defined as the sum of Trust Loans, Entrusted Loans and Undiscounted Bank Loans - contracted.

These three key components combined resulted in a 64BN yuan drain in credit from China's economy, the first negative print since October, seen by analysts as more evidence that Beijing’s campaign to contain shadow banking and quash risks to the financial system, is starting to bear fruit.