• Apple pulls WhatsApp, Threads and Signal from app store in China
• With China’s EV sector at top speed, Beijing eyes ‘economical’ hydrogen-power vehicles amid green energy transition
• China’s PLA accuses US of ‘militarising space’ with Elon Musk’s Starshield satellite network
• Why Germany has little choice but to continue to cosy up to China
• 2 Chinese giant pandas destined for San Francisco next year
• China’s drought-hit Yunnan braced for ‘worst case scenario’ as key grain, power, aluminium hub faces worst dry spell in 60 years
• Huawei’s new Pura 70 series smartphone poses a threat to iPhone sales in China, say analysts
• The dark side of growing old | China
• Apple pulls social media giant Meta’s WhatsApp and Threads services from China App Store amid country’s tightened internet regulation
• Tragic death of China teenager ‘encouraged’ to give blood 16 times in 8 months for cash sparks online anger
• Japanese nationals escape Pakistan suicide attack, as separatist groups target foreigners, including Chinese migrant workers
• Taiwan Strait may face ‘political tsunami’ in 2025 but young hearts can save the day: mainland China journal
• Communist Party’s security chief to visit Russia ahead of Putin’s expected China trip as law enforcement ties grow
• [Sport] Norris on Chinese GP sprint pole ahead of Hamilton
• China penalises US acid imports in tit-for-tat move as trade relations grow caustic
• Philippine universities defend Chinese students on Taiwan-facing province: ‘blatant racism, Sinophobia’
• Chinese warships’ ‘exclusive’ access at Cambodia port raises new questions about its purpose: US report
• China mother and son, 27, jailed for kidnap of stranger girl, 11, they wanted as ‘perfect’ wife after child’s family rejected advances
• Chinese team links mosquito gut bacteria to disease-free zones, offering hope of biocontrol solution for dengue, Zika
• America’s moves against Chinese biotech will hurt patients at home | Leaders
• Israel ‘unhappy’ with China’s response to Iran, more Hongkongers seek divorce: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week
• US returns cultural relics to China as part of antiquity repatriation deal
• Jimmy Lai plotted to trigger mainland China’s collapse and install US-style democracy, Hong Kong court hears
• [Sport] Stroll fastest in Chinese GP practice
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• Setback for China in Solomon Islands as pro-Beijing provincial leader loses election
• China’s diplomats working abroad are about to get ‘very rare’ pay rise, sources say
• [Business] Why a deluge of Chinese-made drugs is hard to curb
• China’s 4 new ‘AI tigers’ – Baichuan, Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI and MiniMax – emerge as investor favourites
• China badminton player paralysed after standing on stray cat in stadium during game, court orders feline ‘keeper’ pay US$33,000 in compensation
• Lenovo and Alibaba team up to build AI computers, as generative AI race heats up in China
• US firms MSCI, BlackRock ‘funnelled’ billions to Chinese companies accused of human rights abuses: panel
• Will the US’ tough tariff talk taint Antony Blinken’s trip to China?
• Chinese smartphone vendor OnePlus faces potential wider sales ban in India amid complaints raised by another retail group

Apple pulls WhatsApp, Threads and Signal from app store in China

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/04/19/apple-whatsapp-threads-china/2024-04-19T11:51:56.662Z

Apple has removed several widely used communications platforms from its app store in China at the request of the Chinese government.

The tech giant confirmed Friday that the Cyberspace Administration of China, a government censor and internet regulator, cited national security concerns in ordering the apps to be removed.

“We are obligated to follow the laws in the countries where we operate, even when we disagree,” the company said in a statement.

Although Apple didn’t specify which apps it removed, analytics company Appfigures said WhatsApp, Threads, Signal and Telegram are no longer in the app store. Meta, which owns WhatsApp and Threads, referred a request for comment to Apple.

The popular apps can be used to exchange information and share documents on a massive scale, making them useful to political dissidents around the world.

Chinese consumers are limited by tight regulations concerning political expression, disallowing opposition to the ruling Chinese Communist Party. China’s government firewall already blocks access to the WhatsApp network, although users can access them through virtual private networks. Now, the apps simply won’t be available for download.

Apple’s action comes amid growing tensions between the U.S. and China over consumer technology. The U.S. Senate is considering a bill targeting the popular social media app TikTok, owned by a Chinese parent company, by forcing a sale or facing a ban.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

With China’s EV sector at top speed, Beijing eyes ‘economical’ hydrogen-power vehicles amid green energy transition

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3259633/chinas-ev-sector-top-speed-beijing-eyes-economical-hydrogen-power-vehicles-amid-green-energy?utm_source=rss_feed

Following the meteoric rise of China’s electric vehicle sector, Beijing is betting on hydrogen-powered vehicles as it eyes the possibility of becoming a global leader for the new clean energy source.

Policymakers from central and local authorities have released a variety of incentives and attempted to create new business applications by leveraging China’s massive domestic market.

The southwest province of Sichuan said this week that it was considering scrapping highway tolls for hydrogen-powered vehicles, while also considering lifting restrictions on intracity access for hydrogen-powered trucks.

It also plans to build hydrogen refuelling stations, while also providing subsidies based on the standard of the charging stations.

A month earlier, the eastern Shandong province waived tolls for hydrogen-powered vehicles on its highways for the next two years.

Last week, China also conducted its first long-distance test of two hydrogen-powered heavy trucks, travelling from Beijing to Shanghai over two days.

The operation covered 1,500km (932 miles), crossed six provinces and cities and refuelled at seven hydrogen filling stations, the China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, also known as Sinopec, said on Wednesday.

“[Sichuan’s move] will make the use of hydrogen-powered vehicles an economical choice [compared to diesel-fuelled trucks],” said Pang Junwen, an analyst with Guotai Junan Securities.

China’s largest oil and gas producer said it has built 11 hydrogen fuel supply centres and 128 hydrogen refueling stations.

Hydrogen is a carbon-neutral energy source that offers the benefits of rapid refuelling, making it suitable for large commercial vehicles.

Pang estimated sales of fuel cell vehicles - which use hydrogen as fuel - in China would surpass 10,000 units in 2024 after sales last year rose by 72 per cent year on year to 5,800.

China has already become a major producer of electric vehicles, lithium batteries and solar cells, and Beijing sees hydrogen energy as a new avenue for cultivating emerging technologies and industries.

It could serve as a potent economic growth engine, while also addressing China’s reliance on oil imports amid geopolitical uncertainty, as well as its carbon emission goals.

China, though, is a late starter as South Korea developed its first hydrogen-powered car by 2000, while Japan launched its first mass-produced hydrogen fuel cell car in 2014.

Beijing’s ambition has been partly encouraged by its success in the electric vehicle sector, with China the world’s top producer and consumer, as well as a global leader in green energy transition.

China’s hydrogen hopes chug on as train trial aims to keep green agenda on track

Authorities unveiled China’s first national-level hydrogen energy development plan in 2022, envisioning wider use of trains, cars, trucks and ships by 2025, as well as annual production of between 100,000 tonnes and 200,000 tonnes of “green hydrogen energy” from renewable sources.

China has tested its first hydrogen-powered passenger train, which is said to be capable of travelling at least 1,000km.

State-owned train maker CRRC said that hydrogen-powered commuter trains running 500km per day could reduce carbon dioxide emissions by more than 10,000kg (22,000 pounds) a year.

China’s hydrogen energy industry is expected to reach an output value of 100 billion yuan (US$13.8 billion) by 2025, with nearly 60 million tonnes of demand by 2050, according to the China Hydrogen Energy Alliance.

China’s PLA accuses US of ‘militarising space’ with Elon Musk’s Starshield satellite network

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3259677/chinas-pla-accuses-us-militarising-space-elon-musks-starshield-satellite-network?utm_source=rss_feed

The official newspaper of China’s military has accused the United States of “militarising space” by building a sophisticated spy satellite network with Elon Musk’s SpaceX, causing “huge challenges” for information and space asset security of “other countries”.

The Starshield unit of the US entrepreneur’s space business is reportedly developing a constellation of hundreds of low-Earth orbit satellites that would allow the US government and military to “quickly spot potential targets almost anywhere on the globe”.

According to Reuters, Starshield and the National Reconnaissance Office, a Washington intelligence agency that manages spy satellites, signed a classified US$1.8 billion contract in 2021.

In the Ukraine and Gaza wars, advanced satellite internet and communication have provided military advantages, opening up a new arena for US-China tech rivalry.

How Chinese scientists made satellite calls on smartphones possible

A commentary in military mouthpiece PLA Daily on Friday said such a network of satellites could potentially “warn and intercept missiles and control unmanned combat platforms remotely”, and could play “an extremely important role on the battlefield”.

The planned Starshield network “has not only upgraded its secure communication capabilities” from the Starlink satellite internet system, “but further expanded its Earth observation and payload capabilities”, the commentary said.

Satellites in low-Earth orbit – altitudes of 2,000km (1,200 miles) or less – provide better signals with shorter delays. Payloads such as transponders, imaging sensors, and space environmental monitors, can be attached to those satellites.

In the commentary, PLA Daily criticised the US for increasingly “militarising the transformation and development of low-orbit satellites” by cooperating with civilian and commercial entities, which it said “highlighted the US ambition to seize orbital resources and pursue space hegemony”.

The programme to engage Starshield for such military purposes also “posed huge challenges to information and space asset security to other countries”, the commentary said.

“In recent regional military conflicts, the United States has relied on its space military capabilities to intervene in other countries by providing information support through ‘non-combatant means’,” it said.

“This type of action has brought great challenges to maintaining regional peace and stability.”

SpaceX has been providing its civilian-focused Starlink satellite internet service to Ukraine since the early stages of the war. Since June 2023, the cost has been covered by Washington.

In February, Starlink was also given a licence to operate in Israel and parts of the Gaza Strip.

Chinese state-owned enterprises are developing rivals to Musk’s Starlink, such as the G60 Starlink and the Guo Wang project. In 2022, Beijing introduced a five-year space programme that included a goal to establish “satellite remote-sensing systems”.

US says China is boosting Russia’s war machine in Ukraine

China is also vying to put satellites in very low-Earth orbit – altitudes under 300km – which costs less and can offer higher resolution images. But because such devices are closer to Earth, more satellites are needed to cover a specific area, making the network more complex.

The PLA has also been expanding its space warfare capabilities, which operate under the Strategic Support Force, established directly under the top Communist Party military apparatus in 2015.

It is tasked with overseeing the military’s space force and coordinating the uses of emerging civilian innovations for future “intelligence warfare”.

Why Germany has little choice but to continue to cosy up to China

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3259323/why-germany-has-little-choice-continue-cosy-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Whether Berlin would walk back economic relations with Beijing has been the subject of heated debates over the past few years. However, Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to China this week shows that realism and a self-survival instinct continue to trump idealism in geopolitics – even in Germany.

Scholz ended his three-day visit on Tuesday with a private meeting with President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Beforehand, Scholz said there was a lot to discuss, especially how Xi could “contribute more to a just peace in Ukraine”.

“The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and Russia’s rearmament have had a very significant negative effect on security in Europe,” Scholz said at the meeting at the Diaoyutai state guest house. “They directly affect our core interests.”

Xi mainly repeated well-known phrases. “Together we can breathe more stability and security into the world,” he told the chancellor – and said China was not involved in the Ukraine crisis.

But the real message of the trip was somewhat different. Despite Germany’s China strategy published last year – in which Beijing is defined as a partner, competitor and systemic rival – and despite public criticism of Beijing on Taiwan and human rights, as well as talk of “de-risking”, a fruitful economic relationship with China has been and remains Germany’s main focus.

Xi’s remarks that Sino-German cooperation was not a risk, but an opportunity, will have been music to Scholz’s ears.

That is particularly so given that his policy is a de facto continuation of Angela Merkel’s pragmatic approach to China, which she championed during her 16 years in office, delivering immense prosperity for both sides despite critics in Germany and Brussels alike.

If there had been any doubt that Scholz is inclined to maintain the status quo, it is now gone. His visit confirmed that the economy takes precedence – evidenced in the fact that he spent three days in China, his longest bilateral visit since taking office.

He started in Chongqing, one of the world’s largest cities with a population of 32 million, then went to Shanghai before finally meeting Xi in Beijing.

Tellingly, top German business leaders travelled with Scholz, plus the ministers for agriculture, the environment and transport – but not the foreign minister. Scholz also made it clear there was “no interest in an economic decoupling from China”.

Thus, the message to Beijing was clear: the German chancellor is travelling to three different cities over three days with a delegation primarily focused on economic issues, before addressing a few other critical issues with Xi.

It is unclear whether Scholz even brought up human rights issues during his visit. So how did Berlin go from the harsh tones towards China during the last election campaign and, indeed, over the past year – and which included terms like “values-based” foreign policy – to a business-as-usual approach?

The easiest answer is that, despite all the idealistic thoughts in Berlin, global challenges can no longer be solved without China. This applies to combating climate change, debt relief for the Global South and resolving the war in Ukraine as well as the Middle East crisis.

But the main rationale behind Scholz’s modus operandi is self-preservation. The grand coalition’s poll numbers are abysmal. Scholz’s Social Democratic Party finds itself at a low of 15 per cent, trailing the far-right Alternative for Germany (18 per cent) and the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, on 30 per cent, according to Politico.

Scholz’s approval numbers are equally bad. In a Statistica poll in January that asked Germans how he was doing as chancellor, 67 per cent said “badly”. Two years ago, 71 per cent thought he was doing “well”. If an election were held tomorrow, Scholz would most likely no longer be chancellor.

As in most industrialised nations, Germany’s elections are primarily decided by economic circumstances and the leader’s persona. Much to Scholz’s dismay, the German economy has been in crisis for four years. Last month, the country’s leading economic institutes had to correct their growth forecasts for the year: down from 1.3 per cent to just 0.1 per cent.

Scholz likes to blame others for this – primarily Russian President Vladimir Putin, who caused an economic shock with his war in Ukraine. While that may be factually sound, it’s not a valid excuse. Other countries have also been affected – but their economies have recovered faster.

The ugly truth is that the power of Germany’s economy is heavily connected to its business relationship with China. In 2019, German exports accounted for 48.5 per cent of all European Union exports to China.

Moreover, German companies, unlike their Japanese or American counterparts, continue to invest heavily in China, putting in more than US$11 billion in the past year alone.

Despite ‘de-risking’ talk, Scholz’s Germany has not turned away from China

Without this alliance of convenience, the German economy would find itself in a real crisis, one that could not be mitigated before the next election and Scholz, like Merkel before him, knows this.

The seriousness of the situation is perhaps best illustrated by the fact that Germany’s pro-China approach stands in stark contrast to the approach of Brussels and the US. In particular, US President Joe Biden has been trying hard to form a united front against Beijing.

But Germany will not be part of it. With the harsh economic reality hitting home, Scholz has been forced to abandon any idealistic views in favour of realpolitik – for the country’s sake, and his own.

2 Chinese giant pandas destined for San Francisco next year

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259674/2-chinese-giant-pandas-destined-san-francisco-next-year?utm_source=rss_feed

China will send a pair of giant pandas to San Francisco next year, a Chinese conservation group said on Friday, following a trip to the country by the city’s mayor, London Breed.

The announcement is an apparent goodwill gesture ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s expected trip to China next week.

Breed and the China Wildlife Conservation Association confirmed the agreement for what will be the first official giant panda lease for the US tech hub since Washington and Beijing established diplomatic relations.

Breed said on X that the two giant pandas would “honour our deep cultural connections and our Chinese and [Asian-American and Pacific Islander] heritage”.

She thanked the association and China’s National Forestry and Grassland Administration for helping to realise the agreement, saying it was a “collaborative effort requiring months of coordination and advocacy”.

Zoo Atlanta is the only US facility still hosting giant pandas, but the programme will lapse at the end of this year, when all four pandas are expected to return to China.

However, China signed a panda lease agreement with San Diego Zoo earlier this year and similar talks were also under way with Washington’s National Zoo.

Breed’s trip to China began on Saturday and includes stops in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Guangzhou, Beijing, and Shanghai. She will return to San Francisco on Sunday.

According to her social media posts, Breed met Shenzhen mayor Qin Weizhong, her Guangzhou counterpart Sun Zhiyang, and US ambassador to China Nicholas Burns.

She also met Vice-President Han Zheng and vice foreign minister Ma Zhaoxu.

In addition, Breed met Liu Jianchao, the Communist Party’s diplomatic head, in Beijing on Friday.

Noting the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden in San Francisco in November, Liu said China and the US should boost cooperation on “trade and investment, science and technology, culture and tourism, and people-to-people exchanges”, according to the Chinese foreign ministry.

“The close relationship between China and San Francisco is a vivid portrayal of the close intermingling of interests between China and the US,” Liu said.

Breed said San Francisco would strengthen cooperation with China in various areas, including the controversial sectors of artificial intelligence and electric vehicles.

Pandas coming back to US as China’s ‘envoys for friendship’

Breed’s visit is the latest in a series of high-profile communications between the two countries in recent months.

Xi and Biden spoke on the phone two weeks ago ahead of a visit to China by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and a meeting in Washington this week between Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China, and Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman.

Blinken will reportedly go to China next week, a trip that China’s foreign ministry said “Beijing welcomes”.

China’s drought-hit Yunnan braced for ‘worst case scenario’ as key grain, power, aluminium hub faces worst dry spell in 60 years

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3259628/chinas-drought-hit-yunnan-braced-worst-case-scenario-key-grain-power-aluminium-hub-faces-worst-dry?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s key southwest province of Yunnan is facing its worst drought in six decades, threatening local grain, hydropower and aluminium production.

After the Ministry of Water Resources estimated a 42.3 per cent decrease in rainfall in the province compared to normal levels this year, minister Li Guoying conducted a three-day trip to Yunnan earlier this week.

Yunnan is one of China’s leading hydropower producers, but it is facing ongoing challenges to its agriculture and energy systems due to the prolonged drought.

“We must get ready for the worst case scenario and prepare to prevent a prolonged and widespread drought,” said Li.

6 things to know about China’s GM food progress amid its food security push

The ministry said the drought would continue to develop in some areas of the province having rolled out its level four emergency protocols – the lowest in its four-tier system – last month.

It also asked local governments to ensure water security for residents, while also meeting the water requirements for livestock and crops.

According to the local government of Lijiang city, the drought has led to drinking water shortages for 7,775 large livestock and has affected 659.13 hectares (1,629 acres) of crops, resulting in an economic loss of 6.9154 million yuan (US$955,130) within the region up to early April.

Yunnan is home to six of China’s top 10 hydroelectric power plants in terms of generating capacity, and is a major supplier of electricity to China’s top manufacturing hub of Guangdong province.

However, the persistent drought has led to a 10.9 per cent year on year decrease in the province’s hydropower generation in the first quarter, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

China reported last year that its southwestern province was facing one of its worst droughts since 1961, with a 16.7 per cent decrease in rain compared to the average, resulting in a 5.2 per cent reduction in hydropower generation.

In response to the water shortage, Yunnan has been exploring alternative energy sources, with thermal power generation increasing by 13.5 per cent year on year in the first quarter.

China’s looks to stop ripple effect as southwest struggles with drought

Wind and photovoltaic power generation also surged by 61.2 per cent and 163.7 per cent, respectively, resulting in a 6.9 per cent year on year increase in Yunnan’s overall power generation in the first quarter.

Yunnan is also a major producer of energy-intensive aluminium, a material extensively used in the manufacturing of aircraft, ships, cars, industrial wiring and construction materials.

But affected by the hydropower shortage, the operating rate of the industry fell from nearly 92 per cent in November to nearly 80 per cent in December, according to Sublime China Information, a Shandong-based commodity information services company.

Yunnan province warns power crisis could continue, caps smelting to cope

In the first two months of the year, the operating rate for Yunnan’s aluminium enterprises stood at around 79 per cent.

The figure had dropped to 60 per cent during last year’s drought from March to June, the company said earlier this month.

The drought is expected to intensify, with temperatures in Yunnan set to rise further and precipitation continuing to decrease, according to the province’s Department of Emergency Management.

The drought would also adversely affect the production of oilseed rape and winter wheat in the province, China’s National Meteorological Centre said last week.

Huawei’s new Pura 70 series smartphone poses a threat to iPhone sales in China, say analysts

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3259655/huaweis-new-pura-70-series-smartphone-poses-threat-iphone-sales-china-say-analysts?utm_source=rss_feed

Huawei Technologies’ new Pura 70 series is posing a further threat to Apple in the world’s biggest smartphone market, as the Chinese tech giant eyes retaking the top spot on its home turf this year, analysts say.

The Pura 70 line is expected to generate global shipments of around 10.4 million this year, compared to the company’s previous P60 series that only shipped 1.8 million units and the Mate 60 Pro series that sold 6.2 million in China last year, according to a report by TechInsights on Thursday.

The Pura 70 series will be one of the key competitors for the iPhone 15 and 16 series in 2024, after Apple’s flagship models posted double-digit annual declines on the mainland Chinese market in the first quarter of this year, TechInsights analyst Linda Sui wrote in the report.

TechInsights predicted that Huawei would ship over 50 million smartphones in China this year, enabling it to regain No 1 position with 19 per cent market share, up from 12 per cent in 2023.

Apple CEO Tim Cook mulls first manufacturing facility in Indonesia

Huawei’s Pura 70 Pro and Pura 70 Ultra officially hit the shelves on Thursday, priced as high as 10,999 yuan (US$1,400) for the Ultra version. After weeks of speculation about the launch and pre-order arrangements, online channels ran out of stock shortly after the sale started, and there were long queues of people at the company’s physical stores.

On Friday, one of Huawei’s flagship stores in Shenzhen, the company’s home base, saw customers lining up just to make reservations, without any guarantee of when they could receive their handsets. Customers who successfully make their reservation will receive a text message notifying them of pick up arrangements in later days, according to a store representative on Friday.

The Pura 70 series has seen “good initial demand”, which was not a surprise given Huawei’s premium brand name and the marketing effect it created with the “blind” pre-orders, said Will Wong, senior research manager for client devices at IDC Asia-Pacific.

The flagship models of the Mate and Pura series, previously known as the P series, will help Huawei advance further in China’s smartphone market in 2024, after it ranked fourth in the market in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Wong.

“There’s a good chance [to be back in the top five], especially since Huawei has a more well-rounded 5G product portfolio now, ranging from the flagship series to the Nova series,” Wong said.

The release of the Pura 70 models has been closely watched by the industry, as it represents Huawei’s biggest flagship handset launch since the Mate 60 Pro in August 2023, which generated attention around the world for its use of a Chinese-made processor, the Kirin 9000s.

The 7-nanometre Kirin 9000s was reportedly manufactured by Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, despite US export restrictions seeking to limit China’s advanced chip-making capabilities.

While Huawei did not reveal details of the processors that power the Pura 70 series, analysts believe the new line will use the company’s own Kirin chips. Some tech reviewers also posted test results on social media, showing the high-end models in the series were using Kirin 9010 chips.

Huawei was added to a US trade blacklist in May 2019, forcing the former smartphone leader to skip some planned product launches, severely hobbling its once-lucrative handset business.

US lawmakers blast Biden after Huawei unveils laptop with new Intel chip

Last August, the tech giant quietly released what was its first 5G handset in three years, the Mate 60 Pro, which proved immensely popular in China, where it became a patriotic symbol of overcoming US attempts to curb its geopolitical rival’s technological advances. The momentum helped Huawei retake the No 1 spot in the domestic smartphone market in the first two weeks of this year, according to a report from research firm Counterpoint.

However, the robust demand for the Mate 60 Pro led to constraints in production during 2023, partly due to the secrecy surrounding the advanced Kirin 9000s processor.

The Pura 70 series is expected to face some supply constraints, but Huawei has been making preparations to alleviate those, according to IDC’s Wong.

The dark side of growing old | China

https://www.economist.com/china/2024/04/18/the-dark-side-of-growing-old

Mr ZHANG HAS stared down death during his 90 years on Earth. He has been diagnosed with cancer twice. During his latest bout doctors gave him 18 months to live. “That was 16 years ago,” he recalls wryly. Trim, snowy-haired and energetic—the key is “no exercise” and “no smoking”, he says—the retired manager cuts a dash in a blue shirt, green trousers and black cotton slippers. Yet on this spring afternoon in the city of Hangzhou, Mr Zhang is afraid. Not of death, but of dementia. In his youth, the old who lost their faculties were called “crazy”. Later the Chinese learned about a disease named by foreigners: Alzheimer’s. He has feared it for years. Advanced sufferers cannot recognise their families and so always feel alone or numb, he sighs: “That is the most terrible thing.” Quietly he adds that he has begun to forget things.

Mr Zhang is luckier than many. He lives in his own apartment with his wife (88). Hangzhou is one of China’s richest cities. His home district of Gongshu is a pioneer, used to test government plans for tackling dementia, a disease on the rise as China ages.

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Apple pulls social media giant Meta’s WhatsApp and Threads services from China App Store amid country’s tightened internet regulation

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3259631/apple-pulls-social-media-giant-metas-whatsapp-and-threads-services-china-app-store-amid-countrys?utm_source=rss_feed

Apple has removed two of Meta Platforms’ popular apps, messaging service WhatsApp and social network Threads, from its mainland China App Store as part of the US technology giant’s efforts to comply with the country’s tightened internet regulations.

All traces of WhatsApp – the world’s most popular messaging app, with more than 2 billion monthly active users in 2023 – and Threads, which has soared in popularity on the mainland since its launch last July, are now gone from the domestic App Store, according to a search by the Post on Friday.

Chinese regulatory authorities had ordered the removal of those two apps over national security concerns, according to Apple.

“We are obligated to follow the laws in the countries where we operate, even when we disagree,” Apple said in a statement cited in a report by The Wall Street Journal, which first broke the news. “These apps remain available for download on all other storefronts where they appear.”

In an emailed statement, Meta said: “We refer you to Apple for comment.”

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday.

Two other messaging services, Telegram and Signal, have also been dropped from Apple’s mainland App Store, according to a Bloomberg report on Friday.

Apple’s latest actions at the behest of Chinese authorities show how the US firm continues to navigate shifting mainland regulations amid tensions between Washington and Beijing.

Cupertino, California-based Apple last October updated guidelines on its Chinese app developer website to reflect the latest government policy that requires the licensing of all domestic apps before these can be made available on the mainland App Store. This policy effectively requires all apps to use a mainland domain and be hosted by a local entity.

Beyond obtaining an Internet Information Provider licence from Chinese regulators, apps geared for mainland users are also expected to satisfy various censorship policies and standards, including updated data transfer rules.

More restrictive licensing processes also exist on the mainland for apps containing materials related to video gaming, books, magazines, religion and news.

In August last year, Apple pulled more than a hundred apps offering ChatGPT-like services from its China App store, ahead of the implementation of new domestic regulation on generative artificial intelligence.

China’s Great Firewall has long cordoned off the world’s largest internet market from various American internet services and mobile apps. That has led to the increased use of virtual private network (VPN) services on the mainland to bypass online restrictions.

While Meta’s Facebook and popular photo- and video-sharing app Instagram remain accessible in Apple’s mainland App Store, those services can only be used in the country with the aid of VPNs.

Tragic death of China teenager ‘encouraged’ to give blood 16 times in 8 months for cash sparks online anger

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3256313/tragic-death-china-teenager-encouraged-give-blood-16-times-8-months-cash-sparks-online-anger?utm_source=rss_feed

The death of a 19-year-old in China, who died suddenly after being “encouraged” to donate blood plasma 16 times in eight months, has caused a public uproar online.

On January 15, Zhao Wei, from Xinzhou city, in Shanxi province, northern China, unexpectedly passed away at home, soon after he had returned from working to help support his family.

The next day, his father, Zhao Zhijie, found receipts under his mattress that revealed Zhao Wei’s extensive plasma donations between May and December last year.

Plasma is collected through an automated process that separates plasma from other blood components, then safely and comfortably returns your red blood cells and platelets to you.

The receipts showed that the younger Zhao had donated plasma 16 times in the eight months before his death, with the shortest interval between donations just 12 days. There was even one month in which he donated three times.

A medical report on January 5 further revealed that he was diagnosed with palpitations, severe anaemia and a blood disorder.

On the day he died, Zhao junior had told his friend on WeChat that he was not feeling well, saying: “I’ve been feeling too weak to do anything.”

“It’s because your body has reached its limit. Stop donating blood. You need to eat well and recover fully first before considering other things,” a friend told him.

While blood donation is a voluntary and charitable act involving the extraction of whole blood from the donor and is allowed only once every six months, giving plasma can be run as a commercial activity.

It is typically conducted at blood stations operated by private companies and involves collecting only the plasma.

The regulations issued by the National Health Commission in 2021 stipulate that the interval between plasma donations must be no less than 14 days, and the total donations cannot exceed 24 in a year.

Under these guidelines, Zhao Wei’s donations, especially with intervals as short as 12 days, were in clear violation.

WeChat conversation records revealed how Zhao was involved in the plasma donation process. Each time, an intermediary would arrange transport to pick him up and pay him 260 to 300 yuan (US$36 to 42).

Zhao Wei once inquired whether he should donate on October 30 or wait until November 1, questioning if a third donation within one month was permissible. To this, the intermediary quickly answered: “30.”

Following Zhao’s death, his father demanded the plasma collection company be held accountable.

“They seduce these young people into frequently ‘selling blood’, which led to my son’s long-term, frequent blood donations,” he told Xinhuanghe, the new media platform of Jinan Daily Newspapering Group.

“This resulted in his blood regeneration dysfunction and ultimately his death. They must be held accountable,” he said.

“My son is gone, and nothing can bring him back. As a father, all I seek is justice for my son. I need this resolution because I cannot let this go.”

Despite the apparent rule violation, on March 18, Xinzhou Tiantan Biological Single Plasma Collection, responded that Zhao Wei met the requirements, and the company had strictly adhered to national regulations.

“Relevant authorities have been engaged. We are proceeding according to the directives of these authorities. Should any procedure be found improper, legal action can be pursued,” a member of staff said.

The Xinfu District Health Commission the incident is under investigation.

The teenager’s death has ignited outrage online.

“This isn’t blood donation! It’s selling plasma at a plasma collection station,” one person said.

“Luring donors that leads to the death of young people is a serious matter; the plasma collection company must be strictly punished,” said another.

“Why so many donations at such a young age? Losing such a vibrant life is heartbreakingly tragic,” a third wrote.

Japanese nationals escape Pakistan suicide attack, as separatist groups target foreigners, including Chinese migrant workers

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/3259660/japanese-nationals-escape-pakistan-suicide-attack-separatist-groups-target-foreigners-including?utm_source=rss_feed

Five Japanese nationals in Pakistan escaped unhurt on Friday from a suicide bomb attack on their vehicle as police shot down a gunman accompanying the bomber, a police spokesperson said, but two bystanders were among the three injured.

Islamist militants seeking to overthrow the government and set up their own strict brand of Islamic rule have launched some of Pakistan’s bloodiest attacks during the last few years, with some separatist groups targeting foreigners, including Chinese.

Pakistan ramped up security for Chinese engineers working on Beijing-linked projects in March after several workers were killed in a suicide attack.

That attack came days after security forces killed at least seven militants as they attempted to storm the offices of Gwadar Port in southwest Pakistan, considered a cornerstone of Chinese investment.

China condemns Pakistan bombing that killed belt and road project workers

In recent years, Beijing has poured billions of dollars into projects in Pakistan. But these have sparked resentment in Balochistan province – where Gwadar is located – and Chinese citizens have frequently come under attack.

No militant group immediately claimed responsibility for the rare attack on Japanese nationals, however, with Pakistani authorities identifying them as engineers working for the management of an export processing zone in the port city.

The Japanese have been moved to a safe place in police custody, the spokesperson, Abrar Hussain Baloch, said, although the bystanders and a guard with the visitors suffered injuries.

“The police mobile unit, which was nearby, responded to the attackers quickly and the security guards of the foreign guests responded immediately,” Baloch added.

In Tokyo, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said that one Japanese national was confirmed to have been injured, and the government was checking details, having flagged the risk to other citizens in Pakistan.

Japan has “issued an alert to Japanese nationals living in Pakistan in response to the incident,” he added.

One of the two motorcycle-borne attackers set off explosives tied to his body as soon as the vehicle slowed, Pakistani counterterrorism official Raja Umar Khatab told reporters, but failed to strike his targe

That prompted his accomplice to start shooting at the vehicle.

“I think he fired some 15 or 16 shots,” Khatab said, adding that private security guards with the foreigners and a nearby police patrol returned fire and killed the second attacker.

The men had followed the Japanese group’s vehicle for some time before the attack, he said, with authorities suspecting they carried out reconnaissance to identify the target and location of the attack.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif condemned the attack, praising the timely police action for saving lives.

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Taiwan Strait may face ‘political tsunami’ in 2025 but young hearts can save the day: mainland China journal

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3259669/taiwan-strait-may-face-political-tsunami-2025-young-hearts-can-save-day-mainland-china-journal?utm_source=rss_feed

Political risks across the Taiwan Strait were likely to spike next year but younger Taiwanese could still be won over on social media, observers in mainland China said in a recent article.

According to the article in Cross-Taiwan Strait Studies, a mainland journal focused on Taiwan affairs, a period of “instability” and uncertainty” has set in since self-ruled Taiwan chose independence-leaning candidate William Lai Ching-te to be its next president.

Lai, the sitting vice-president from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, was elected on January 13 with nearly 40 per cent of the vote, in an election framed by Beijing as a choice between war and peace.

Lai might adopt “low profile” and “moderate” cross-strait policies after taking office next month, and was unlikely to declare “de jure Taiwan independence” any time soon, the article said.

But, in the long term, Lai might bring “high” risks such as decoupling with the mainland economy, and even “very high” risks of “causing major accidental incidents” in the strait, it added.

Ma urges Taiwan’s next president to respond ‘pragmatically’ to Xi’s ‘olive branch’

Co-authored by Wang Zhenwei, director of the politics department under Xiamen University’s Graduate Institute for Taiwan Studies, the article also warned of “extremely high” risks of a re-elected Lai “colluding” with the United States and Japan.

The institute is a major mainland think tank on Taiwan affairs. Tan Xin, a graduate of the institute, was the other author.

The write-up was posted on the cross-strait journal’s social media account earlier on Friday but is no longer available on the site.

Beijing has made no secret of its attitude towards Lai – who has described himself in the past as a “pragmatic independence worker” – slamming him in the run-up to the election as a “separatist”, “troublemaker” and “stubborn ‘Taiwan independence’ activist”.

However, the article suggested that Beijing was still watching his behaviour for further evaluation, though the situation might become further complicated after the US presidential election in November.

The article also said that Beijing would “carry out crisis management” over Lai ahead of his May 20 inauguration, but did not elaborate.

From May 20 to November 5, US election day, the situation in the Taiwan Strait would be “peaceful winds and waves”, the article said. “There may be a period of waiting, pause, and watching between China and the United States and between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.”

But the strait might be hit by a political “tsunami” in 2025, the article warned, because Lai might become more “radical” ahead of local elections in Taiwan the following year, and through possible collaboration with Donald Trump, if the Republican were to return to the White House.

The article came just weeks after a phone call between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden, when Xi said that bilateral relations this year should “focus on stability” and “no troublemaking”. He also said that Beijing would not allow foreign countries to support Taiwan independence activities.

Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory awaiting reunification, by force if necessary. The United States, like most countries, does not recognise the self-ruled island as independent but is opposed to any attempt to take it by force and remains committed to supplying Taipei with weapons.

In December 2016, then president-elect Trump broke with tradition to hold a phone conversation with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who had taken office earlier that year. The Trump administration also scaled up arms sales to Taiwan, angering Beijing.

‘Two sessions’ 2024: Premier Li Qiang decries ‘external interference’ in Taiwan

Lai might “become a peace destroyer in the Taiwan Strait”, and a ‘combination’ of Trump and Lai would trigger “a political tsunami in the Taiwan Strait”, the article said.

However, Beijing may still have room for leverage, the article said, as Lai may have won the presidential vote but the DPP lost its legislative majority. The Beijing-friendly opposition Kuomintang emerged as the single largest party in the legislature in January’s election.

Meanwhile, Beijing sees that the majority public opinion in Taiwan leans towards seeking peace, cross-strait exchanges, cooperation and development, the article said, adding that the generation aged 10-24 years was the main group whose hearts must be won.

Social media platforms such as TikTok and its mainland version Douyin, as well as Xiaohongshu or “little red book”, China’s version of Instagram, are very popular among younger Taiwanese, it said.

“As long as the mainland works properly, it can win the support of Taiwan’s Generation Z and create a rational and pragmatic young generation.”

Communist Party’s security chief to visit Russia ahead of Putin’s expected China trip as law enforcement ties grow

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259675/communist-partys-security-chief-visit-russia-ahead-putins-expected-china-trip-law-enforcement-ties?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s top security official Chen Wenqing will visit Russia ahead of an anticipated visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin to China next month as law enforcement cooperation between Beijing and Moscow continues to grow.

Chen, a member of the Communist Party’s Politburo and secretary of the Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, has been invited to attend the 12th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues, the Chinese foreign ministry announced on Friday. He will visit Russia from Sunday to April 28, it said.

His visit will come about a month after 133 people were killed at a concert hall near Moscow in Russia’s worst terrorist attack in recent decades.

Use the law to tackle terrorism in Xinjiang, China’s security chief says

Chen was promoted to China’s top security job overseeing police and intelligence during the leadership reshuffle in October 2022. He previously served as state security minister.

In May 2023, Chen spoke at the 11th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues in Moscow, stressing that China would promote common international security while continuing to protect its own security.

During that visit, he met Russian spy chief Sergey Naryshkin and Nikolai Patrushev, secretary of Russia’s Security Council. The two sides agreed to deepen cooperation to safeguard their security interests.

These visits took place under the China-Russia law enforcement and security cooperation mechanism set up in 2014. Bilateral meetings are held annually to discuss issues such as national security and counterterrorism.

China and Russia have moved closer on security in recent years amid rising tensions with the West. Chinese President Xi Jinping met Putin in Moscow in March of last year, and the two leaders discussed issues ranging from bilateral cooperation to the war in Ukraine and Beijing’s proposed peace plan.

Putin reportedly plans to visit China in May as the two countries mark the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations, but Russian presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov said last week that he could not confirm the timing of Putin’s visit.

China’s Xi condemns Moscow shooting as ‘severe terrorist attack’ in message to Putin

Xi and Putin will also meet this year on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation gathering to be held in Kazakhstan and the Brics summit in Russia with leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov confirmed earlier this month.

Lavrov met Xi in Beijing last week. The two pledged to defend a multipolar world and jointly condemned Western-led “bloc confrontation” in their talks. Xi said China was willing to increase strategic coordination with Russia within multilateral frameworks to “promote reform” of the global system.

The two countries have increased their economic relationship while also boosting cooperation in areas such as the military, artificial intelligence and space.

Last year, China’s total trade with Russia hit a record high of US$240 billion, up 26 per cent from the previous year, making Russia the sixth-biggest trading partner of mainland China, following the United States, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

China has been Russia’s biggest trading partner since 2010.

[Sport] Norris on Chinese GP sprint pole ahead of Hamilton

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/68852245

China penalises US acid imports in tit-for-tat move as trade relations grow caustic

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3259629/china-penalises-us-acid-imports-tit-tat-move-trade-relations-grow-caustic?utm_source=rss_feed

China announced on Friday it would levy anti-dumping penalties of over 40 per cent on imports of a chemical from the United States used in foods, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and drug intermediates – a retaliation against similar action from Washington as tensions build in bilateral trade.

Starting from Saturday, operators will be required to provide corresponding deposits to Chinese customs when importing propionic acid from the US, according to the Ministry of Commerce, confirming the penalties would mean 43.5 per cent of additional cost.

The ministry, having launched an investigation into the chemical – which can also inhibit the growth of mould and some bacteria as a common preservative – in July, said imports from the US had inflicted harm on the domestic industry.

The announcement followed a proposal by the US to raise tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium and a probe from the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR) into China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding industries over claims Beijing used “unfair, non-market policies and practices” to “dominate” the sector. Both were announced on Wednesday.

China’s Ministry of Commerce said on Thursday that it was “dissatisfied with” and “firmly opposes” the USTR’s investigation, and that the proposed tariffs on Chinese metal products were “typical unilateralism and protectionist practices”.

Trade tensions remain elevated between the world’s two largest economies, despite recent meetings of senior officials.

“While they continue to take tough action against each other, they also need to send signals that the relationship is being stabilised,” said Stephen Olson, a visiting lecturer and non-resident fellow at the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s Yeutter Institute of International Trade and Finance.

“China needs to do this to reassure the US and international business community that China is still a desirable place for investment, and [US President Joe] Biden needs to demonstrate to voters that he can responsibly manage the relationship with China, in contrast to what he will paint as the erratic chaos of the previous Trump administration.”

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the investigation found US imports of propionic acid remained at a relatively high level from 2019 to early 2023, occupying a market share of between 13 and 16 per cent during the first three months of last year.

“During the investigation period, the demand for propionic acid in the domestic market generally showed an increasing trend, and a favourable market environment should have been conducive to stable or rising prices,” the ministry said.

“However, the prices of [domestic and imported] products have generally shown a sharp downward trend.”

The ministry added that prices of propionic acid imported from the US had been consistently lower than similar products produced by domestic companies.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) listed rising economic fragmentation and a surge in trade restrictions as trends that could harm the medium-term outlook for the global economy in a blog post on Tuesday.

Weak domestic demand in China would likely translate to rising external surpluses, the IMF said, risking more trade tensions in an already fraught geopolitical environment.

“Many other large emerging market economies are performing strongly, sometimes benefiting from a reconfiguration of global supply chains and rising trade tensions between China and the US,” the IMF said. “These countries’ footprint on the global economy is increasing.”

Philippine universities defend Chinese students on Taiwan-facing province: ‘blatant racism, Sinophobia’

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3259636/philippine-universities-defend-foreign-students-taiwan-facing-province-blatant-racism-sinophobia?utm_source=rss_feed

Philippine universities have defended the presence of Chinese students on a province facing Taiwan, saying they brought diversity to the country and that portraying them as a threat to national security “reeked of Sinophobia”.

A group of institutions in Cagayan’s Tuguegarao City, including the Medical Colleges of the Northern Philippines and Saint Paul University Philippines, said casting aspersions on foreign students was “deeply offensive”.

“It is a blatant display of racism and Sinophobia that has no place in our society, especially within the realm of education,” it said in a joint statement on Thursday.

The coalition said the enrolment of international students in Cagayan’s universities and colleges showed their commitment to diversity and inclusivity.

Activists slam Sino-US rivalry in Philippines’ maritime zone in South China Sea

The remarks came after some lawmakers expressed alarm over the presence of more than 4,000 non-local students in the province that is also home to military bases accessed by US troops in the Philippines.

But the varsities rejected that claim, saying Saint Paul University Philippines has 486 foreign graduates while the rest have no overseas students.

The Chinese embassy in Manila also weighed in, accusing Philippine politicians of fanning “hatred of China” by linking its nationals to the long-running maritime dispute in the South China Sea.

“The unfounded accusation of our educational exchanges is yet another malicious sleight of hand to incite suspicion and hatred of China,” the diplomatic mission said, adding that academic cooperation between the two sides had been “growing fast” in recent years.

According to the Philippines’ bureau of immigration, about 1,500 foreigners were granted student visas last year.

Beijing’s response triggered criticism from Philippine Senator Ronald dela Rosa, also a former police chief, who said it was “normal for us to doubt China” due to its “aggressive behaviour” in the contested waterway.

“We know what they’re doing in the West Philippine Sea. So who wouldn’t doubt if they’re not doing anything wrong there in the West Philippine Sea? Would we doubt their presence here?” he said.

How did 36 Chinese nationals join a Philippine Coast Guard auxiliary unit?

The West Philippine Sea is the term Manila uses to describe the eastern parts of the South China Sea that are within its exclusive economic zone and territorial waters.

Dela Rosa also backed the lawmakers that sought an investigation into the presence of Chinese students in Cagayan, saying Beijing has “no right to dictate to Filipino politicians”, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.

The Southeast Asian nation has accused China’s coastguard and other boats of frequently blocking and water-cannoning its ships in the South China Sea.

Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entirety of the resource-rich waterway – where the Philippines and several other nations have competing claims – and has rejected a 2016 international ruling that ruled in favour of Manila and found no legal basis in China’s assertions.

Chinese warships’ ‘exclusive’ access at Cambodia port raises new questions about its purpose: US report

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3259617/chinese-warships-exclusive-access-cambodia-port-raises-new-questions-about-its-purpose-us-report?utm_source=rss_feed

New questions have been raised about China’s military presence at a Cambodian naval base, after a US think tank reported on Thursday that two Chinese navy ships have spent more than four months at the port.

According to satellite image analysis by the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), two Chinese corvettes have had a “consistent presence” at the China-funded Ream naval base in southern Cambodia since December 3.

The two ships from the PLA Navy – the only two vessels to have visited the pier since it went into operation – were docked at the facility 93 per cent of the time since they first arrived at the port, or 85 out of 91 days, according to AMTI, which cited data from available clear satellite imagery.

The pier was only vacant for two brief periods from January 15-18, and March 29-30, the report said.

“Satellite imagery also showed no other ships, including any Cambodian vessels, docking at the new pier, which was completed last year to enable larger warships to dock in Ream’s shallow waters,” the AMTI report said.

“While previous language from then prime minister Hun Sen had claimed that the base’s upgraded facilities would be open to visits from all navies … Cambodian boats at Ream have continued to cluster at the base’s older, smaller pier to the south.”

Two Japanese destroyers that made a port call in February were also routed to Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, northwest of Ream, AMTI added.

The report said the Chinese navy’s “extended and exclusive” access to the pier comes after years of concerns over a rumoured secret agreement between Beijing and Phnom Penh to grant a permanent Chinese military presence at Ream, raising the question of “whether that presence has now, in fact, been established”.

Phnom Penh has denied the alleged secret agreement, and Hun Sen had said such accusations were part of a “campaign to slander Cambodia by foreigners and politicians”.

The Chinese-financed overhaul of the Ream naval base began in 2022 with the construction of a pier and dry dock at the southern end of the base, while facilities that had been recently built by the United States and Australia were demolished.

In December, the two Chinese navy ships, one of which has been identified as the Chinese Type 056A corvette “Wenshan”, sailed to the upgraded naval base to take part in a joint exercise with the Cambodian military, in what was believed to be the first visit by a foreign navy to the new pier at the base.

The other ship was not identified in the report.

In a Facebook post in December, General Tea Seiha, Cambodia’s deputy prime minister and defence minister, said military and diplomatic officials from Cambodia and China had visited a ship docked “at Ream seaport to prepare for training with our Cambodian navy captain and inspected the construction of the infrastructure”.

US expresses ‘serious concerns’ about China-funded upgrade to Cambodia navy base

Washington has raised concerns about the transparency of the port’s intended purpose and the role of the Chinese military, issues that Daniel Kritenbrink, an assistant US secretary of state, raised during his visit to Phnom Penh in February.

“Ultimately, the degree of China’s access to Ream will be borne out over the coming months and years – and will be seen in satellite imagery. At some point, the two [PLA Navy] corvettes that have been at Ream since December will leave,” the report said.

“Whether they are replaced with other Chinese ships, how long those ships stay, and whether other navies are afforded the same opportunities will all speak volumes about the true nature of the relationship between China’s navy and Ream.”

China mother and son, 27, jailed for kidnap of stranger girl, 11, they wanted as ‘perfect’ wife after child’s family rejected advances

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3258232/china-mother-and-son-27-jailed-kidnap-stranger-girl-11-they-wanted-perfect-wife-after-childs-family?utm_source=rss_feed

An outrageous attempt by a mother in China to have her 27-year-old son marry a girl aged by kidnapping her after the girl’s family rejected the proposal, has sparked a public outcry.

In February 2023, the mother, surnamed Yang from Qujing City, Yunnan Province , southwestern China, met the young girl in a village in Liupanshui City, in the southwestern province of Guizhou.

Believing the child to be a perfect match for her son, she proposed taking her back to Yunnan to become his bride.

After the girl’s father declined the proposal, Yang conspired with her son to kidnap the girl.

On February 14, when the girl was alone at home in Liupanshui, Yang abducted her, and the son took her back to their home in Yunnan.

Yang was arrested on February 20, and her son turned himself in four days later. By which time, the girl had spent four days in their home.

On December 15, 2023, the Shuicheng District Court in Liupanshui sentenced Yang and her son to two years and seven months in prison, respectively, for child abduction.

The mother and son appealed, and a second trial at Liupanshui Intermediate People’s Court reached the same conclusion on March 7 2024.

The case, reported by Red Star News, has ignited a fierce online debate.

The main concerns appear to be with the “leniency” of the court-imposed penalty for child abduction and the moral implications of the attempted marital arrangement.

“Seven months? Unbelievable. Has the cost of child trafficking become so low now? This is practically encouraging crime,” one person said.

“I don’t understand why sentences for child traffickers are still so lenient. This is the cause of the crime continuing. The profits outweigh the costs,” said another.

“The son was born in 1997. Aside from the abduction, an adult with an 11-year-old girl is outright illegal. Those involved deserve the harshest punishment. This family is really outrageous,” a third wrote.

China has an ancient tradition of child brides, known as Tong Yang Xi, where a family adopts a preadolescent girl to raise her as a future wife for one of their sons.

Despite being banned in 1950, the practice continues in rural areas, which leads to girls being kidnapped.

In one case, Yang Niuhua, born in 1990 in Guizhou province, was sold at the age of 5 for 2,500 yuan (US$350) to a mute father in Hebei province.

She was mocked throughout her childhood for being a child bride. Then, in July 2023, she was finally able to take her trafficker to court where he was sentenced to death.

Chinese team links mosquito gut bacteria to disease-free zones, offering hope of biocontrol solution for dengue, Zika

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3259489/chinese-team-links-mosquito-gut-bacteria-disease-free-zones-offering-hope-biocontrol-solution-dengue?utm_source=rss_feed

A team of Chinese scientists has identified gut bacteria in mosquitoes that could prevent them being infected by viruses such as dengue and Zika, and ultimately blocking these pathogens from being transmitted to humans.

The researchers said the findings could offer a naturally occurring method to reduce mosquito-borne virus transmission and tackle the global public health concerns of virus outbreaks.

“This bacterium may be introduced into mosquito populations in dengue-endemic areas to reduce virus transmission,” the team from Beijing, Shenzhen, Kunming and Shiyan in China, as well as Connecticut in the United States, wrote in an article published in the peer-reviewed journal Science on Friday.

Dengue and Zika viruses are flaviviruses that can cause potentially fatal infections in humans bitten by infected mosquitoes.

According to the World Health Organization, around 100 to 400 million dengue infections occur every year, with nearly 130 countries worldwide affected.

The global health agency has also warned that global warming could push the number of dengue infections even higher because of warmer temperatures, more rain and longer periods of drought.

To look for a safe, effective and ecological method to control mosquito-borne diseases, lead author Cheng Gong, a professor in the department of basic medical sciences at Tsinghua University, heads a team of scientists who started studying mosquitoes in the southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan in 2020.

“During fieldwork, we found that dengue regularly occurs in some areas of the province but not others. The phenomenon caught our attention because these locations share similar climate, environment and mosquito population density. We were driven to find out what made the difference,” Cheng said.

The scientists started collecting thousands of mosquitoes from around Yunnan and isolating bacteria from their guts. They identified a bacterium named Rosenbergiella_YN46 that enabled mosquitoes to resist dengue and Zika infection.

The bacterium secretes an enzyme that acidifies the gut lumen of the insect and prevents viral entry into cells, according to their analysis. The mechanism may also work to stop all flaviviruses – such as the Japanese encephalitis virus and yellow fever virus – from infecting mosquitoes.

First author Wang Daxi, an associate research scientist at BGI Research, said the institute could efficiently analyse the large mosquito sample because of new sequencing technology.

“We are able to examine hundreds of mosquito samples at once and obtain detailed information on bacterial strains and viruses with high accuracy and reasonable cost. The previous lack of advanced equipment was a big obstacle.”

In Yunnan province, the team found the bacterium was more prevalent in the gut of mosquitoes captured in low dengue-incidence cities, such as Wenshan and Puer, than the dengue-endemic areas of Xishuangbanna and Lincang.

Field scientists then built an enclosure in Xishuangbanna and added the bacterium to water where mosquito eggs were laid. They proved it could colonise the mosquitoes’ gut at all life stages, significantly reducing dengue infection of the mosquitoes that were not used to carrying the bacterium.

Cheng, from Tsinghua University, said the findings offered the potential for a nature-based method to stop worldwide mosquito-borne diseases caused by flaviviruses.

“The biocontrol method is based on findings from nature and does not require medical interventions for humans, such as vaccines and specific treatment which has yet to be developed.

“It also does not rely on eliminating mosquitoes, which could develop resistance to insecticides,” he said, adding that mosquitoes were key in the food chain and ecosystem as an important food source for birds and fish.

“The only harmful element is the viruses carried by mosquitoes. When they no longer carry viruses, humans, mosquitoes and animals all coexist in harmony.”

The next step for the team is to identify the source of the bacterium, which Cheng said was likely to come from the leaves, branches or nectar of certain plants. He pointed to previous studies that showed all bacteria species in the Rosenbergiella genus were sourced from plant sap or nectar.

“We can then transfer the plants to Xishuangbanna to further test if mosquitoes can acquire the gut bacterium from feeding from the plants, and stop being infected by flaviviruses,” Cheng said.

“If the plant is suitable to be grown in urban households or residential areas, the fruits of our research could be applied worldwide after assessing its effectiveness, safety and risks to other local plant species.”

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America’s moves against Chinese biotech will hurt patients at home | Leaders

https://www.economist.com/leaders/2024/04/18/americas-moves-against-chinese-biotech-will-hurt-patients-at-home

America’s crackdown on Chinese trade is broadening. On the campaign trail on April 17th President Joe Biden proposed tripling tariffs on steel imports, citing China’s unfair trade practices. Having choked off China’s access to advanced semiconductors and moved to ban TikTok, a Chinese-owned social-media app, lawmakers are eyeing a new target: biotechnology. The biosecure act, which has bipartisan support in Congress, proposes to end government contracts for firms that count Chinese biotech companies as clients or suppliers. American officials have previously said they want to guard a “small yard” of sensitive technologies with a “high fence”. This bill illustrates that the yard is getting bigger, with sorry consequences for American consumers.

It uses the threat of ending lucrative federal contracts to sever American firms’ ties with Chinese genomic sequencers, makers of sequencing machines and makers of large-molecule drugs such as weight-loss injectables. It extends the ban to any biotech firm with its headquarters in an adversary country, and mentions four Chinese companies by name.

One target is a sequencing firm called BGI, formerly known as Beijing Genomics Institute. BGI is the largest sequencer of human DNA in the world and operates in over 100 countries. It supplies prenatal tests and diagnostic swabs for covid-19 and other diseases. The firm, like its rivals, provides health screenings on the cheap in return for keeping its patients’ anonymised data. The data in turn are used in cutting-edge drug development.

Lawmakers allege that the data hoovered up by BGI are stored within reach of nosy Communist Party officials. The firm says sensitive information is stored privately and that its American operations are limited. But lawmakers need not take BGI’s word for it. In February President Joe Biden banned exports of health data to adversaries, including China, mirroring China’s own controls. Lawmakers did not need to go further.

Moreover, having begun with reasonable concerns about a specific firm’s handling of data, the authors of the bill have widened their scope much further, by bringing in the makers of medical equipment and drugs, such as Wuxi AppTec, which conducts research and manufactures compounds used to make drugs for clients including the world’s biggest pharma firms. WuXi AppTec and its sister firm, WuXi Biologics, are by revenue the world’s largest providers of contract drug discovery and manufacturing. While some diversification away from Chinese producers might have been justifiable, that is not the stated intention of the bill. In any case, the legislation would not merely enforce diversification, but wholesale decoupling.

The lawmakers claim that Chinese biotech firms have stolen intellectual property (IP) and collaborated with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese government’s repression of Uyghurs. (WuXi AppTec says it is not aware of unauthorised transfers of IP.) Yet here too the biosecure act is an overreaction. Western biopharma firms are notoriously protective of their IP and are surely best placed to decide whom to trust with their drug recipes. Chinese firms that are militarily or morally compromised should be targeted on an individual basis, not by dint of their nationality or industry.

The muddier the motivation behind the legislation seems, the harder it is to escape the conclusion that old-fashioned protectionism is at play. And that is a problem, because it means the bill would unduly hurt American consumers, without delivering any of the supposed security benefits.

Small gain, high price

If the legislation passes, as seems likely, drug shortages and delayed clinical trials for medicines would probably follow. Every large Western pharma firm and many small ones would have to abandon supply chains and find new partners for trials. Biotech startups in particular rely on cheap Chinese manufacturers to bring their products to market. And that would go against another stated intention of the Biden administration: to lower drug prices. ■

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Israel ‘unhappy’ with China’s response to Iran, more Hongkongers seek divorce: SCMP’s 7 highlights of the week

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/3259575/israel-unhappy-chinas-response-iran-more-hongkongers-seek-divorce-scmps-7-highlights-week?utm_source=rss_feed

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

After Iran’s strike on Israel, Beijing reacted by ‘expressing deep’ concern and repeating its call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The statement, which Israel said was “not as strong as expected”, also urged unnamed “influential countries” to play a constructive role.

The number of divorce applications in Hong Kong rose 25 per cent year on year in 2023, with a family lawyer pointing to a surge in younger couples seeking to split for reasons such as adultery and conflicts over parenting.

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.

Beauty brands such as those owned by French cosmetics giant L’Oreal and The Body Shop are being spurned in favour of Chinese and local alternatives. It comes as the boycotts bite into the profits of Starbucks Malaysia and American fast-food giant McDonald’s, amid Israel’s sustained assault on Gaza

Former Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor needs an office to match her status and no suitable government premises were available when her term ended, the government has said in justifying the HK$5.67 million annual rent for her workplace.

A video of Philippine first lady Marie Louise “Liza” Araneta Marcos saying her relationship with Vice-President Sara Duterte has soured went viral, likely pushing tensions between the president and his vice-president to a head, analysts said.

What’s good for the heart is also good for the brain, and studies show the Tsimané tribe has very good heart health and only about 1 per cent of its elders have dementia.

US returns cultural relics to China as part of antiquity repatriation deal

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259461/us-returns-cultural-relics-china-part-antiquity-repatriation-deal?utm_source=rss_feed

The United States has returned 38 cultural relics to China as part of a repatriation deal to help Beijing retrieve artefacts that have been lost throughout the centuries.

On Wednesday, officials received the relics, which mostly dated from the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, at a handover ceremony held at the Chinese consulate general in New York.

“The latest repatriation cooperation between China and the US signifies that the two countries are moving in the same direction and have built mutual trust in the actions to retrieve lost cultural treasures,” Li Qun, director general of the Chinese National Cultural Heritage Administration (NCHA), said during the ceremony.

With this year marking the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US, Huang Ping, China’s consul general in New York, said this repatriation would “greatly promote cultural exchange between [the two countries] as well as friendship between the people”.

In January 2009, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) outlining that the US would impose restrictions against the illegal importation of Chinese cultural property.

Since then, 504 lost artefacts have been successfully returned to China in 15 batches, the heritage administration said on Thursday.

The MOU has now been extended for a third time, effective from January this year. It means that Wednesday’s repatriation marked the first cultural relic return since that renewal.

Li said China would continue to implement the bilateral MOU and share information on stolen artefacts with the US, “contributing [the two countries’] wisdom and efforts to protect cultural property and promote cultural exchange”.

Most of the 38 antiquities that were returned this week were Tibetan Buddhist artefacts dating from the Yuan (1279-1368), Ming and Qing dynasties. They included rare ivory and wood carvings, as well as mural fragments, “with important historical, artistic and academic value”, the administration said.

They were seized by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office in New York in March and will be transported back to China at a later date.

“Cultural heritage has the power to bring people together and bridge differences,” Matthew Bogdanos, chief of the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, said at the handover ceremony.

“The repatriation of lost cultural relics to their country of origin is a righteous act. The US is willing to work together with China to protect the shared cultural heritage of humanity, and make joint efforts towards the common goal of returning lost artefacts,” he was quoted as saying by the NCHA.

Last May, the US returned two important stone carvings to China, and in 2019, China retrieved 361 cultural relics from the US, the largest-scale repatriation of lost Chinese treasures since the MOU came into effect.

More than 10 million Chinese artefacts have been lost overseas since the opium wars of the mid-19th century, according to the China Cultural Relics Academy. This happened for various reasons, including wartime plunder and illegal smuggling.

But since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, more than 300 groups of artefacts, totalling around 150,000 objects, have been returned through law enforcement cooperation, judicial proceedings, negotiated donations and emergency rescue efforts, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Thursday.

Jimmy Lai plotted to trigger mainland China’s collapse and install US-style democracy, Hong Kong court hears

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/law-and-crime/article/3259588/jimmy-lai-plotted-trigger-chinas-collapse-and-install-us-style-democracy-hong-kong-court-hears?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying sought to trigger mainland China’s political and economic collapse by influencing other nations’ foreign policies, paving the way for the introduction of American-style democracy, a court has heard.

Paralegal turned prosecution witness Wayland Chan Tsz-wah on Friday said the Apple Daily founder shared his anti-China strategy with him during a meeting at the mogul’s villa in Yangmingshan, Taipei, in January 2020.

“Jimmy Lai said, according to historical experience, China’s implosion would happen very soon because the Chinese government mobilised many resources to monitor citizens,” Chan told West Kowloon Court.

The witness also testified at the mogul’s national security trial that Lai expected the country’s gross domestic product to plummet by 40 per cent due to the strategy, creating the best opportunity to push for democratic reforms.

Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai backed 2020 unofficial primary election, court hears

The tycoon also laid out his four-step plan to steer foreign governments’ China policies in his favour, Chan added.

Successful lobbying, according to Lai, first called for the dissemination of information about the city abroad.

The next step would be to appeal to international concerns and seek condemnations, the court heard.

Chan also quoted Lai as saying the third step would be linking up with foreign officials and relaying their ideas to activists, ensuring Hongkongers believed “foreign governments had not abandoned or given up on them”.

The final step called for regular contact with foreign political consultants and advisers, whom Lai described as “those under the table”, and to influence the policies of their respective governments.

The witness said Lai believed “that would be the way to trigger sanctions against Hong Kong and even overthrow the Chinese Communist Party in the future”.

Jimmy Lai knew ‘US conditions for continued support’ of Hong Kong protests

Lai, 76, is standing trial on two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces under the Beijing-decreed national security law, which took effect in June 2020. He is also contesting a third count of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications under colonial-era legislation.

Prosecutors accused the Apple Daily founder of using Chan as a middleman to relay his instructions to activists of the “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” advocacy group to instigate economic sanctions and other hostile acts from the West.

The trial continues.

[Sport] Stroll fastest in Chinese GP practice

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Setback for China in Solomon Islands as pro-Beijing provincial leader loses election

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3259560/setback-china-solomon-islands-pro-beijing-provincial-leader-loses-election?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing’s bid to build influence across the Solomon Islands hit a major snag on Friday, with the pro-China premier of the Pacific nation’s most populous province losing his seat in countrywide elections.

Malaita premier Martin Fini – who has overseen the swift expansion of Chinese interests in the province – lost his re-election bid, according to the election commission.

For years, the province of Malaita refused to accept aid or investment from China, bucking the trend as Beijing’s influence expanded across the rest of the sprawling archipelago.

But that changed when Fini was installed as premier in 2023, replacing the popular Daniel Suidani.

Fini recently signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s Jiangsu province. But his failure to reclaim his seat now puts that agreement in doubt.

‘Calling for change’: will Solomon Islands lean closer to China after its polls?

Beijing’s embassy in the Solomon Islands has in the past praised Fini’s “firm support” of China, promising to pave his province with new roads and ply it with better internet.

Suidani was one of the rare provincial leaders who refused to cash China’s cheques, fearing Beijing’s goodwill would one day come with strings attached.

Indicating he would now seek to reclaim the premiership of Malaita, Suidani said the pursuit of closer ties with China had contributed to Fini’s downfall.

“The people here in Malaita don’t agree with the ruling government for the past 12 months,” he said on Friday.

“All of these things contributed, including the signing of the provincial relationship with Jiangsu.”

Suidani’s provincial government was so concerned about China’s sway that it blocked telecoms giant Huawei from building desperately needed mobile phone towers on the island.

“That is something that is very concerning – the influence of the [Chinese Communist Party] in this country,” Suidani said earlier this week as elections kicked into gear.

Suidani was ousted as Malaita’s premier after losing a no-confidence vote in early 2023.

He has long suspected China of working behind the scenes to orchestrate his removal.

Build now, pay later? Debt-ridden Fiji turns to China for port upgrades

Solomon Islands is currently counting votes for both provincial and national elections.

The contest has cast the spotlight on China’s efforts to stamp its mark on the South Pacific and has been pitched in part as a referendum on Beijing’s growing influence in the country.

Incumbent Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has championed deeper ties with Beijing since coming to power in 2019.

The centrepiece of Sogavare’s embrace was a 2022 security pact that has seen rotating teams of Chinese police deployed in the archipelago.

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China’s diplomats working abroad are about to get ‘very rare’ pay rise, sources say

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259512/chinas-diplomats-working-abroad-are-about-get-very-rare-pay-rise-sources-say?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese diplomats posted to overseas missions will receive a substantial pay rise this spring, sources say, in what is seen as a vote of confidence after the abrupt departure of the country’s former foreign minister.

Salaries will go up by more than US$1,000 a month across the board, according to several sources familiar with the situation, who declined to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.

They said the pay rise was approved by Beijing in recent months and would apply to all officials posted to Chinese embassies and consulates overseas, regardless of their location or rank.

Officials working in foreign relations within China would not receive the pay increase, the sources said.

It is a substantial raise for Chinese officials and comes as government bodies at various levels are looking to make deep budget cuts.

Deng Yuwen, former deputy editor of Study Times, the Central Party School’s official newspaper, said the move could be aimed at trying to stabilise the diplomatic corps after Qin Gang was suddenly removed as foreign minister last year.

Qin has not been seen in public since June, and was dismissed from his post in July, just six months into the job.

His predecessor, Wang Yi, returned to the role – a move in line with Beijing’s tradition of parachuting in trusted members of its top decision-making body to steer the Communist Party through a political crisis.

Qin has been stripped of his official titles, including state councillor, and state media announced he had “resigned” as a member of the national legislature in February.

There has been no explanation from Beijing, prompting intense public speculation about Qin’s disappearance.

According to Deng, the pay increase could be an effort to reassure cadres in the diplomatic corps over that and other challenging situations.

“The leadership change may prompt some concerns among Chinese diplomats – and being a diplomat is very demanding, especially in the current environment in China,” he said.

Deng said it could prompt some to question whether they want to stay in the diplomatic service.

“So in such situations, the best approach is to provide some encouragement and support,” he added.

Claus Soong, an analyst at Berlin-based think tank the Mercator Institute for China Studies, said the pay rise was “indeed very rare” at a time of belt-tightening and economic headwinds.

The Chinese government does not release information about pay scales for officials but they are known to be modest compared to those of other white-collar workers in the country’s most developed cities. Chinese officials posted abroad are also understood to earn more than their colleagues in China.

Beijing has been pushing governments at all levels to rein in spending, telling them to “get used to” tight budgets in recent years. The central government was also told to expect belt-tightening when Premier Li Qiang delivered his annual work report in March.

As China grapples with a sluggish post-pandemic economic recovery, even the most affluent provinces such as Jiangsu and Fujian have been cutting cadres’ pay and benefits in recent months.

In this context, according to Soong, the leadership “evidently believe that Chinese diplomats on foreign missions have a more significant role to play and more demands to fulfil”.

“They are more useful in the current political situations,” he said.

Soong said the diplomatic corps had become more important to Beijing’s strategic direction – not just for US-China relations but also ties with Europe and developing countries.

“Beijing needs people to be confident in it,” he added.

China ahead of US in global diplomatic presence – but does it mean influence?

At a party meeting on the foreign policy direction in December, President Xi Jinping urged diplomats and cadres to “break new ground”, “rally the overwhelming majority” of the world and maintain a “fighting spirit”.

He said China had “new strategic opportunities” and called on cadres to elevate the country’s “international influence, appeal and power”.

Soong said the growing role of diplomacy in the country’s overall strategic direction could be seen in the significant increase in this year’s budget.

Why Xi’s message to diplomats could mean continued strains in China-US ties

For 2024, the diplomacy budget has been set at around 194 billion yuan (US$26.8 billion) – a jump of some 23 per cent from last year, according to the government budget report.

The increase dwarfs that for defence spending, which is up 7.2 per cent from last year, as well as for the general public budget, which grew at just 4 per cent compared to 2023.

China’s diplomacy budget has risen steadily in recent years, growing some 39 per cent from 2019 to now. Last year, spending on diplomacy went over budget by 4 per cent.

Chinese officials stationed overseas are also excluded from a move announced last year to reduce staff numbers by 5 per cent across party and state organisations.

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China’s 4 new ‘AI tigers’ – Baichuan, Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI and MiniMax – emerge as investor favourites

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3259499/chinas-four-new-ai-tigers-baichuan-zhipu-ai-moonshot-ai-and-minimax-emerge-investor-favourites?utm_source=rss_feed

A group of artificial intelligence (AI) start-ups are emerging as China’s best hopes for reaching the frontier of ChatGPT-like technology, as they draw increasing attention from users and investors.

Among them, Baichuan is the latest to complete a new round of fundraising. While the start-up told the Post on Thursday that there had been some “discrepancies” in local reporting about the amount raised, several outlets estimated Baichuan’s latest valuation to be at about US$1.8 billion.

That puts the Beijing-based company in a league of domestic AI unicorns – start-ups valued at more than US$1 billion – that also include Zhipu AI, Moonshot AI and MiniMax.

The group has been dubbed locally as the “four new AI tigers of China”, in contrast to the four “old” AI dragons – SenseTime, Megvii, CloudWalk Technology and Yitu Technology – which focused mostly on facial and image recognition technologies.

Since Microsoft-backed start-up OpenAI debuted ChatGPT in late 2022, Chinese Big Tech firms and start-ups alike have been racing to draw users to their generative AI services, which are capable of creating content, such as text, images, videos and audio.

About 200 large language models (LLMs) – the technology underpinning generative AI services – have been launched in China so far, according to government figures.

Baichuan was founded a year ago by Wang Xiaochuan, founder of Sogou – once the largest rival to Chinese internet search giant Baidu before being sold to social media and video gaming giant Tencent Holdings.

The venture, which develops its own LLMs, is led by a team that includes Wang’s long-time aide and former Sogou chief operating officer, Ru Liyun.

To date, Baichuan has released three versions of its eponymous AI models, the latest of which the company said had surpassed OpenAI’s most advanced GPT4 model in Chinese language capability, citing multiple benchmark tests.

Baichuan announced last October that it raised US$300 million from backers including Tencent, smartphone maker Xiaomi, and e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding, which owns the Post.

In that same month, Zhipu AI – also based in Beijing – said it had raised 2.5 billion yuan (US$347 million) since the beginning of 2023 from state-affiliated investors, Alibaba, Tencent, food-delivery platform operator Meituan, as well as venture investors including GL Ventures and HongShan.

The money raised would be used to further develop its foundation models and build an industry ecosystem, Zhipu AI said at the time. By that point, it was valued at more than US$1.3 billion.

OpenAI’s Sora pours ‘cold water’ on China’s AI dreams

Zhipu AI was founded in 2019 to build on research from the Knowledge Engineering Group of Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University. The start-up’s chief executive, Zhang Peng, graduated with a doctorate from Tsinghua’s computer science department.

The two other new tigers – Moonshot AI and MiniMax, founded in 2023 and 2021, respectively – both saw their recent valuation rise to roughly US$2.5 billion.

Moonshot AI, another start-up based in Beijing, raised US$1 billion in a funding round in February, according to multiple Chinese media reports. Its flagship Kimi chatbot, built on its self-developed LLM and upgraded last month, can process 2 million Chinese characters in a single prompt.

MiniMax, based in Shanghai, is looking to raise at least US$600 million in a new round led by Alibaba that would value the company at more than US$2.5 billion, according to a report by Bloomberg last month.

China badminton player paralysed after standing on stray cat in stadium during game, court orders feline ‘keeper’ pay US$33,000 in compensation

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3256183/china-badminton-player-paralysed-after-standing-stray-cat-stadium-during-game-court-orders-feline?utm_source=rss_feed

A court in China has ordered a man who fed a stray cat to pay compensation of 240,000 yuan (US$33,000) to a badminton enthusiast who was paralysed when the feline tripped him up during a game.

The man, surnamed Xiao, an employee of a badminton stadium in Shanghai, must bear legal responsibility because the cat caused harm to a man, surnamed Wu, who was playing badminton, Shanghai Video reported.

In April, Wu joined his colleagues to play badminton but they did not notice there was a cat on the court.

Wu was engrossed in the game, focusing on his colleague who was ready to serve the ball. After he jumped to return the serve, he felt himself land on something furry.

He lost his balance and fell to the ground. In hospital, Wu was diagnosed with compound fractures and paralysis in his right leg.

He later sued the badminton stadium and its employee and put in a request for compensation of 350,000 yuan (US$49,000).

A colleague told investigators that Xiao regularly fed the cat in a toilet at the stadium and would bathe it and take it to the vet when required.

As a result, the court deemed Xiao to be the cat’s keeper.

Xiao defended himself saying he fed the cat but did not keep it as his pet. He contended that he was neither with the cat when the accident happened, nor could he control its movements.

The court was not convinced and said keepers should take responsibility if their pets bring harm to others and ordered Xiao to pay compensation of 240,000 yuan (US$33,000).

In addition, the court said Xiao’s employer who owns the badminton stadium, must pay some of the compensation if Xiao did not complete his payments.

The story has divided opinion on Weibo. At the time of writing, it had attracted 5.36 million views and 13,000 comments.

“I support the verdict. If he really cares for the cat, he should take it home rather than just feeding it,” one person said.

Another said: “This sends a warning message to people who feed stray animals, does it not?”

“It feels sad. Who would dare to feed stray animals now?” a third wrote.

“Do you not think the badminton stadium should be mainly responsible for the accident?” someone else asked.

Lenovo and Alibaba team up to build AI computers, as generative AI race heats up in China

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3259537/lenovo-and-alibaba-team-build-ai-computers-generative-ai-race-heats-china?utm_source=rss_feed

Lenovo Group, the world’s largest personal computer (PC) maker, is collaborating with Alibaba Group Holding to create a series of artificial intelligence (AI) products, as Big Tech companies in China race to attract more users to their generative AI products.

Those products will include PCs that are equipped with semiconductors designed to run generative AI tasks locally, known as AI PCs, as well as other AI-powered devices and enterprise intelligence solutions, according to an announcement by Lenovo during its Tech World event in Shanghai on Thursday.

The company has also carried out “in-depth cooperation and joint innovation” in AI with a number of domestic enterprises and organisations, such as the Institute for AI Industry Research under Tsinghua University in Beijing, it said.

At the event, Lenovo launched special versions of its AI PC, the Yoga Book 9i, along with other AI-powered devices. The computers feature a personalised AI agent, Lenovo Xiaotian, supported by Alibaba’s large language model Tongyi Qianwen, according to several Chinese media reports. Alibaba is the owner of the South China Morning Post.

Lenovo has been strengthening its focus on AI amid a broader trend in the global PC industry to integrate the fast-developing technology into various products and services, in response to a projected rise in demand for such machines.

The next stage of AI development will see a shift “from technological breakthroughs to practical application”, said Yang Yuanqing, Lenovo’s chairman and CEO, at the conference.

“We need to accumulate user feedbacks in practical applications, continue to improve, and continue to innovate,” he said.

AI PCs will become mainstream in the next few years, with their share among new PCs in the Chinese market reaching 85 per cent by 2027, according to a forecast by market research firm IDC.

Among those attending the Lenovo event was Eddie Wu Yongming, chief executive of Alibaba. Wu pledged in December to sharpen the e-commerce giant’s strategic focus on two main themes – “users first” and “AI-driven” – amid increased competition in the Chinese tech industry.

Besides Alibaba, Lenovo has teamed up with other major e-commerce companies to promote its AI-based products.

The Beijing-based company recently announced a renewal of its partnership with JD.com to drive sales of new AI devices in China, with the aim of generating 120 billion yuan (US$16.6 billion) in revenue from 2024 to 2026 via the Alibaba rival’s online and offline channels.

Lenovo is also boosting its efforts to woo professional users looking for devices to perform generative AI tasks.

Last month, the company unveiled a series of workstations targeting industrial users, scientists and developers, powered by chips and software from Nvidia, the world’s leading supplier of graphics processors used for computing by AI models.

US firms MSCI, BlackRock ‘funnelled’ billions to Chinese companies accused of human rights abuses: panel

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3259548/us-firms-msci-blackrock-funnelled-billions-chinese-companies-accused-human-rights-abuses-panel?utm_source=rss_feed

Major US financial institutions poured billions of dollars worth of Americans’ “life savings” and other investments into some 60 Chinese companies that Washington accuses of committing human rights abuses and fuelling China’s military, a congressional investigation has claimed.

According to a report published on Thursday by the US House of Representatives’ select committee on China, Wall Street behemoths including MSCI, the world’s foremost index provider, and BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, facilitated the investment of more than US$6.5 billion into 63 mainland firms last year.

MSCI indexes alone channelled US$3.7 billion into entities that “develop advanced fighter jets and nuclear weapons” or create technology used to “perpetrate the ongoing genocide” against China’s Uygur minority, the panel concluded, while BlackRock invested at least US$1.9 billion.

The committee’s leaders – retiring Republican congressman Mike Gallagher of Wisconsin and Democratic congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois – did not issue their own statements on the findings.

But a press release attributed to the panel said the report examined “the broader US financial industry” while lamenting that the activities it documented were “not illegal” under existing American laws.

The Chinese entities included state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic), an aerospace and defence conglomerate; genomics company BGI Group; and Qihoo 360, a software firm.

By listing a red-flagged company, index providers “effectively give that company a stamp of approval, signalling the company is investible and its securities hold a certain value”, the report said. Indexes measure the stock market performance of key companies in various areas.

And once a company is listed in the index offerings, companies such as BlackRock channel the investments.

The panel accused asset managers like BlackRock of failing to adequately describe the Chinese Communist Party’s “authoritarianism and human rights abuses” in their descriptions of investment products.

“In some cases, they do not mention them at all,” it added.

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

Noting that such activities by financial institutions were not illegal, the committee urged Congress to act and prevent Americans’ “life savings” from funding the Chinese Communist Party.

“Congress must act to restrict US investment in entities tied, directly or indirectly, to the [Chinese military], critical technology sectors or forced labour and genocide,” it said.

BlackRock in a statement said that despite the company’s fully cooperating with the committee for more than eight months, the report included “misleading assertions about index funds, including that they are ‘funnelling billions of dollars’ to these entities”.

“The committee and its report confirm BlackRock complies with applicable US laws, this matter affects the entire asset-management industry and that Congress and the [Biden] administration must work together to create clear rules of the road for US investors,” its statement read.

MSCI in a statement described an index as simply a mathematical calculation of the performance of the market” and that it “does not and cannot channel investments, and MSCI does not manage or recommend investments in any country or company”.

US executive order to keep Americans’ personal data from ‘countries of concern’

The company also said it was “pleased” that the panel acknowledged there had been no legal or regulatory violations. It vowed to “assess applicable changes” to its indexes if Congress or other government bodies were to expand restrictions on investment in China as recommended in the report.

Despite a recent flurry of diplomatic activity to stabilise Sino-American relations, the US and China remain locked in a geopolitical competition championing their respective political and economic systems. A deepening trust deficit has inflamed tensions.

Liu Pengyu, spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, criticised the report on Thursday, singling out the US’s “abuse and generalisation of the concept of national security, politicisation and weaponisation of economic and trade issues, and setting up artificial obstacles to normal economic and trade cooperation”.

“The US has said many times that it does not seek to decouple from China, but what the US has done is actually ‘decoupling and severing the chains’ with China, undermining two-way investment,” said Liu, asking Washington to “match words with deeds”.

Beijing would be closely following “relevant developments and resolutely safeguard its own interests”, he added.

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Will the US’ tough tariff talk taint Antony Blinken’s trip to China?

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3259522/will-us-tough-tariff-talk-taint-antony-blinkens-trip-china?utm_source=rss_feed

When US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits China next week, he could face a “disappointed” Beijing that is less willing to align itself with Washington on issues such as the deepening conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.

The Chinese foreign ministry has not confirmed the dates for the trip – his second in less than a year – but Politico reported that Blinken would leave for China on Tuesday for a four-day visit.

The disappointment in Beijing is in large part because the White House has prefaced the trip with a proposed tariff increase and an investigation aimed at tackling China’s “unfair” trade practices in various sectors, according to diplomatic observers.

On Wednesday, the Biden administration called for a tripling of import tariffs on Chinese steel and aluminium, and directed trade representative Katherine Tai to launch an investigation into China’s alleged subsidies in the shipbuilding, logistics and maritime industries.

“[China] ends up dumping extra steel on the global markets at unfairly low prices,” US President Joe Biden said at an election stop in Pennsylvania. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating.”

Tim Summers, an assistant professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Centre for China Studies, said the US announcements pointed to a “more confrontational” approach towards China.

As a result, Washington would find it harder to gain Beijing’s help with issues such as the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, he said.

“[The] latest announcements suggest that the US administration will bow to pressure to shift to a more confrontational stance,” Summers said, adding that it was “unlikely to ease” with US presidential elections looming.

US lawmakers eye ‘full sanctions’ for Chinese military firms helping Russia

Wang Yiwei, a professor of international relations at Renmin University, said the tariff talk was part of Washington’s “negotiation strategy” and a “big stick” that Blinken could use in his discussions with Chinese officials.

Blinken is expected to raise US concerns that China was helping Russia to build up its defence industrial base. Beijing has denied aiding Russia in the war, but it has also refused to criticise Moscow’s actions.

Wang said Blinken could present China with two options: to either face the possibility of higher tariffs or to concede its position on the Ukraine war. “This is a negotiation tactic,” he said.

Josef Gregory Mahoney, a professor of politics and international relations at East China Normal University, said the potential tripling of tariffs and the trade investigation would “affect but not derail” Blinken’s visit.

“Certainly it will be a talking point when he comes,” Mahoney said, adding that Blinken would also focus on other geopolitical issues like Taiwan and the South China Sea.

“[US Treasury Secretary Janet] Yellen warned there was more turmoil on the horizon during her visit [earlier this month], and this is normal during a presidential election year anyway, when US politicians employ dog whistle tactics, often wagging their fingers at others, including China.”

Mahoney said the tariff announcement could prompt Beijing to register “strong disappointment” with Blinken’s visit.

That is despite signs of improvement in the China-US relationship following the meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping in November.

The two leaders also spoke on the phone this month.

Wang said Washington’s recent rhetoric – and China policy – should be seen against the backdrop of November’s elections and efforts by politicians to appease voters.

Biden is facing a particularly tough re-election battle and is trying to avoid looking weak on China or getting outflanked on trade policy by his presumed opponent, Donald Trump, the former Republican president who has campaigned on protectionism and a pledge to impose a 60 per cent tax on imported Chinese goods.

“[The US] always plays these cards against China. This makes China very disappointed,” Wang said. “US-China relations are often sacrificed.”

Biden and US trade office target China’s steel, maritime and logistics sectors

But other analysts were more optimistic about Blinken’s visit. Chong Ja Ian, professor of political science at the National University of Singapore, said both sides “presumably wish to continue engaging despite the [tariff] announcement” given that the trip had not been called off.

Chong said negotiations and diplomacy could involve “a bit of pressure and friction”. “In fact, differences may create more demand for dialogue,” he said.

“That they are engaging is important. That demonstrates a willingness to discuss matters, including differences.”

Pang Zhongying, a chair professor of international political economy at Sichuan University in Chengdu, said the US trade representative’s new investigation targeting China’s steel and logistics sectors may have little effect on Blinken’s trip.

“The economic arm of the US cannot simply be linked to the foreign service. Even though the State Department has its economic function, this is not Blinken’s current key responsibility,” Pang said, describing such a connection as a “politicisation”.

“Such a [tariff] policy might have nearly been done before Yellen’s trip. The secretary might join the discussion after her research in China,” he added.

“The key conversation will still be geopolitical tensions, especially the two wars [in Ukraine and Gaza].”

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Chinese smartphone vendor OnePlus faces potential wider sales ban in India amid complaints raised by another retail group

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3259525/chinese-smartphone-vendor-oneplus-faces-potential-wider-sales-ban-india-amid-complaints-raised?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese smartphone vendor OnePlus faces more disruption at its operations in India, as another major domestic retail industry group is considering a halt to sales of its products in the world’s second-largest handset market.

The All India Mobile Retailers Association (AIMRA), which counts more than 150,000 bricks-and-mortar smartphone retailers across the country, said that its members are also deliberating whether they should stop sales of OnePlus products, according to a letter directed to Ranjeet Singh, sales director of OnePlus India.

AIMRA, which shared its letter with the South China Morning Post, also said it requested a meeting with Singh to discuss its concerns.

The news was first reported earlier this week by independent online tech publication Android Authority.

AIMRA said OnePlus, a subsidiary of Dongguan-based Oppo, has for years “neglected mainline retailers by failing to provide adequate stocks, offering poor margins, settling claims poorly, failing to deliver commitments and lacking a meaningful relationship with retailers in India”, according to the report. The association said OnePlus did not pursue any product demonstrations, promotions or market visits to support retailers.

“We may also stop the OnePlus business across India if issues are unresolved as the situation remains worse in the general mainline trade with no solace and deliveries on commitments (sic),” according to an excerpt of the AIMRA statement cited in the report.

OnePlus, meanwhile, said in an emailed statement to the Post that the company is working with partners to address the concerns raised by the association, adding that it remains committed “to a strong and prosperous relationship going forward”.

“OnePlus values all the support it has received from our trusted retail partners in the last seven years,” the company said.

The grievances expressed by AIMRA show the current precarious position of OnePlus’ business across India, following the decision last week by members of the South India Organised Retailers Association (ORA) to suspend sales of the Chinese firm’s products from May 1.

In a letter to OnePlus India, ORA said its members had run into an increasing number of unresolved issues related to selling the company’s products, according to reports from The Economic Times and other local media.

Some issues that ORA raised include alleged low profit margins on OnePlus products, making it challenging for retailers to sustain their businesses. Complex warranty and repair processes were another concern, as these frustrated both customers and retailers, according to local media reports.

ORA covers more than 20 different retail chains – including major retailers Poorvika, Sangeetha Mobiles and Big C – with more than 4,000 stores, accounting for more than 40 per cent of the overall handset business across six southern Indian states.

OnePlus’ market share in India grew 33 per cent year on year in 2023, mainly driven by its broader product mix in the affordable premium smartphone segment and its offline channel push, according to consultancy Counterpoint Research.

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