Good morning, and welcome to Thursday’s Asia Links
China and the US pledge cooperation on climate change in surprise announcement at COP 26 (BBC, Bloomberg, NY Times)
Letter from Xi Jinping says China ready to bring US relations back on track (SCMP, People’s Daily)
Analysis: Dani Rodrik says the idea of a trans-Pacific zero-sum competition for power is strange (Project Syndicate)
China factory gate inflation hits 26-year high of 13.5% in October (FT, China Daily)
Yuan hits five-year high as exports surge (Caixin)
Turning point looms for China’s export trade as Christmas orders dry up: rising prices mask falling volumes (SCMP)
Japan’s Kishida picks China-friendly foreign minister (Nikkei Asia)
McKinsey partner accused of insider trading on Goldman Sachs deal (FT)
MasterCard teams up with three Asian crypto companies to launch Bitcoin payment cards (Forbes)
Evergrande says it will pay $148m interest payment due this weekend (Bloomberg)
China’s plan to manage Evergrande: take it apart, slowly (WSJ)
WEF publishes its new chief economists outlook
ASEAN’s digital economy forecast to hit $1 trillion by 2030 (Nikkei Asia)
Myanmar charges American journalist with terrorism and sedition (BBC)
Thai court says calls for reform of the monarchy are ‘abuse of freedoms’ (BBC, Guardian, Bangkok Post)
Video of Vietnamese minister being fed steak wrapped in gold leaf in London doesn’t go down well at home (Bangkok Post)
Japanese-Korean-Turkish language group traced to farmers in ancient China (Reuters)
Shein: the under-the-radar Chinese fast-fashion brand that adds 6,000 new items to its range daily (BBC)
Asia’s most expensive apartment sold in Hong Kong’s Peak (Bloomberg)
Shenyang, the northern Chinese city testing 2-month quarantine (NY Times)
And finally: “Wilson,” the volleyball head from the film Castaway, sells for $308,000 (BBC)