Australia's S&P/ASX 200 closed down 39.10 points, or 0.44%, at 8,792.20 on Thursday, Oct. 22.

On Oct 21, Deputy Minister Yan Dong of MOFCOM and Deputy Minister Gomes of East Timor's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation co-chaired the second meeting of the China-Timor-Leste Joint Committee on Economic and Trade Cooperation in Dili. They reached broad consensus to deepen cooperation on trade, investment, aid and people-to-people exchanges, to jointly uphold the multilateral trade order, and to create a better business environment for China-invested enterprises in Timor-Leste.

At a State Council Information Office briefing on the 21st, Beijing said it will push to issue Regulations on Investigation and Management of Hidden Dangers of Production Safety Accidents during the 15th Five-Year Plan period. The draft rules will define what constitutes a major accident hazard, name which agency sets standards, set out how firms must inspect and remediate risks, and allow regulators to back-investigate and hold companies liable for failures to inspect or remedy. Authorities will require firms to rigidly implement safety investment, training, basic management and emergency‑response capabilities (the “four in place”), with the stated aim of advancing major-hazard remediation and strengthening China’s safety-production governance capacity.