Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett signaled concerns about geopolitical strains, specifically China and Taiwan, dragging China stock futures down hard overnight Wednesday.

Alibaba (BABA), JD.com (JD), PDD Holdings (PDD) and Tencent Holdings (TCEHY) all fell, Investor's Business Daily reports. Another factor bruising BABA was a report in the Financial Times late Wednesday that SoftBank plans to sell its remaining stake in the software company.

SEC filings this week show Berkshire Hathaway slashed the big bet it made on Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSM) in the third quarter by 86% in the fourth quarter.

Berkshire also halved its stake in China EV giant BYD (BYDDF).

Buffet said Wednesday on CNBC he had “re-evaluated” China-Taiwan tensions. The billionaire investor was speaking from Tokyo, where he was visiting five large Japanese trading houses in which Buffett's global conglomerate invests.

Those companies and Japanese stocks overall got a boost this week, after the Nikkei newspaper reported Buffett intends to add to his investments in Japan.

In August 2020, Berkshire Hathaway revealed it had acquired just over 5% apiece in Japan's top five investment banks: Itochu, Mitsubishi Corp., Mitsui & Co., Sumitomo Corp., and Marubeni.

By last November, Berkshire Hathaway had increased that again, by around 1% in each of the businesses to bring his holdings in each to 6% or more.

A recent regulatory filing shows Buffett's company now owns 6.59% in Mitsubishi Corp, 6.62% in Mitsui & Co. Ltd., 6.21% in Itochu Corp., 6.75% in Marubeni Corp., and 6.57% in Sumitomo Corp.

It seems that Buffett is looking to increase those stakes again, telling Nikkei Asia Monday that he is “really proud” of the investments, which are valued at around $11 billion.

• Buffett Investment Plan Drives Japanese Shares Up