China sees big development in green finance

China has seen a big boom in developing green finance, which plays a vital role in promoting the country's green economic transformation, data from the central bank showed.

The balance of China's green loans in local and foreign currencies surged 26.5 percent year on year to stand at 14 trillion yuan (about 2.16 trillion U.S. dollars) by the end of the second quarter of 2021, according to the People's Bank of China.

In the first eight months of this year, the country's issuance of green bonds jumped by 152 percent from a year ago to exceed 350 billion yuan, already surpassing the figure issued for the whole of last year. Carbon neutral bonds topped 180 billion yuan during the period.

To pursue high-quality and green growth, China has announced that it will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Japan's new Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is a soft-spoken former foreign minister with a reputation for seeking the middle ground and a fondness for baseball.

The 64-year-old scion of a Hiroshima family of politicians is widely regarded as a safe pair of hands, despite a low-key presence that has sometimes been characterised as a lack of charisma.

He took office on Monday after winning the leadership of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), replacing Yoshihide Suga, who resigned after just a year in the top job.

Kishida has pledged to spend big on new pandemic stimulus, vowing to tackle income inequality and move away from the neo-liberal economics that have dominated Japanese politics for the past two decades.

"I want to re-establish a virtuous circle between growth and distribution, so as many as possible across the whole archipelago can reap the rewards," he said after party leadership vote.

Seeking to set himself apart from the unpopular pandemic response of Suga's government, the new premier has also touted his listening skills and vowed to "create an atmosphere in which we can address the crisis together".

Kishida served as foreign minister between 2012-17, during which time he negotiated accords with Russia and South Korea, with whom Japan's relations are often frosty.

He has called abolishing nuclear weapons "my life's work", and in 2016 helped bring then-US president Barack Obama to Hiroshima on a historic visit.

But despite his liberal reputation, he has been reticent on some social hot-button issues like gay marriage, saying he had "not reached the point for accepting same-sex marriage".

He has also taken a cautious line on allowing married couples to keep separate surnames, another controversial issue.

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