US allies anxious as White House decides to not replace Asia tsar

Good morning. The White House has opted not to replace its top Asia expert, triggering alarm among some allies at a time when the US had been rallying countries behind efforts to counter China.

Kurt Campbell, the Biden administration’s former Asia tsar, was yesterday confirmed by the Senate in his new role as deputy secretary of state, giving him a wider foreign affairs remit than the Indo-Pacific.

Several people familiar with the move said the White House would not appoint a replacement Indo-Pacific co-ordinator — a role created in 2021 to sharpen the US focus on China.

Officials from several US allies and experts familiar with the view from Tokyo to Seoul and Canberra said there was nervousness about losing Campbell given the veteran Asia hand’s extensive diplomacy with ambassadors in Washington.

One former US official said Japan and South Korea would lose some of the exceptional access they had to Campbell at the White House. But the concerns of these “nervous nellies” about a vacuum and loss of Asia focus in the White House were overblown, the former official said. Demetri Sevastopulo has more on Washington’s anxious allies in Asia.

• US-China chip war: China’s national chip champions expect to make next-generation smartphone processors as early as this year, despite US efforts to restrict their development of advanced technologies.

Here’s what else I’m keeping tabs on today:

• Monetary policy: Thailand’s central bank holds its rate-setting meeting.

• Economic data: France releases January trade balance data, while Germany industrial production figures for the month. The Halifax February House Price index is due in the UK.

• Results: Alibaba, Arm Holdings, Mattel, Nippon Steel, Suzuki Motor, Uber and Walt Disney report earnings.

Five more top stories

1. Adam Neumann is trying to buy WeWork out of bankruptcy, claiming he has Wall Street backing to take control of the company he was ousted from after racking up billions of dollars of losses. Lawyers acting for Neumann said he was “partnering” with hedge fund Third Point. However, Third Point told the FT that it had not committed to participating in any deal.

2. Chinese equities staged a rebound yesterday as state funds vowed to step up share purchases, spurring investor hopes that Beijing might be ready to offer more support to put a floor under months of sliding prices. Shares began climbing after Central Huijin, an investment arm of China’s sovereign wealth fund, said it would expand its purchases of exchange traded funds. Chinese regulators also released a series of announcements in a bid to stabilise markets.

• Opinion: When an asset is declared “uninvestable” it is often time to buy, writes Robin Harding about Chinese stocks. But are they a value trade or a value trap?

3. Donald Trump cannot use presidential immunity as a shield against criminal charges over alleged interference in the 2020 presidential election, a US federal appeals court has ruled. In a unanimous decision handed down yesterday, a three-judge panel said Trump was not entitled to immunity because he was no longer president. The decision is a big setback for the ex-president and will almost certainly be appealed.

4. Qatar said it had received a “positive” response from Hamas to a proposed deal that would involve the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel, as well as a long pause in the war and delivery of aid to the besieged strip. “We are optimistic,” Qatar’s prime minister said after meeting with US secretary of state Antony Blinken in Doha. Here’s the latest on the diplomatic efforts.

5. Rising sales of hybrid cars helped Toyota beat estimates in the third quarter as the world’s largest automaker raised full-year profit forecasts and provided further vindication of its bet on the technology. The buoyant sales counter concerns from some analysts that Toyota is not moving fast enough towards pure battery-electric vehicles. Here’s more on the results.

News in-depth

A proposal to distribute handouts totalling $14bn has ignited a months-long dispute between Thailand’s new leader and the country’s central bank governor over a crucial question: whether south-east Asia’s second-largest economy is in crisis. “This has to be one of the few world leaders trying to convince the population that the economy is worse than it is,” said analyst Peter Mumford of Eurasia Group. The stalemate is complicating forecasts for country’s economic recovery from pandemic doldrums.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Rolex thefts: India’s business elite listed muggings in London as one of the biggest concerns of the country’s chief executive class at a meeting with the UK shadow foreign secretary.

• China’s growth enigma: The divergence between official data on the economy and other sources is rising as an issue for businesses, writes Beijing bureau chief Joe Leahy.

• Accountability: In the age of algorithmic decision-making, allocating blame is a fraught process — but this doesn’t have to be a bad thing, writes Stephen Bush.

Chart of the day

After a bungled succession, Harvey Schwartz is a year into his bid to rejuvenate Carlyle. But the private equity pioneer risks falling further behind rivals such as Blackstone, Apollo and KKR, which have all recorded soaring assets and public market values in recent years.

Take a break from the news

What do models really eat on set? Ajesh Patalay goes behind the scenes on the impressive spreads at fashion shoots, where “food is 99 per cent of the chat on set.

Additional reporting by Tee Zhuo and Gordon Smith