As global capital trickles back toward China, policymakers are using tougher enforcement and cooling measures to slow the market’s pace in order to strengthen its appeal in the long term, reports Reuters.

With fund managers now seeking to diversify away from dollar-heavy portfolios, Beijing’s calibrated approach could help reverse years of retreat when some investors even called the country “uninvestable”.

Broader cooling efforts include tightening margin financing rules, curbing high-frequency traders’ access to exchange data, and curtailing stock-picking “influencers.” Sovereign funds, meanwhile, have pared back equity holdings. “The art of the slow bull is in effect,” fund consultancy Z-Ben Advisors said. The market is entering a self-sustaining cycle as “dynamics suggest a growing level of confidence in market depth from regulators and investors alike.”

The Chinese government is dramatically pumping up its investment in the development of semiconductors. The state-run Shanghai Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund has expanded one of its three funds more than 11-fold to RMB 6 billion in a move aimed at injecting more capital into more than 20 semiconductor firms. 

Semiconductors are clearly the link to the future and both China and US are racing for the lead. There is a sense of confusion in the market over the Trumpist position regarding semiconductors and China: if semiconductors are so crucial to staying ahead in the tech war, then why was Nvidia was given the go ahead to sell the H200 chips (Nvidia’s second-most powerful) to Chinese companies, including—according to Reuters—DeepSeek, ByteDance, Tencent and Alibaba.

Meanwhile, on this side of the Pacific, there is a clear sense of mission. Shanghai and the surrounds appear to be where much of the work on semiconductors is taking place, and this injection of capital from the state looks to accelerate that. But Private enterprise is playing its part too. Alibaba has developed a new “brain” for robots and also new a AI image-creation tool, while ByeDance revealed its own tool in competition to Google’s Nano Banana on the same day.

A contract held by a Hong Kong company to operate ports at the Panama Canal was found to have violated the Panama constitution and not serve the public interest, reports Reuters. The country’s Supreme Court decision therefore voided the deal made in the 1990s.

The court issued its verdict on Thursday, but it did not formally release its ruling or explain its rationale. Local television station TVN first reported on the decision, which has been confirmed by a court official.

The court said in its decision that the contract held by Panama Ports Company, a subsidiary of Hong Kong’s CK Hutchison violated Panama’s constitution by giving the company exclusive privileges and tax exemptions. The contract also lacked a requirement for environmental impact assessments and said the government had to seek Panama Ports’ approval before granting other concessions, the court said.

Labubu toymaker Pop Mart plans to establish its European headquarters in London, reports the South China Morning Post. This came as UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer met the company’s founder during a high-profile China visit aimed at rebuilding Britain’s economic ties with China.

“London stands at the heart of the global creative ecosystem, and we are thrilled to plant our European roots there,” Wang said in a statement released by the British government. 

As part of that move, Pop Mart would also open seven new bricks-and-mortar shops in the UK, including new outlets in Birmingham, Cardiff and a flagship store on Oxford Street–one of Europe’s busiest shopping destinations. The investment was expected to create more than 150 jobs in the UK, according to the statement. In addition, Pop Mart aimed to launch around 20 additional stores across major European cities over the coming year, the statement said.

UK drugmaker AstraZeneca will invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand medicines manufacturing and research and development, reports Reuters. The announcement was made as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer visited Beijing.

The announcement marks the biggest deal so far during the trip, as Britain seeks to strengthen ties with Beijing at a time of strained relations with Washington.

AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said it was the company’s largest investment in China, where it has operated for more than 30 years and is the biggest foreign drugmaker. China accounts for about 12% of its revenue. AstraZeneca has invested billions of dollars in the country during Soriot’s tenure as CEO since 2012, including $2.5 billion in a Beijing research and development hub in March last year, its second after a Shanghai site opened in 2024.