Beijing / AP Vietnam risks being vulnerable to external shocks if it doesn’t push through reforms to strengthen its banking system and restructure state businesses, according to International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde. The Southeast Asian nation isn’t in a position to withstand economic blows from tightening of monetary policies elsewhere, a deep and prolonged drop in commodity prices and …

Beijing / Bloomberg China plans to more than triple solar power capacity by 2020 to as much as 143 gigawatts to help reduce carbon emissions. The country will add 15 to 20 gigawatts of photovoltaic power annually in the next five years, Nur Bekri, head of the National Energy Administration, said in a conference in Beijing on Monday. China accounted …

Beijing / Bloomberg Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. sold 3 trillion yuan ($463 billion) of goods through its online shopping websites in the year ending March, as China’s largest e-commerce operator moved deeper into the untapped countryside and courted foreign brands. The company wants to bring in more quality non-Chinese goods and continue to increase its footprint in rural areas to …