• Submarines won’t prepare Australia for what China could do to it in a war
• Chinese student in Boston gets 9 months in prison for threatening, harassing pro-democracy classmate
• US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in China hours after Senate TikTok ban vote, new funding for Taiwan
• China, India must be ready to seize peace in Ukraine, not just the West
• Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post picks up string of major international awards
• US sanction threats against Chinese banks over Russia trade ties risk ‘gargantuan’ financial instability
• China and Russia eye stronger intelligence and law enforcement ties as top security officials meet
• Cause for concern: US watching China’s ‘breathtakingly fast’ space development ‘very, very closely’, top commander says
• ‘Audio deepfake’ of Marcos Jnr ordering military action against China prompts Manila to debunk clip
• Blinken begins key China visit as tensions rise over new US foreign aid bill
• Chinese tourist reunites with Thai rescuers after being pushed off cliff by husband in 2019
• Volkswagen aims to launch 30 EVs in China in next 6 years as shift to green motoring erodes German giant’s market share
• South China Sea: amid tension US and Chinese navy chiefs discuss ‘increasing security challenges in Indo-Pacific’
• ‘Can’t change you’: adult China son caught peeping into women’s toilet violently slapped by mother during police call-out
• China’s ex-Tibet propaganda chief charged with bribery
• China reveals Shenzhou-18 crew for next space station mission
• Blinken will urge China to stop sending military supplies to Russia
• EU targets China medical technology market with launch of new procurement weapon
• China Rolls-Royce seller lets man of modest means live the dream in car showroom, tells him ‘try hard to succeed’
• Apple’s iPhone sales in China plunge 19%, as Huawei grows smartphone sales by nearly 70%
• China’s security ministry hails move to reward postal and parcel workers for spy tip-offs in eastern province
• Antony Blinken heads to China with warning for Beijing over support of Russia
• Tech war: US is reviewing risks of China’s use of open-source RISC-V chip technology
• Canada police charge 2 former UN workers in plot to sell Chinese-made military equipment in Libya
• Meaty economic indicator? China’s distressed pig farmers eye turnaround
• China’s little-known H-20 stealth bomber not a concern for US: Pentagon official
• South China Sea: ‘upsurge’ in Chinese vessels as Balikatan drills with US begin ‘out of the norm’, Philippines says
• China’s durian output to quadruple in 2024, processing poised to permeate with demand ‘on a rapid rise’
• Maldives’ pro-China president has ‘nothing to block him’ after big poll win: ‘India is concerned’
• Entitled China girl dips feet into lake at historic Beijing site, says family is rich so can do as she pleases after warning
• China is running a full-court press for global arbitration clients. What’s the verdict so far?

Submarines won’t prepare Australia for what China could do to it in a war

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3260048/submarines-wont-prepare-australia-what-china-could-do-it-war?utm_source=rss_feed

Ukrainians have changed the face of modern warfare with inexpensive Chinese drones equipped with cameras. These provide both battlefield intelligence and a platform for delivering destructive weapons.

The paradigm of warfare has shifted, and yet the Colonel Blimps in Australia, as represented by Defence Minister Richard Marles, are still committed to fighting the last war, this time with China identified as the adversary.

Australia’s recently released National Defence Strategy focuses on preparing the military to withstand Chinese coercion. The updated weapons priorities are little more than advanced iterations of the old, designed for denial of battle space.

The idea that China would block its own trade-critical sea lanes is clearly a policy oxymoron embraced by Australia.

Former Home Affairs Department chief Michael Pezzullo said the government should prepare a “war book” because of the “credible” risk of conflict by 2030. In shades of the Blitz, he spoke of the need for plans covering evacuating and sheltering population centres. The concept fails to appreciate the non-lethal nature of modern conflict as it applies, in particular, to Australia.

Let’s for a moment consider this: what would China need to do to bring Australia to its knees in a modern conflict? Australia’s unique vulnerability lies not in its geography, nor its trade routes.

Rather, it lies in Australian economy’s heavy reliance on a few main export earners. It takes no weapons to simply halt Chinese orders for Australia iron ore and coal. Although Australian resources are a major part of China’s import needs, the acceleration of the Simandou iron ore project in Africa and the ramping up of Brazilian production would make it possible for China to suspend orders.

A partial or complete suspension of orders for three or six months would not cause the Chinese economy to collapse, but the Australian economy would hit the hall. There would be no need to disrupt shipping in the South China Sea, as suggested in the defence strategy.

A similar outcome is achieved by prohibiting Chinese tourists from going to Australia, and stopping Chinese students from attending Australian universities. In two simple decisions, two major components of Australia’s earnings would suffer grievous blows.

Is Australia creating US$246 billion out of thin air to buy new Aukus subs?

Not a single submarine needs to be deployed, nor a shot fired. No Australian system needs to be hacked. This is not warfare as the Colonel Blimps know it.

The cumulative damage to the Australian economy would be rapid and devastating. Expensive Aukus submarines, naval assets and rocket artillery do not stand in the way of regulatory obstructions to trade. Billions for submarines would be rendered impotent, even as foreign arms industries are intent on selling hardware to Australia.

If China does not need to physically block trade routes to hurt Australia, then how can Australia prevent such economic damage?

Foreign affairs, which is comparatively poorly funded at present, holds the answer. For a fraction of the cost of the Aukus submarines, Australia’s diplomatic engagement with China could be increased tenfold. For a fraction of the cost, Australia could boost university studies of China and gain a serious depth of understanding of China to replace the simplistic cartoon characterisations that now drive Australia’s public and policy discourse.

The second step is to recognise the legitimacy of China’s desire to play a more active role in formulating the global rules-based order. Like US President Joe Biden, Australia seems to think compliance with American demands is the same as cooperation. President Xi Jinping wants cooperation based on the United States’ acknowledgement of the legitimacy of China’s perspective. Global regulatory structures that do not recognise China are no longer fit for purpose.

As Albanese goes to Beijing, Australia must rethink its allegiances

Currently, Australian foreign policy takes an adversarial approach to China where almost everything China does is wrong or seen as a threat to Australia. This lack of respect is deeply woven into the fabric of current Australian diplomatic and military policy. True to its mission, the military views the world through a gunsight.

Diplomacy can and should take a different perspective. Foreign Minister Penny Wong has smoothed the rhetoric, but Australia’s current position is not substantially distinguishable from the aggressive stance adopted by the previous government.

Marles wants to ensure Australia is able to resist coercion but submarines don’t sit at the negotiating table. Economic warfare by regulation is resolved with diplomacy, not guns.

Chinese student in Boston gets 9 months in prison for threatening, harassing pro-democracy classmate

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3260260/chinese-student-boston-gets-9-months-prison-threatening-harassing-pro-democracy-classmate?utm_source=rss_feed

A Chinese music student in Boston was sentenced to nine months in prison by a US district court judge on Wednesday for harassing and threatening a fellow student who distributed fliers advocating for democracy in China.

In issuing the sentence, Judge Denise Casper noted that Xiaolei Wu, 26, who grew up in Beijing, had no previous criminal history and that he would be deported upon completing his sentence.

She called Wu’s actions – which took place over several days in October 2022 – “egregious” and said the jail sentence served as a deterrent to other Chinese students in the US who might engage in criminal behaviour, especially actions aimed at suppressing free speech.

While studying jazz at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Wu used platforms including WeChat, email and Instagram to communicate directly with the victim, identified as “Miss Zooey”, regarding her campus activism, according to court documents.

Wu also threatened to report her activities to Chinese law enforcement, prosecutors said.

Wu, who was a graduate student at Berklee, also encouraged others to locate the victim’s residence and publicly shared her email address with the intention of inciting online abuse, the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts said on Wednesday.

Prosecutors said Wu threatened to chop off the woman’s hands and mentioned that Chinese officials would visit her family. The defence called his remarks an “immature” online disagreement between two people with differing political beliefs.

In January, a federal jury convicted Wu of one count of cyberstalking and one count of interstate transmission of threatening communication.

Human rights group says China has more ‘police stations’ abroad than first reported

Acting US Attorney Joshua Levy described Wu’s conduct as “serious”, saying his office and the Department of Justice would never tolerate “censorship and repression campaigns here”.

Jodi Cohen, who leads the FBI’s Boston office, said that Wu had now “learned there are serious consequences for harassing, threatening, stalking and infringing on a fellow student’s constitutional rights solely because she was critical of the ruling Communist Party of China”.

She said Wu’s “weaponising” of China’s “authoritarian nature” was “incredibly disturbing” and said the FBI would do “everything it can to ensure that those who try to infringe on our fundamental rights will face similar consequences”.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrives in China hours after Senate TikTok ban vote, new funding for Taiwan

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3260246/us-secretary-state-antony-blinken-arrives-china-hours-after-senate-tiktok-ban-vote-new-funding?utm_source=rss_feed

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in China for a three-day visit, with tough talks on the table on issues ranging from trade to Ukraine amid simmering tensions between the rival powers.

Blinken, who has promised “intensive face-to-face diplomacy” during his stops in Shanghai and Beijing, is expected to stand firm on American interests while also attempting to stabilise bilateral relations.

Arriving in Shanghai on Wednesday afternoon, Blinken was greeted at the airport by US ambassador Nicholas Burns and the director of the Shanghai government’s foreign affairs office, Kong Fuan.

He is expected to meet the American business community in the city before travelling to Beijing to meet his counterpart Wang Yi and possibly President Xi Jinping on Friday, according to Reuters.

US is ‘stubbornly’ trying to contain China, Beijing says ahead of Blinken visit

Blinken’s visit comes hours after the US Senate passed a bill to order short-video app TikTok to be divested from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, as well as a US$95 billion aid package for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan. All are issues straining US-China relations and among topics to be discussed in Beijing.

In a move seen as “showing restraint”, the Chinese foreign ministry did not directly respond to questions on how Beijing would react to the potential ban on the popular social media platform.

Einar Tangen, senior fellow at the Beijing-based Taihe Institute, said China valued dialogue with the United States despite the restrictions imposed by Washington, such as on trade and technology. But “mixed messages” from the Americans ahead of important talks made things difficult.

“There’s a continuing reminder here that the US needs China to solve issues … whether you’re talking about Ukraine or Palestine, Iran …[or] trade,” he said.

“Beijing would love to make some progress. But how do you do that if you keep slapping me?”

Chong Ja Ian, an international relations professor at the National University of Singapore, said a possible TikTok ban was unlikely to dominate Blinken’s talks in China, as his agenda seemed “very full already with topics ranging from Russia to Taiwan to the South China Sea and beyond”.

A State Department official said Blinken was expected to pressure China to urge its firms to stop supplying dual-use goods to Russia or face more punitive measures. The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that the US was considering sanctions on Chinese banks as a possible measure.

China has long been against what it calls the West’s “unilateral” sanctions against Russia and Chinese companies, but has urged the US not to make this a bilateral issue.

The Middle East is also expected to figure in Blinken’s talks with his counterpart Wang in Beijing. The US is likely to repeat its call that China use its influence to deter Iran, which attacked Israel after its consulate in Syria was bombed, while Beijing is expected to urge Washington to support a ceasefire in Gaza.

Briefing reporters ahead of Blinken’s arrival, a Chinese foreign ministry official called on both sides to implement the consensus on bilateral ties reached by Xi and US President Joe Biden at their summit last year.

Meeting in California on November 15, the two leaders agreed to manage tensions through a range of working groups. More than 20 consultation mechanisms had been “established or restored” since then, the official said, including on security, economy and finance, and climate change.

Military to military communication is back on track, and official and business exchanges have also intensified, with Xi receiving US businesspeople and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visiting China over the past month.

However, despite increasing dialogue, the US continues what China calls a “containment” drive aimed at Beijing. Besides the potential TikTok ban, Washington is weighing a hike in tariffs on Chinese metals, investigating Chinese electric vehicles for security risks, while strengthening defence alliances in the Indo-Pacific.

China and Russia eye stronger intelligence and law enforcement ties

In response to to the new funding for Taiwan, the Chinese foreign ministry on Wednesday repeated its call for the US to stop arming the island, saying this would only escalate tensions.

“China will closely follow the trends of relevant [US] bills and take resolute and effective measures to safeguard its sovereignty, security and territorial integrity,” spokesman Wang Wenbin said.

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

China, India must be ready to seize peace in Ukraine, not just the West

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3260068/china-india-must-be-ready-seize-peace-ukraine-not-just-west?utm_source=rss_feed

On Saturday, the US House of Representatives passed a US$95 billion foreign aid package that includes military support for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan. The bill has since been approved by the Senate and presidential approval awaits. Having been stalled for months due to Congressional infighting driven by the opposition of a pro-Trump faction of Republicans, things are now moving quickly.

This list of recipients offers a succinct summary of stretched US foreign policy commitments. Wars in Ukraine and the Levant rage on, while the US retains a watchful eye on the security dynamics of the South China Sea. But no matter how you might rank these three priorities, there is no ambiguity as to which one is receiving the most budgetary attention.

The lion’s share of this US aid package is for Ukraine, with US$60.84 billion earmarked, including for military aid. There is pressing urgency for more US support, because of the relentless pressure Russian forces are applying on Ukraine. After 26 months, both sides are locked in an arm wrestle, unable to force the other to the table.

Ukraine’s embattled and outgunned armed forces have lost ground. After months of stalemate, Russia’s troops are on a slow and costly march in the Donetsk region. Cities like Avdiivka that had been fought over since the more limited Russian invasion began a decade ago have been captured by Russia.

The critical question is this: additional US military aid will help Ukraine avoid outright defeat but can it empower Ukraine to victory? Aid is also being provided by European countries, including efforts to seize profits from Russia’s frozen assets to help Ukraine. But keeping Ukraine in the fight is only part of the challenge.

There is arguably a moral dilemma in which helping Ukraine to fight, rather than exploring other ways to end the fighting, contributes to prolonging the war. At one level, the ethical equation is clear: Ukraine is the victim of an illegal war and needs to be able to defend itself. And it is Russian aggression that is the main factor driving the war.

But, as a recent study of the failed peace talks between Russia and Ukraine in the early months of the full-scale invasion in March 2022 has shown, negotiations are possible. As I explored in my book on the run-up to the invasion, these talks, which took place in Belarus, online and in Anatolia with Turkish mediation, were hardly characterised by Russian honesty. Indeed, the Russian representative Vladimir Medinsky was out to impose a “victor’s peace” on Ukraine.

These talks fell apart for several reasons, including Ukraine’s leadership under President Volodymyr Zelensky feeling a mixture of devastation and elation: devastation that Ukrainians massacred in places like Bucha had suffered, and elation that Ukraine’s armed forces were defying the odds by repelling the Russian march towards the capital, Kyiv.

The situation has moved on significantly since, and both Ukraine and Russia are stubbornly committed to their goals. For Ukraine’s leadership, it is to expel the Russians utterly. For Russia’s leadership under President Vladimir Putin, it is to bring at least a large part of the Ukrainian state under Moscow’s control.

Even if a return to negotiations is currently implausible, this will not necessarily be so indefinitely. War without end is costly, in human lives for the combatant countries and in budgetary terms for the US and Ukraine’s European partners.

There are risks in the currently preferred Western strategy of helping Ukraine restore its position of military strength, with two clear milestones.

The first is this coming summer: what state will the battlefield be in? There is a US-approved programme for Ukraine to receive F-16 warplanes and pilot training from the Danish, Norwegian, Dutch and other European air forces in the coming months. What impact will the F-16 jets and other US and Nato-supplied weapon systems have?

The second milestone is the US presidential election in November. If Donald Trump wins, he has threatened to fully reverse the policy of US aid to Ukraine. Which brings us back to the global picture, and of the different US regional commitments.

The largest Asian countries, notably China but also India, should be poised to play a positive role if the winds change around the Ukraine war. No matter what brings about this change, whether it is meagre Ukrainian gains on the battlefield or Trump’s return, an end to the war needs to involve the countries that have some sway in Moscow.

Ukraine war: China must go beyond rhetoric to emerge as a peacemaker

India and China are major trading partners with Russia and while the war in Ukraine is happening a continent away, playing some kind of de-escalatory role in the years to come will present a test of their diplomatic clout in this new and more Asian-centred century.

Diplomatic equities and influence do not come out of thin air, however, and it would be prudent in Beijing and New Delhi for preparatory steps to be taken in how positive influence could be exerted on Moscow whenever an opportunity to end the war arrives.

Two years ago, Turkey tried in vain to mediate a swift end to the invasion, admittedly amid Russian duplicity and bad will. Perhaps it will take another two years or even more for a new window of negotiating opportunity to arise, and when it does, not only Europe and the West but also the wider world must be ready.

Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post picks up string of major international awards

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3260239/hong-kongs-south-china-morning-post-picks-string-major-international-awards?utm_source=rss_feed

The South China Morning Post has picked up a string of major international awards in recent days.

The company’s premium video arm, SCMP Films, scooped gold at the Wan-IFRA Digital Media Awards in the best use of video category, while SCMP Explains won silver in the same division.

The awards recognise news publishers that have delivered unique and original digital media projects. They were presented in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday evening.

SCMP Style was named a joint gold winner for best lifestyle site, while the newspaper’s educational news product for young children, Posties, won the silver award for best digital subscription/reader revenue project.

South China Morning Post wins 6 prizes at Hong Kong News Awards

Post editor-in-chief Tammy Tam said it was a “privilege” to represent the winners at the awards ceremony in Kuala Lumpur.

“These awards are not only a fitting tribute to the world-class journalism that we are committed to at the Post, they also reflect that we are more than Hong Kong’s newspaper of record, that we are a leading, global multimedia company,” she said.

“In this fast-changing digital era, our award-winning entries prove yet again that content is indeed king, and quality journalism is what really matters at the end of the day.”

The Post’s director of video, Chieu Luu, said: “SCMP Films shows the Post’s commitment to character-driven, impactful medium and long-form journalism, and every single person on the video team has contributed to SCMP Explains, so it really is an incredible recognition of everyone’s efforts.”

Emily Tsang, editor of Posties, said her team had spent nearly a year transforming the publication, which involved curating captivating and interactive content.

“The editorial team is thrilled that the award has further validated our vision and affirmed our commitment to delivering quality content to our readers,” she said.

The paper’s wins at the Wan-IFRA awards followed two other accolades announced last Tuesday in the United States.

The New York Festivals TV and Film Awards presented supervising video producer Jonathan Vit of SCMP Films with silver for in the short-form documentary category.

Hong Kong’s Post wins big with 4 golds and 6 silvers at 2 sets of media awards

The film follows the story of Hyangsu Park after her uncle was lured into moving to North Korea due to a PR campaign offering citizenship to ethnic Koreans from Japan, with her uncle and his family suddenly disappearing years later.

Another film from Vit, , was ranked as a finalist in the same category. The piece takes its title from the translation of the Japanese phrase johatsu-sha and delves into an industry of specialists who can help you disappear.

On the same day, the Digiday Video and TV Awards named Luu as video executive of the year in recognition of his leadership and initiatives to continually grow his team’s reach and reputation as a top player in the digital space.

The Post’s video team was also listed as finalists for three other categories at the event.

US sanction threats against Chinese banks over Russia trade ties risk ‘gargantuan’ financial instability

https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3260216/us-sanction-threats-against-chinese-banks-over-russia-trade-ties-risk-gargantuan-financial?utm_source=rss_feed

Washington would create global financial instability, while damaging the United States’ already tenuous ties with Beijing, if it carried out reported threats to sanction Chinese banks over their trade with Russia, and even cut China out of the Swift global interbank system, analysts said on Wednesday.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, without elaboration, that Washington was drafting sanctions to help US Secretary of State Antony Blinken persuade Beijing to stop any commercial support for Russia’s military production.

Blinken arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday at the start of a three-day visit to China, which will include a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss a range of issues, including Taiwan, perceived unfair trade practices and industrial overcapacity.

But any financial sanctions against China as a major trading partner with much of the world would set back transactions in Europe and the US, where merchants conduct brisk business with China, the analysts said.

“The US would be creating a gargantuan source of financial instability for not only China, but also itself,” said Brian Wong, a fellow at the Centre on Contemporary China and the World at the University of Hong Kong.

“This could severely impede the interests of American companies and investors in China, especially given the likely retaliation that would come either immediately, or in due course.”

And the possible removal of China from the Swift network is a “nuclear option” that would set off a “significant logjam in transactions and clearing for trade, which would culminate in cost-push inflation across the board”, Wong added.

China’s world trade reached 41.76 trillion yuan (US$5.8 trillion) in 2023, while its vast consumer market is coveted by foreign multinationals.

China’s ‘extreme’ national security focus a drag on business: US trade group

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication network, which is widely known by its Swift acronym, allows roughly 11,000 financial institutions to exchange money transfer instructions.

The European Union and other countries removed some Russian banks from the network in 2022 following the invasion of Ukraine.

But to also cut China from the network would inconvenience companies abroad, especially in Europe where multinational companies trade robustly with China, said James Chin, a professor of Asian studies at the University of Tasmania in Australia.

“[Removal from Swift] will be a huge problem because China is a main trading partner for many countries around the world,” Chin said.

“I think they will face opposition from European countries and other countries that do a lot of business with China.”

What is China’s Swift equivalent and what are its origins?

Added to their pile of differences over trade, technology and geopolitics, the US and China differ in their approaches to Russia.

Washington has punished Moscow over the war in Ukraine, while China has taken a neutral stance and still conducts business with Russia.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Tuesday that China had already imposed export restrictions on goods that could have military applications, but rejected criticism from Washington over Russia.

And sanctions against Chinese banks would accelerate China’s efforts to craft its own intercountry transaction system and internationalise the yuan, analysts said.

China launched the Cross-Border Interbank Payment System, or CIPS, in October 2015 to provide an independent international yuan payment and clearing system connecting both onshore and offshore clearing markets and participating banks.

Broader ties between China and the US would suffer if any bank sanctions took hold, said Denny Roy, senior fellow at the East-West Centre think tank in Hawaii.

“It would risk causing a major bilateral crisis that would make it impossible to work constructively with China on any issue,” he said.

In ‘no-limits’ partnership, why isn’t China letting Russia take out yuan loans?

The Reuters news agency reported on Wednesday that the US had “preliminarily discussed sanctions on some Chinese banks”, but with no short-term plan to carry out such measures.

The Reuters report, which quoted a US official speaking on condition of anonymity, said Washington hoped diplomacy would “avert the need for such action”.

Wong called exploration of bank sanctions “largely a calculated bluff” and a “signal” from the US, who want to increase pressure on China over its stance on Russia.

Russia and China have nearly eliminated the US dollar from two-way commerce according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, state-owned Russian news service TASS reported on Monday, and instead favour the yuan and rouble.

“The logical follow-up question is what the US would do about the aftermath of such sanctions,” said Zha Daojiong, an international studies professor at Peking University.

“For example, what if Russia’s capacity to sustain itself in the war continued unabated?”

China and Russia eye stronger intelligence and law enforcement ties as top security officials meet

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3260238/china-and-russia-eye-stronger-intelligence-and-law-enforcement-ties-top-security-officials-meet?utm_source=rss_feed

Beijing and Moscow are expected to strengthen communications in intelligence and law enforcement as the two countries deepen strategic ties in the face of suspicion from the West.

During a meeting on Tuesday, China’s top security official Chen Wenqing, who heads the Communist Party’s Central Political and Legal Affairs Commission, told Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev that Beijing supports Moscow in its efforts to ensure national security.

Chen said China condemns last month’s attack on a concert hall near Moscow and “resolutely opposes all manifestations of terrorism”, according to Russian news agency Tass. At least 137 people were killed in the attack – the worst Russia has seen in decades.

The Russian Security Council said in a statement that the two discussed “further strengthening cooperation between the law enforcement agencies and special services of the two countries”.

“Opinions were exchanged on some issues on the international agenda. The parties confirmed their focus on enhancing coordination in the international arena,” it said.

Pancakes and dancing: how Russia and China are trying to boost cultural ties

Chen, who also holds a seat on the Communist Party’s 24-member Politburo, began a nine-day trip to Russia on Saturday. The Chinese foreign ministry said he was invited to pay an official visit to the country and to attend the 12th International Meeting of High Representatives for Security Issues in St Petersburg, which runs from Tuesday to Thursday.

Earlier this month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Beijing, where the top diplomat met Chinese President Xi Jinping. The trip was seen as part of efforts to lay the groundwork for an anticipated China visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin next month.

Putin, who has been isolated from the West since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, won a landslide re-election in March, and his inauguration is expected to take place on May 7.

Amid tensions with the West, Beijing and Moscow have significantly stepped up strategic cooperation, with leaders and senior officials of the two countries meeting regularly. Bilateral trade jumped by 26.3 per cent to a record US$240.1 billion last year, while Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the top oil supplier to China.

The two sides have sought to present a united front at the United Nations, the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation and the Brics bloc, an informal group of emerging economies that now includes new members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

China rejects restraints on Russia trade as top US envoy travels to Beijing

The strong ties between Beijing and Moscow have drawn scrutiny from Washington.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who landed in Shanghai on Wednesday for a three-day visit to China, is expected to press Chinese officials on a wide range of issues, including Beijing’s continued supply of key technologies and products that US officials say enable Moscow to replenish its military industries.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that Washington was drafting sanctions that threatened to cut some Chinese banks out of the global financial system in an effort that could give Blinken the leverage to persuade Beijing to stop its commercial support for Russia’s military production.

The Chinese foreign ministry rejected the criticism and said export restrictions are in place for dual-use products, which could have military applications.

On Wednesday, Reuters quoted an anonymous source as saying that there are currently no immediate plans by Washington to impose sanctions on Chinese banks.

Cause for concern: US watching China’s ‘breathtakingly fast’ space development ‘very, very closely’, top commander says

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3260227/cause-concern-us-watching-chinas-breathtakingly-fast-space-development-very-very-closely-top?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s “breathtakingly fast” development in space is a “cause for concern” for the United States Space Force, the country’s space commander has warned.

At a press briefing on Wednesday, General Stephen Whiting, head of the US Space Command, said China had tripled its number of intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance satellites in Earth orbit over the past six years, while also improving the lethality, precision and range of the country’s terrestrial forces.

“The People’s Republic of China is moving at breathtaking speed in space, and they are rapidly developing a range of counter-space weapons to hold at risk, our space capabilities,” Whiting said, during a visit to South Korea and Japan.

“They’re also using space to make their terrestrial forces, their army, their navy, the marine corps, their air force, more precise, more lethal and more far ranging … And so that obviously is a cause for concern and something that we are watching very, very closely.”

The People Liberation Army (PLA) has boosted military aerospace funding to reach a modernisation target set for 2027 – the year of its centenary – paving the way for China to become a “world-class” military power by 2049.

In its largest structural reform in almost a decade, China last week disbanded the PLA’s Strategic Support Force (SSF) which had been established in 2015 to take charge of the PLA’s cyber, space, electronic and psychological warfare capabilities.

US Air Force budget delays letting China close air superiority gap: official

The new Information Support Force was inaugurated on the same day, taking over some of the functions of the SSF, while two forces – the military aerospace and cyberspace force – will remain independent, reporting directly to the Central Military Commission under a new command structure.

Chinese defence ministry spokesman, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, said the aerospace force will be responsible for “strengthening the capacity to safely enter, exit and openly use space, enhancing crisis management, and the efficacy of comprehensive governance in space”.

Whiting said Washington has noted the Chinese space force’s new structural reorganisation.

China reveals Shenzhou-18 crew for next space station mission

“They’ve made those changes to further enhance the importance of space and information warfare and cyber operations in the People’s Liberation Army,” Whiting said.

“We’ll want to understand what that means long term. And hopefully, there’ll be some transparency there from [China].”

Whiting added that the US and its Asian allies, such as South Korea and Japan, have a “shared understanding” of facing threats from China and the importance of space to “not only how we defend our nations, but also to enable this modern way of life that we’ve become used to”.

‘Audio deepfake’ of Marcos Jnr ordering military action against China prompts Manila to debunk clip

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3260229/audio-deepfake-marcos-jnr-ordering-military-action-against-china-prompts-manila-debunk-clip?utm_source=rss_feed

An “audio deepfake” clip of Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr directing his military to act against China has caused serious concern among government officials in Manila, who have warned that it could affect the country’s foreign policy.

In the manipulated audio, the deepfaked voice of Marcos Jnr can be heard saying he has signalled his military to “take action” if China attacks the Philippines, adding he can no longer allow Filipinos to get hurt by Beijing.

A deepfake is synthetic media in which a person’s features, such as face or voice, are replaced with someone else’s using artificial intelligence.

“We cannot compromise even a single individual just to protect what rightfully belongs to us,” says the voice in the faked audio, which was reportedly released via a YouTube channel with thousands of subscribers The audio was accompanied by a slideshow of photos showing Chinese vessels in the South China Sea.

The clip comes amid growing tensions between Manila and Beijing due to their frequent disputes in the South China Sea.

Philippine universities defend Chinese students on Taiwan-facing province

The Presidential Communications Office (PCO) issued a public warning about the manipulated media on Tuesday night, confirming it was entirely fake.

“It has come to the attention of the Presidential Communications Office that there is video content posted on a popular video streaming platform circulating online that has manipulated audio designed to sound like President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jnr,” the PCO said in a statement.

“The audio deepfake attempts to make it appear as if the President has directed our Armed Forces of the Philippines to act against a particular foreign country. No such directive exists nor has been made,” it added.

According to the PCO, it is working on measures to combat fake news, misinformation, and disinformation through its Media and Information Literacy Campaign.

“We are also closely coordinating and working with government agencies and relevant private sector stakeholders to actively address the proliferation and malicious use of video and audio deepfakes and other generative AI content,” it said.

‘I felt hurt’: Philippine first lady breaks silence on ties with vice-president

Ramon Beleno III, head of the political science and history department at Ateneo De Davao University in Davao City, said Beijing and its supporters in the Philippines are unlikely to have been behind the circulation of the fake audio as it was not in their interests to stoke tensions further.

“If something will happen in the West Philippine Sea, who will benefit? Neither the Philippines nor China,” he said. The West Philippine Sea is Manila’s term for the section of the South China Sea that defines its maritime territory and includes its exclusive economic zone.

The academic urged individuals behind the video or fanning tensions over the West Philippine Sea to stop such actions as they would not help resolve Manila’s dispute with Beijing.

“We don’t understand why there are people who want trouble. It’s not good to elevate the conflict. We have Balikatan now. There are many troops in the contested waters. Maybe we should not agitate the situation,” he said.

On Monday, the Philippines and the US kicked off their annual Balikatan joint military exercises involving some 11,000 troops from the US and 5,000 from the Philippines, as well as participants from the Australian and French armed forces.

“If the agitation results in a full-blown conflict, we can’t control it any more. As I’ve been saying, we should be rational and cooler heads shall prevail,” Beleno stressed.

On Wednesday, PCO Assistant Secretary Dale De Vera said the viral deepfake could have serious ramifications.

“It’s big news because it’s foreign policy that’s affected there,” he told reporters.

Asked if this was the first time that a deepfake of the president had been created, De Vera said there had been other instances before but nothing as potentially dangerous as the latest incident.

“This is not the first time but this one is serious because the others were just playful in nature, just songs where he [Marcos Jnr] is singing and dancing, but this one is very different because of the topic,” De Vera said.

Taking the matter seriously

Aboy Paraiso, assistant secretary of the Department Of Information And Communications Technology, said Manila would take the deepfake issue seriously.

“We are coordinating with the security sector in this particular scenario that involves national security and public welfare,” Paraiso said, adding that the parties behind the Marcos deepfake could land in jail under the country’s cybercrime law.

Jocel De Guzman, a cofounder of Scam Watch Philippines, a group involved in raising awareness about scams and fraudulent activities in the country, said Manila needs to educate people about online fraud detection, particularly as AI apps become more available.

“What is scary now is that it evolves and is not just copying but more advanced. We cannot stop AI development so we need to educate people about the logic to detect fraud,” he added.

Online users can assess if a media clip is fake by checking its source and examining it, De Guzman said.

“Usually the source is not credible. Check if the audio syncs in the mouth, the face is blurry, and the eyes, because they’re usually unnatural and not moving.”

Duterte drug war trial ‘moving forward’ as ICC calls for Philippine translators

Defence and security officials in the Philippines have long expressed concern about the country’s cybersecurity preparedness.

Last year, Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr warned military and security personnel against using apps that harness AI to generate personal portraits, saying they could be “maliciously used to create fake profiles that can lead to identity theft, social engineering, phishing attacks, and other malicious activities”.

Three lawmakers – Cavite representatives Lani Mercado-Revilla and Ramon Revilla III and Agimat Rep. Bryan Revilla – have sought through a bill heavier penalties against crimes committed using deepfake technology.

The draft bill defines a “deepfake” as “any audio, visual or audio-visual recording created or altered through technical means, such as video recording, motion-picture film, sound recording, electronic image, or photograph, which are so convincing that a reasonable person would mistake it for an authentic representation of an individual’s speech or conduct.”

Illegal deepfakes can “infringe on copyrights, violate data protection, defame individuals, and intrude upon privacy”, according to the bill.

---

Blinken begins key China visit as tensions rise over new US foreign aid bill

https://apnews.com/article/us-china-taiwan-ukraine-tiktok-blinken-d5bb4be65f98f4c5b830b2b1d00dcb90Secretary of State Antony Blinken waves as he boards a plane, Tuesday, April 23, 2024, at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., en route to China. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, Pool)

2024-04-24T09:05:23Z

SHANGHAI (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has begun a critical trip to China armed with a strengthened diplomatic hand following Senate approval of a foreign aid package that will provide billions of dollars in assistance to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan as well as force TikTok’s China-based parent company to sell the social media platform -– all areas of contention between Washington and Beijing.

Blinken arrived in Shanghai on Wednesday just hours after the Senate vote on the long-stalled legislation and shortly before President Joe Biden is expected to sign it into law to demonstrate U.S. resolve in defending its allies and partners. Passage of the bill will add further complications to an already complex relationship that has been strained by disagreements over numerous global and regional disputes.

Still, the fact that Blinken is making the trip — shortly after a conversation between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, a similar visit to China by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and a call between the U.S. and Chinese defense chiefs — is a sign the two sides are at least willing to discuss their differences.

Of primary interest to China, the bill sets aside $8 billion to counter Chinese threats in Taiwan and the broader Indo-Pacific and gives China’s ByteDance nine months to sell TikTok with a possible three-month extension if a sale is in progress. China has railed against U.S. assistance to Taiwan, which it regards as a renegade province, and immediately condemned the move as a dangerous provocation. It also strongly opposes efforts to force TikTok’s sale.

The bill also allots $26 billion in wartime assistance to Israel and humanitarian relief to Palestinians in Gaza, and $61 billion for Ukraine to defend itself from Russia’s invasion. The Biden administration has been disappointed in China’s response to the war in Gaza and has complained loudly that Chinese support for Russia’s military-industrial sector has allowed Moscow to subvert Western sanctions and ramp up attacks on Ukraine.

Even before Blinken landed in Shanghai — where he will have meetings on Thursday before traveling to Beijing — China’s Taiwan Affairs Office slammed the assistance to Taipei, saying it “seriously violates” U.S. commitments to China, “sends a wrong signal to the Taiwan independence separatist forces” and pushes the self-governing island republic into a “dangerous situation.”

China and the United States are the major players in the Indo-Pacific and Washington has become increasingly alarmed by Beijing’s growing aggressiveness in recent years toward Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries with which it has significant territorial and maritime disputes in the South China Sea.

The U.S. has strongly condemned Chinese military exercises threatening Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a renegade province and has vowed to reunify with the mainland by force if necessary. Successive U.S. administrations have steadily boosted military support and sales for Taiwan, much to Chinese anger.

A senior State Department official said last week that Blinken would “underscore, both in private and public, America’s abiding interest in maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. We think that is vitally important for the region and the world.”

In the South China Sea, the U.S. and others have become increasingly concerned by provocative Chinese actions in and around disputed areas.

In particular, the U.S. has voiced objections to what it says are Chinese attempts to thwart legitimate maritime activities by others in the sea, notably the Philippines and Vietnam. That was a major topic of concern this month when Biden held a three-way summit with the prime minister of Japan and the president of the Philippines.

On Ukraine, which U.S. officials say will be a primary topic of conversation during Blinken’s visit, the Biden administration said that Chinese support has allowed Russia to largely reconstitute its defense industrial base, affecting not only the war in Ukraine but posing a threat to broader European security.

“If China purports on the one hand to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it can’t on the other hand be fueling what is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War,” Blinken said last week.

China says it has the right to trade with Russia and accuses the U.S. of fanning the flames by arming and funding Ukraine. “It is extremely hypocritical and irresponsible for the U.S. to introduce a large-scale aid bill for Ukraine while making groundless accusations against normal economic and trade exchanges between China and Russia,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Tuesday.

On the Middle East, U.S. officials, from Biden on down, have repeatedly appealed to China to use any leverage it may have with Iran to prevent Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza from spiraling into a wider regional conflict.

While China appears to have been generally receptive to such calls — particularly because it depends heavily on oil imports from Iran and other Mideast nations — tensions have steadily increased since the beginning of the Gaza war in October and more recent direct strikes and counterstrikes between Israel and Iran.

Blinken has pushed for China to take a more active stance in pressing Iran not to escalate tensions in the Middle East. He has spoken to his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, several times urging China to tell Iran to restrain the proxy groups it has supported in the region, including Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and Iranian-backed militias in Iraq and Syria.

The senior State Department official said Blinken would reiterate the U.S. interest in China using “whatever channels or influence it has to try to convey the need for restraint to all parties, including Iran.”

The U.S. and China are also at deep odds over human rights in China’s western Xinjiang region, Tibet and Hong Kong, as well as the fate of several American citizens that the State Department says have been “wrongfully detained” by Chinese authorities, and the supply of precursors to make the synthetic opioid fentanyl that is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans.

China has repeatedly rejected the American criticism of its rights record as improper interference in its internal affairs. Yet, Blinken will again raise these issues, according to the State Department official.

Another department official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Blinken’s private talks with Chinese officials, said China had made efforts to rein in the export of materials that traffickers use to make fentanyl but that more needs to be done.

The two sides agreed last year to set up a working group to look into ways to combat the surge of production of fentanyl precursors in China and their export abroad. U.S. officials say they believe they had made some limited progress on cracking down on the illicit industry but many producers had found ways to get around new restrictions.

“We need to see continued and sustained progress,” the official said, adding that “more regular law enforcement” against Chinese precursor producers “would send a strong signal of China’s commitment to address this issue.”

Chinese tourist reunites with Thai rescuers after being pushed off cliff by husband in 2019

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3260202/chinese-tourist-reunites-thai-rescuers-after-being-pushed-cliff-husband-2019?utm_source=rss_feed

A pregnant Chinese tourist who survived after her husband pushed her off a cliff in Thailand’s Pha Taem National Park in 2019 returned to the kingdom to express gratitude to the officials for saving her.

Wang Nan was moved to tears as she hugged and thanked the four rescuers at the scenic spot’s office in Ubon Ratchathani province last week.

Wang commended the swift response of the park’s authorities to the incident in which she sustained grievous injuries, including multiple bone fractures, after falling 34 metres down the hill.

She also offered baskets of health drinks to the rescuers as a gesture of goodwill.

Three months pregnant with her husband Yu Xiaodong’s child, Wang hit a thick layer of trees before landing on a trail at the park.

The couple visited the cliff, famous for its rock paintings, to see the sunrise.

A local traveller spotted Wang writhing in pain and alerted officials, who rushed her to a nearby hospital.

Wang, who aborted her baby due to the injuries from the plunge, said Yu had attempted to kill her to inherit her wealth to settle his gambling debts.

He was arrested on an attempted murder charge about a week after the attack.

In 2023, Thailand’s Supreme Court sentenced the man to 33 years and four months’ jail, overturning a previous verdict that reduced his life imprisonment to 10 years.

Wang said Yu kissed her on the cheek and said “go to hell” before pushing her over the edge.

The woman added she had endured “an endless repetition of surgery and rehabilitation” over the past years and depended on her parents for support.

“I have healed mentally, but not physically … There’s such a gap between my mind and body now,” she told the Post in 2021.

The pair got married in July 2017, just two months after meeting each other in Bangkok.

Wang’s reunion with her rescuers also warmed the hearts of Thai social media users, who hailed them for giving her a “new life” and upholding the country’s tourism reputation.

“I am delighted on behalf of the entire Thai people. I really love the Pha Taem team,” a Facebook user said.

“It’s so cute that even after all these years you still haven’t forgotten their kindness,” another wrote.

Some admired Wang’s survival story and urged her to travel to the Southeast Asian nation again.

“I was very touched. Come visit Thailand again. May everyone be kind to you,” a commenter said.

Volkswagen aims to launch 30 EVs in China in next 6 years as shift to green motoring erodes German giant’s market share

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3260125/volkswagen-aims-launch-30-evs-china-next-6-years-shift-green-motoring-erodes-german-giants-market?utm_source=rss_feed

Volkswagen Group, which saw its market share shrink in China last year, said it plans to launch 30 new electric cars on the mainland by 2030 as it vies to keep up with the rapid pace of electrification in the world’s largest vehicle market.

Ralf Brandsatter, VW’s China chief executive, told reporters at a media briefing on Monday that the German carmaker is targeting 4 million deliveries annually to mainland customers by 2030, which could account for about 15 per cent of the overall market.

Volkswagen has been a perennial market leader in China’s automotive industry since it established a Shanghai-based joint venture in 1984, delivering 3.2 million cars – the vast majority petrol-powered – on the mainland last year, up 1.6 per cent from 2022.

It narrowly beat Shenzhen-based BYD, the world’s bestselling EV builder, which handed nearly 3 million battery-powered cars to Chinese buyers last year.

“We want to remain the No 1 international OEM [original equipment manufacturer],” he said. “In China, we want to be on par in cost and tech with local players with a profitable and healthy business model.”

OEM is a term favoured by many in the industry to refer simply to car assemblers.

Brandsatter said VW would tap its partnerships in China to rev up development of new electric vehicle (EV) models while reducing production costs.

It reported sales of 191,800 electric cars in China last year, up 23.2 per cent from 2022.

However, Volkswagen’s share of the broader Chinese vehicle market slipped to 14.2 per cent in 2023, down 0.6 percentage points from a year earlier, according to data compiled by the China Passenger Car Association.

In China, where four out of every 10 new vehicles are powered by batteries, the surging popularity of electric cars has ratcheted up pressure on conventional carmakers like Volkswagen and Toyota to get on board with the shift to environmentally friendly motoring.

New-energy vehicles (NEVs) – a term that captures fully electric and plug-in hybrid cars – will make up about half of new car sales in mainland China by 2030, as state incentives and an expanding network of charging stations win over more customers, Moody’s Investors Service said in a research report released early this month.

“We expect that by 2026, we will be fully competitive compared with the best players in terms of ADAS [advanced driver assistance systems] and other smart technologies,” Brandsatter said.

He expects VW to launch 20 new electric models for the Chinese market in the next three years.

Volkswagen aims to reduce the time it takes to develop its cars by more than 30 per cent while cutting costs by up to 40 per cent as it beefs up its investment in China’s EV sector.

In February, the company signed an agreement with Chinese electric-car maker Xpeng to jointly develop two mid-sized battery-powered vehicles for the highly competitive mainland market in 2026.

The new EVs, bearing the VW badge, will be designed and built based on “joint purchasing activities” and sharing of technologies, the two companies said. VW owns 5 per cent of Xpeng following a US$700 million investment last year.

The carmaker has partnered with other Chinese companies too, including autonomous driving tech firm Horizon Robotics and ThunderSoft, an in-car entertainment developer, to create a new generation of EVs.

It owns three carmaking ventures across the mainland, with state-owned Chinese companies FAW, SAIC and JAC.

VW also owns a 25 per cent stake in Gotion High-Tech, a leading Chinese EV battery producer.

South China Sea: amid tension US and Chinese navy chiefs discuss ‘increasing security challenges in Indo-Pacific’

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3260211/south-china-sea-amid-tension-us-and-chinese-navy-chiefs-discuss-increasing-security-challenges-indo?utm_source=rss_feed

US and Chinese navy chiefs have met alongside a naval forum in Qingdao amid tensions in the South China Sea.

Admiral Stephen Koehler, commander of the US Pacific Fleet, met Admiral Yuan Huazhi, political commissar of the People’s Liberation Army Navy, at the 19th Western Pacific Naval Symposium on Tuesday.

Koehler met Yuan to discuss “increasing security challenges in the Indo-Pacific”, according to a statement from the US Pacific Fleet which provides naval forces to the Indo-Pacific Command.

Two days earlier, Koehler had met the commander of China’s navy, Admiral Hu Zhongming, according to the statement.

In meetings with Chinese PLA officials, Koehler discussed the importance of maintaining open lines of communication, operational safety and regional security concerns, it said.

The bilateral talks – which the Chinese side is yet to confirm or offer details about – came after a series of senior-level talks between the two militaries, including most recently between US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin and China’s Defence Minister, Admiral Dong Jun this month.

The meetings took place alongside the symposium hosted by China and attended by 29 countries, notably including representatives from rivals Russia and the US, which did not have any bilateral interactions, according to public information.

While the Philippines was absent, the member countries passed the updated 3.0 version of the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES) – a non-binding multilateral agreement adopted in 2014 – on Tuesday, standardising safety protocols, basic communications and basic manoeuvring at sea for ships and aircraft.

The full text of the document has not been made public.

Alexander Moiseyev, commander-in-chief of the Russian Navy who led his country’s delegation to the event, also held talks with China’s navy commander Hu, Tass reported on Sunday.

The two sides signed a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in sea search and rescue operations and both stressed the importance of developing cooperation between their navies “in the interests of security and stability” in the world’s oceans, Tass said citing Russia’s defence ministry.

Both nations stressed the importance of developing cooperation between the two countries’ navies “in the interests of security and stability in the world ocean”, Tass cited Russia’s defence ministry as saying.

The forum started on Sunday and took place against a backdrop of intensified clashes between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea where they have overlapping territorial disputes. Tensions are also running high in the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea.

It coincided with the largest-ever annual Balikatan “shoulder-to-shoulder” drills between the US and the Philippines in the South China Sea which started on Monday.

The forum established a “research working group on unmanned systems” with China as the coordinating country, a statement from China’s defence ministry on Tuesday said, although it offered no further details.

During the forum on Tuesday, Hu Zhongming called for “close communication” and “strengthened coordination” between the naval forces of countries taking part, according to China’s defence ministry.

He called on the navies of all countries to “engage in dialogue rather than confrontation, to engage in exchanges rather than becoming hostile … and to add bricks rather than chaos”.

‘Can’t change you’: adult China son caught peeping into women’s toilet violently slapped by mother during police call-out

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3258756/cant-change-you-adult-china-son-caught-peeping-womens-toilet-violently-slapped-mother-during-police?utm_source=rss_feed

The story of adult son who was slapped by his furious mother after police arrested him for peeping into women’s public toilets, has trended on mainland social media.

The man, from Hubei province in central China, was visited by local police at his home on April 5.

When his mother found out what he had done, she was furious and lashed out at him, Jiaodian Video reported.

“Do you know why we are here?” a police officer asks him.

“I have no idea,” the son answers.

Another officer then plays him a video clip on a phone which was filmed by a woman who saw him crouching on the floor of the women’s toilets.

When he realised he had been found out the man ran from the toilets, and the woman called the police.

“This person in the women’s toilets on the third floor of a dormitory, is that you?” the officer asks the man.

He looks at the video and answers: “Yes, yes.”

As soon as she hears his reply, the mother walks over to where her son is sitting and slaps him repeatedly.

He remains still and silent as the officers stop the angry woman.

“You just cannot change. You do it over and over again,” she says, and kicks him.

“Do you want to irritate me to death?” the mother asks.

Her son eventually gets up from the chair and kneels down in front of his mother and says: “I did something wrong. I’m sorry.”

The officers help him up , handcuff him and take him to the police station.

The son’s behaviour angered many people online.

“It’s really terrible,” one person said.

“It’s even worse that he is a habitual offender,” said another.

“His mother is right to slap him,” someone else commented.

“The mother must be very sad,” wrote another.

Peeping at others is illegal, but it is not considered a crime in China.

In general, offenders are given up to 10 days of administrative detention and fined up to 200 yuan (US$28).

China’s ex-Tibet propaganda chief charged with bribery

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3260190/chinas-ex-tibet-propaganda-chief-charged-bribery?utm_source=rss_feed

A former Chinese propaganda chief who was responsible for promoting its official line on Tibet and human rights is facing bribery charges, prosecutors said on Wednesday.

Dong Yunhu, who later became Shanghai’s top legislator, was indicted in Hefei, a city in Anhui province, according to an announcement published on the website of the Supreme People’s Procuratorate.

He was first placed under investigation for suspected corruption in July last year, making him the first ministerial level official to be purged after a major Communist Party reshuffle at the 20th party congress in October 2022.

Chinese state media changes ‘Tibet’ to ‘Xizang’ after Beijing white paper

His alleged crimes date back to 1999, when he was in charge of planning and publicising Beijing’s official message on human rights and Tibetan affairs as the bureau chief at China’s State Council Information office, according to prosecutors.

The corruption is alleged to have continued in other leadership roles.

The indictment accused Dong, 61, of taking advantage of his positions to seek “undue benefits for others and illegally accept large amounts of property” although it did not say how much he is alleged to have taken in bribes.

He was trained as a philosopher and started his career at the Communist Party school, where he managed its School of Marxism and Human Rights Research Centre in the 1990s.

He has published several books on human rights, including a 2011 study of the history and functions of human rights centres in various countries, and co-authored a compilation of facts and statistics about Tibet in 2008.

Dong undertook a leadership role at China’s State Council information office in 1999 and had served as the office director for the China Society for Human Rights Studies, a state-led research body.

Hundreds of exiled Tibetans march in India asking China to leave Tibet

In 2011, he left Beijing to manage communication and propaganda work in the Tibet autonomous region. He went on to take up the same role in Shanghai in 2015, later becoming head of its legislative body.

For decades grievances about the treatment of ethnic minorities, including the Tibetans, have been a source of tension in China, although Beijing has steadily tightened its control over the region in recent years and clamped down on protests.

At the same time, Beijing has increasingly tried to promote the use of the Mandarin Chinese term “Xizang” in its English language messaging about the region, partly because if sees the name “Tibet” as being linked to the region’s exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama.

China reveals Shenzhou-18 crew for next space station mission

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3260183/china-reveals-shenzhou-18-crew-next-space-station-mission?utm_source=rss_feed

China has revealed the names of the three astronauts who will travel to the country’s space station as part of its 13th crewed mission on Thursday.

The Shenzhou-18 mission will launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwestern China. During the mission, the crew will carry out experiments on fish as an initial step towards raising other vertebrates in space.

Commander Ye Guangfu, who was part of the 2021 Shenzhou-13 mission, will lead his teammates Li Cong and Li Guangsu, both embarking on their first flight mission.

They will be received by the Shenzhou-17 trio, who will return to Earth on April 30 after six months in space. The Shenzhou-18 crew will stay in the Tiangong space station until late October.

The Tianzhou-8 cargo ship and the Shenzhou-19 crewed spaceship are scheduled to arrive during their six-month mission.

Chinese astronauts fix damaged solar panel on Tiangong space station

Deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency Lin Xiqiang said the crew would begin China’s first in-orbit aquatic ecology project.

Lin told reporters on Wednesday that the mission would establish a stable “self-circulating aquatic ecosystem” in orbit using zebrafish and hornwort, with the goal of achieving a “breakthrough in cultivating vertebrates in space”.

Scientists view the zebrafish as a model vertebrate because of its relatively small and simple brain. With its fully sequenced genome, the tiny freshwater species has helped scientists make new discoveries and technological advancements.

Last month, for example, a Chinese research team created real-time imagery of the 100,000 neurons in a zebrafish, which could lead to advances in mind-controlled computers.

Small fish species have frequently been used in space research. In 2012, the International Space Station set up a facility for research on zebrafish and medaka fish, also known as the Japanese rice fish, to study bone loss and muscle atrophy under microgravity.

In a 2016 study, Russian and Japanese scientists found that medakas sent to the International Space Station started losing bone density almost immediately after arriving – much faster than humans.

According to Lin, more than 130 science and design projects have been conducted on Tiangong by researchers from some 500 Chinese and international institutions.

“The research projects carried out in space and with samples sent to Earth have been resulting in new findings. These developments will gradually show greater scientific, technological and economic benefits,” he said.

China’s space experiments have supported the development of alloy materials for nuclear power plants, high-performance semiconductor alloy materials, an artificial vascular tissue chip and research on the prevention and treatment of bone diseases such as fractures and spinal injury repair, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Blinken will urge China to stop sending military supplies to Russia

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/04/24/blinken-china-visit-russia-ukraine/2024-04-24T04:23:01.572Z

TOKYO — Amid growing U.S. worries that Russia’s war on Ukraine is being made possible by Chinese support for Moscow’s defense industry, Secretary of State Antony Blinken was set to arrive in China on Wednesday on a three-day mission to push leaders to cut ties with the Kremlin.

The conversations in Shanghai and Beijing will be aimed at managing an increasingly thorny and contentious relationship, with ongoing disputes about China’s role in the war in Ukraine, Beijing’s broad claims over the South China Sea and U.S. efforts to reduce dependence on China’s technology manufacturing sector.

The Senate’s passage on Tuesday of a bill requiring the Chinese owners of TikTok to divest from their company was sure to add additional contention on the Chinese side.

This will be the top American diplomat’s second visit to China since relations hit bottom early last year when a Chinese spy balloon floated across the continental United States.

American officials played down expectations for breakthroughs but said it was important to keep talking. More than two years into wide-ranging Western sanctions against Russia, the Biden administration blames China for what it says is a systematic effort to keep Moscow’s defense sector afloat, enabling further civilian deaths in Ukraine. Officials hope to deliver a message coordinated with Europe, which they believe will be more effective than the United States making a solo push.

“When it comes to Russia’s defense industrial base, the primary contributor in this moment to that is China,” Blinken told reporters last week after a meeting of leading world economies in Italy, saying that China has been sharing machine tools, semiconductors and other items that have helped Russia rebuild its defense industry two years into its full-scale war in Ukraine.

“If China purports on the one hand to want good relations with Europe and other countries, it can’t on the other hand be fueling what is the biggest threat to European security since the end of the Cold War,” Blinken said.

Beijing has bristled at Washington placing Ukraine front and center of attempts to thaw relations. Ukraine is “not an issue between China and the United States. The U.S. side should not turn it into one,” a senior Foreign Ministry official said in an unusually long and detailed rundown of Beijing’s demands for talks in a statement released on Tuesday.

Blinken’s last trip to China, in June, marked the resumption of communications after a period of near-silence between high-level leaders in both countries following a trip by former House speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August 2022. Blinken was poised to make a trip that was canceled when the spy balloon floated across America just days before his scheduled departure.

But in recent months a steady stream of Cabinet secretaries has visited Beijing, while Chinese officials have made the return trip to the United States. Blinken isn’t even the first member of President Biden’s Cabinet to visit China this month, after Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen led an economic delegation and charmed her hosts by drinking beers in Beijing — even as she threatened sharper tariffs on steel and aluminum.

Still, with Chinese leader Xi Jinping showing little inclination to dial back his increasingly aggressive approach to projecting his nation’s power in the world, the United States is devoting significant diplomatic bandwidth to ringfencing China.

Biden and Blinken are building ties to China’s neighbors to try to discourage it from making moves against Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own, and to warn it off its confrontational stance toward the sea fleets of other nations in the South China Sea. Earlier this month, Biden met the leaders of Japan and the Philippines together in the White House, part of a broader U.S. push to build small groupings of countries to work together to respond to Chinese activity.

Beijing has been especially unsettled by that U.S. strategy, arguing that the Biden administration is rerunning the Cold War playbook of containment that it once deployed against the Soviet Union. U.S. officials fire back that if China’s neighbors feel threatened and want to work with each other to bolster their security, then Beijing should reexamine the way it is projecting its power.

Still, the relationship is far more stable than it was a year ago, and China appears to be signaling that it does not want to risk crossing the reddest of U.S. red lines. It has dialed back its rhetoric and military activity around Taiwan in recent months. And — after the Biden administration delivered a stark warning — it still has not sent weaponry to Russia, Blinken said last week.

But U.S. officials say that even the current levels of Chinese support for the Kremlin are far too much. They have warned counterparts that if Chinese companies keep supplying embargoed dual-use components to Russia, they could face crippling sanctions of their own.

“We’re prepared to take steps when we believe necessary against firms that are taking steps in contravention to our interests,” a senior State Department official said ahead of the trip, speaking to reporters under ground rules of anonymity to discuss sensitive planning considerations. “Our objective will be to clearly make the case what the implications are of this support and why that may in fact not be in China’s interest going forward.”

Blinken will need to convince Xi that this latest appeal is not an attempt to “drive a wedge” between him and Putin, said Bonnie Glaser, director of the Asia program at the German Marshall Fund, a think tank.

To appeal to the Chinese leader’s interests, the United States needs to show him that curbing specific trade that aids Putin’s war effort can help stabilize relations with Washington, Glaser said. “China really does not want to be front and center in our election campaign,” she added.

A key goal for China is to ease American export controls on advanced technologies, after Xi warned Biden in San Francisco that more restrictions could “deprive the Chinese people of their right to development.”

Still, some officials said they did not expect an immediate shift in Chinese behavior. With Biden already working to isolate Chinese industry and detach trade ties to Beijing, he has less leverage over China’s economy than in the past. Nor is China in the mood to split from the Kremlin, viewing Russia as a key partner in a world it sees as largely under by U.S. hegemony.

According to Shi Yinhong, a scholar at Renmin University in Beijing, there remain 16 sources of serious tension in the relationship, “none of which have seen lasting mitigation even with more dialogue since [former president Donald] Trump left office.”

On his list are military activity around Taiwan and in the South China Sea; human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang; decoupling in technology industries and efforts to safeguard supply chains; and growing ideological competition as part of a new Cold War. “On every major issue there is an established pattern,” Shi said. “It’s very difficult to make positive change.”

Shepherd reported from Shanghai.

EU targets China medical technology market with launch of new procurement weapon

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3260170/eu-targets-china-medical-technology-market-new-procurement-investigation-tool?utm_source=rss_feed

The European Union launched the first investigation under its international procurement instrument (IPI) on Wednesday – into access to the Chinese market for its medical device manufacturers.

The landmark investigation has been years in the making. The IPI was adopted in June 2022 with the aim of prising open lucrative foreign procurement markets that are closed to EU firms.

The probe will almost certainly add a new wrinkle of tension to already fraught EU-China trade relations. Chinese officials have previously lashed out at “protectionist acts that harm the fair competition environment in the name of fair competition”.

A note published in the EU’s official journal said China’s rules favoured local suppliers in its procurement markets.

It pointed to a “buy China” policy, the Made in China 2025 strategy that directs hospitals to procure an increasing level of domestically-made medical devices, and regulations that stipulate that local authorities must procure domestic products.

It bemoaned the “more stringent rules for the procurement of imported products compared to the procurement of domestic ones”, and accused the government of “imposing conditions in its centralised procurement of medical devices leading to abnormally low bids that cannot be sustained by profit-oriented companies”.

The commission said its preliminary research found “serious and recurrent impairment of access of EU economic operators, goods and services to the public procurement market for medical devices” in China.

China’s medical technology market was estimated to be worth US$144.5 billion in 2022, according to a study by the Mercator Institute for China Studies, a Berlin think tank that has been sanctioned by Beijing.

But European businesses have complained that they are discriminated against when it comes to competing for public tenders in the industry.

The investigation is to be concluded within nine months, with the Chinese government invited to “submit its views and provide relevant information with respect to the alleged measures and practices”, the note said.

Should the commission confirm its preliminary findings, companies from China could have their applications for tenders in the single market downgraded. They could also face being excluded from tenders in the EU.

The inaugural IPI probe is the latest in a long line of investigations opened by Brussels under various instruments since the turn of the year, at an increasingly rapid pace – drawing criticism from Beijing and even surprise from some European member states.

A high-profile anti-subsidies probe into China’s electric vehicle sector last October set the tone, drawing a stern rebuke from the Chinese authorities but also consternation from Berlin and some other capitals that are exposed to the carmaking sector there.

The preliminary results of the case, including potential import duties to be imposed on Chinese-made cars, are expected in July.

This year, the tool of choice has been the foreign subsidies regulation (FSR), designed to uncover “market-distorting” state handouts on the books of overseas firms operating in the EU.

Four investigations have been launched against Chinese firms under this tool. Targeted businesses have voiced concerns about the speed and breadth of the FSR, having been forced to hand over their books to European authorities at short notice.

On Tuesday, businesses were shocked by unannounced “dawn raids” by the commission on the offices of a Chinese surveillance equipment maker in the Netherlands and Poland, first reported by the Post, in search of evidence of subsidies.

“Without prior notice, enforcement agencies authorised by the European Commission conducted raids at the company’s offices in both countries in the morning,” read a statement from the China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union.

“They seized the company’s IT equipment and employees’ mobile phones, scrutinised office documents, and demanded access to pertinent data.”

China Rolls-Royce seller lets man of modest means live the dream in car showroom, tells him ‘try hard to succeed’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3258629/china-rolls-royce-seller-lets-man-modest-means-live-dream-car-showroom-tells-him-try-hard-succeed?utm_source=rss_feed

A Rolls-Royce salesperson in China who showed kindness to a man who was looking enviously at the luxury cars but who could not afford one has touched many hearts online.

In a Douyin video that went viral, a man is seen visiting a showroom in Xian, in northwestern China’s Shaanxi province, to admire his favourite car, a Cullinan SUV.

The modestly dressed visitor asks the salesman, Li Zhangchao, if he needs to “verify his capital”.

Li refuses and welcomes him into the showroom, and then helps make the man’s dream come true by taking a video of him standing next to the car, which costs about 7 million yuan (US$1 million).

He also spoke to his mother over the phone, telling her that her son had “made it” and she could stop worrying about him.

Li continued to patiently help the curious man after he asked to sit in the driver’s seat and pose for a photo with a Rolls-Royce umbrella next to him.

When the man tried to put a plastic bag on the seat in case he stained it, Li stopped him, saying: “You have to experience the comfort of the car fully.”

When the man stepped out of the car, he was grateful but sad, telling Li: “I will never have a chance to own a car like this.”

But kind-hearted Li encouraged him: “No one knows about the future. What if you try hard and you succeed? Those who own this car earned it with their hard work.”

It transpired that the man is an influencer with 55,000 followers on Douyin.

After he posted the video @Renjianzaizai, it went viral, attracting about 5 million views.

People were moved by Li’s compassionate and positive attitude, and said he challenged their stereotypes about people who sell luxury brands.

“He is the best Rolls-Royce salesperson, unlike other luxury brand salespeople I have met, who discriminated against me simply for not washing my hair,” one person said.

Another thanked him for “letting me know that not all luxury brand sellers are snobs.”

Li, 41, has been working for Rolls-Royce since the Xian showroom’s opening in 2012.

He previously sold cars for Mercedes-Benz and Bentley and made a good impression with customers of those brands.

Greater China is Rolls-Royce’s second largest market worldwide. The company has nearly 30 shops across China, and sold 1,600 cars in the country last year, a quarter of its global sales.

China’s rising online KOLs, or Key Opinion Leaders, have become a major purchasers of luxury cars, believing they are the ultimate symbol of wealth and success.

Apple’s iPhone sales in China plunge 19%, as Huawei grows smartphone sales by nearly 70%

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3260157/apples-iphone-sales-china-plunge-19-cent-huawei-grows-smartphone-sales-nearly-70-cent?utm_source=rss_feed

Apple lost its throne as China’s bestselling smartphone brand, after sales declined 19.1 per cent in the first quarter amid rising competition from Huawei Technologies and other local rivals, according to market research firm Counterpoint.

The US tech giant, which topped smartphone sales in China in the fourth quarter last year, saw its market share in the past quarter shrink to 15.7 per cent from 20.2 per cent previously. It ranked third, overtaken by Chinese manufacturers Vivo and Huawei spin-off Honor, which secured shares of 17.4 per cent and 16.1 per cent, respectively.

Huawei, in the fourth spot with a share of 15.5 per cent, achieved sales growth of nearly 70 per cent, “largely attributed to the successful launch of the 5G-capable Mate 60 series as well as its enduring brand reputation”, Counterpoint said in its report.

“Apple’s sales were subdued during the quarter, as Huawei’s comeback has directly impacted Apple in the premium segment,” said Ivan Lam, senior research analyst at Counterpoint.

Amid fierce competition in the world’s largest smartphone market, Apple last month launched its eighth store in Shanghai, which is touted to be the largest in the country and the second-largest in the world.

Apple CEO Tim Cook celebrated the store’s opening in person, as part of a high-profile tour in China that included an appearance at the state-backed China Development Forum, meetings with local game developers and the founder of electric vehicle giant BYD, and a morning stroll with popular Chinese actor Zheng Kai.

The Cupertino, California-based company is also exploring a tie-up with internet search and artificial intelligence giant Baidu to install the latter’s Ernie chatbot on iPhones sold in China, according to a report by The Wall Street Journal last month.

Apple is set to achieve “slow but steady improvement” in the coming months, Counterpoint’s Lam said.

“For the second quarter, the possibility of new colour options combined with aggressive sales initiatives could bring the brand back into positive territory.”

Still, the iPhone 15 and coming 16 series will face strong competition from Huawei’s new Pura 70 series, which shipped its high-end Pro and Ultra models last week. The Pura 70 models represent the company’s biggest flagship handset launch since the Mate 60 Pro last year, which featured a Chinese-made processor.

Huawei is expected to regain the No 1 position in China this year, shipping more than 50 million smartphones, including around 10.4 million Pura 70 handsets, according to a report last week by research firm TechInsights.

From January to March, China’s smartphone market registered growth for the second consecutive quarter following 10 quarters of decline, according to Counterpoint. The firm forecasts “low single-digit” growth for the full year, compared with a decline of 1.4 per cent last year and a plunge of 13.9 per cent in 2022.

China’s security ministry hails move to reward postal and parcel workers for spy tip-offs in eastern province

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3260166/chinas-security-ministry-hails-move-reward-postal-and-parcel-workers-spy-tip-offs-eastern-province?utm_source=rss_feed

Postal and parcel workers in an eastern Chinese province who report clues about threats to state security could be rewarded with up to 30,000 yuan (US$4,100).

China’s top counter-espionage watchdog, the Ministry of State Security, hailed the development in Jiangsu province – the first in China to introduce such rules – as an “innovative initiative” on Wednesday.

In an article published to the ministry’s WeChat account on Wednesday, it said the regulation was “aimed at severely cracking down on the use of the delivery service to endanger national security”.

The new local regulation was jointly issued by Jiangsu’s anti-spy agency, the state security department and the provincial postal bureau and took effect on April 15, making it the first government document in China to reward delivery companies and delivery workers for tip-offs about spying.

The 25-article regulation states that courier companies and their employees are obliged to report “clues about national security violations and crimes” they discover during their work.

If the tip leads to a criminal case involving national security, authorities will give the source a cash reward of 10,000-30,000 yuan, the highest level of the regulation’s three-tiered reward system. And at the lowest level, informants will receive less than 1,000 yuan for clues that “play a certain role”.

The regulations add that national security agencies “will determine the final amount based on the circumstances of the case, the actual usefulness of the information, and relevant policies and regulations”.

According to the regulations, delivery workers in Jiangsu should be aware of suspicious parcels, including “dangerous items related to national security”, such as weapons, bullets, drugs, explosives and threats to biosecurity.

They should also be on the lookout for books and printed and audiovisual material that “harm national security”, according to the rules.

The regulations state that express carriers should report any “spy equipment or suspected spy equipment” they find.

National security authorities in Jiangsu hope to be informed about clues to “documents, data, information, and other items suspected of being state secrets” and the regulations guarantee informants will be protected.

According to an article posted on April 18 to the Jiangsu Express Association website, which is overseen by the provincial postal bureau, a meeting was held on April 15 between the provincial postal bureau and the national security department to plan how to implement the regulations.

The meeting called on delivery companies to “step up inspections by opening parcels and strengthening security checks by machines at places where [parcels] are handled”.

According to data released by the Jiangsu provincial postal bureau in January, the province sent 13.4 billion parcels last year, accounting for 8.2 per cent of the 162.5 billion articles sent in China.

In its article on Wednesday, the Ministry of State Security said Jiangsu’s rules were consistent with a national regulation it issued in June 2022, which set the criteria for rewards for national security tips.

The 2022 regulation said authorities would offer rewards that could exceed 100,000 yuan to citizens who report behaviour deemed a threat to national security.

The Ministry of State Security has become more active on social media over the past year, warning of the threat of foreign spies and urging the public to share information about suspicious activity.

The revised anti-espionage law, which took effect in July last year, expanded the definition of espionage and the investigative powers of state security agencies.

The newly revised law on state secrets, which takes effect from next month, adds 12 new articles, expanding the depth and breadth of its coverage.

Antony Blinken heads to China with warning for Beijing over support of Russia

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/24/antony-blinken-china-visit-us-secretary-of-state-beijing

Antony Blinken was due to land in China on Wednesday, amid a worsening rift between the world’s two most powerful countries that threatens to overshadow otherwise improving relations.

The US secretary of state is coming with a warning that the US and its European allies are no longer prepared to tolerate China’s sale of weapon components and dual-use products to Russia, which are helping Vladimir Putin rebuild and modernise his arms factories, enabling him to intensify his onslaught on Ukraine.

Relations between China and the US had been warmer recently, with Beijing significantly less bellicose in its military posturing in the Taiwan Strait since the meeting between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden in Woodside, California in 2023. In the wake of that summit, progress was made on people-to-people ties, more than doubling the number of flights between the two countries, for example.

At Woodside, Xi also agreed to take action to curb the flow of precursors and equipment used in the making of fentanyl in Latin America which is causing rising deaths among young Americans.

On his three-day visit Blinken will first stop in Shanghai on his way to Beijing, to speak to students and attend a basketball game, the sort of popular diplomacy which would have been unthinkable a year ago, when bilateral relations were fraught, mostly over Taiwan.

However, when Blinken reaches Beijing for a meeting with his counterpart Wang Yi on Friday, expected to last six hours, and most likely with Xi too, the mood could cool, with discussions about China’s sale of dual-use products to Russia on the agenda.

US sanctions against the Chinese companies involved are also looming over this week’s visit.

“We’re committed to taking the steps necessary to defend our national interests,” a senior administration official said, adding that the planned measures would be aimed at “firms that are taking steps in contravention to our interests and in ways that severely undermine security in both Ukraine and Europe.”

“This will be a key issue of discussion while we’re in Beijing,” the official said. The Wall Street Journal reported that the Biden administration was also considering sanctions against Chinese banks, but US officials say that there are no imminent plans to take such measures.

The US believes its hand is strengthened on this issue having discussed a common position with European allies, who are alarmed by the prospect of a rebuilt, modernised and battle-hardened Russian military in the hands of an increasingly aggressive leader in the Kremlin. The G7 foreign ministers issued a strongly worded statement earlier this week saying: “China should ensure that this support stops.”

“My expectation is that friends in Europe will have opportunities to express their concerns both in public and private to Chinese officials as well,” the senior administration official said. “So our objective will be to clearly make the case what the implications are of this support, and why that may not be in China’s interest going forward.”

US officials believe such joint pressure has helped convince Beijing to back down from their plans to supply arms directly to Russia earlier in the Ukraine war. However, they acknowledge that it will be hard to convince Xi to stop selling dual use industrial goods to China’s most important strategic partner.

Before Blinken’s arrival, China’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, restated China’s position.

“Let me stress again that China’s right to conduct normal trade and economic exchanges with Russia and other countries in the world on the basis of equality and mutual benefit should not be interfered with or disrupted,” Wang said according to Beijing Youth Daily. “China’s legitimate and lawful rights and interests should not be infringed on.”

The Blinken team is aware that China’s response to pressure over Russia could be to slow down progress in other areas of the bilateral relationship.

Beijing has taken some steps to curb the trade in fentanyl precursors and equipment in the wake of the Woodside summit, issuing a warning to pharmaceutical firms that it would enforce the law on those chemicals and taking police action against some suppliers. Blinken will be pressing for more, in the form of disruption of the financing networks around the trade, and more consistent law enforcement action.

It is unclear whether Beijing will limit cooperation on such a vital issue for Washington – fentanyl is the primary cause of death among Americans aged 18 to 49 – in response to threatened measures over Russia.

Beijing’s adamant support for Moscow is deepened by its belief that the US is seeking to encircle China by constructing an interlocking network of alliances around it.

Earlier this month, the US, Japan, and the Philippines, held a trilateral summit at the White House, reaffirming the security alliance between the three countries in the face of “dangerous and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea”, less than a year after a similar summit at Camp David with Japan and South Korea. In recent years the US also formed the Aukus security pact with Australia and the UK.

On most such bilateral issues, US officials say, the Chinese are highly disciplined in discussions, to the point where officials turn the page on their notes at the same time as Wang. There is rarely any diplomatic give and take in the meeting, but rather a recital of positions. Explorations of mutual benefit are left to working groups. But Wang is more likely to go off-script on multilateral issues like the Middle East, where both countries share an interest in the free flow of shipping.

Blinken and Wang have spoken six times since the outbreak of the Gaza war on 7 October about the situation in the region, where both US and China urged restraint on their respective partners, Israel and Iran, when an all-out war threatened to ignite this month.

Washington would like Beijing to do the same with North Korea. In US eyes, China has walked away from efforts to try to influence Pyongyang, at a time when the regime there has ramped up its threatening rhetoric against South Korea and other neighbours and warned of accelerated missile launches since it began deepening its relationship with Russia.

While US officials expect that some of Blinken’s sessions with Chinese counterparts may be “scratchy” because of the multiple irritations in the relationship, they also believe that China is committed to maintaining stability in the coming years while the leadership addresses economic challenges.

Tech war: US is reviewing risks of China’s use of open-source RISC-V chip technology

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-war/article/3260128/tech-war-us-reviewing-risks-chinas-use-open-source-risc-v-chip-technology?utm_source=rss_feed

The US Department of Commerce is reviewing the national security implications of China’s work in open-source RISC-V chip technology, according to a letter sent to US lawmakers.

RISC-V, pronounced “risk five,” competes with proprietary technology from British semiconductor and software design company Arm Holdings. It can be used as a key part of anything from a smartphone chip to advanced processors for artificial intelligence.

The technology is being used by major Chinese tech firms such as Alibaba Group Holding and has become a new front in the strategic competition over advanced chip technology between the US and China.

In November, 18 US lawmakers from both houses of Congress pressed the Biden administration for its plans to prevent China “from achieving dominance in … RISC-V technology and leveraging that dominance at the expense of US national and economic security”.

In a letter last week to the lawmakers that was seen by Reuters on Tuesday, the Commerce Department said it is “working to review potential risks and assess whether there are appropriate actions under Commerce authorities that could effectively address any potential concerns”.

But the Commerce Department also noted that it would need to tread carefully to avoid harming US companies that are part of international groups working on RISC-V technology.

Previous controls on transferring 5G technology to China created roadblocks for US firms working in international standards bodies where China was also a participant, risking US leadership in the field.

---

Canada police charge 2 former UN workers in plot to sell Chinese-made military equipment in Libya

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3260130/canada-police-charge-2-former-un-workers-plot-sell-chinese-made-military-equipment-libya?utm_source=rss_feed

Two former United Nations employees in Montreal have been charged with participating in a conspiracy to sell Chinese-made drones and other military equipment in Libya, Canadian police said Tuesday.

RCMP spokesman Sergeant Charles Poirier said the alleged offences occurred between 2018 and 2021, when the two men were working at the International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency headquartered in Montreal.

Police identified the two men as Fathi Ben Ahmed Mhaouek, 61, and Mahmud Mohamed Elsuwaye Sayeh, 37. Poirer said they violated UN sanctions related to the Libyan civil war. The sanctions have the force of law in Canada by way of federal regulation.

“What we found is that through some shell companies, they attempted to sell this Chinese military equipment to Libya, which is a direct violation of the regulation,” Poirier said, adding that the military equipment included large drones that can carry multiple missiles.

Poirier said the regulation prohibits anyone in Canada from supplying military equipment to any of the factions that were fighting in the Libyan civil war, or helping to finance those groups. The alleged conspiracy, he said, would have benefited one of the two main factions in the conflict, which ended in 2020.

“The second part of this scheme was to export Libyan oil to China,” Poirier said. “So at the time, the oilfields were under the control of General Khalifa Hifter and the plan was to sell millions of drums of crude oil to China without anyone knowing about it.”

UN finds evidence of war crimes, crimes against humanity in Libya

Hifter’s self-styled Libyan National Army fought against Libya’s UN-backed government and held much of the country’s east during the civil war; he continues to be a powerful figure in that region.

Poirier said Mhaouek, a Canadian citizen, was arrested Tuesday morning at his home in the Montreal suburb of Ste-Catherine, Quebec, and was scheduled to appear in a Montreal court later in the day.

Mhaouek’s alleged accomplice remains on the run. An Interpol red notice – an alert sent to police around the world – and a Canada-wide warrant have been issued for Sayeh’s arrest.

Poirier said investigators have no indication that military equipment or crude oil ever reached their alleged final destinations, but he said if they had, the two co-conspirators stood to gain several million dollars in commissions.

“The theory behind the motivation is primarily financial,” he said. However, it would have also benefited China by allowing it to covertly support Hifter’s faction and by giving the country prime access to Libyan oil.

Poirier said the investigation began in 2022 after the RCMP received what he described as “credible intelligence”.

Both men had diplomatic immunity due to their work with the UN. Their immunity had to be waived by ICAO before the two men could be charged.

The UN organisation, which sets international aviation standards, has been collaborating with the police investigation.

“There’s no indication that ICAO was aware of the conspiracy until they were approached by us,” Poirier said.

Police don’t know where Sayeh, a Libyan national, may be.

“He could be in Libya, but with the level of influence and the networking that these men had working at ICAO, he could be anywhere,” Poirier said.

The UN’s civil aviation agency said in an emailed statement that it is committed to upholding Canadian laws, UN standards and its own ethics code.

“ICAO is fully cooperating with the RCMP investigation of the individuals involved in the complaint, who left the organisation a number of years ago,” the agency said. “ICAO strongly condemns any actions of individuals that are inconsistent with the organisation’s values.”

Meaty economic indicator? China’s distressed pig farmers eye turnaround

https://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/3260145/meaty-economic-indicator-chinas-distressed-pig-farmers-eye-turnaround?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese farmers are keeping the fewest pigs for breeding since 2020, offering hopes that the industry is on the cusp of sustained profitability after years of losses.

Key indicators point to the market having bottomed. Foremost was the drop in the sow herd to below 40 million head, a four-year low, reported by the government last week. The number of sows determines the number of piglets and ultimately the amount of meat on the shelves. As a consequence, pig prices have jumped more than 10 per cent in the last two months, while margins have been positive since mid-March.

The so-called pork cycle in China, where prices are driven by mismatches in supply and demand, has implications beyond farm incomes. Analysts look to the cycle for clues on inflation because the nation’s favourite meat is an important element in the basket of goods used to measure price changes. Weakness in livestock markets has contributed to the deflationary pressures that have weighed on consumer spending in recent months, posing risks to Beijing’s target for economic growth.

Still, the moves are insufficient to herald a major turning point, according to Zhu Zengyong, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Rather, the market has entered “an upwards cycle on a smaller scale”, he said.

“The fall in the sow herd, though continuous, is still not enough to restart a major new pork cycle,” said Zhu. “In addition, demand has been weak since the second half of last year due to the macro economic environment.”

China’s pork cycle is just another variant of the booms and busts that characterise commodities markets and typically lasts three or four years. The current one began with a steep drop in prices in 2021 after farmers expanded their herds to capture better margins.

Fewer pigs now means prices have once again turned higher, which is starting to entice speculators into the market, according to Cofco Futures. Hog slaughters are expected to fall further, by more than 5 per cent in both the second and third quarters compared with the previous year, the brokerage said in a note this week.

The central bank’s target of 3 per cent annual growth in the consumer price index has long looked out of reach. CPI grew just 0.1 per cent in March, while prices actually fell from October through January, so any green shoots of recovery in food markets will be welcome, even if the improvement is driven by supply rather than demand.

While sentiment has undoubtedly improved, there are still obstacles to overcome if the rebound in the hog industry is to be maintained.

China’s sluggish economy could cap any further gains in price if cash-strapped households continue to penny-pinch. Some farmers may be too quick to restock their herds.

Others are holding back pigs that are already ready for slaughter, fattening them further for bigger profits, the agriculture ministry said last week. That is likely to swell supply in coming weeks and months.

And the structure of the market has changed in recent years. Previously, steep losses would wipe out small holders, which in turn would deepen supply deficits. But consolidation has reduced the number of small farms, leaving more capacity in the hands of larger companies that are better able to ride out unprofitable periods.

“With production more concentrated with big corporate players, continuous losses will lead to some output cuts, but they won’t be as dramatic,” said Zhu.

China’s little-known H-20 stealth bomber not a concern for US: Pentagon official

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3260136/chinas-little-known-h-20-stealth-bomber-not-concern-us-pentagon-official?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s latest stealth bomber is “nowhere near” compatible with US platforms and is “not really” a concern for Washington, according to a Pentagon intelligence official, who cited engineering design challenges in the Chinese programme.

The official, who spoke to the online Breaking Defence news portal on condition of anonymity, said the Xian H-20’s capabilities would not be able to keep up with its US counterparts.

“The thing with the H-20 is when you actually look at the system design, it’s probably nowhere near as good as US LO [low observable] platforms, particularly more advanced ones that we have coming down,” the official said in the article published on Monday.

“They’ve run into a lot of engineering design challenges, in terms of how do you actually make that system capability function in a similar way to, like, a B-2 or a B-21,” the official added.

Little is known about the development programme, first revealed in 2016, of China’s first strategic bomber, which has been referred to as Beijing’s answer to Northrup Grumman’s B-2 Spirit or its new B-21 Raider, as well as other US platforms.

According to the Pentagon’s annual report to Congress in 2021, the H-20 is likely to have a range of at least 8,500km (5,280 miles), with a payload of at least 10 tonnes and the capability to employ conventional and nuclear weapons.

In recent years, computer-generated designs and models of the bomber have circulated online and in magazines run by Chinese defence contractors. These have featured a similar flying wing design to the B-2 and B-21.

The designs also reveal a weapons bay, two adjustable tail wings, an airborne radar at the front of the H-20 and two stealth air intakes on each side.

Wang Wei, deputy commander of the PLA Air Force, told the “two sessions” political gathering in March that the H-20’s official public announcement would take place “soon”. He also said there were neither technical difficulties nor any intention for comparisons with the US.

According to the Breaking Defence article, the defence intelligence official noted that China may choose to unveil the H-20 “just because they want to show that they’re a great military power”.

“That doesn’t necessarily mean it actually delivers them the kind of capability that they would need or at the quantity that they would need.”

However, the official said Washington is not ruling out a scenario where Beijing’s military capabilities are, in fact, highly effective in any outbreak of war between the US and China.

China is serious about preparing all levels of society for a “protracted” conflict with the US, according to the official, who emphasised that Beijing is purposefully equipping the PLA, targeting US military weaknesses and posing as a “pacing challenge”.

South China Sea: ‘upsurge’ in Chinese vessels as Balikatan drills with US begin ‘out of the norm’, Philippines says

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3260103/south-china-sea-upsurge-chinese-vessels-balikatan-drills-us-begin-out-norm-philippines-says?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines has observed an “upsurge” in Chinese maritime militia vessels sailing the South China Sea as its Balikatan joint military exercises with the US got under way this week, a move analysts say is likely meant to underscore China’s commanding footprint in the disputed waters.

Philippine Navy Commodore Roy Trinidad said on Tuesday that 124 Chinese vessels of various types had been detected in the West Philippine Sea – Manila’s term for the section of the South China Sea that defines its maritime territory and includes its exclusive economic zone – since Monday, compared to an average of 60 per week in the two months prior.

Philippines’ plan for maritime militia to match China raises fears of ‘shooting war’

“This upsurge is out of the norm. This coincided with the launching of the Balikatan,” Trinidad said.

The 124 vessels included three from the Chinese navy and 11 from its coastguard, Trinidad said. But the biggest increase was detected in the number of maritime militia vessels, which rose from a low of 50 over the previous two weeks to 110 this week.

“So there is a surge in the presence of maritime militia specifically in Bajo de Masinloc and Pag-asa,” he said, referring to the Filipino names for Scarborough Shoal and Thitu Island, respectively. Both are located in the South China Sea.

This year’s edition of the Balikatan drills kicked off on Monday, involving more than 16,000 troops from the US and 5,000 from the Philippines, as well as Australian and French armed forces.

In a first for Balikatan, some of this year’s exercises are taking place outside the Philippines’ 12 nautical-mile territorial waters into the waters of the South China Sea, where Manila is currently locked in an escalating territorial dispute with Beijing.

Last month, vessels from China’s coastguard and maritime militia impeded and fired water cannons at Philippine coastguard ships accompanying boats on a supply mission to Manila’s military outpost on the Second Thomas Shoal, injuring three Filipino sailors.

Major General Marvin Licudine, the Philippines’ exercise director for Balikatan, said on Monday that the presence of Chinese vessels within the vicinity of the exercises was expected.

“Surely, I would say that we will expect that because they have been there since they have structures in these areas,” Licudine said, referring to China’s island building in the disputed waterway.

“We always adhere to international law and the freedom of navigation. So I think we would not see any problem as long as we follow international law.”

Licudine also said the drills were not aimed at any specific party.

“Yes, it’s the first time that we are going beyond our territory. But for the US and Philippine side, it’s more on the development of interoperability, our collective effort, protection of international law, and the freedom of navigation in these areas,” he said.

Political analyst Sherwin Ona, an associate professor of political science at De La Salle University in the Philippines and an auxiliary officer in the Philippine coastguard, told This Week in Asia that the upsurge had two possible aims.

The first is projecting the message that China has de facto control over the disputed waterway – thus reinforcing its maritime claims – while the second is to “disrupt or complicate any planned Balikatan activities in the area”.

“I believe that the use of Chinese maritime militia is a tactic to reinforce its victim narrative once a confrontation at sea occurs. I think it will use the [vessels] to turn public opinion, portraying China as a victim of coercion,” he said.

Ray Powell, a retired US Air Force officer who is now a maritime security analyst, raised the possibility that the number of Chinese maritime militia vessels may not have actually increased, but had rather made themselves easier to detect.

“The China Coast Guard is often there but undetectable, going completely ‘dark’ on its automatic information system [AIS] signals or broadcasting on the weaker ‘Class B’ only,” Powell said.

“Going dark”, according to Powell, means strategically turning off a vessel’s AIS transponder to avoid detection, while Class B refers to a weaker type of AIS signal, typically used by smaller vessels, that often transmit at a lower power with less frequent updates and have a shorter range.

China to retaliate against ‘unjust provocation’ in maritime disputes: commander

The 39th edition of the annual Balikatan exercises is being carried out under the auspices of the US-Philippine Mutual Defence Treaty, a 1951 agreement that calls on both countries to aid each other in times of aggression by an external power. The Pentagon has said it is prepared to assist Manila if it invokes the treaty amid threats from other nations.

One of the main events of this year’s Balikatan will be an exercise involving the coordinated sinking of the BRP Lake Caliraya – the Philippine Navy’s only Chinese-made naval asset – off the coast of Laoag in Ilocos Norte. Manila said the choice of target was “not intentional”.

“We didn’t know that it was made in China. It just so happened that among all of the vessels that we checked, it’s the one that’s still floating, and it was the right size for our exercise,” Army Colonel Michael Logico, the Philippines’ spokesman for the Balikatan drills, said on Monday.

Another exercise pertaining to deterring a ground invasion will take place in Batanes, the Philippine’s northernmost province closest to Taiwan.

China’s durian output to quadruple in 2024, processing poised to permeate with demand ‘on a rapid rise’

https://www.scmp.com/economy/economic-indicators/article/3260034/chinas-durian-output-quadruple-2024-processing-poised-permeate-demand-rapid-rise?utm_source=rss_feed

China expects to quadruple home-grown durian output this year as demand for the pungent fruit has shown no signs of abating, while its two top suppliers - Thailand and Vietnam - are aiming to consolidate their market dominance and tap further into the burgeoning industrial chain.

Domestically grown durians were introduced last year from the tropical island of Hainan- the only Chinese province with a climate to nurture the tropical fruit – but typhoons have kept output to 50 tonnes (110,000 pounds). That would account for only about 0.005 per cent of all the durian eaten in China last year.

Chinese-produced durians are likely to be available to the public in July, with production likely to reach 200 tonnes by the end of the year, Feng Xuejie, director of the Institute of Tropical Fruit Trees at the Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said on Monday.

The thorn-covered “king of fruits” has persistently enjoyed popularity both from price-conscious consumers and the middle class, who are looking for high quality. Prices range from 70 yuan (US$9.7) up to 200 yuan per fruit without the rind.

Durian has also become a latecomer in China’s US$1 trillion-plus food processing industry.

Some producers have already innovated with a range of processed durian products, such as cakes, bubble tea, coffee and even hotpot, which are more affordable than fresh durian, and have become increasingly popular among younger consumers.

Huang Zheng’en, the president of Hainan Academy of Agricultural Sciences, said the province should expand its industrial chain to increase the value of durian products and nurture local brands.

“Hainan should launch a durian processing industry based on the production scale, to lengthen the industry chain of this product, and increase their added value,” Huang said, the Hainan Daily reported in January.

The province is also looking to complete China’s first durian processing plant in August, the state-backed China Daily newspaper said in March.

China, which is the world’s largest durian consumer, imported 1.4 million tonnes (3 billion pounds) in 2023, up by nearly 70 per cent from the previous year.

“China has very limited arable land to grow durian,” added Feng.

“In the future, the country needs to expand more durian processing industries, create a complete industrial chain with Southeast Asia, and jointly cultivate the market.”

Smells like victory: countries vie to be China’s durian king as crop flourishes

Thailand shipped 95 per cent of China’s durian imports in 2022, Chinese customs data showed, but amid increasing competition from Vietnam, the figure had fallen to 65 per cent last year.

The Southeast Asian nation is set to introduce new standards for durian exports “to enhance quality and global market competitiveness”, its Government Public Relations Department said last week.

The standards would specify dry weight requirements for durian pulp – the sweet edible part of the fruit – of between 28 and 32 per cent, the department added.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has directed the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives to draft regulations “targeting” the sale of unripe “substandard” durians, the statement added following a cabinet meeting earlier this month.

Demand from China is “on a rapid rise”, the statement added.

The Thai government anticipates durian demand from China could “potentially increase by fifteenfold in the future”, while it has set a goal for export revenues to reach 1 trillion baht (US$27 billion) in 2024.

“We are seeing an outperformance of what we call the ‘eat, drink, and play’ theme in terms of consumption patterns [in China], where households are spending more on [food and beverage] and entertainment this year,” said Lynn Song, chief economist for Greater China at ING.

“Higher quality durian imports will likely find a receptive audience, with various dessert and drink products using higher quality durians in recent years.”

But climate change can impact the output of premium types of fruit in Thailand, the government statement said.

Vietnamese durian shipments to China reached 45 million kilograms (99 million pounds) in the first quarter, compared to 27.3 million kilograms from Thailand.

Vietnam received permission from China in 2022 to begin shipping fresh durians, allowing shipments to soar to 493 million kilograms last year.

The strong demand has pushed some farmers away from lower-value staples that generate less income, while local governments back durian production due to the increased tax revenues, said Nguyen Thanh Trung, a political scientist at Fulbright University Vietnam.

“The government [of Vietnam] wants the Vietnamese farmers to export more durians and the farmers themselves see that China is the big market,” Nguyen said.

The Thai government’s focus on quality makes sense because its durians are already relatively competitive on quality and price, said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, executive director with the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok.

“Durian sales are fast becoming Thailand’s major source of export earnings,” he said.

“As China is the biggest buyer with a huge market, durian exports ultimately boost Thai-Chinese trade ties and economic partnerships.”

Maldives’ pro-China president has ‘nothing to block him’ after big poll win: ‘India is concerned’

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3260069/maldives-pro-china-president-has-nothing-block-him-after-big-poll-win-india-concerned?utm_source=rss_feed

A landslide win for pro-China President Mohamed Muizzu’s political party in the Maldives’ recent parliamentary elections looks set to exacerbate security concerns for India and the United States – but observers say a middle path of diplomacy may be the Indian Ocean nation’s only real option.

Muizzu’s administration is expected to tone down its anti-India rhetoric, with a former top official saying the country was “too small” to be taking sides.

Landslide win for pro-China leader’s party in Maldives election

His People’s National Congress bagged 70 out of 93 seats in Sunday’s parliamentary elections, according to preliminary results – enough to secure absolute control of parliament, alongside the three seats secured by allies.

The decisive victory strengthens Muizzu’s ability to make policy decisions, but after ordering the withdrawal of Indian troops from the Maldives earlier this year, he isn’t expected to take any further drastic measures against New Delhi.

“There will be nothing to block him on whatever policy initiative he wants to take because the opposition has been badly defeated,” said Manoj Joshi, a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation who specialises in international politics. “However, he has signalled that he would like to keep his equation with India on an even keel. I don’t think we will see anything dramatic.”

Muzzu, who came to power on a campaign platform of removing the archipelago nation’s long-standing “India First” policy, in March signed a “military assistance” pact with Beijing after ordering the withdrawal of Indian troops.

Joshi said Muizzu’s win in parliament could usher in a further shift to pro-China policies, but said “India will probably take a restrained view of this,” as the Maldives’ geographical proximity would undoubtedly ensure the maintenance of diplomatic ties.

The Maldives is a traditional ally of India and has remained a foreign policy priority for Delhi given its strategic importance. Its more than 1,000 islands are spread across a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean that forms a vital shipping corridor, helping explain why China has been jostling for influence.

The bigger concern for India and its Western allies such as the US will be whether the Maldives’ military pact with China leads more Chinese naval vessels in the region.

“If the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] navy becomes active around the Maldives, it will have security implications. We don’t know how all this will play out,” Joshi said, referring to China’s navy.

The Indian Ocean nation drifted closer to Beijing under Abdulla Yameen, president of the Maldives from 2013-18 and half-brother of Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, whose 30-year rule that ended in 2008 has been characterised as autocratic or authoritarian.

Yameen’s successor Ibrahim Mohamed Solih, whose government had sought closer ties with India, was defeated by Muizzu in September’s presidential election.

Under Muizzu, relations with Delhi have frayed, with thousands of Indian tourists responding to Maldivian officials’ disparaging social-media posts about Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier this year by boycotting the holiday destination.

Harsh Pant, an international-relations professor at King’s College London, said there was a danger that Muizzu could be emboldened to step up his adversarial posturing by his party’s victory at the polls.

“The ball is in Muizzu’s court. If he continues with an anti-India posture, then there will be a stalling of ties,” Pant said. “There’s a danger that people-to-people ties that have been strong may get affected.”

Though the decline in Indian tourist numbers is unlikely to be permanent, Pant said Muizzu “has to balance ties with India and China at the end of the day. So a lot depends on him now and how he moves forward.”

Ahmed Adeeb Abdul Ghafoor, a former vice-president of the Maldives, said he expected Muizzu’s government to tone down its anti-India rhetoric.

“India has also been very patient and whatever Muizzu has requested they have acceded to, including the withdrawal of troops. The president should focus on internal governance,” he said, pointing to the Maldives’ debt pile that the World Bank estimates to be hovering around 115 per cent of gross domestic product.

Though the details of the military assistance pact with China had not been made public, Ahmed Adeeb said “we are too small as a nation to be one-sided”.

India to open ‘strategically important’ navy base near China-friendly Maldives

“Maldives is in a strategic location. We have to find a balance,” he said.

Einar Tangen, a long-time political commentator and senior fellow at the Taihe Institute think tank in Beijing, said concerns about the Maldives becoming a China-India flash point were exaggerated.

“India is concerned about regional influence, especially due to issues with the Maldives, which just gave a super majority to a party that wants better relations with China and [has] asked Indian troops to leave,” he said. “China wants political and economic relationships but based on trade, not ideology.”

Tangen pointed to how Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi had said on Saturday that the South Pacific – which, much like the Indian Ocean, has become an arena for geopolitical maneouvering – should not become an arena for major power rivalries.

But “this will not necessarily stop the perception of regional players like Australia, United States and India,” Tangen said.

India’s perceived support of Israel amid the war in Gaza and escalating tensions in the Middle East may have also provoked suspicions in the Muslim-majority Maldives, analysts say, helping to cement the resounding victory for Muizzu’s party in the parliamentary elections.

“Muizzu’s party was expected to win, but not by this margin of victory. Certainly, India’s pro-Israel stance may have had an effect,” Joshi said, adding that Delhi’s best course of action would be to patiently nurture better ties with its smaller neighbour.

Entitled China girl dips feet into lake at historic Beijing site, says family is rich so can do as she pleases after warning

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/environment/article/3258625/entitled-china-girl-dips-feet-lake-historic-beijing-site-says-family-rich-so-can-do-she-pleases?utm_source=rss_feed

A disrespectful visitor has attracted outrage on mainland social media for dipping her bare feet in the lake at a world-famous historical tourist site in Beijing.

Viral video footage from April 7 at the Old Summer Palace, also known as Yuanmingyuan Park, shows a female visitor perched on the side of a small wooden boat and dangling her feet in the water, the news website china.com.cn reported.

Her shoes and socks were left near a seat she had been sitting on in the boat, the report said.

An employee asks her not to dip her feet in the lake, telling her: “It is dangerous and disrespectful to history.”

The girl ignores his advice and says: “I am a minor. I am only 16. I am rich, second generation and I just like doing this.”

The employee told her that putting her feet in the water was not allowed and that he would be punished if there was an accident, to which the girl replies: “It is you, not me, who will receive punishment. It’s not my concern.”

Another tourist, surnamed Yang, who witnessed the exchange, said the girl was emotional when arguing with the member of staff.

“She threatened to jump into the water if we did not allow her to continue dangling her feet,” said Yang.

“She acknowledged she is not civilised and even encouraged us to report her behaviour to the police,” Yang added.

Some minutes later, the girl withdrew her feet from the water and returned to her seat.

An official from Yuanmingyuan Park said that because they are not a law enforcement authority, they can only advise visitors not to engage in unacceptable, anti-social behaviour but cannot punish them.

Yuanmingyuan Park is a complex of gardens and palace ruins in northern Beijing.

It was once one of the most spectacular royal gardens in China before being destroyed in a massive fire caused by invading British and French troops in 1860.

To the people of China, the site is not only a tourist attraction, but an important part of the country’s history.

Inappropriate behaviour by tourists in and from China has become frequent in recent years.

In early April, six people were banned for life from a giant panda base in southwestern Sichuan province after spitting and throwing steamed buns and cigarette butts at the animals.

In March, a visitor from China touring the British Museum in London, was called “disgusting” by mainland internet users after swapping a souvenir flask for a used water bottle.

China is running a full-court press for global arbitration clients. What’s the verdict so far?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3260046/china-running-full-court-press-global-arbitration-clients-whats-verdict-so-far?utm_source=rss_feed

After two years of hard work, Beijing-based lawyer Wilson Wei Huo had cause for celebration. His team had won an arbitration case earlier this year – a rare victory for a firm in mainland China – representing a domestic enterprise in an overseas dispute.

“The case involves a landmark metallurgical project in a country taking part in the Belt and Road Initiative, and the company was involved in equipment design, construction and provision. It is a [model case] for Chinese manufacturing, technology and ‘going global’ by Chinese standards,” said Huo, a partner at the Zhong Lun Law Firm.

Declining to reveal details of the case, Huo said that it features many of the risks and challenges businesses from the mainland may face when taking part in the initiative, China’s global infrastructure strategy with a focus on projects in the developing world.

Victories like Huo’s are highly sought after by Chinese enterprises operating overseas, with demand for international commercial arbitration growing concurrently with their activities abroad.

China, a latecomer to the arbitration arena, is striving to increase its voice and allure in the field. It has begun a campaign to transform its first-tier cities into international arbitration hubs, presenting alternatives to traditional powerhouses like Singapore, New York and London.

The growing number of Chinese applicants will have a wider impact on international arbitration destinations in the future, legal experts said, as those companies want institutions that are familiar with their homeland’s legal and commercial culture.

“Many of our local small and medium-sized enterprises have started to go global and encountered disputes,” said Joey Zhou, a female entrepreneur from Hunan province who sells grain and oil machinery in Southeast Asia and the US. “A single legal dispute could ruin your entire deal. Your reputation in the overseas market or your entire investment could be lost.”

China’s Arbitration Law, which entered into force in 1995, is in the middle of a major revision which began in 2021. The changes are intended to bring the law into better alignment with international practices and aid Chinese companies which have made larger strides into overseas markets.

Those businesses have had difficulties in finding an appropriate institution to service their needs, according to recent surveys and legal scholars.

A 2022 report by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC) revealed nearly 60 per cent of surveyed respondents had disputes in Southeast Asia, half in Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, 40 per cent in Europe and North America and 30 per cent in Africa.

Quarrels over contracts for construction and the purchase and sale of goods were the most common categories among these disagreements, the report said, and up to 86 per cent of surveyed enterprises indicated they would choose arbitration as a means of dispute resolution in their overseas operations.

According to the report, it is difficult for Chinese enterprises to choose a domestic or otherwise familiar institution for international arbitration. Insufficient global competitiveness and credibility – and a shortage of expertise – have limited the utility of the few options available.

Over the past two decades, several international regional arbitration hubs have emerged in Asia, said Wang Jiangyu, director of the Centre for Chinese and Comparative Law at City University of Hong Kong.

China’s major arbitration institutions – particularly those in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen – are gaining recognition as more disputes involve Chinese companies and capital, Wang said. But, he added, they still lack global presence, a core feature of an international arbitration hub.

“Their international trust and influence are still insufficient,” he said. “Few overseas enterprises voluntarily submit their disputes to Chinese arbitration institutions. Most ‘international’ disputes are just Chinese companies versus Chinese-funded overseas companies.”

China’s arbitration courts have been part of an overall framework simplifying operations for foreign firms for over a decade, said Gabor Holch, an arbitrator at the Shanghai International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (SHIAC) since 2018.

China’s top court launches new database of verdicts amid transparency fears

He said arbitration in China follows several international conventions and makes it easier to align international and local laws, as well as resolve contradictions in existing laws and regulations.

“However, foreign executives also tell me that a few recent developments erode the arbitration system,” Holch said. One change of note was the “localisation” of management at foreign firms in China, which he said creates a “cultural gap” between expatriate executives and those who advise them on arbitration. In addition, he said, Hong Kong’s 2020 National Security Law added risks for foreign firms in all legal disputes, including arbitration.

“Therefore, whenever they can, foreign executives choose arbitration locations outside China such as Singapore,” he said.

Based on their data from 2022, four major arbitration institutions – the CIETAC, the SHIAC, the Beijing Arbitration Commission (BAC) and the Shenzhen Court of International Arbitration (SCIA) – saw a steady increase in the number of cases handled between parties across borders or under the auspices of international laws.

In terms of total foreign-related case counts, CIETAC topped the list with 642 cases, followed by SCIA with 384 cases, BAC with 221 cases and SHIAC with 196 cases. Hong Kong law and the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods remain the extraterritorial laws applied by the largest number of parties, per the data.

In comparison, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) received 357 new case filings in 2022, with about 88 per cent international in nature. India, the US and China remained the most common countries of origin for the centre’s clientele.

China’s major arbitration institutions still have a long way to go in building international trust, according to industry insiders.

“First of all, language is a big issue,” said Wang of City University of Hong Kong. “Second is the applicable law, as the dominant international arbitration framework is aligned with common law. As a whole, [domestic operators] – except for a few individuals – are not very familiar with international business matters, and it is difficult to win the trust of the other party.”

Politics can also complicate matters. “Chinese lawyers call this the 90 vs 10 per cent rule,” said Matias Oteo Johansson, China business consultant at Holosyn, a Swedish company that sources products and companies from China’s manufacturing ecosystem. “In 90 per cent of cases, Chinese contract law will uphold a correctly crafted contract in Chinese, particularly if your business is in an area that is of no political interest.”

But for the remaining 10 per cent of cases, he said, things may go differently. “You may run afoul of national or local interests, or possess desirable technology, or face unpredictable policy changes coming from Beijing, and then what your contract says won’t matter much.”

Hong Kong has long been Asia’s largest international arbitration centre, covering areas like trade, investment and stock listings, and many companies that have no involvement in the region are willing to submit their disputes to Hong Kong for arbitration, Wang said.

“However, the problem with Hong Kong is over the past 10 years, it has been rapidly overtaken by Singapore … in developing arbitration as an emerging industry,” he said. “Geopolitical factors have also prompted some international companies to reconsider settling disputes in Hong Kong.”

A total of 344 cases were submitted to the Hong Kong International Arbitration Centre (HKIAC) in 2022. Of those cases, 83.1 per cent were international in nature – meaning at least one party was not from Hong Kong – while 32 per cent involved no Hong Kong parties and 5.8 per cent involved no Asian parties. During the same period, 48.3 per cent of HKIAC cases had no parties from mainland China, and 17.7 per cent involved no disputants from Hong Kong nor the mainland.

More Chinese companies are opting for international arbitration institutions close to home, said Huo, the Beijing-based lawyer and arbitrator, but catching up to international peers still requires a great deal of work for institutions on the mainland. They must focus on improving existing rules and mechanisms, he said, while also strengthening international exchanges.

The key to forging an international arbitration hub lies in the willingness of end users to choose an area’s institutions, Huo said.

“There should be much more support from the legislature, national and local governments as well as the judiciary, to create a more arbitration-friendly legal environment,” he added. “For instance, if legally allowed, courts should safeguard arbitration agreements and awards, and rarely invalidate them. The participation of legal practitioners in the drafting, discussion and formulation of laws and rules is also essential.”

Legal advice also plays a role, and lawyers must be well-versed in arbitration rules both inside and outside the home country to be reliable agents, Huo said. They also must be familiar with the enforcement of awards or damages through arbitration, as firms have become more aware of the process as a viable alternative to litigation.

International parties agree to handle their disputes through a given centre based on its reputation for neutrality and the transparency of the host country’s legal system, said Andre Wheeler, CEO at Wheeler Management Consulting in Perth.

“[Foreign companies] judge the efficacy of any system within China on its actions, not on what it says,” he said. “I would like to see a greater separation from national security legislation and the state, as it is still vulnerable to abuse or manipulation.”