• US tariffs review of over US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports almost done, says top trade envoy
• China is subsidising global fentanyl supply, says report by US congressional panel
• China’s GDP growth beat expectations – so why are analysts and business groups still downbeat?
• US, Chinese defence chiefs talk for first time in more than two years
• Microsoft invests in Arabic AI firm as U.S. tries to limit China’s sway
• TikTok is obsessed with ... premium-grade industrial glycine from China?
• Paris Games: France’s Macron calls on China to help with 3-week ‘Olympic truce’ as Russia, Israel divide world opinion
• China’s top diplomat Wang Yi to push belt and road during visits to Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea
• China’s semiconductor output jumps 40% in first quarter amid growing dominance in legacy chips
• EU to launch first-ever procurement probe over China’s medical devices sector, sources say
• Hong Kong tourism sector optimistic over prospects during mainland China’s Labour Day ‘golden week’ holiday
• IMF keeps China’s 2024 GDP growth estimate unchanged on ‘troubled property sector’
• China has no ‘fundamental’ conflict of interest with Germany, Xi Jinping tells Olaf Scholz
• Fitch cuts outlook for China’s state-owned banks from stable to negative citing Beijing’s limited capacity to support them
• Biden’s options for retaliating against Iran risk antagonizing China
• Electric vehicles: China’s Chery Automobile enters UK’s car rental business as its Omoda EVs are leased out by Octopus
• [Sport] Chinese internet amused by building that looks like sanitary pad
• China Evergrande: PwC refutes letter claiming fraud tied to indebted developer, vows to investigate ‘fabricated’ claims
• Chinese police arrest over 1,500 for online rumours in campaign targeting influencers, bloggers and live-streamers
• Tech war: how Chinese scientists rigged a low-cost AI computer chip to power a hypersonic weapon
• [Sport] Why pressure on Ricciardo is high - F1 Q&A before Chinese GP
• UK unemployment rate jumps to 4.2% as labour market cools; China’s growth beats forecasts – business live
• Beijing half marathon hit by controversy as China’s He Jie allowed to win
• Case review of rural China doctor jailed for treating sex workers in 2012 sparks medical ethics debate on social media
• Chinese breakthroughs in chip tech, air pollution controls headline top science award nominees
• China’s economy grew 5.3% in first quarter, beating expectations
• China GDP: 5.3% first-quarter rise better than expected as recovery regains momentum
• After air attacks Iran tells China it will not escalate violence against Israel as Wang Yi holds Mideast calls
• Solomon Islands’ China security ties in focus as Pacific nation heads to the polls
• China ‘invisible man’ painter blends into surroundings with chameleon body colouring to promote love of nature
• China’s energy trade with Middle East set to surge since Beijing brokered last year’s Iran-Saudi deal, UBS says
• Anti-China voices in US often miss the mark but on trade, they have a point
• Drone Technology Fuels China-US Arms Race

US tariffs review of over US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports almost done, says top trade envoy

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3259252/us-tariffs-review-over-us300-billion-worth-chinese-imports-almost-done-says-top-trade-envoy?utm_source=rss_feed

Washington’s top trade envoy assured sceptical Republican lawmakers on Tuesday that the long-awaited results of the Biden administration’s review of US tariffs on more than US$300 billion worth of Chinese imports were “very close to the conclusion”.

Testifying before the House Ways and Means committee, US Trade Representative Katherine Tai described the 2½ years of review as “tremendously consequential”, a “whole-of-government” exercise looking at the use of tariff tools to address “inequities in the US-China trade relationship”.

“We are making progress and it is my belief that we are very close to the conclusion of this review,” Tai said when asked by Republican congressman Jason Smith of Missouri, the committee’s chairman, if she could commit to releasing the results by May 3.

Smith suggested that the elapsed time raised serious concerns about whether President Joe Biden recognised the urgency of the threat China posed to American workers and businesses.

Tai said the Biden administration was “taking a serious look” at the “existing tools” to deal effectively with China’s policies causing “dependencies and vulnerabilities in multiple sectors, harming American workers and businesses and creating real risks for our supply chains”.

The tariffs were put in place in 2018 by Donald Trump, Biden’s predecessor and the presumptive Republican nominee for the coming US presidential election. Smith on Tuesday said perhaps it was time for the Biden administration to “just admit” that Trump did “something right”.

Reiterating that the US sought competition rather than conflict with China, Tai told the lawmakers she was closely reviewing a plea from five US unions to investigate Beijing’s allegedly unfair acts, policies and practices in the critical maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sector.

The hearing took place a week after US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned Beijing against Chinese “overcapacity” in electric vehicles and solar panels.

China’s patent applications being sped up, scrutinised to boost key industries

Also on Tuesday, Yellen hosted senior Chinese officials at her office in Washington as part of Biden’s efforts to bolster communication between the world’s two largest economies to manage competition responsibly.

The US delegation continued to express concerns about China’s “non-market practices and industrial overcapacity”, according to her office.

Tai at the House hearing was questioned about a number of other China-related topics including the administration’s withdrawal of Trump-era demands on digital trade rules.

For several years Washington was a leading advocate of strong digital trade rules to protect cross-border data flows, prohibit forced data localisation as well as give access to source code as conditions of doing business in a foreign country.

But in October the Office of the US Trade Representative withdrew the demands in multiple settings, including the World Trade Organization and the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity, a US-led group of 14 Asia-Pacific economies that aims to promote trade resilience and a sustainable digital economy.

The reversal has angered some US lawmakers and business interests, who say the decision will expose American companies to discrimination, malicious cyberactivity and intellectual property theft, handing a victory to countries like China.

On Tuesday, Republican congressman Darin LaHood Illinois, co-chair of the House digital trade caucus, said that rather than “providing a free-market alternative” to the Chinese Communist Party’s policy of censorship and surveillance, Biden was sending “mixed signals” on the global stage by walking back rules accepted by Republicans and Democrats.

However, invoking the example of the beleaguered social media platform TikTok – owned by Beijing-based tech firm ByteDance – Tai insisted that the government’s approach to digital trade was aimed at giving Congress more room to regulate big tech firms and protect Americans’ data.

The administration took notice of the fact that legislation had advanced through the House relating to TikTok and of concerns around transfers of Americans’ data to China, she added.

“We are adjusting our approach and policies on what we call digital trade because we see what you are doing up here with respect to addressing the risks and harms that can come from PRC technology policies and how they impact the rights and the interests of Americans and, for example, their data,” Tai said of lawmakers’ efforts on Capitol Hill.

US must treat China more like a cold-war opponent: Republican policymakers

Such assurances have failed to satisfy many in the US business community.

In a letter to the White House on Monday, 40 major business groups claiming together to represent every sector of the American economy called on the White House to “reassert its leadership in digital trade” and act against “damaging” trade barriers in foreign countries.

“We’re concerned that the administration is taking a laissez-faire approach to the foreign-trade barriers that often shut US goods and services out of markets abroad”, said John Murphy of the US Chamber of Commerce at a press briefing on Monday.

Foreign governments may see the change in stance on digital trade as a “green light” to raise barriers for American firms, Murphy added.

Digital trade generates more than half of US exports of traded services, according to the Information Technology Industry Council, a group representing American IT companies.

China is subsidising global fentanyl supply, says report by US congressional panel

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3259253/china-subsidising-global-fentanyl-supply-says-report-us-congressional-panel?utm_source=rss_feed

China must be pressured to address the global supply of fentanyl and its ingredient chemicals, by further economic sanctions if necessary, which it is subsidising as the “scourge” kills more Americans annually than died during the Vietnam war, according to a report and congressional testimony on Tuesday.

While experts said an agreement to address the deadly drug hammered out between US President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping at a summit in November was positive, there is little evidence that China is committed to the effort or that it is seeing much result, they told the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.

“Simply put, without China’s production and export of fentanyl and fentanyl precursors, there would be no fentanyl crisis in the United States, and the mass slaughter would effectively stop,” said William Barr, who served as attorney general under president Donald Trump.

“I don’t think we can count on their goodwill as we have in the past,” said Barr, who negotiated an agreement with Beijing in 2019 that saw China add fentanyl to its list of controlled substances.

Barr and other witnesses called on Congress to impose economic sanctions on Chinese companies and financial institutions involved in producing or financing the drug or its ingredients, known as precursors. Barr also called on victims, including several in the hearing room, to bring civil lawsuits against companies and individuals involved in distributing the precursors and synthetic drugs.

The select committee has no power to introduce legislation but can influence lawmakers on other committees.

Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic drug, is up to 100 times more potent than morphine and up to 50 times more potent than heroin. It is often added to other drugs and used unknowingly and has been implicated in the deaths of 112,000 Americans annually. China reportedly makes 97 per cent of the global supply of precursors.

On Tuesday, the bipartisan select committee released a report saying China “directly” subsidises those who make and export fentanyl. It also alleged that Beijing encourages the production of precursor chemicals by providing “monetary grants and awards”, including state tax rebates and other financial incentives after the product is exported.

US lawmakers criticise lifting of sanctions to gain China’s help on fentanyl

The Chinese embassy in Washington pushed back, saying that China has launched a special campaign to crack down on smuggling, manufacturing, trafficking; has investigated companies, individuals and online sales; and held an inaugural meeting in January of the China-US counter-narcotics working group.

Embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu added that drug enforcement agencies from the two sides were in regular communication and that Beijing was keeping Washington in the loop, acting on US tips and otherwise “fully demonstrating China’s sincerity”.

“There is no fentanyl problem in China, and the fentanyl crisis in the United States is not caused by the Chinese side,” Liu added. “Blindly blaming China cannot solve the US’s own problem.”

Witnesses acknowledged that even if all Chinese fentanyl and related exports were halted tomorrow, America’s drug problem would not disappear. As a primary producer, however, China is the first step in a complex ecosystem that needs to be attacked at multiple points, said David Luckey, a defence researcher at the Rand Corporation. These range from supply, demand and harm reduction efforts to payments made using cryptocurrency, to money laundering, border protection and better intelligence.

“Everything that we’re doing now to get a handle on the synthetic production of illegal drugs will only pay more dividends in the future,” said Luckey, formerly with the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “And our strength lies in working bilateral bilaterally with other nations, China and Mexico and multilaterally … to present a unified front.”

Also on Tuesday, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said that Washington and Beijing were “increasing cooperation in our shared work” against money laundering. She spoke on the eve of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund meetings this week in Washington.

Ray Donovan, a retired Drug Enforcement Administration official, said making a dent in the fentanyl would require attacking various “choke points”, with China as the source being the most effective.

Tuesday’s committee hearing was the last for its chairman, Representative Mike Gallagher, a Republican from Wisconsin, who is retiring this week. Under his leadership, the committee has garnered widespread attention, although some have criticised it for a simplistic outlook and publicity-seeking tactics.

Chinese chemical companies with legitimate operations around the world often view the production of fentanyl precursors and other synthetic narcotics as a “side hustle” designed to boost profits, the report said.

It called on Congress to elucidate what powers the president has to sanction producers, banks, online platforms and shipping companies involved in the illicit trade. And it recommended setting up a task force that brings together intelligence, economic and enforcement operations, reporting directly to the US attorney general.

Others said it was counterproductive to rule out help from Beijing, citing Barr’s 2019 agreement with China.

“The fact that we have engaged with [China], the same way that the Trump administration did, has actually made some progress,” said Representative Seth Moulton, a Democrat from Massachusetts. “We should engage, even as we must be incredibly clear-eyed in doing so, because in this case that engagement literally saves lives.”

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China’s GDP growth beat expectations – so why are analysts and business groups still downbeat?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3259224/chinas-gdp-growth-beat-expectations-so-why-are-analysts-and-business-groups-still-downbeat?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s quarterly macroeconomic data has sent mixed signals concerning the country’s outlook while triggering fresh calls for greater stimulus measures, as new growth drivers such as electric vehicles receive growing scrutiny overseas and the property market remains in the doldrums.

Despite an apparent acceleration and positive momentum in economic activities – with China’s first-quarter gross domestic product rising 5.3 per cent from a year earlier and growing by 1.6 per cent from the previous quarter – analysts have flagged concerns over an unbalanced recovery that looks to rely heavily on manufacturing and exports, both of which could be targeted amid external tensions.

Meanwhile, foreign investors are pondering how Beijing might be able to persuade Chinese households to loosen the purse strings as their job and income uncertainties remain high.

“It is too early to cheer for a full rebound in sentiment, as growth will likely see a gradual deceleration in the coming quarters,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist at Natixis Hong Kong. “The downside risk [in China’s economy] is how quickly the drag from property investment will diminish, and whether households are willing to spend more and save less.”

China’s goal of powering economy through consumers won’t be easy: analysts

Beijing said the nation’s property sector continues to face downward pressure, with investments falling by 9.5 per cent in the first quarter, year on year, further suppressed from 9 per cent in the first two months.

ANZ Bank, which revised up its China growth forecast on the better-than-expected quarterly data, estimated that the property crisis will drag GDP growth by 0.3 percentage points for the full year, while property investment is expected to drop by 12 per cent.

In its heyday, China’s property sector used to account for as much as 20 per cent of the nation’s economic activity, according to the International Monetary Fund. But in the first quarter, the start of new construction projects was down 27.8 per cent, and sold floor space dropped by 19.4 per cent, according to year-on-year figures from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Larry Hu, chief China economist at Macquarie Capital, said the economy has seen a two-speed recovery with rising exports and weak domestic demand - a model that could face hurdles in the form of trade tensions and overcapacity issues.

“Robust exports are aiding the [GDP-growth] goal and buying Beijing more time to deflate property,” Hu said. “However, once Beijing faces new trade frictions impacting the export sector, its policy focus will inevitably shift to bolstering domestic demand and implementing timely real estate policies.”

Some of the writing is already on the wall. In October, the European Union launched an anti-subsidy probe into China-made electric vehicles. And the United States has also put China’s tech in its cross hairs, coupled with ramped-up allegations of overcapacity threats.

China’s capacity-utilisation ratio has dropped to a four-year low at 73.6 per cent. Industrial output in March rose by 4.5 per cent, year on year, and surprisingly dropped by 0.08 per cent on a monthly basis.

“For growth to be sustainable, China will need to address a list of structural issues, including weak consumption – retail sales data for March, which was also published along with the GDP figures, indicated a continued slowdown in growth in this area,” Jens Eskelund, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, said in a written response to questions on Tuesday.

Beijing’s policymakers have been pinning high hopes on consumption to drive up and consolidate the economic recovery, and policymakers have introduced a trade-in plan emphasising home appliances and automobiles.

Year-on-year growth of retail sales, a key gauge of consumption, moderated to 3.1 per cent in March from 5.5 per cent growth in combined figures for January and February, the NBS said on Tuesday.

From Eskelund’s perspective, “a step in the right direction” would be for Beijing to offer more support to boost demand in China.

“Supply-side policies have been a contributor to the significant trade imbalances the country has accumulated with both the EU and the US,” he added. “European companies also hope to see tangible steps from the Chinese government to tackle regulatory and market-access barriers that currently impede the flow of foreign investment into the country.”

Maximilian Butek, executive director of the German Chamber of Commerce in eastern China, also pointed out that consumer confidence in China remains weak.

“It is uncertain to what extent German companies can benefit from this type of growth,” Butek said.

Although the first-quarter data showed Beijing on course to meet its full-year GDP growth target of “around 5 per cent”, analysts suggest policymakers are in a race against time to bolster domestic demand and introduce stronger property support.

“We believe continued policy easing is still necessary, especially on the demand-side (e.g. fiscal, housing and consumption),” Goldman Sachs economists wrote in a note, citing structural challenges from the property downturn, still-fragile confidence and the deleveraging of local government financing vehicles.

Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said Beijing should leverage its fiscal tools by timely issuing special treasury and local bonds to support economic growth in the second half of the year.

Beijing intends to issue 1 trillion yuan (US$139 billion) worth of “ultra-long-term special government bonds” this year, and these will help fund economy-boosting initiatives, technological innovation and integrated urban-rural development, among other purposes.

‘Two sessions’ give China fresh chance to back pro-business rhetoric

Another gauge of investor confidence, private investment, grew by 0.5 per cent in the first three months of the year, compared with a fall of 0.4 per cent in 2023.

Eric Zheng, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, also called for concrete actions to stimulate domestic demand.

“We are pleased to see solid GDP growth in the first quarter – a clear indication of momentum in China’s economic recovery. Economic performance is a top factor for our members’ confidence in the Chinese market,” he said.

“There is still a need for more targeted policy measures to stimulate demand over the coming months,” Zheng added, noting how consumer and producer price indices have reflected persistent headwinds in domestic demand.

US, Chinese defence chiefs talk for first time in more than two years

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3259247/us-chinese-defence-chiefs-talk-first-time-more-two-years?utm_source=rss_feed

After an extended chill between the two militaries, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with China’s defence minister, Admiral Dong Jun, on Tuesday, the first such communication with his Chinese counterpart in over two years and the first time since Dong was appointed in December.

The contact follows a protracted period of tension, diplomatic snubs, rhetoric and near misses in the South China Sea between the two militaries.

Dong and Austin discussed US-China “defence relations and regional and global security issues”, according to a Pentagon readout of their video call. “Secretary Austin underscored the importance of respect for high seas freedom of navigation guaranteed under international law, especially in the South China Sea.”

The two also discussed Russia’s war against Ukraine, recent provocations by North Korea, US-Chinese defence relations and global security issues, the Pentagon said.

“The secretary also reiterated that the United States remains committed to our long-standing one China policy, which is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act,” the Defence Department said, “and he reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the strait.”

The return of military-to-military contact is the latest in a series of improved contacts between the US and China since the summit between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping in November in California followed, two weeks ago, by a phone call.

Philippines, US, Japan to boost cooperation to deter Beijing in South China Sea

The US readout cited the importance of open lines of communication between the two militaries and reaffirmed the decision at last year’s summit that both sides resume telephone conversations between theatre commanders.

“The secretary also reiterated that the United States will continue to fly, sail and operate – safely and responsibly – wherever international law allows,” the Pentagon said. “Secretary Austin underscored the importance of respect for high seas freedom of navigation guaranteed under international law, especially in the South China Sea.”

The communication took place after recent trips to Beijing by US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo and US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to travel there soon after his recent meeting with Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Germany.

Microsoft invests in Arabic AI firm as U.S. tries to limit China’s sway

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/16/microsoft-g42-artificial-intelligence-cloud/2024-04-16T12:25:21.846Z

Microsoft plans to invest $1.5 billion in an Abu Dhabi-based artificial intelligence company, a deal that could limit China’s influence in the Gulf region amid rising technological competition with the United States.

In a blog post Tuesday, Brad Smith, Microsoft vice chair and president, said the deal with G42 will deepen international ties for artificial intelligence while ensuring the technology follows “world-leading standards for safe, trusted and responsible AI.”

“Our two companies will work together not only in the UAE, but to bring AI and digital infrastructure and services to underserved nations,” wrote Smith, who will join G42’s board of directors.

Microsoft negotiated the deal with the U.S. and UAE governments for more than a year to ensure all parties were comfortable with the terms, according to a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private talks. As part of its negotiations with the U.S. government, G42 has agreed to strip Chinese gear from its operations, following concerns about its use of Huawei equipment, the person said.

AI has emerged as a flash point amid increasing tensions between the United States and China. The deal announced Wednesday positions a key American tech giant to have influence over the burgeoning AI sector in the UAE, amid concerns that China seeks to invest more in the region.

Peng Xiao, group chief executive at G42, said the deal will “significantly enhance” his company’s global presence by allowing it to build on Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure.

The two companies had already been collaborating on a smaller scale. In April 2023, they announced a joint plan to create artificial intelligence solutions using Microsoft’s Azure cloud system, and later agreed to introduce AI tools that meet the complicated security needs of government users. And in November, Microsoft made G42’s Arabic AI language model, called Jais, available on its cloud.

G42 has been subject to congressional scrutiny over its close ties to China.

In a Jan. 4 letter to Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo published by the New York Times, a congressional committee asked her agency to consider export controls on G42 and several related companies.

In the letter, the committee states that Xiao, the G42 CEO, operates “an expansive network” of companies that support the Chinese military, and enable its human-rights abuses. It also states that Xiao served in a leadership position with Pegasus, a UAE-based spyware company that has been used to surveil political dissidents, journalists and others around the world.

TikTok is obsessed with ... premium-grade industrial glycine from China?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/16/tiktok-glycine-meme-donghua-jinlong-china/2024-04-16T08:10:04.020Z

What’s 2024’s hottest product? According to TikTok, there is only one answer: industrial-grade glycine from China.

Yes, you read that right. A Chinese manufacturer of the amino acids, Donghua Jinlong, has found unexpected online fame, with its earnest marketing videos inspiring parodies garnering many millions of views and spawning a new meme.

“I’m kinda a glycine girly at the moment,” one fan said on X.” Don’t even talk to me before I’ve had my donghua jinlong industrial grade glycine,” another said.

It all started with mundane marketing posts from the company’s TikTok account, involving an upbeat voice-over extolling the company’s campus and “premium” manufacturing processes. The ads show B-roll footage from Donghua Jinlong’s factory floor, backed with instrumentals and overlaid with bold fonts. The company’s slogan states its mission humbly: “Glycine comes from here.”

@donghuajinlong

Made in China! Donghua Jinlong Glycine Manufacturer #Glycine #IndustrialGlycine #CopperGlycinate #ferrousglycinate #aminoacidchelates #CALCIUMBISGLYCINATE #ZincChelate #Magnesiumsleep #manufacturer

♬ 原聲 - DONGHUA JINLONG

The joke’s punchline lies in its nicheness: Glycine is an amino acid product used in industrial quantities to produce pesticides, among other uses, and most people do not need to source it regularly. According to experts on internet culture, the trend reflects the surreal sense of humor that many Gen Z internet users have developed, partly in response to the increasingly algorithm-driven curation of social media feeds.

“You never know where memes will emerge from,” said Idil Galip, a lecturer in digital culture at Amsterdam University, in a telephone interview Tuesday. “The more surreal the memes, the more interesting they become. The more niche they are, the more people want to know what the meme is.”

“The sincere, earnest marketing strategy of this company really opened itself up to people making fun of its random sincerity about glycine,” she added.

A spokeswoman for Donghua Jinlong said it is perplexed by its fame in the United States, which was never part of its marketing strategy.

“We are so happy and grateful that our advertisement has got so much love. But to be honest, I was more baffled than excited,” Chen Liya, an office administrator at the company, said in a telephone interview Tuesday, adding that the original advertisements were produced by an external marketing agency.

“We hoped it could show up on the timeline of some potential customers. But going viral in America has never been part of the plan.”

Chen said that several days ago, a “young American guy” even showed up at the company’s factory in Shijiazhuang, northern China: “He was curious what kind of magic we have,” she said. “We gave him a campus tour and told him that we supply glycine to businesses on an industrial scale and have not dealt with individual buyers before.”

Donghua Jinlong sells industrial-grade glycine as a “white crystal powder” for uses in pesticide production, water treatment and the electronics industry.

The firm advertises on TikTok, which is not accessible in China, because it exports internationally, including to Japan and across Europe, Chen said. It’s not on Douyin, China’s version of TikTok, because Donghua Jinlong already accounts for around a third of glycine production capacity in China, and “we don’t need advertisement for the domestic market,” she said.

According to Know Your Meme, parodies of the glycine ads started going viral in “early 2024.” By mid-April, the trickle had turned into a flood and entered the internet’s mainstream. Now, no one can get enough of the amino acid product.

A recurring theme of the parodies is the Donghua Jinlong’s apparent superiority compared to its commercial rivals. “I just can’t do it with these cheap imitators of Donghua Jinlong’s industrial and food grade glycine,” lamented one TikTok user. “They’ve been doing it for years. They’ve perfected their formula. Like, why are we trying to imitate art?” Another feigned fighting off tears after admitting that she’d inadvertently bought an “identical knockoff” product without realizing.

In one video viewed more than 2 million times, a deadpan TikTok user encourages consumers to buy the company’s nonindustrial glycine. “This is 2024. Donghua Jinlong’s production standards have just been through the roof. I’m telling you — just try out their pharmaceutical-grade glycine one time, and let me know what you think about it.”

It is, of course, a joke. According to Chen, Donghua Jinlong cannot export the product to the United States because of trade restrictions.

Galip said that this form of niche humor is a deliberate response to the way social media feeds have changed over the past 10 years, becoming increasingly curated by algorithms and restricting the control that users have over the content they see.

“Previously you chose the content you followed and saw, but due to these systems, we get in contact with places that we may not normally engage with,” she said.

“Most of the culture that we access online is curated and organized and ordered, not by people themselves, but by these fairly vague algorithmic recommendation systems,” she said. “By introducing an algorithmic curation system to the internet — you take some of the power that people have about curating their cultural consumption.”

“The meme itself probably emerges from a need to parody these random encounters that we have online,” she added. “In those moments, you get to see meme culture for what it is: quite silly and even surreal.”

Despite its newfound fame, Donghua Jinlong said it had not noticed any large increase in sales of its products.

But there are follow-up plans in the works. “As a thank-you to our followers, we have been thinking maybe we should upload more videos to show what glycine is and about its industrial use and benefits to the human body. We don’t have other commercialization plans yet.”

Paris Games: France’s Macron calls on China to help with 3-week ‘Olympic truce’ as Russia, Israel divide world opinion

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259238/paris-games-frances-macron-calls-china-help-3-week-olympic-truce-russia-israel-divide-world-opinion?utm_source=rss_feed

French President Emmanuel Macron has called on China to help engineer a three-week “Olympic truce” across global conflicts, as questions swirl over the Paris Games’ ban on Russia but not Israel.

Counting down 100 days until the start of the Summer Olympics, Macron said China would be engaged in his push for a “moment of diplomatic peace” during the event, referencing the wars in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.

Analysts pointed out that Macron’s request, apart from the Olympics angle, was not much different from China’s long-standing calls for a ceasefire in Ukraine, while any demand that it explicitly condemn Russia were likely to fail.

Olympic opening ceremony could move from Seine to stadium for security reasons

Speaking to French media on Monday, Macron cited the ancient Greek tradition that allowed for the safe passage of athletes to and from the Olympics. “We want to work towards the Olympic truce and I think that this is an opportunity on which I will try to involve many of our partners,” he said.

His comments came two weeks after French Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne told his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that Paris expected Beijing to “send very clear messages” to Moscow over the Ukraine war, reiterating Europe’s persistent requests for China to rein in its powerful neighbour.

What Sejourne meant by “clear messages” was “explicit condemnation of Russia’s military activities along the lines of Western rhetoric”, according to Moscow-based analyst Andrew Korybko.

“China has already expressed its stance towards the conflict on many occasions and continued to remain consistent in spite of Western pressure, so nothing is expected to change from its side,” the Moscow State Institute of International Relations-educated commentator said.

“At most, China will probably reiterate its position and possibly make reference to the Olympic truce, but whatever it may say is likely to disappoint the West, as it will not change its approach just because France again requested that it does,” Korybko said.

A truce was unlikely, he said, because Ukraine and its allies had “no interest” in pursuing terms that matched Russia’s requests, though recent developments, including a looming battle in the town of Chasiv Yar in eastern Ukraine, may change Kyiv’s stand.

“If Russia achieves a military breakthrough along the ‘line of contact’, it may pressure Ukraine and the West into making concessions to Russia’s requests. But it may also result in the West’s intervention, as threatened by Macron [which would escalate the conflict],” Korybko said.

Russia and close ally Belarus have been barred from the Games over the invasion of Ukraine, which Minsk helped to stage. But International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach has said there is “no question” that Israel – accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice over its military campaign in Gaza – will be in Paris.

The move has drawn criticism of arbitrary treatment, and Korybko slammed what he called “a political decision”.

“Both countries’ respective conflicts are different, but the alleged principle that was relied upon for banning Russian and Belarusian athletes should have been applied towards Israeli ones for consistency’s sake, to avoid further discrediting Olympic institutions by at least making it seem like there is a new standard at play, not blatantly double standards.”

Russians and Belarusians may still compete at the Games, but only as “individual neutral athletes”.

Beijing-based political analyst Xu Qinduo noted that many countries in the developing world had criticised the West’s “hypocrisy” in approaching the conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

“With them including Israel in the Games, they have to do something to have Russia participate in a more equal manner, which is not something that cannot be overcome,” Xu said.

As of Tuesday, the number of Palestinians killed in Israel’s seven-month bombardment of the enclave was close to 34,000, most of them children and women.

A United Nations report published at the two-year mark of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 22 estimated 10,582 civilian deaths.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit Paris in May, shortly ahead of the opening of the Games and a little over a year since Macron’s three-day state visit to China – trip celebrated by the Chinese public but sparking negative coverage in Western media over accusations that cordiality with Beijing went against a united European front on global issues.

Josef Gregory Mahoney, a politics and international relations professor at East China Normal University, said Macron may have overestimated Beijing’s influence on Moscow, despite his valid assessment about China risking its relationship with Europe by not condemning its strategic partner.

“Macron has gone back and forth, sometimes appearing to be the most reasonable out of the Group of Seven leaders, sometimes the most inconsistent,” Mahoney said.

He said Macron had made the appeal even though China believed a truce to be unlikely, given Russia’s confidence in winning and widening fissures in US politics.

China, France make peace pledge on Ukraine as Macron caps trip with Xi meeting

“Perhaps this appeal is a desperate but honest attempt to seek peace and reconciliation, not only between the belligerents, but likewise heal the disconnects that have grown between China and Europe,” Mahoney said, adding that Macron could also be trying to gain ground on the world stage.

Xi is also expected to host Russian President Vladimir Putin in May, eight months after they met in Beijing for the two-day Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, alongside leaders from 130 countries.

Putin has visited just a handful of countries since the invasion of Ukraine, mostly former Soviet states and some Middle Eastern nations.

The fact that he had chosen China for his first overseas trip since being reelected in March showed the value that Moscow attached to its ties with Beijing amid widening geopolitical fault lines, Xu said.

“It shows how important China is to Russia strategically, politically and economically, given its damaged ties with the West. And Russia is nearly equally important to China, as the latter faces growing containment from Washington and provocations in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait.”

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi to push belt and road during visits to Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259235/chinas-top-diplomat-wang-yi-push-belt-and-road-during-visits-indonesia-cambodia-and-papua-new-guinea?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will visit Indonesia, Cambodia and Papua New Guinea from Thursday, the Chinese foreign ministry announced on Tuesday.

During his six-day trip, Wang will join a high-level dialogue cooperation mechanism with Indonesia and attend a meeting of the China-Cambodia Intergovernmental Coordination Committee, ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.

Lin referred to the three countries as “good friends and good partners” based on mutual respect, equality, mutual benefit and shared development. He also praised the “strong momentum of development” of ties between China and the three countries.

Lin said China hoped Wang’s visit would help implement the consensus President Xi Jinping reached with the leaders of the three countries and carry out high-quality projects under the Belt and Road Initiative.

China, Japan visits a ‘major diplomatic coup’ for Indonesia’s Prabowo

Wang’s trip comes as China steps up its diplomacy with Southeast Asian nations amid tightening strategic competition with the United States in the Asia-Pacific region.

Indonesia’s president-elect Prabowo Subianto visited China in late March. China is the country’s biggest trading partner and second-biggest foreign investor. Indonesia is China’s second-biggest investment destination, following Singapore, among members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).

The Jakarta-Bandung high-speed railway, Southeast Asia’s first high-speed rail line, was built with Chinese funding. Beijing has hailed it as one of the most successful examples of the belt and road strategy, China’s plan to improve infrastructure and connectivity in the region.

China is also Cambodia’s top trading partner and source of imports as well as its biggest source of foreign investment and foreign aid.

Last year, Xi and then Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen announced a “Diamond Hexagon” cooperation frame in Beijing aimed at increasing bilateral links in politics, productivity, agriculture, energy, security and human exchanges.

China is trying to not only maintain its status as a top trading partner to Papua New Guinea, the largest island nation in the South Pacific, but also to expand their ties to more areas. It was reported in January that Beijing and Papua New Guinea were negotiating an agreement on security and police cooperation.

China has elevated its relationships with Indonesia and Cambodia to the level of building a “community of shared destiny” and boosted ties with Papua New Guinea to a “comprehensive strategic partnership”, according to Lin.

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China’s semiconductor output jumps 40% in first quarter amid growing dominance in legacy chips

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3259221/chinas-semiconductor-output-jumps-40-first-quarter-amid-growing-dominance-legacy-chips?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s total integrated circuit (IC) output surged 40 per cent to 98.1 billion units in the first quarter, a sign that the country is expanding its production of older-generation chips while being constrained by US trade restrictions on advanced chip-making equipment.

National IC output jumped 28.4 per cent to 36.2 billion units in March alone, reaching an all-time high, according to the latest data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Tuesday.

The government agency said China’s “hi-tech manufacturing has grown faster”. The country’s IC production is set to rebound strongly this year as “the semiconductor industry overall is becoming more localised”, Haitong Securities said in a report last week.

China’s IC output has risen sharply thanks partly to strong demand from downstream sectors, such as new energy vehicles. Government data showed that the country’s new-energy-vehicle output in the first quarter rose 29.2 per cent to 2.08 million vehicles. Smartphone output expanded 16.7 per cent during the same period.

China has expanded its IC production capacity in recent years, with output in the first three months of this year almost tripling from the same quarter in 2019, as semiconductor manufacturing facilities mushroomed across the country.

Under a US embargo on shipments of advanced chip technologies to China, most new Chinese investments have been concentrated on mature semiconductors, according to a report published by the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington-based think tank.

“An unintended consequence of US export controls on advanced chip technology to China may be a wave of state-backed investment leading to overproduction and, potentially, Chinese dominance of global legacy-chip production,” researchers wrote.

The mainland’s global share of mature-process capacity is expected to reach 39 per cent by 2027, up from 31 per cent last year, Taiwan-based IC research company TrendForce said in an earlier note.

China has been doubling down on its efforts to achieve self-reliance in core technologies.

Its drive to phase out foreign operating systems in military and state organs has been going on for years, and has recently gained momentum with the state-led Xinchuang campaign, which aims to develop local alternatives to replace foreign chips, systems, databases and software.

China pushes forward self-reliance campaign amid unrelenting US sanctions

Beijing aims to have the Chinese tech sector reach an annual output of 100 billion yuan (US$13.9 billion) next year.

Despite China’s self-sufficiency campaign, the country remains heavily dependent on chip imports. IC imports grew 12.7 per cent to 121.5 billion units in the first quarter, while IC exports edged up 3 per cent to 62.4 billion units, according to data released last week by the General Administration of Customs.

Last year, semiconductors remained the mainland’s largest import item ahead of crude oil, according to customs data.

Additional reporting by Che Pan

EU to launch first-ever procurement probe over China’s medical devices sector, sources say

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259179/eu-launch-first-ever-procurement-probe-over-chinas-medical-devices-sector-sources-say?utm_source=rss_feed

The European Commission will launch an investigation into European firms’ access to procurement markets in China’s medical devices sector, sources said.

The probe would mark the first case under the EU’s international procurement instrument, or IPI – a new economic weapon. An official announcement is expected in the coming days.

It will add to a legion of probes Brussels has instigated in recent weeks, with frustration mounting against Beijing’s economic policies and its perceived unwillingness to change course.

The IPI was adopted in June 2022 but has yet to be used. Its aim is to prise open lucrative procurement markets that are closed to EU firms. Firms from countries whose tendering markets are closed to European companies will be penalised.

The medical devices issue has been raised by EU officials with their counterparts in Beijing on a frequent basis. They point to the relatively free access Chinese firms have to public procurement tenders in the European market, versus the restrictions faced by European competitors in China.

The market was on the agenda when European Commission and Council Presidents Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang late last year. Trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis also raised gripes during high-level economic dialogue last September.

After those talks, the sides agreed to continue talking about market access to China’s giant medical devices sector. But the European side has been frustrated by the lack of progress.

“The EU hopes to pursue discussions on improving market access for European medical devices. Eliminating barriers is a matter of mutual benefit and would directly improve the welfare also of Chinese citizens, giving them access to the best healthcare technologies,” the Latvian official said at the time.

Speaking on the sidelines of the EU-US Trade and Technology Council in Leuven, Belgium this month, the EU’s competition tsar Margrethe Vestager railed against the lack of market access European firms enjoy in China.

“There is no reciprocity here – de facto the Chinese market is closed for European producers,” Vestager said, adding that it was important for the bloc to have the IPI as it was “built on the idea of reciprocity”.

Investigations under the IPI can be launched following complaints by member states, or under the commission’s own initiative. The probe will include consultations with the Chinese government, and must be concluded within nine months of initiation.

Should it be discovered that there are barriers to EU firms during an investigation, companies from China could have their applications for tenders in the single market downgraded. They could also face being excluded from tenders in the EU.

EU takes aim at China’s wind turbines as ‘overcapacity’ fightback stepped up

There has been frustration in some quarters at Brussels’ sluggishness in using an instrument that took 10 years to develop. The European Commission first proposed the IPI in 2012, but it took a decade of laborious negotiations between member states and members of the European Parliament before it became law.

The imminent announcement, however, shows a new-found willingness to use the tools at the commission’s disposal. The foreign subsidies regulation, another recent addition to the EU’s arsenal, has been deployed against Chinese firms three times in recent months.

The latest salvo will undoubtedly add further tension to already terse EU-China trading relations. On Monday, the Chinese mission to the EU published a long newsletter lambasting the “protectionist acts by the EU side”.

“Over the past months, the EU initiated a large number of investigations targeting at Chinese companies. China is highly concerned over the EU’s discriminatory practices,” it read.

EU follows US move to assess China’s dominance of legacy chips

Brussels is investigating subsidies in China’s electric vehicle sector with a view to imposing provisional duties on those imports in July. Three probes under the foreign subsidies regulation focus on state handouts given to Chinese firms in the railway, solar and wind turbine sectors.

“We’re making full use of the tools that we have, but I can’t help feeling that this is also playing whack-a-mole,” Vestager said during a speech last week.

“We need more than a case-by-case approach. We need a systematic approach – and we need it before it is too late. We can’t afford to see what happened on solar panels, happening again on electric vehicles, wind or essential chips.”

Hong Kong tourism sector optimistic over prospects during mainland China’s Labour Day ‘golden week’ holiday

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3259231/hong-kong-tourism-sector-optimistic-over-prospects-during-mainland-chinas-labour-day-golden-week?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong’s tourism sector has expressed optimism over business prospects during mainland China’s Labour Day “golden week” holiday, with a representative expecting a 30 per cent increase in the number of tourists from across the border compared with last year.

Their forecast came hours after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu vowed on Tuesday to bring in more tourists during the five-day holiday starting on May 1 and showcase Hong Kong as a “city of hospitality”.

Tourism lawmaker Perry Yiu Pak-leung said the industry hoped for tourist numbers to grow by about 30 per cent, year on year.

Hong Kong welcomed 723,587 visitors during the five-day break last year, 86 per cent or 625,538 of whom were from the mainland.

Yiu said the sector had made “sufficient preparations” based on experience from previous holidays such as the Lunar New Year in February and National Day in October last year.

“I think the key is to find ways to present old offerings in new or refreshing and innovative ways, which the industry has been working on for a while now,” he said. “We understand visitors are looking for more cultural experiences, so we have been promoting in-depth tours that introduce the city’s history, as well as green tours that show our natural landscape.”

He also pointed to new offerings, including the monthly pyrotechnic and drone shows in Victoria Harbour, first announced in finance chief Paul Chan Mo-po’s budget in February.

The Tourism Board said the first pyrotechnic display was set to take place on May 1, while a drone show would be staged on May 11.

Jack Cheung Ki-tang, a director at CTS HK Metropark Hotels Management, said room bookings for the May 1 holiday period had reached about 50 per cent of capacity, and he remained “optimistic” business would be strong this year.

“Around this time last year, the occupancy rate for the golden week was around 40 per cent, so there is definitely some improvement,” he said, adding solid business performance from several previous mainland holidays gave him confidence.

The group also saw some bookings by travellers from the cities of Qingdao and Xian, after the solo visitor scheme was extended to include their residents in March, but they “did not take up a significant proportion of overall bookings by mainland tourists”, he said.

Cheung said his hotels were also working on creating souvenirs to hand out to visitors during the period.

Hong Kong’s John Lee vows to attract more tourists during ‘golden week’ holiday

The Tourism Board said the city received 3.4 million visitors last month, a 38.6 per cent increase over the year before, with more than 70 per cent – or 2.47 million – coming from the mainland.

John Lee also acknowledged on Tuesday that the city was undergoing “a new period of economic development” and that he was pleased local businesses were adapting to shifting demands and consumption patterns of visitors.

He was echoing a call by Xia Baolong, director of the State Council’s Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, that the city should seek and embrace changes.

Hong Kong’s leader urges businesses to get creative amid shifting spending habits

Ricky Tse Kam-ting, founding president of the Hong Kong Inbound Tour Operators Association, said it was too early to determine how many visitors, especially those from across the border, would come during the holiday period.

“Mainland visitors mostly come via the high-speed rail nowadays, so there is no need to book flights, and their stays are usually just one or two days,” he said. “I think we will likely get a better picture a week before the holiday starts.”

Additional reporting by Oscar Liu

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IMF keeps China’s 2024 GDP growth estimate unchanged on ‘troubled property sector’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3259201/imf-keeps-chinas-2024-gdp-growth-estimate-unchanged-troubled-property-sector?utm_source=rss_feed

Even after Beijing reported a better-than-expected rise in China’s quarterly economic growth, the International Monetary Fund opted to keep its full-year expectations unchanged for the country.

In maintaining its presumption that China’s gross domestic product will increase by 4.6 per cent in 2024 – below Beijing’s 5 per cent target – the IMF on Tuesday pointed to persistent concerns over an enduring property market slump.

Meanwhile, this year’s growth estimate for the US economy was revised up by the Washington-based fund, to 2.7 per cent – a 0.6 percentage point increase from its January guess. And India’s GDP growth forecast was also elevated to 6.8 per cent, up 0.3 percentage points.

“Without a comprehensive response to the troubled property sector, [China’s] growth could falter, hurting trading partners,” the IMF said in its flagship publication, the “World Economic Outlook”.

“A larger and more prolonged drop in real estate investment could occur, accompanied by expectations of future house prices declining, reduced housing demand, and a further weakening in household confidence and spending, with implications for global growth,” it explained.

China’s ‘critical’ property sector must deliver homes on time, vice-premier says

The warning came at a time when the property market, which the IMF has said used to account for as much as 20 per cent of the nation’s economic activity, continued to drag the recovery.

Despite China’s GDP growth beating market expectations by rising 5.3 per cent in the first quarter, property investment declined by 9.5 per cent in the period – larger than the fall of 9 per cent in the first two months, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Tuesday.

First-quarter floor space sold dropped 19.4 per cent from a year earlier, while the start of new property constructions plunged by 27.8 per cent, year on year.

China’s housing market issues began in 2020 amid the unprecedented pandemic and as regulators tightened financing policies. This led to billions of US dollars worth of defaults, most notably by Evergrande and Country Garden, and the market has been waiting to see if state-backed developer Vanke could follow suit.

“The authorities’ policy responses could significantly mitigate the economic costs of such developments if they include accelerating the exit of nonviable property developers, promoting the completion of housing projects, and resolving the debt risks of local governments,” the IMF report said.

“Additional monetary-policy easing, especially through lower interest rates, as well as expansionary fiscal measures – including the funding of unfinished housing and support to vulnerable households – could further support demand and ward off deflationary risks.”

China’s property crisis remains a major challenge this year as other economic indicators improve, said Harry Murphy Cruise, an economist with Moody’s Analytics.

Trade, industrial production, and fixed-asset investment all picked up in the first months of the year, he noted, meaning “the property market’s woes are front and centre”.

China’s economic stimulus announced last month was “uninspiring”, Murphy Cruise said, and consumers are “keeping their wallets closed”.

China’s once-mighty developers face brutal years after end of ‘golden age’

Beijing has accelerated the construction of affordable housing, urban villages and emergency facilities to offset the investment decline among private developers.

Additionally, it extended more funding support for developers earlier this year by establishing a whitelist mechanism in which banks receive recommendations from city governments on projects that are considered financially sound and fit for further loan support.

The IMF also warned that China-US trade links are already “weakening”, with China’s share of US goods imports down almost 8 percentage points from 2017 to 2023.

The US may be sourcing more goods from Vietnam and Mexico, it added, and this fragmentation could lead to “possible losses in efficiency” along global supply chains.

The fund’s Tuesday outlook further maintained its 4.1 per cent economic growth forecast for China in 2025.

China has no ‘fundamental’ conflict of interest with Germany, Xi Jinping tells Olaf Scholz

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259208/china-has-no-fundamental-conflict-interest-germany-xi-jinping-tells-olaf-scholz?utm_source=rss_feed

China and Germany have “no fundamental conflict of interests” and can work out their differences, President Xi Jinping told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Tuesday.

Xi also denounced the EU’s “de-risking” strategy, saying there should be “independent cooperation” to address global challenges, and called for an equal role for “all parties” in Ukraine peace efforts.

“The industrial and supply chains of China and Germany are deeply embedded, and the markets of the two countries are highly interdependent. Mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Germany is not a ‘risk’, but a guarantee of the stability of bilateral relations and an opportunity to create a future,” Xi said, according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.

He also said both sides should be “wary of the rise of protectionism and insist on looking at production capacity issues objectively and dialectically proceeding from economic laws and from a market and global perspective”.

Xi added China-German relations “transcend the scope of bilateral relations” and have an “important impact” on the world, and the two countries should develop relations with a “long-term and strategic” perspective.

In China, Germany’s Olaf Scholz seeks ‘open and fair’ competition, cooperation

“There is no fundamental conflict of interest between China and Germany and they do not pose a security threat to each other … As long as both sides adhere to mutual respect, seek common ground while reserving differences, communicate and learn from each other, and achieve win-win cooperation, relations between the two countries will continue to develop steadily.”

It is Scholz’s second visit to the country in less than 18 months. It follows the launch of a European Union “de-risking” strategy to reduce the bloc’s economic dependence on China and anti-subsidy probes into products such as electric vehicles and solar panels amid claims they are flooding the market with cheap goods.

The investigation feeds into wider concerns in the West about “overcapacity” in Chinese manufacturing – which has promoted claims that surplus production is being used to undercut Western competitors.

Germany launched its own China strategy last year, which also urged firms to de-risk their relationship with China. But many German firms remain cautious about this approach – despite concerns they do not face a level playing field in China – and continue to invest heavily in the country.

Scholz, who also visited Shanghai and Chongqing on his visit, was accompanied by a large business delegation including executives from Siemens, Bayer, Mercedes-Benz, BMW and Merck Group.

In Shanghai, Scholz said he welcomed Chinese vehicles sales, but stressed the need for fair competition and warned against dumping and overcapacity.

According to state broadcaster CCTV, Scholz told Xi Germany opposed protectionism and is willing to strengthen relations and deepen cooperation “in various fields”. He added Germany was willing to play its part in promoting the development of China-EU relations.

He said Germany “does not endorse confrontation”, adding: “It is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China to jointly respond to global challenges such as climate change, and is committed to safeguarding the multilateral international order and promoting world peace and development.”

Scholz has been trying to strike a balance between the interests of German business and the EU’s tougher approach to China.

His last visit took place right after Xi secured his historic third term as party chief, prompting criticism from his fellow EU members about his apparent willingness to strike deals despite growing concerns about the direction China was taking.

He has also been promoting the visit on his newly opened TikTok account, which features videos of him touring German factories in China.

The social media platform, owned by Chinese firm ByteDance, is under investigation by the EU and could face hefty fines if it is found to have breached online content rules aimed at protecting children and ensuring transparent advertising.

China and Switzerland in push for Russia to join Ukraine peace summit

Facing low approval ratings and a dire economy at home, many believe Scholz is trying to boost economic links with China ahead of next year’s federal election.

But China’s strong ties with Russia continue to cast a long shadow over relations with Germany, despite Beijing’s insistence it is neutral in the Ukraine war.

These claims have been greeted with considerable scepticism within the EU, which has warned China not to supply arms to Russia and criticised it for providing economic support.

Scholz told Xi the “rearmament of Russia” threatens European security and said he wanted to discuss how they can work towards a “just peace”, Germany’s DW News reported.

China has said it will not give any material support to Russia’s war effort and “unilateral” sanctions, whose targets include Chinese companies.

CCTV reported that Xi told Scholz that China is committed to peace in Ukraine and is willing to discuss international peace talks “recognised by both sides”.

“China is not a party or participant in the Ukraine crisis, but it has been promoting peace talks in its own way … All parties should work together to restore peace at an early date,” he said.

China renewed its own peace efforts last month, sending its special envoy Li Hui to Europe, where he discussed a possible invite for Russia to a Swiss peace summit in June. But both Russia and Ukraine have rejected the idea, which was also greeted coolly by the EU.

Xi and Scholz also urged de-escalation of the Israel-Palestine conflict and continued “deep exchanges on a range of topics” during a walk in the grounds of the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing, according to CCTV.

Scholz was later due to meet Premier Li Qiang.

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Fitch cuts outlook for China’s state-owned banks from stable to negative citing Beijing’s limited capacity to support them

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3259217/fitch-cuts-outlook-chinas-state-owned-banks-stable-negative-citing-beijings-limited-capacity-support?utm_source=rss_feed

Fitch Ratings has lowered its outlook for China’s state-owned banks from stable to negative a week after it cut its projection for the country’s sovereign credit rating, reflecting pessimism in the world’s second largest economy and concerns over Beijing’s capacity to support its biggest lenders.

The downgrade in the ratings outlook of China’s “big six” state-owned banks, including the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), China Construction Bank (CCB), and Bank of China (BOC), “mirrored the same outlook revision on China,” Fitch wrote in a report published on April 16.

The report noted that the recent revision on China’s sovereign outlook was because of worries about the country’s public finance and economic prospects as it sought to transition from a property-driven growth model to one that the government deemed more sustainable.

Regarding the adjustment for the banks’ outlook, Fitch said on Tuesday that the current size of China’s banking system is an important factor limiting the amount of support the central government could give to its biggest lenders.

“The Chinese banking system has grown rapidly since 2008, with total assets of 417 trillion yuan (US$57.6 trillion) at the end of 2023, equivalent to around 330 per cent of 2023 gross domestic product,” it said.

The six state banks represent over 40 per cent of assets in the sector, while the country’s 20 “domestic systemically important banks” (D-SIBs) have combined assets accounting for close to 70 per cent of the total, the report added.

“The large size of the banking sector as well as the number of D-SIBs constrain the government’s ability to support the banking sector,” it said.

However, the report emphasised that there is a “very high probability” that Beijing would continue to support the lenders “in a timely manner in the event of stress,” even though the chances of the state offering “the same level of extraordinary support” would be limited.

“For the five state banks except the Postal Savings Bank of China (PSBC), this is backed by their direct central government ownership, long history of receiving government support and high systemic importance. All of them are both global systemically important bank (G-SIBs) and D-SIBs,” said Fitch.

The other two state-owned banks are the Agricultural Bank of China and the Bank of Communications.

The report comes at a time when major state-owned lenders are cutting the rates they offer on deposits and reshuffling their product shelves to stave off recent declines in their net interest margins (NIMs) – an important metric for banks’ profitability – amid pressure to shore up the country’s slumping property sector and inject liquidity into the economy.

NIMs for commercial banks fell to 1.69 per cent at the end of last year, narrowing by 4 basis points quarter on quarter, and 22 basis points from the end of 2022 to a new low, according to an Everbright Securities International report.

The finance ministry last week hit back at Fitch’s sovereign outlook downgrade, asserting that the “long-term positive trend of China’s economy has not changed, nor has the Chinese government’s ability and determination to maintain good sovereign credit.”

The world’s second-largest economy on Tuesday reported a faster-than-expected 5.3 per cent GDP growth for the first quarter, after reporting last week that its exports sank 7.5 per cent in March.

Biden’s options for retaliating against Iran risk antagonizing China

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2024/04/16/sanctions-iran-biden-china/2024-04-15T14:08:13.461Z

President Biden’s aides are preparing to hit Iran with economic sanctions over Tehran’s attack on Israel, but experts say they face limited meaningful options for doing so without antagonizing China or risking a spike in the price of oil.

In retaliation for a strike against its consulate, Iran over the weekend sent more than 300 drones and missiles toward Israel. The unprecedented aerial barrage did not cause major damage or injuries, as U.S.-led forces intercepted most of the projectiles.

Still, U.S. officials and their European allies are discussing potential economic responses to Iran, as leading Western officials converged Monday on Washington for the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Their options are limited because Iran is already one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world, with U.S. penalties in effect on its banking, manufacturing and energy sectors.

Among the most obvious remaining options is aggressively expanding sanctions on Chinese firms that have bought large quantities of Iranian crude oil exports, which have provided a financial lifeline for Tehran as it remains cut off from the West. The United States has over the last year imposed sanctions on some commercial links in the oil trade between China and Iran, but experts say the administration could go further by hitting many more Chinese refineries and banks with the restrictions.

Doing so carries its own risks, however. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen and other administration officials have tried stabilizing relations with China in recent months, and a sudden blow to energy production could infuriate Beijing. Additionally, cutting off sales of Iranian crude could cause oil prices to spike globally amid tighter supply, potentially leading to higher gas prices ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

“There are not a lot of options that are game changers, because so much of Iran is already sanctioned,” said Rachel Ziemba, adjunct senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, a foreign policy think tank. “But if you really want to cut off oil revenue for Iran, you have to go through China and Chinese institutions.”

Sanctioning Chinese banks for facilitating the purchase of Iranian oil could remove as many as 1.5 million barrels per day from global markets. That would send the price of oil above $100 per barrel, in what would be a political nightmare for the Biden administration, said Bob McNally, president of the Rapidan Energy Group, a consultancy.

“The last thing Biden wants is higher gas prices, so he wants Iran selling its oil to China. He does not want that oil to be shut in. It’s as simple as that; he can’t afford to sanction Iran’s oil,” McNally said. “They could do some symbolic stuff, to go after a little trader here or there, but that’s likely about it.”

Biden has urged calm in the wake of Iran’s attack. The United States has made clear it will not participate in any Israeli military attack against Iran, and senior officials have stressed that their aims are to “de-escalate regional tensions” to prevent a broader conflagration. Israel’s war cabinet met on Monday to deliberate potential responses.

While the West is ruling out participating in a military response, an economic response to Iran’s actions appears increasingly certain. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said officials in Brussels would discuss tougher sanctions against Iran. “We will reflect on additional sanctions against Iran in close cooperation with our partners," she said in a statement.

U.S. officials have, for instance, discussed tightening Iran’s access to frozen funds earmarked for humanitarian relief, according to two people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. They have also discussed imposing additional sanctions on Iranian officials and businesses. The first could prove largely symbolic: Iran is already hardly accessing these funds. It’s also not clear how impactful sanctions on other firms, such as international suppliers of parts for Iranian drones, would prove.

A Treasury spokeswoman declined to comment on ongoing deliberations, but Yellen is scheduled to address the media on Tuesday.

The Biden administration also faces pressure from Capitol Hill to act. The House overwhelmingly approved legislation on Monday aimed at cracking down Iranian oil sales to China. Critics have argued that Biden should have gone further to ensure Tehran is not able to reap billions from its oil exports.

“In the wake of Iran’s massive and disproportionate attack on Israel, and with an eye toward escalation, all nonmilitary measures must be on the table. This includes targeting Iran’s ongoing oil sales,” said Matthew Levitt, director of the Jeanette and Eli Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, a D.C.-based think tank.

Still, other experts say the challenge is that Washington has already been too aggressive in its posture toward Tehran. Iran has been under severe economic restrictions since the Trump administration abandoned the nuclear deal reached by President Barack Obama, and that gives policymakers little room to operate in the face of new emergencies.

“We’ve been at maximum pressure [on Iran] since basically November 2018, and there’s not much more that can be done,” said Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, founder and CEO of the Bourse & Bazaar Foundation, a think tank focused on international affairs and economic diplomacy. “This is really the problem with maximum pressure: You end up in a position where suddenly what you think is a question of Iran policy is no longer just a question of Iran policy.”

Electric vehicles: China’s Chery Automobile enters UK’s car rental business as its Omoda EVs are leased out by Octopus

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3259198/electric-vehicles-chinas-chery-automobile-enters-uks-car-rental-business-its-omoda-evs-are-leased?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese state-owned carmaker Chery Automobile has taken a step towards tapping European EV markets after its Omoda brand established a partnership with UK car rental company Octopus Electric Vehicles.

Omoda’s battery-powered cars will be leased out by Octopus, which will offer low-cost charging and charger installation services, according to the British company.

It did not say how many Omoda cars would be included in the leasing business. Chery could be reached for comment on Tuesday.

The tie-up between Octopus and Chery comes just a month after the UK company signed a preliminary agreement with China’s BYD to buy 5,000 cars from the world’s largest electric vehicle (EV) builder over the next three years.

“The fleet business in developed markets like Europe offers growth opportunities for Chinese electric vehicle (EV) makers because their cars enjoy the advantage in production costs,” said Qian Kang, a Zhejiang-based entrepreneur who owns car components businesses. “Car rental services also help Chinese EVs build their brands abroad.”

Chery, based in eastern China’s Anhui province, is one of several Chinese carmakers actively pursuing growth in European markets, along with BYD, Zeekr, SAIC and Nio.

In February, it started to sell its Omoda 5 sport-utility vehicle (SUV) in Spain, and it plans to offer the SUV in Britain later this year, according to Victor Zhang, Omoda UK’s executive vice-president.

“As a new name to the UK, we know we have to earn the trust of British car buyers,” said Zhang in a statement on Tuesday.

“Octopus is an industry-leading and well-respected company, partnering with them is a key element in making sure we can offer our EV customers the very best experience in an important area of their ownership.”

In mainland China, the Omoda 5 offers customers only the petrol version, with prices starting price of 79,900 yuan (US$11,038). Its electric model, known as the Omoda E5, which has a driving range of 430km, is priced at a much more expensive 146,800 ringgits (US$30,623) in Malaysia.

Octopus can automatically set charging schedules for its electric cars to help owners save electricity bills. Omada users could save as much as £500 (US$622) a year using the company’s Kraken technology platform.

The company, part of the Octopus Energy Group, currently runs a fleet of more than 15,000 electric cars available for hire by individuals and businesses, which include vehicles assembled by Tesla, BYD, BMW and Kia.

The European Commission launched an investigation into foreign state subsidies last September, and is expected to impose tariffs higher than the standard rate of 10 per cent on Chinese-made EVs.

In the United States, the Biden administration is also considering curbs on imports of Chinese electric cars, which Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo described as posing a risk to citizens as they collect a “huge amount of information about a driver”.

Analysts, however, believe that any potential restrictions on China’s EV exports will not prevent the country’s major players from accelerating their go-global ambitions.

UBS said in September that the Seal, a fully electric sedan made by BYD, has a production advantage over Tesla’s Model 3 assembled in mainland China. The cost of manufacturing the BYD car, a potential rival to the Model 3, is 15 per cent lower, the bank said in a report.

Chery sold 1.88 million cars in 2023, up by more than half from the previous year. This included 937,148 units delivered to customers outside its domestic market, double the number in 2022.

Jetour, another brand under Chery that focuses on EVs, expects its overseas sales to account for half of its total deliveries from 2027 onwards.

[Sport] Chinese internet amused by building that looks like sanitary pad

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c136n018jkeo[Sport] Chinese internet amused by building that looks like sanitary pad

China Evergrande: PwC refutes letter claiming fraud tied to indebted developer, vows to investigate ‘fabricated’ claims

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3259172/china-evergrande-pwc-refutes-letter-claiming-fraud-tied-indebted-developer-vows-investigate?utm_source=rss_feed

PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has refuted a letter alleging that its partners were involved in auditing fraud tied to bankrupt Chinese developer China Evergrande Group and said it has taken measures to investigate the origins of the “false information”.

The anonymous letter, titled “Who dragged PwC into the fire pit of Evergrande”, began circulating on Chinese social media earlier this week.

The claims made in the letter against the auditing company and its partners were “clearly contradictory to the facts” and had “severely encroached upon PwC’s business reputation and legal rights, causing adverse impact”, PwC said in a post on its official WeChat account on Tuesday.

The company said it had taken measures to investigate the matter, including reporting the letter to law enforcement, adding that it reserved the right to pursue the legal responsibility of those who had “fabricated, spread, and disseminated” the letter.

The letter claims that the firm’s “auditing failure” with regards to Evergrande was tied to senior partners who allegedly refused probes by Hong Kong and US regulatory authorities by asserting that Evergrande’s audit working papers were held in mainland China territory and hence confidential. Working papers detail how auditors plan and execute an audit of a company’s financial statements.

The anonymous writers concluded their letter by saying they will release a second open letter, along with part of the relevant audit working papers, should there be any form of retaliation against them.

Hong Kong’s audit regulator said in November 2021 that it would look into Evergrande’s 2020 accounts and their audit by PwC. In March this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission said the Guangzhou-based developer had inflated its sales by 564 billion yuan (US$79 billion) and its profits by 92 billion yuan in the years leading up to its collapse in 2021, in what would be the largest known case of financial fabrication in Chinese history.

The securities regulator also imposed a 47 million yuan fine on Hui Ka-yan, Evergrande’s founder and former chairman, and barred him from China’s capital market for life.

With US$332 billion in total liabilities as of end June last year, making it the world’s most indebted real estate developer, Evergrande was ordered by the High Court in Hong Kong to liquidate in January.

PwC is one of the world’s “big four” auditing firms. PwC Australia cut jobs in March as part of a major restructuring after a former partner leaked government tax plans to clients last year in a serious conflict of interest. In October, Australian regulators banned the partner from providing financial services for eight years. In March 2023, PwC’s UK branch was fined for breaches found in audits of Babcock International, an engineering company.

Chinese police arrest over 1,500 for online rumours in campaign targeting influencers, bloggers and live-streamers

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3259183/chinese-police-arrest-over-1500-online-rumours-campaign-targeting-influencers-bloggers-and-live?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s Ministry of Public Security said police around the country have made over 1,500 arrests and solved 10,000 cases since the launch of a campaign targeting online rumours in December.

The ministry has imposed administrative penalties on about 10,700 people and debunked more than 4,200 rumours since it launched the campaign last December, according to a Tuesday report by People’s Daily. The numbers were first released on Saturday on the official WeChat account of the ministry’s cybersecurity office.

The campaign has identified and investigated illegal activities that make money from spreading rumours about hot-button issues. Specifically, the ministry has clamped down on influencers, bloggers and video producers who “stage photos maliciously or fabricate rumours” regarding the pandemic, dangers or disasters.

The latest round focused on social media, live-streaming and short-video platforms, where the ministry shut down 63,000 illegal accounts and cleaned up more than 735,000 posts that contained rumours, according to the WeChat post.

The ministry shared 10 examples of rumour-related cases targeted in the campaign, including the case of top influencer “Thurman Maoyibei”, whose accounts were shut down over the weekend after she fabricated a viral story about a young boy and his schoolbooks.

Thurman Maoyibei – whose real surname is Xu, according to police – has more than 30 million followers across different platforms. In February, she posted a video claiming a waiter in Paris had given her some textbooks that had been left behind by a Chinese boy named Qin Lang. Xu said she would embark on a mission to return them to the boy back in China.

The video went viral and attracted millions of clicks and comments on Weibo and Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, prompting online users to search for the boy. A week later, Xu said in another video that she had found the boy’s family and returned the textbooks to him.

After receiving complaints about the authenticity of Xu’s story, police in the eastern city of Hangzhou opened an investigation into the case and found the story was fake. Xu and an accomplice had bought the books with the aim of creating the viral video, according to police, who slapped them with administrative penalties.

Xu’s accounts on various online platforms were shut down after she was ordered to post a final video on Friday apologising for making up the story. She acknowledged her actions had “disrupted the internet order and resulted in massive negative influence”.

China launches another internet crackdown targeting online rumours

Chinese media outlets criticised Xu’s actions and other attention-grabbing antics that “disrupt social order online”.

“Some ‘internet celebrities’ and influencers blatantly fabricate [stories] to gain traffic in the pursuit of profits, having crossed the moral and legal bottom lines,” People’s Daily said in a commentary on Saturday. “The moral bottom line cannot be stepped on, the legal ‘red line’ cannot be touched, and the influencers’ fraudulent trend must be stopped!”

In other cases cited by the ministry, police in the central province of Hubei arrested a person who posted articles falsely claiming an influencer was a sex worker, while police in Hunan province punished a person who used artificial intelligence tools to make up a rumour about grass roots policemen resigning. In two other cases, AI was used to generate fake posts about bombs, natural disasters and gene-editing experiments.

The public security ministry has imposed more than 590 administrative penalties on websites and platforms since the campaign started in December, according to its WeChat post.

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Tech war: how Chinese scientists rigged a low-cost AI computer chip to power a hypersonic weapon

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3259166/tech-war-how-chinese-scientists-rigged-low-cost-ai-computer-chip-power-hypersonic-weapon?utm_source=rss_feed

A research team in China has created a step-by-step guide that allows anyone with a low-cost artificial intelligence chip to boost the performance of hypersonic weapons.

To accomplish the task, the researchers installed a Nvidia Jetson TX2i GPU computer module – which can be purchased online – into an air-breathing hypersonic aircraft capable of speeds exceeding Mach 7.

Tests have suggested that this particular module can process computational fluid dynamics models with unprecedented efficiency, meaning calculations that previously took seconds to complete could now be done in just 25 milliseconds – four times faster than the blink of an eye.

The module’s response speed made it ideal for “real-time optimisation of the fuel supply system, fault diagnosis, and fault-tolerant control in scramjet engines”, according to a joint project team from Beijing Power Machinery Research Institute and Dalian University of Technology. Their peer-reviewed paper was published on March 13 in the Chinese academic journal Propulsion Technology.

US ‘may be sending strong message’ to China with hypersonic missile test

Headquartered in the United States, Nvidia is the world’s largest supplier of AI chips. Nvidia began selling the TX2i for industrial applications about six years ago. The module’s peak single-precision performance is 1.26 TFlops, about one-fiftieth of the capability of the company’s most powerful AI chip, the H100.

The H100, however, costs tens of thousands of dollars and is in short supply. The TX2i, on the other hand, can be obtained for a few hundred dollars, is not subject to US export controls, and is widely available online.

When contacted by the South China Morning Post on April 12, Nvidia said it had no comment on the matter.

The project team, led by Professor Sun Ximing, said in their paper that the TX2i module in the scramjet engine control system not only boosted the range and stability of hypersonic vehicles, but also significantly reduced their research and development costs.

This was not the first time that Chinese scientists have used US chips in hypersonic weapon research, according to their paper. Previous studies used Intel CPUs and Nvidia’s high-end graphics cards to simulate complex high-speed flow fields.

“High-performance graphics cards possess excellent computational capabilities but require supporting equipment such as a hosting platform, power supply and radiator. They have disadvantages such as high power consumption, heavy weight and large size, which do not meet the demands of lightweight and small-sized embedded controllers in the aerospace field,” Sun’s team wrote in their paper.

Because of the sequential nature of hypersonic flow field simulations, where one event must occur before another can be calculated, industry experts generally believe that such computational tasks cannot be accomplished using lower-end AI chips adept at performing simple parallel computations.

To solve this problem, Sun’s team introduced a novel CPU plus GPU architecture, which detailed how to tackle sequential parallel computing problems by ensuring the two different chip types worked well together.

The “step-by-step” guide provided in the paper provides detailed formulas and addresses potential engineering challenges, including limiting simulation grid size, memory management, code optimisation, and specific compilation instruction schemes.

For better universality, the engine controller’s interface and communication protocol adhere to international standards.

However, the engine is only one component of the entire weapon platform.

“To apply (the AI chip) to hypersonic vehicles, further work is needed in inlet modelling, shock wave correction, and data modelling,” the team said in the paper.

Some important parameters involved in these tasks usually need to be obtained in extensive wind tunnel testing and actual flights.

Still, the likelihood of the TX2i being used for Chinese hypersonic missiles is low. China’s domestic chip manufacturers can provide chips to the country’s military that perform as well as, or better, than the TX2i, with minimal concerns over supply chain reliability and safety.

It remains unclear why the researchers selected the Nvidia chip for their experiment, and the authors could not be reached for comment. It is possible that the intention was to prove the feasibility of using an inexpensive AI chip for hypersonic weapons, regardless where it is made. However, such weapons can operate with different types of chips

While few countries are able to design and manufacture such chips, a growing number of nations, including Germany, France, Japan, North Korea and Iran, have launched hypersonic weapon research and development programmes. Even the Houthis, an Iranian-backed rebel group that controls most of Yemen, have claimed they have been testing hypersonic missiles capable of reaching Mach 8.

The proliferation of hypersonic weapon technology has been a major concern for the United States. In 2017, the Rand Corporation suggested that Washington work with Moscow and Beijing to prevent other countries from acquiring such technology.

But while Chinese and Russian military experts admit hypersonic weapons technology poses certain risks, they said it is more likely to accelerate the collapse of the US-centered world order.

They have reasoned that hypersonic missiles could penetrate the defences of America’s massive aircraft carrier fleet, which it has long relied on for global military superiority.

In a war game exercise conducted last year by Chinese scientists, a Ford-class aircraft carrier battle group was destroyed by about 20 hypersonic anti-ship missiles. If more countries possessed hypersonic weapons, the advantage enjoyed by the few countries with significant naval power over the past five centuries may come to an end, according to some experts.

North Korea says it test-fired new solid-fuel hypersonic missile

On April 3, North Korea successfully test-fired a hypersonic gliding missile, and on Monday, Iran claimed to have used hypersonic missiles to attack Israeli military bases in retaliation for Israel’s bombing of the Iranian embassy. Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that China or Russia provided weapons or technical support to either country.

The Beijing Power Machinery Research Institute is affiliated with China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, a major supplier of China’s hypersonic weapons. Dalian University of Technology, closely associated with China’s navy, is a major research and development base for advanced manufacturing.

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[Sport] Why pressure on Ricciardo is high - F1 Q&A before Chinese GP

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68818913

UK unemployment rate jumps to 4.2% as labour market cools; China’s growth beats forecasts – business live

https://www.theguardian.com/business/live/2024/apr/16/uk-unemployment-rate-jumps-earnings-pay-china-growth-gdp-business-live

Beijing half marathon hit by controversy as China’s He Jie allowed to win

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2024/apr/16/beijing-half-marathon-controversy-investigation-china-he-jie-allowed-to-win

Organisers of the Beijing half marathon are investigating the men’s race after two Kenyans and one Ethiopian runner appeared to deliberately allow China’s He Jie to win.

Footage of the final few hundred metres of the race seemingly shows Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat of Kenya and Ethiopia’s Dejene Hailu Bikila slow down and gesture in front of them, encouraging He to pass and take the lead.

The four athletes, who had run together for the whole race, then ran side by side to the finish line, before the three Africans dropped back to let He cross the tape first.

Mnangat told BBC Sport that they were running as pacemakers for He, who is the Chinese national champion in the full marathon distance. “I was not there to compete,” Mnangat said. “It was not a competitive race for me.”

Immediately after the race the Kenyan initially said he allowed He to win “because he is my friend”. “He comes to Kenya and I was [pacing for him] in the Wuxi Marathon, so he is my friend, OK,” Mnangat told the South China Morning Post.

Mnangat said the three African runners, as well as a fourth who did not finish the race, were hired to pace He to a Chinese half marathon record.

“I don’t know why they put my name on my bib/chest number instead of labelling it as a pacemaker,” Mnangat told the BBC. “My job was to set the pace and help the guy win but unfortunately, he did not achieve the target, which was to break the national record.”

4月14日，北京半程马拉松比赛现场疑似出现假赛，引发大众质疑。视频中，比赛最后几百米，中国选手何杰原本落后，但3位外籍运动员中有人回头摆手疑似示意何杰反超，又示意队友减速。最终，何杰在默契中完成反超，以一秒优势夺冠。
这一戏剧性画面引发大众质疑。… pic.twitter.com/dRWxbBcIhB

— 李老师不是你老师 (@whyyoutouzhele) April 14, 2024

Winning in a time of 1:03.44, He fell short of the record by one minute and 11 seconds, while Mnangat, Keter and Bikila tied for second place.

The Beijing Sports Bureau confirmed to AFP they were investigating the circumstances around the finish and any results would be “promptly disclosed to the public”.

In a statement World Athletics said: “We are aware of the footage circulating online from the Beijing half marathon this weekend and understand an investigation is currently being conducted by the relevant local authorities. The integrity of our sport is the highest priority at World Athletics, while this investigation is ongoing we are unable to provide further comment.”

Case review of rural China doctor jailed for treating sex workers in 2012 sparks medical ethics debate on social media

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/social-welfare/article/3257782/case-review-rural-china-doctor-jailed-treating-sex-workers-2012-sparks-medical-ethics-debate-social?utm_source=rss_feed

Reports about a rural doctor who was jailed for a year and a half or providing medical services to sex workers 12 years ago, has sparked a fierce debate on mainland social media.

Dr Feng, from Zhejiang province in eastern China, was found guilty of helping a group of female prostitutes. He was fined 5,000 yuan (US$692) and sentenced to 18 months in prison, Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported.

Although the crime happened more than a decade ago, the case was recently reviewed by lawyer Fu Shifeng, who believed it had been misjudged.

His take on the case quickly went viral in the mainland media.

The story first emerged in 2008 when the owner of a foot massage centre, surnamed Li, contacted a man surnamed Feng, who was operating an unlicensed clinic.

Li told Feng that one of his employees was ill and asked him to visit her at home.

Despite having no professional qualifications , Feng agreed to see the patient. His treatment was a success and he become a regular doctor for Li’s workers.

Feng realised the massage centre also offered sex services, but he chose not to report it to the local authorities or police.

He believed his responsibility as a doctor was to care for patients regardless of their profession. However, he was also worried about his unlicensed practice being exposed.

He was investigated and arrested by police in May 2011.

Feng launched an appeal but failed to overturn the decision because it was assumed he was helping Li run his sex-for-sale business.

Huang Mingru, a criminal law professor at Xiangtan University, said providing medical services for sex workers is not a crime, regardless of whether he or she is aware of who they are treating.

He added that doctors have a duty of care and anybody is entitled to seek medical help.

“Feng had a responsibility to report his patient if he was aware of any unlawful activity, but it does not mean he was personally committing a crime,” Huang said.

Feng, who served his sentence a decade ago, told the Herald he does not want to dwell on that difficult time. His concern now is that his criminal record might have a negative impact on his child.

Many online observers mainland social media agreed with the law professor’s view, while a few supported the court’s decision.

“Feng’s calling is to help people and not do harm to others. It’s really a wrong verdict,” one person said.

“What is the duty of a doctor? Isn’t it to save people?” another said.

“He is not licensed, so he isn’t a doctor,” a third pointed out.

“He clearly knew it was a prostitution business, but he did not report it to the police. He should take legal responsibility,” said another.

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Chinese breakthroughs in chip tech, air pollution controls headline top science award nominees

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3259092/chinese-breakthroughs-chip-tech-air-pollution-controls-headline-top-science-award-nominees?utm_source=rss_feed

China has published a shortlist of contenders for the 2023 National Science and Technology Awards, a preliminary selection that provides insight into the country’s top priorities for scientific research.

The nominees for the awards – the country’s most prestigious prizes in science – were announced on April 8 and are overseen by the Ministry of Science and Technology.

The semiconductor industry, in which China is facing Western sanctions, figured prominently on the award shortlist of 301 projects.

A chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) machine for integrated circuits developed by a group of scientists from Tsinghua University’s Department of Mechanical Engineering is expected to take first prize in the State Technological Invention Award.

China seeks closer US links on scientific research, use of AI in education

The machine, which uses chemical and mechanical processes to polish a wafer surface to nano-level accuracy, is one of the five key technologies in the integrated circuit manufacturing process. In 2015, the same team delivered China’s first CMP machine, marking a milestone in domestically produced high-end integrated circuit equipment.

The shortlist also highlights several achievements in communications technology. A study of key 5G technologies and engineering applications by researchers from industry giants such as China Mobile and Huawei Technologies was shortlisted for the top prize.

Projects that focused on the environment and ecology are also prominent on the shortlist. Since China launched a national campaign in 2013 to clean up air pollution, concentrations of fine particulates of less than 2.5 microns – known as PM2.5 – have dropped by 56 per cent, according to a report in China Daily in 2022.

Research into understanding the causes and management of PM2.5 pollution, and an invention to prevent and control groundwater pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area were both shortlisted for first prize.

Competition for the awards, which have resumed with new nomination rules after being put on hold for two years, is fierce.

There are five categories: the State Natural Science Award; the State Technological Invention Award; the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award; the State Preeminent Science and Technology Award; and the China International Science and Technology Cooperation Award.

In the first three categories, the average success rate from nomination to initial shortlisting ranges from 18 to 24 per cent, according to statistics compiled last Thursday by the mainland social media account “kejiangzaixian”, which analyses China’s science awards.

The projects also face further competition. In the case of the State Technological Invention Award, for instance, five inventions have been selected as candidates for the 2023 first prize, but only one or two of those inventions are usually awarded the top prize.

A researcher whose project made the list, who works for the Chinese Academy of Environmental Planning – which is affiliated with the Ministry of Ecology and Environment – told the Post that this was only the initial evaluation announcement and that the research team was still waiting for further notification.

Three studies were initially listed as candidates for first prize in the State Natural Science Award, two of which are related to advanced materials.

A group of physicists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences could win top prize for innovations in calculating and predicting the topological properties of materials, an advance that could make searching for topological materials much easier.

Topological materials are believed to play a fundamental role in areas such as ultra-low-power electronic components and quantum information. In 2019, a related study conducted by members of the same group was published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature.

China’s Xi wants market-ready scientific research – and singles out 2 provinces

Another team from Yanshan University in the northern province of Hebei has been recognised for creating a class of materials that are harder and tougher than natural diamonds.

Several biologists from Zhejiang University are likely to take first prize for their contributions to the study of brain mechanisms underlying emotions and social behaviour.

In technology, Chinese researchers and engineers are being recognised for major advances in areas like agriculture, energy, mega-infrastructure and ecology.

The Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge, the Fuxing Hao high-speed trains, and the “Deep Sea No. 1” ultra-deep-water gas field development project are three mega-infrastructure projects shortlisted for the State Scientific and Technological Progress Award top prize.

A system designed to ensure safe drinking water also made it onto the shortlist.

In the geology category, a technology to help engineers analyse the stress tolerances of large rock formations to determine stability for mining activities, as well as advances in deep exploration and onshore seismic exploration were expected to take top honours.

Meanwhile, as China transitions to green energy, a technology for the safe and efficient development of offshore wind power is also considered a candidate for first prize.

In chemistry and materials, discoveries such as a new membrane technology for seawater desalination and a high-performance membrane for lithium-ion batteries also made the list.

Key technological innovations in the production of edible and medicinal mushrooms, genetic manipulation of watermelons, and green and intelligent production of polyester fibres have also been recognised.

The awards were established by China’s State Council in 1999 to promote the development of science and technology. But over the past two decades, the award system has been mired in controversy, with some criticising it for not being scientific and transparent enough.

In 2011, the science ministry revoked the second place prize in the National Scientific and Technology Progress Award category after an investigation revealed plagiarism and falsified data in the design of a refrigerant compressor.

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China’s economy grew 5.3% in first quarter, beating expectations

https://apnews.com/article/china-gdp-economy-first-quarter-a0743b0982996194c07713c5c701918fWorkers wait for transport outside a construction site in Beijing, Tuesday, April 9, 2024. China's Finance Ministry has denounced a report by Fitch Ratings that kept its sovereign debt rated at A+ but downgraded its outlook to negative, saying in a statement that China's deficit is at a moderate and reasonable level and risks are under control. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

2024-04-16T02:15:17Z

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s economy in the first quarter beat expectations while receiving a boost from policies and an increase in demand, the government said Tuesday.

The world’s second-largest economy expanded at a 5.3% annual pace in January-March, beating analysts’ forecasts of about 4.8%, official data show. Compared to the previous quarter, growth was up 1.6%.

China’s economy has struggled to bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic, with a slowdown in demand and a property crisis weighing on its growth.

The better-than-expected economy data came days after China reported a decline in import and export figures for March as well as a slowdown in inflation following months of deflationary pressures.

Industrial output for the first quarter was up 6.1% compared to the same time last year, and retail sales grew at an annual pace of 4.7%. Fixed investment for Q1 grew 4.5% compared to the same period a year ago.

The economy growth for Q1 was supported by “broad manufacturing outperformance,” festivities-boosted household spending due to the Lunar New Year holidays as well as policies that help boost investments, according to China economist Louise Loo of Oxford Economics.

“However, ‘standalone’ March activity indicators suggest weakness coming through post-Lunar New Year,” she said. “External demand conditions also remain unpredictable, as seen in March’s sharp export underperformance.”

Loo pointed out that factors such as an unwinding of excess inventory, a normalization of household spending post-holidays as well as cautious stimulus would affect growth for the second quarter.

Policymakers have unveiled a raft of fiscal and monetary policy measures as Beijing seeks to boost the economy. China has set an ambitious gross domestic product (GDP) growth target of 5% for 2024.

ZEN SOO Soo reports on technology and business in China and across Asia for The Associated Press. She is based in Hong Kong. twitter mailto

China GDP: 5.3% first-quarter rise better than expected as recovery regains momentum

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3259120/china-gdp-53-first-quarter-rise-better-expected-recovery-regains-momentum?utm_source=rss_feed

China reported better-than-expected economic growth of 5.3 per cent in the first quarter, staying on course for this year’s growth target despite growing trade tension with the United States and Europe.

The widely watched gross domestic product (GDP) growth beat the 4.9 per cent predicted by economists polled by Chinese financial data provider Wind, and was above the 5.2 per cent expansion in the fourth quarter of last year.

“The figures were fuelled by rapid growth in the services sector, as well as increased overseas demand driving export growth in the industrial sector,” said Ding Shuang, chief Greater China economist at Standard Chartered Bank.

“A major headwind is the potential trade friction in the West, including additional tariffs, especially as the US has recently blamed China for the overcapacity issues, this is posing a challenge to China’s trade sector.”

Elsewhere, retail sales rose by 3.1 per cent in March year on year compared to the 5.5 per cent growth in combined figures for January and February, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

Fixed-asset investment grew by 4.5 per cent in the first three month from a year earlier, compared with an increase of 4.2 per cent rise in the first two months of the year.

Property investment, a key drag to the GDP growth last year, fell by 9.5 per cent in the first quarter year on year, compared to a fall of 9 per cent in the first two months of the year.

Meanwhile, private investment – a gauge of investor confidence – grew by 0.5 per cent in the first three months of the year.

China’s industrial output rose by 4.5 per cent year on year last month.

And the overall urban unemployment rate stood at 5.2 per cent in March, compared with 5.3 per cent in the first two months of the year.

Beijing has set its annual growth target at “around 5 per cent”, but it is seen as bold due to last year’s high base and the continued slump in the property sector.

Ding at Standard Chartered Bank estimated China’s economy would grow by 4.8 per cent this year due to challenges in the second half of the year.

More to follow …

After air attacks Iran tells China it will not escalate violence against Israel as Wang Yi holds Mideast calls

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259127/after-air-attacks-iran-tells-china-it-will-not-escalate-violence-against-israel-wang-yi-holds?utm_source=rss_feed

Iran is willing to exercise restraint and has no intention of further escalating the situation with Israel following drone and missile attacks on Saturday, the Iranian foreign minister has told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian delivered the message to Wang in a phone call on Monday, according to a readout from Beijing’s foreign ministry.

“The current situation in the region is very sensitive, and the Iranian side is willing to exercise restraint and has no intention of further escalating the situation,” Amir-Abdollahian said, according to the readout.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran advocates an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and supports China’s positive efforts to promote a ceasefire, restore peace in the region and strengthen cooperation among regional countries.”

Wang repeated that China strongly condemned an attack on the consular section of the Iranian embassy in Damascus on April 1 and said it was a serious violation of international law and was unacceptable, according to the foreign ministry’s account.

Noting Iran’s statements that its attack was “limited” and “an act of self-defence”, Wang said China appreciated Iran’s emphasis on “not targeting regional and neighbouring countries, as well as its reiteration of continuously pursuing a good-neighbourly and friendly policy”.

“It is believed that Iran can handle the situation well and spare the region further turmoil while safeguarding its sovereignty and dignity,” Wang said, according to the foreign ministry.

Wang also later called his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud and pledged China would work with Saudi Arabia to avoid “further escalation of confrontation” in the Middle East.

He reiterated China’s support for Palestine, saying the key solution to the ongoing Gaza conflict was to “establish an independent Palestinian State and restore the legitimate national rights of the Palestinian people”.

“The international community should take more active action to support Palestine’s full membership in the United Nations, promote the convening of a larger, more authoritative and more effective international peace conference, and form a timetable and road map for the implementation of the two-State solution,” Wang was quoted as saying.

Faisal said Saudi Arabia “fully trusts” China, adding that the two countries were “highly consistent” in their position on the current situation.

“[The] Saudi side is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with China to promote an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in Gaza, start the implementation of the two-state solution, and help achieve stability in the Middle East at an early date,” Faisal said.

Wang’s phone calls on Monday were China’s first ministerial engagement with Iran and Saudi Arabia since Tehran conducted the series of air attacks on Israel that it said was retaliation for the April 1 assault on the Iranian embassy in Syria.

On Monday, China’s special envoy on Middle East affairs Zhai Jun met Irit Ben-Abba, the Israeli ambassador.

Zhai told Ben-Abba, “all parties concerned should exercise maximum calm and restraint”, adding that China was “deeply concerned” about the current escalation of tension.

Meanwhile, Yuval Waks, the deputy chief of the Israeli mission in China told a press briefing that Israel was not satisfied with China’s current response to Iran’s attack on Israel.

“We were hoping for stronger condemnation and clear acknowledgement of Israel’s right to defend itself … Unfortunately, we did not see that, which is why we were unhappy with the statement [from the Chinese foreign ministry],” Waks said.

He also urged Beijing to tell Hamas the hostages still being held after the October 7 attack “should be set free right now”.

China has sought to become a special player in the region and connected with Saudi Arabia and Iran while brokering a peace deal between them last year.

Solomon Islands’ China security ties in focus as Pacific nation heads to the polls

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3259039/solomon-islands-china-security-ties-focus-pacific-nation-heads-polls?utm_source=rss_feed

An election in Solomon Islands on Wednesday will be a crucial barometer of voters’ faith in the government of Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare following the signing of a controversial security pact between the strategically important country and China.

Dispersed over 2,000km (1,240 miles), home to around 750,000 people – a quarter of them living in poverty – and increasingly coveted for its position in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the Solomon Islands is wooed by China and the US as a potential ally.

Sogavare, a constant in the archipelago’s politics who has served as prime minister four times, has steered his nation closer towards Beijing since winning the 2019 election. Apart from signing a secretive security pact with China in 2022, he has also taken hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure loans from Beijing in recent years.

Solomon Islands severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 2019, by implication a snub to the old power brokers of the Pacific, the United States and Australia.

“It is an important election. People are calling for change” said Benjamin Afuga, an administrator of the Yumi Toktok Forum, one of the largest public Facebook groups in the Solomon Islands.

Posts on the forum provide a snapshot of the key concerns of voters such as healthcare, education, unemployment and changes to outdated laws.

Sogavare’s critics say he is becoming increasingly authoritarian and has failed to be transparent with the electorate over the terms of the quid-pro-quo agreement with China.

Solomon Islands PM praises China’s governance, criticises democracy as immoral

But Meg Keen, director of the Lowy Institute’s pacific islands programme, said the elections “will be fought on local issues, not geopolitics”.

“For those struggling to make a living and manage the rising cost of living, issues such as jobs, health and education services and transport are at the top of the list.”

Sogavare’s challengers, including opposition leader Matthew Wale, are urging the nation to realign by recognising Taiwan once more and returning to the fold with traditional partners Australia and the US.

Solomon Islands’ political climate has been fractious in recent years, with riots aimed at Sogavare’s government in 2021 forcing him to appeal for help from Australian police to restore order. Since then, Australia and China have been supplying Solomon Islands police with equipment and weapons.

Solomon Islands’ pro-China leader pledges to continue Australia balancing act

The election outcome and then the appointment of the prime minister are expected to take weeks.

“In the meantime, we can hope that calm is maintained and the public judges the elections to be fair,” Keen said. “The last thing Honiara [the capital of the Solomon Islands] needs is more unrest.”

Apart from geopolitics, the election is also expected to shape Solomon Islands’ economic future, particularly concerning China, according to analysts. The Pacific region’s ports are set to become more important for ship refuelling and trade between Asia and South America ahead of China’s planned opening of the Port of Chancay in Peru later this year.

Washington is also busy with its plans to deepen its engagement in the region. Last month, the US approved US$7 billion in aid to be dispersed to Palau, Federated States of Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands over 20 years for their Compact of Free Association, which grants America exclusive military access rights to the regional countries’ air, land and sea spaces.

Social media has been filled with speculation in recent weeks over meddling in the Solomons election, including accusations levelled at the United States Agency for International Development in recent days. Washington has dismissed the online claims.

Western nations fear China could increase its security presence in Pacific countries that have cut off diplomatic ties with Taiwan in recent years – apart from the Solomons, Kiribati and Nauru did so in 2019 and January, respectively. In Oceania, only Palau, Marshall Islands and Tuvalu still recognise Taiwan.

Beijing views Taiwan as a renegade province that should be reintegrated into mainland control, by force if necessary. While many nations, including the US, do not officially acknowledge Taiwan as an independent state, they oppose any use of force to alter the existing status quo.

“If Sogavare ends up as prime minister after the election, he will almost certainly continue to maintain a close relationship with China,” said Terrence Wood, a researcher at Australia National University’s Development Policy Centre.

“If one of his opponents – such as Matthew Wale, Peter Kenilorea Jnr, or possibly even Gordon Darcy Lilo – ends up as prime minister, it is possible that they will take a more cautious path with respect to China.”

Grass-roots dispersal of cash and other forms of patronage could play a pivotal role in deciding who will become prime minister, according to analysts.

“The most important impact for the average person will be the client list of local politics: if they manage to vote for a candidate who is inclined to help them, and if that candidate is elected, they will receive some direct material assistance,” Wood said.

If Sogavare were to prevail in the election, China is likely to step up its security presence in the Pacific region, including the Solomons, said Alfred Oehlers, an academic at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies in Honolulu.

“Strategically, expect to see the development of dual-use air and naval facilities [by China].”

China ‘invisible man’ painter blends into surroundings with chameleon body colouring to promote love of nature

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/china-personalities/article/3257639/china-invisible-man-painter-blends-surroundings-chameleon-body-colouring-promote-love-nature?utm_source=rss_feed

An eco-friendly, so-called invisible man in China, who “disappears” in photos by using body painting in a bid to promote environmental protection has become an online hit.

Painter Wang Liang, 35, from Shandong province in eastern China, has been hailed as the “human chameleon” by his 1 million fans on Douyin.

Clad in all-white, Wang holds a brush and a palette while painting on himself according to the colours and light variations of backgrounds such as rivers, stones, trees, and flowers.

Once the painting is complete, he seamlessly integrates with the backdrop, effectively “camouflaging” himself in nature.

“My artwork aims to demonstrate the concept of humans blending into nature and living in harmony with it. I hope to advocate for nature conservation through my works,” said Wang.

He began studying painting at the age of 14 and later enrolled at one of China’s top art universities.

After graduating, with his wall painting business suffering during the Covid-19 pandemic, Wang sought to use his skills for something “more socially impactful”.

“Environmental damage nowadays is severe. Through body painting, I want to express the relationship between humans and nature, showcasing the beauty of the natural world,” he said.

Since 2020, Wang and his assistant have created thousands of works in cities like Beijing, Luoyang in central China, and Jinan in the east.

Their creations appear at famous scenic spots or near iconic buildings in urban areas.

“The bigger and more breathtaking the scene we choose, the more we enjoy painting it, as it enhances the invisibility effect,” said Wang.

It typically takes Wang two to three hours to complete a piece, using acrylic paints, oil brushes and other tools and he only paints on sunny days.

“The ideas are all in our minds, there’s no need for prior designs,” he said.

“The choice of background and colours is crucial. The more precise the colour mixing and light application, the better the integration with the background and sunlight.”

Wang’s unusual art form has sparked an intense online discussion.

Some question whether Wang achieves “invisibility” by using computer-generated special effects.

In response, Wang has showcased unedited videos of his entire painting process.

One supporter praised his work: “It’s a great concept. By hiding the human figure, the artwork shifts its focus away from humans towards nature.”

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China’s energy trade with Middle East set to surge since Beijing brokered last year’s Iran-Saudi deal, UBS says

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3259077/chinas-energy-trade-middle-east-set-surge-beijing-brokered-last-years-iran-saudi-deal-says-ubs?utm_source=rss_feed

Energy-related trade between China and the Middle East is likely to increase significantly and reshape the sector globally in the wake of the Saudi-Iran peace deal brokered by China last year, according to Swiss bank UBS.

By 2030 trade between the two will have risen by US$423 billion annually, with renewables and petrochemicals accounting for US$77 billion and US$325 billion, respectively, according to Ken Liu, head of China and Hong Kong renewables, utilities and energy research at UBS Investment Bank.

“We believe the Beijing Accord of March 2023 has significant economic and market implications that investors may have overlooked,” he said in an analysis on Monday.

“We see energy representing a more trade-focused collaboration than seen to date, with likely more immediate monetisation potential and thus a quicker potential impact on share prices.”

In March 2023, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and China issued a joint statement announcing an agreement to restore diplomatic ties between the two Middle Eastern countries after years of hostility. The deal was brokered by China after four days of undisclosed negotiations among top officials from the two countries in Beijing.

In the six months immediately after the deal was signed, Saudi Arabia invested US$16 billion in the Chinese energy sector, according to data compiled by UBS.

Liu estimated that energy-related trade between China and the Middle East could expand by 10 to 11 per cent by 2030.

For renewables, the additional trade is expected to come from China’s increasing green energy penetration in the Middle East, as the region accelerates its energy transition by leveraging the country’s complete renewables equipment supply chain, according to Liu.

The Middle East has been increasingly importing renewable energy modules from China, the world’s largest wind turbine and solar panel maker. In 2023, China exported 14.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar modules to the region, up from 11.4GW in 2022, according to data from InfoLink Consulting.

Additional trade in the petrochemicals sector could come from the larger market share taken by the Middle East and China jointly from Europe, as European factories are likely to exit the market faster due to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) concerns and tight gas supply, UBS said.

“The implications of this theme are broad. Chinese renewables and especially grid equipment players are the most immediate beneficiaries,” said Liu.

“European petrochemicals are most at risk from this theme in the long term as higher cost bases could pressure market share.”

China and the Middle East have stepped up their engagement and cooperation in recent years under the Belt and Road Initiative. From 2017 to 2022, trade between them almost doubled from US$262.5 billion to US$507.2 billion, according to Chinese customs data.

Spearheaded by the Chinese government and endorsed by President Xi Jinping in late 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative aims to improve trade and economic integration across Asia, Europe, and Africa.

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Anti-China voices in US often miss the mark but on trade, they have a point

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3259015/anti-china-voices-us-often-miss-mark-trade-they-have-point?utm_source=rss_feed

In America’s hyperpartisan environment, opinions about what’s wrong with Joe Biden’s China policy are as unnecessarily numerous as the surgical masks clogging up our utility drawers and glove compartments.

Pontification from lawmakers who assume that Singaporeans have ties to China’s Communist Party because of their ethnicity, or those claiming that “China has a 5,000 year history of cheating and stealing” should be put in the same bin as the overused masks.

But if you’re determined to find something in the anti-China echo chamber that’s worth debating, read the Foreign Affairs essay by former US National Security Council official Matthew Pottinger and US representative Mike Gallagher, calling for a pivot to what would amount to Ronald Reagan’s approach to the Soviet Union in the early 1980s.

The central premise is logical. They contend that Beijing seeks to exhaust Washington by taking contrary positions – or simply declining to act at all – on Ukraine, the Middle East, the Red Sea or any other locus of international conflict in which the US has a stake.

The gusto with which the Chinese leadership has still embraced Moscow after Russian forces invaded Ukraine – as we saw with last week’s visit to Beijing by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – and the way China and Russia lock arms at the United Nations on Gaza, backs the authors up.

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration will never be a US ally. The Biden administration’s wish to get Beijing to use its leverage to end these conflicts in a way that takes Israel’s and Ukraine’s security interests into consideration will never come true.

But the resumption of dialogue that we’ve seen between the US and China since Biden met Xi in California isn’t useless, particularly given the success Biden has had in building alliances in China’s neighbourhood.

The trilateral summit with Japan and South Korea last year, and the whirlwind of meetings between Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr last week strengthens the hand US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will bring to his coming visit to Beijing.

These engagements, along with the Aukus security pact, the Quad leaders summit and the establishment of the US-EU Trade and Technology Council, as well other similar initiatives – what the administration refers to as America’s “latticework” of partnerships and alliances – more than fulfil the recruitment of “a broader coalition to confront China” that Pottinger and Gallagher call for in their essay.

Blinken isn’t expecting to sway his counterparts in Beijing. The trip, like those of Treasury secretary Janet Yellen, commerce secretary Gina Raimondo and others in the administration help them counter the containment narrative that China projects globally about the US government: that it will do anything to undermine China’s development.

Even with ever-expanding commitments from other countries in Asia to cooperate economically and militarily, which blunt the lead in these areas that Beijing has spent heavily on, US officials will bring olive branches to China. These efforts do not amount to weakness, as most Republicans insist. They provide opportunities for Washington to make its red lines clear.

There’s one valid criticism of Biden’s China policy that Pottinger and Gallagher skimmed over in a way that shows how, despite keeping a distance from the Republican Party’s authoritarian extremes, they are unable to completely break free.

They call on Biden to “upgrade [America’s] bilateral trade agreement with Japan and establish a new one with Taiwan, agreements that could be joined by other eligible economies in the region”.

The leader of their party, Donald Trump, rejected exactly this when he pulled the US out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the bloc that eventually became the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after Japan picked up the pieces and brought it over the finish line with its 10 other members.

No end to US trade war with China, Biden policy document signals

Trump famously despises multilateral forums and giving market access without getting many pounds of flesh in return. He made the damage that free trade did to American workers a centrepiece of the campaign that brought him to the White House.

It was an issue that desperately needed addressing, and it has been through bills like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Act or the Chips and Science Act that Biden championed and which Trump has disparaged because his campaign is based on grievances, not solutions.

Unfortunately, Biden’s team remains too cowed by the backlash against free trade to step up to the CPTPP negotiating table.

Pottinger and Gallagher are much more Reagan than Trump. They should know that America has enough clout to demand a high bar when it comes to CPTPP membership requirements, ones that Taiwan could meet and would be difficult for Beijing to fulfil.

They should have the fortitude to acknowledge that it’s now time for America to take the CPTPP seriously.

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Drone Technology Fuels China-US Arms Race

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/drone-technology-fuels-china-us-arms-race/7568023.html

United States and Chinese military planners are preparing for a new kind of warfare. The warfare of the future is likely to involve groups of air and sea drones equipped with artificial intelligence (AI).

These drones would use AI to swarm like bees to overcome an enemy.

Development of AI drones

The U.S. Defense Department is pushing for the development of drones because they are less costly. The U.S. says it has no choice but to keep up with China. Chinese officials say AI-enabled weapons are inevitable so they, too, must have them.

Both countries are developing drone swarm technology for military purposes. Such technology permits groups of drones to work together – often without human control.

Margarita Konaev is with Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). Konaev said the uncontrolled spread of drone swarm technology “could lead to more instability and conflict around the world.”

As AI superpowers, the U.S. and China can set an example by putting limits on military uses of drone swarms. But the two countries’ competition makes cooperation look unlikely.

The idea of placing restrictions on drone technology is not new. The United Nations has tried for more than 10 years to limit drones. Possible restrictions include the targeting of civilians or banning the use of drone swarms for ethnic cleansing.

Military contracts

Drones have been important for both powers for years, and each side has kept its technologies secret.

In 2023, Georgetown’s CSET released a study of AI-related military spending. It found that more than one third of known contracts issued by both U.S. and Chinese military services over eight months in 2020 were for intelligent uncrewed systems.

Lorenz Meier is chief and founder of Auterion, a company developing drone software that directs drones to work together for the U.S. military and its allies. In a discussion with reporters about drones, Meier said, “We’re enabling a single operator to direct right now half a dozen.” He said that number is expected to increase to dozens and within a year to hundreds.

China’s military claimed last year that dozens of aerial drones “self-healed” after radio jamming cut their communications. An official Chinese government documentary video said they regrouped and switched to self-guidance. The drones completed a search-and-destroy mission unaided, striking a target as planned.

A retired expert urged cooperation

Just before he died last year, former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger urged China and the U.S. to work together to discourage AI arms spread, or proliferation. The countries have “a narrow window of opportunity,” he said.

With Harvard’s Graham Allison, Kissinger wrote that restrictions were needed “before AI is built into the security structure of each society.”

President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping made a spoken agreement in November to set up working groups on AI safety. That effort has not made progress so far.

The competition is not likely to build trust or reduce the risk of conflict, said William Hartung of the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft in Washington, D.C.

If the U.S. is “going full speed ahead, it’s most likely China will accelerate whatever it’s doing,” Hartung said.

Some experts say there is a risk that swarm technology might be given away or stolen. Other countries developing the technology, such as Russia, Israel, Iran and Turkey, could also spread it.

U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in January that U.S.-China talks set to begin this spring will cover AI safety. Neither the defense secretary’s office nor the National Security Council would comment on whether the military use of drone swarms might be a subject of discussion.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry did not answer an Associated Press request for comment.

I’m John Russell.

 

Frank Bajak reported on this story for the Associated Press. John Russell adapted it for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

drone –n. a vehicle that is operated from a distance electronically and that does not have a pilot or driver

swarm – v. to have a large number of flying objects, or animals, move together in an effort to attack an enemy

inevitable – adj. sure to happen

instability –n. a state of political or military disorder

ethnic cleansing – n. the act of removing or killing people who belong to an ethnic group that is different from the ruling group

dozen – n. a group of 12 people or things

jam – v. to block signals or messages

discourage – v. to make someone less likely to do something