• Tory MP says he was deported from Djibouti due to criticisms of China
• China is still a developing country despite what US leaders might say
• The Chinese University of Hong Kong leads climate-centric academic activities to align with Xue Long 2’s first Hong Kong visit
• South China Sea: Beijing urged to step up pressure on the Philippines over rival claims or risk domino effect
• Overcapacity or ‘over anxiety’? China hits back at Western claims of dumping
• Elon Musk makes unannounced visit to China
• [World] Watch: Moment tornado hits power lines in China
• Chinese coastguard face off with Japanese politicians near disputed East China Sea islands
• Countdown starts for China’s Chang’e 6 sample mission to the far side of the moon
• Myanmar’s opposition foreign minister urges China to stop ‘arms deals’ with ruling junta
• Racy China esports cafes where servers in French maid outfits kneel to feed guests, ‘derogatory to women’s dignity’
• Someday soon China might dominate the hydrogen supply chain too
• China looks to France to foster ‘positive’ and ‘pragmatic’ EU policy on Beijing
• Unhinged South Korean customer who humiliated cafe boss over missing straw in drinks order angers China social media
• [Business] Musk in China to discuss full self driving - reports
• Hong Kong, Macau business visa length doubled to 2 weeks per trip for mainland Chinese holders, in boost for 100 million firms
• US vs China, Israel vs Iran, India vs Pakistan: Asia plays with fire as nuclear war safety net frays
• Top US-based humanoid robotics firm pivots to China-dominated all-electric tech race
• Fire-starting China pet dubbed ‘badass cat’ after it turns on cooker sparking blaze causing US$14,000 damage to home
• Mental health in focus as China vows crackdown on school bullies amid rising underage crime, suicide rates
• Who can the US really count on in a war with China over Taiwan?
• Study: Nearly Half of Large Chinese Cities Are Sinking

Tory MP says he was deported from Djibouti due to criticisms of China

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/28/uk-tory-mp-says-he-was-deported-from-djibouti-due-to-criticisms-of-china

A former government minister who has had sanctions imposed on him by China has said he was detained and deported by Djibouti as a “direct consequence” of the east African country’s close ties with Beijing.

Tim Loughton, the Conservative MP for East Worthing and Shoreham since 1997, said he was held for more than seven hours at the airport earlier this month, barred entry to Djibouti, and told he was being removed on the next available flight.

China imposed sanctions on seven parliamentarians including Loughton in 2021 over what it called the spreading of “lies and disinformation” about human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Loughton, a veteran backbencher who served as deputy chairman on the home affairs select committee, arrived in Djibouti on 8 April for a 24-hour visit including meeting the British ambassador.

The MP told the Daily Telegraph he believes his “intimidating” detention and expulsion by the Djibouti authorities was a “direct consequence” of his criticism of the Chinese regime.

He believes it was “just the latest example of intimidation that the seven sanctioned parliamentarians have suffered over the last three years”.

Djibouti has received billions of dollars of investment from the Chinese including a new stadium, hospital, a $1bn (£790m) space port and a free trade zone housing manufacturing and warehouse facilities.

Loughton said he had raised the issue with Andrew Mitchell, the deputy foreign secretary, and written to the Djibouti ambassador via the Foreign Office to protest about the “outrageous” behaviour.

He told the Telegraph: “As soon as I revealed I was a British MP, and my passport was checked, things turned decidedly frosty.”

The Tory MP said he was held for an hour without any explanation in the arrivals hall and was subsequently taken to a holding room where he was detained alone for three hours.

Loughton, who is standing down as an MP at the next general election, added: “They gave me no reason. I kept saying: ‘Why?’ and they could not tell me.

“In short, it was a highly intimidating and very lonely experience in a very strange country.”

A Chinese embassy spokesperson said the allegations were “purely baseless” and called them “fabricated and slanderous rhetoric that attempts to smear China and poison China-UK relations”.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said: “We provided consular support to a British man in Djibouti.”

Last year, Loughton and Finn Lau, a political activist from Hong Kong, wrote for the Guardian to declare they will not be “silenced” over their criticism of the Chinese Communist party (CCP).

They wrote: “We will continue to advocate for pragmatic policies that elevate democracy and human rights around the world while increasingly reducing Britain’s economic dependence on volatile autocratic regimes.

“We will continue to engage with the public, journalists, activists, and other governments to inform them of the painful lessons that the CCP wishes to inflict on these innocent Hongkongers.”

China is still a developing country despite what US leaders might say

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3260473/china-still-developing-country-despite-what-us-leaders-might-say?utm_source=rss_feed

The question of whether China is still a developing country has attracted international attention in recent years. Needless to say, becoming a developed country is the aspiration of many Chinese people. However, China is still a developing country.

A decade ago, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a speech addressed to the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, during which he summarised five of China’s significant characteristics: it is a country with a long history of civilisation, it has experienced deep suffering in the past, it adopts socialism with Chinese characteristics, it is the largest developing country in the world, and it is a country undergoing profound changes.

At the 2022 High-Level Dialogue on Global Development, Xi said China has always been a member of the big family of developing countries.

However, the United States does not want to recognise China’s status as a developing country. In 2019, the Trump administration published a memo on developing-country status in the World Trade Organization (WTO). “Since joining the WTO in 2001, China has continued to insist that it is a developing country and thus has the right to avail itself of flexibilities under any new WTO rules,” the memo said. “The United States has never accepted China’s claim to developing-country status, and virtually every current economic indicator belies China’s claim.”

In 2022, the US Senate voted unanimously in favour of an amendment conditioning the Senate’s ratification of updates to the Montreal Protocol, known as the Kigali Amendment, on taking action to remove China’s designation as a developing nation.

In March 2023, the US House of Representatives passed the PRC Is Not a Developing Country Act, which would require the Department of State to take action to stop China from being classified as a developing country by international organisations. The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved a similar bill a few months later.

It is true that China has become the world’s second-largest economy. At a speech marking the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party, Xi said, “[China has] realised the first centenary goal of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects [and is] marching in confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects.”

However, there are five key reasons why China must still be considered a developing country.

Firstly, major international organisations still regard China as a developing country. The Handbook of Statistics, published by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, classifies all countries into developed countries, developing countries and least developed countries. China is categorised as a developing country based on the 2023 statistics.

According to the WTO, any member can identify itself as a developed economy or a developing economy as long as others do not challenge this identification. Currently, there are 164 developing economies in the WTO, including China.

Secondly, China does not qualify as a high-income country, based on World Bank standards. The World Bank classifies different economies of the world into low-income economies, lower-middle-income economies, upper-middle-income economies and high-income economies based on their gross national income (GNI) per capita.

The World Bank considers a GNI per capita higher than US$13,845 as high-income and lower than US$1,135 as low-income. Economies with a GNI between US$4,466 and US$13,845 are upper-middle-income. China’s GNI per capita has not yet crossed the threshold of US$13,845, putting it squarely in the upper-middle-income grouping of countries. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) similarly ranks China as an upper-middle-income country.

Thirdly, correlating a country’s economic size with its level of development can be misleading. In 2023, US Representative Young Kim said that, “China is the second-largest economy in the world, accounting for 18.6 per cent of the world economy”, second only to the US. On that basis, she argued that China takes advantage of its developing-country status to apply for development loans from international organisations.

Such an assertion is completely unjustified. A country with a small economic size may be either a developed country or a developing country. Similarly, a country with a large economy may be a developed country or a developing country. In other words, the primary factor that determines a country’s development level is not the size of its economy, but its actual level of development.

Fourthly, purchasing power parity (PPP) cannot reflect a country’s development level. The World Bank uses PPP to measure the economic size of various countries. According to this methodology, China’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022 was US$30.3 trillion, making it the world’s largest economy. However, using PPP to define a country’s development level is far-fetched. PPP tends to exaggerate the size of the developing economies.

Finally, China’s overall development level is still below that of the developed countries. Although its major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are quite highly modernised, unbalanced and inadequate development is still evident across the country, especially in western China.

Just four years ago, then Chinese premier Li Keqiang said there were still 600 million people whose average monthly income was only about 1,000 yuan (US$140). Many people in China still face problems when it comes to employment, education, medical care, childcare, elderly care and housing.

China’s economy still faces many challenges, and the Chinese people still need to work hard before it can become a fully developed country. At the same time, China will continue to fulfil its global responsibility as a large developing country and make its contributions to South-South cooperation.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong leads climate-centric academic activities to align with Xue Long 2’s first Hong Kong visit

https://www.scmp.com/presented/news/hong-kong/topics/cuhks-global-climate-conference/article/3260425/chinese-university-hong-kong-leads-climate-centric-academic-activities-align-xue-long-2s-first-hong?utm_source=rss_feed

Antarctica, a crucial climate change indicator, plays a significant role in Earth’s climate and ocean systems. It influences sea level rise and the rate of regional and global climate change. Research on Antarctica offers vital insights into past and present climate patterns, aids in predicting future climate scenarios, and guides the development of policies and strategies to mitigate climate change impacts.   China has made substantial contributions to global climate change research on the Antarctic ecosystem. Its first domestically built polar research two-way icebreaker, Xue Long (snow dragon) 2, recently completed a six-month mission, during which a new scientific station was established along the Ross Sea’s coastal areas.   CUHK, one of Asia’s leading research-focused universities, has been at the forefront of studying the impacts of climate change and sustainability worldwide. It established the Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change in 2013, the world’s first museum dedicated to climate change. In recognition of its research contributions, CUHK was the exclusive academic co-host for a series of activities commemorating Xue Long 2’s visit.   To align with Xue Long 2’s five-day stay in Hong Kong, CUHK co-organised a conference at the Yasumoto International Academic Park in the CUHK campus. The event was held in collaboration with the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network (Hong Kong Chapter), the Jockey Club Museum of Climate Change, and the Polar Research Institute of Hong Kong.   The conference served as a dynamic platform for collaboration, knowledge exchange, and solution-oriented discussions among over 2,000 participants from around the world. These included scientists, researchers, academics, policymakers, industry leaders, students, and community representatives. Guided by a multidisciplinary approach and a shared goal to inspire global solutions to climate change, attendees delved into the latest ideas and findings in polar studies and shared insights on climate change, the environment, and the connection between polar regions and the global community.  

The opening ceremony was graced by several distinguished guests including Chen Danhong, Director-General of the Department of International Cooperation, Ministry of Natural Resources, People’s Republic of China; Michelle Li Mei-sheung, Permanent Secretary for Education, HKSAR Government; Wu Cheng, Deputy Director-General, Department of Educational, Scientific and Technological Affairs, Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the HKSAR; Ma Fung-kwok, Chairman, Organising Committee for the Xue Long 2’s visit to Hong Kong; and Professor Ho Kin-chung, Chairman, Executive Committee for the Xue Long 2’s visit to Hong Kong.

Professor Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK, welcomed the guests and underscored CUHK’s commitment to bolster national efforts in climate change mitigation and marine resource protection.   Echoing his sentiment, Chen highlighted China’s commitment to combat climate change through the promotion of green energy and the construction of an ecological civilisation.

Ma noted that the visit of Xue Long 2 to Hong Kong, along with the interdisciplinary international academic conference hosted by CUHK, sparked scientific and technological innovation among Hong Kong’s youth. It also paved the way for the city to strengthen scientific research cooperation with the mainland and globally.  

The international conference brought together leading scientists from diverse fields such as oceanography, marine biology, astronomy, glaciology, and engineering, all of whom have a long-standing involvement in polar research. They were joined by academics and experts from other disciplines, including architecture, design research, education, and resource management.

Dr Zhang Beichen, Deputy Director of the Polar Research Institute of China, delivered a keynote address at the conference, providing an extensive update on China’s Antarctic research efforts and future plans.

In an atmosphere of open discussion and enthusiastic participation, the conference facilitated the exchange of insights and knowledge about the significant impact of climate change on the global economy, societal balance, and ecology through presentations, panel discussions, and breakout sessions. Experts shared their research findings and practical experiences in their respective fields, engaged in vibrant dialogues, forged cross-disciplinary connections, and proposed mutually interesting research projects.

The participants acknowledged the polar regions as both the driver and indicator of climate change. To counteract the adverse effects of climate change, they concurred on the necessity to bolster polar scientific research, foster interdisciplinary collaboration, and propel international mega polar science programmes. More importantly, engaging the next generation is the key.

On the conference’s second day, over 330 students from CUHK and various Hong Kong schools had the unique chance to learn about Antarctic life and research through interaction with scientists working at China’s polar research centre.   CUHK hosted an engaging scientist-student dialogue session, both in-person and online, to deepen local students’ understanding of China’s polar research achievements.   The audience was visibly fascinated and amused during this compelling dialogue, which included Luo Guangfu, a Senior Engineer at the Polar Research Institute of China. Representatives from the Zhongshan Station base in East Antarctica participated via Zoom. The dialogue was facilitated by Natalie Chung, a Hong Kong-born climate advocate, social entrepreneur, and the inaugural ‘MoCC Scholar’ of CUHK’s Museum of Climate Change, who has herself been on a polar expedition.  

The students’ multi-perspective thinking was evident in their questions about life on the distant frozen continent. One student asked about the Southern lights over the Antarctic, while another inquired about unique wildlife species living under extreme weather conditions. A third questioned how scientists adapt to Antarctica’s harsh weather and its impact on their wellbeing.   Dr Ji Tuo, a scientist at Zhongshan station, said, “It depends on whether you are conducting scientific missions outside the station. But it is clear that here, you experience both faces of the Antarctic: its gentleness, but also its cruelty.”   When asked about his most significant takeaway from years of working on the Xue Long 2, Luo said, “For us, the biggest lesson is the importance of teamwork.” He looked out at the crowd, adding, “In the face of nature, we are infinitesimal; yet when we are a team, we can achieve things in the natural world.”   Wai Ching, a CUHK Science Faculty student, found the dialogue enlightening, especially regarding Xue Long 2’s polar science research and future goals. She expressed her enthusiasm to apply her knowledge and actively participate in climate change campaigns.

The conference not only reaffirmed CUHK’s leadership in climate change and sustainability research but also strengthened the bond between cutting-edge polar researchers and Hong Kong’s younger generation. It further engaged diverse sectors of Hong Kong in sustainability initiatives for a healthier planet.  

South China Sea: Beijing urged to step up pressure on the Philippines over rival claims or risk domino effect

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3260685/south-china-sea-beijing-urged-step-pressure-philippines-over-rival-claims-or-risk-domino-effect?utm_source=rss_feed

China should ramp up the pressure to dissuade the Philippines from seeking a second arbitration on the disputed South China Sea, an observer said, warning that it might encourage other rival claimants to follow suit.

Wu Shicun, the founding president of China’s National Institute for South China Sea Studies, referred to a 2016 Hague tribunal ruling in Manila’s favour. “The 2016 arbitration ruling has already had a negative impact that can hardly be fully erased, but it’s very important for China to stop the Philippines from going to a second arbitration,” he told a panel discussion on the case on Saturday.

“Assuming that the Philippines gets it again, other countries could follow suit, for example, Vietnam.”

The panel discussion was held on the sidelines of the annual academic conference of the semi-official Chinese Society of International Law in the eastern city of Hangzhou.

The Philippines and Vietnam are the most vocal critics of Beijing’s vast territorial claims over the South China Sea, which it says is based on its historical “nine-dash line” – a U-shaped marking encircling much of the busy, resource-rich waterway. Malaysia and Brunei also have competing claims.

When the Philippines filed an arbitration case in 2013 to challenge the legality of China’s historic rights over maritime areas inside its “nine-dash line”, Beijing refused to participate in the process. It also rejected the court decision when the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague ruled unanimously in favour of the Philippines in 2016.

Rising tensions with China in the contested waters since last year have prompted Philippine officials to suggest that the country explore legal options again. Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said last September that Manila was looking at filing a second case before the arbitration court over South China Sea territorial issues, including Chinese vessels’ alleged destruction of coral reefs within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone. Beijing has rejected the claim, calling it “political drama”, according to Reuters.

Pro-Duterte coalition slams Manila’s involvement in US ‘proxy war’ with China

On Saturday, Wu said Beijing’s countermeasures following the 2016 ruling “were incomplete and inadequate”. In contrast, the Philippines has used its domestic legislation to solidify the ruling.

He urged Beijing to increase pressure on Manila to defend its position, “to let them know that there’s a price to pay if the Philippines takes the step [of a second arbitration], not merely at sea but also in every aspect of China-Philippines relations.”

China has been deeply worried that other rival claimants may follow Manila in seeking legal intervention, which is likely to deal a severe blow to Beijing’s international reputation.

In 2014, when Beijing stationed an oil rig in waters near the disputed Paracel Islands – also claimed by Taiwan and Vietnam – then Vietnamese prime minister Nguyen Tan Dung said his country was considering legal action. In 2020, Vietnam nominated four arbitrators and four conciliators, signalling that it could follow the Philippines in pursuing an arbitral tribunal against China.

However, China’s relations with the fellow communist state are not as confrontational as they have become with the Philippines. Top Chinese and Vietnamese leaders also meet regularly and have pledged to resolve maritime disputes through negotiation.

Addressing Saturday’s panel discussion, the Chinese foreign ministry’s treaty and law department chief, Ma Xinmin, said that the 2016 ruling was the “the first international legal case filed against China” since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949.

“At present, the situation in the South China Sea remains generally stable and manageable. However, the United States and the Philippines have persisted in hyping the alleged validity of the [ruling], with the Philippines even using [it] as a purported legal justification for its frequent maritime infringements and provocations against China,” Ma told Chinese legal professionals and academics gathered for the symposium.

China-Philippines ties have deteriorated significantly since last year, as President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, unlike his Beijing-friendly predecessor Rodrigo Duterte, has moved closer to the United States – a traditional and treaty ally – to counter Beijing’s maritime assertiveness in the South China Sea.

Repeated confrontations between Chinese and Philippine vessels near disputed features have deepened worries about sparking an armed conflict if the US is drawn in under its defence treaty with the Philippines.

In recent months, the Philippines has accused the Chinese coastguard of ramming and using water cannons on supply vessels en route to its military outpost on the Second Thomas Shoal. Called Renai Jiao in Chinese, the shoal controlled by Manila is part of the Spratly Islands chain also claimed by China as the Nansha Islands.

Beijing denies its South China Sea deal with Duterte was a ‘secret’

China accuses the Philippines of breaking a promise to remove a World War II-era warship that it deliberately grounded on the disputed shoal in 1999 to assert its territorial claims.

The Chinese embassy in Manila said earlier this month that the two sides had agreed on a “new model” to manage tensions at the shoal.

But the Philippines denied striking any deal, with Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro saying his department was “not aware of, nor is it a party to, any internal agreement with China” by the Marcos Jnr government.

“As a matter of fact, the Department of National Defence has not had any contact with any Chinese government officials since last year,” Teodoro said.

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Overcapacity or ‘over anxiety’? China hits back at Western claims of dumping

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3260681/overcapacity-or-over-anxiety-china-hits-back-western-claims-dumping?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese authorities have taken aim at claims that it is exporting its excess industrial capacity, calling it the result of Western “over anxiety” and an excuse for trade protectionism.

Criticism that China was flooding the global market with excess supply in sectors such as electric vehicles was “not a conclusion based on market reality, but a trumped-up narrative”, state news agency Xinhua said in a commentary on Saturday.

“This so-called overcapacity is a sham – ‘over anxiety’ is what it really is,” it said, saying the United States and its allies were using such accusations to contain China’s competitive sectors out of fears for their own industrial development.

China dominates the world market in EVs, solar panels and lithium batteries, all technologies at the centre of a transition to a greener future.

Beijing regards these industries as new export pillars with enough growth potential to help its economy shift to advanced manufacturing and away from the mass production of traditional, low-value added items such as apparel and home appliances.

Amid an overall export slump, China exported over 1 trillion yuan (US$138 billion) worth of products in these three categories last year, amounting to growth of about 30 per cent from 2022, official data showed.

But Chinese manufacturers have been accused of being subsidised heavily by the government, overproducing in these categories and dumping the excess in markets such as the European Union, stifling domestic players.

Anti-subsidy investigations into Chinese EV and wind turbine manufacturers are under way in the European Union while the US also initiated Section 301 probe into China’s maritime, logistics and shipbuilding sectors, areas in which China has gained leverage in the recent years.

The issues have been a regular point of friction in meetings with Chinese officials and their counterparts in Europe and the West.

Just last week in a meeting with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the US to stop “hyping up” such claims.

And, as Blinken’s visit wrapped up on Friday, Yang Tao, head of the Chinese foreign ministry’s North American and Oceanian affairs department, said that accusing China of excessive industrial production and exports was “another example of the US engaging in protectionism and suppressing China’s development”.

“I’m afraid it’s not China’s production capacity that’s ‘excess’, but the US’ anxiety,” he said.

The message from Xinhua commentary was echoed on Sunday by Economic Daily, which claimed that the accusations of overcapacity were meant as “a new excuse” for protectionism.

It said China exported a low proportion of its EV production. “The export prices are also in line with market rules, and there is no ‘dumping’ issue at all,” it said.

The article argued that China’s new energy industry was able to export so much because it was highly efficient rather than producing too much.

For example, it said, China’s EV sector was already operating at close to full capacity. BYD, Tesla’s Shanghai factory and SAIC were running at about 80 per cent, compared with just over 20 per cent for South Korea firms Hyundai and Kia, it said.

“In recent years, the capacity utilisation rate of China’s leading new energy car companies has been much higher than the industry average.”

Elon Musk makes unannounced visit to China

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/apr/28/elon-musk-makes-unannounced-visit-to-china

Tesla CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing on Sunday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of Full Self-Driving software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla’s development in China could be seen as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation.

The US electric vehicle maker rolled out Full Self-Driving, or FSD, the most autonomous version of its Autopilot software, four years ago but has yet to make it available in China, its second-largest market, despite customers urging it to do so.

Musk said this month that Tesla may make FSD available to customers in China “very soon”, in response to a query on social media platform X.

Rival Chinese automakers such as Xpeng have been seeking to gain an advantage over Tesla by rolling out similar software.

Musk hopes to obtain approval to transfer data collected in the country abroad to train algorithms for its autonomous driving technologies, the person said.

Since 2021 Tesla has stored all data collected by its Chinese fleet in Shanghai as required by Chinese regulators and has not transferred any back to the US.

Musk’s visit coincides with the Beijing auto show, which opened last week and ends on 4 May. Tesla does not have a booth at China’s largest auto show and last attended in 2021.

His visit to China, first reported by Reuters, was not flagged publicly and the person spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak with media. Tesla did not respond immediately for comment.

Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, in its report about Musk’s meeting with Li, did not say whether the two had discussed FSD, or data.

Musk also met with Ren Hongbin, a government official who heads the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, the organiser of the Beijing auto show, state media reported.

“It is good to see electric vehicles making progress in China. All cars will be electric in the future,” Musk said in a video posted on social media by a user affiliated with state media.

Musk’s trip came just over a week after he scrapped a planned visit to India to meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, citing “very heavy Tesla obligations”.

The company said this month it would lay off 10% of its global workforce as it grapples with falling sales and an intensifying price war for EVs led by Chinese brands.

US auto safety regulators said on Friday they had opened an investigation into whether Tesla’s recall of more than 2m vehicles in the US announced in December to install new Autopilot safeguards was adequate after a series of crashes.

Tesla has sold more than 1.7m cars in China since it entered the market a decade ago. The Shanghai factory is its largest.

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[World] Watch: Moment tornado hits power lines in China

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68915201A tornado that hit China's Guangdong province killed five people and left dozens injured.

Chinese coastguard face off with Japanese politicians near disputed East China Sea islands

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3260692/chinese-coastguard-face-japanese-politicians-near-disputed-east-china-sea-islands?utm_source=rss_feed

The Chinese coastguard confronted Japanese lawmakers in waters claimed by both countries in the East China Sea, Beijing’s embassy in Tokyo and Japanese media said on Sunday.

It is the latest in a series of maritime disputes involving China and its neighbours.

Chinese vessels took unspecified law enforcement measures, the embassy said in a statement, adding that it had lodged solemn representations for what it called “infringement and provocation” by Japan near tiny, uninhabited islands that Beijing calls the Diaoyu and Tokyo calls the Senkaku.

The Japanese group, including former defence minister Tomomi Inada, was on an inspection mission organised by the city of Ishigaki in Okinawa prefecture, according to the Chinese embassy and Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

The two countries have repeatedly faced off around the Japan-controlled islands. China also has had several run-ins with Philippine vessels in disputed areas of the South China Sea, where Beijing’s expansive maritime claims conflict with those of a number of Southeast Asian nations.

Good neighbour or security threat? Mixed signals to China in Japanese report

Inada’s group spent three hours near the islands on Saturday, using drones to observe the area, and the Japanese coastguard vessel sought to fend off the Chinese coastguard, NHK said.

“The government and the public are aware of the severe security situation,” Inada, a senior official of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was quoted as saying by NHK. “The Senkaku are our sovereign territory and we need to go ashore for research.”

It was the first such inspection trip to the area involving a member of Japan’s parliament since 2013, according to NHK.

Japanese foreign ministry officials were not immediately available for comment outside working hours.

China strongly urged Japan to abide by what it called a consensus reached between the two countries, stop political provocations, on-site incidents and hyping up public opinion, the embassy said.

It also asked Japan to “return to the right track of properly managing contradictions and differences through dialogue and consultation, so as to avoid further escalation of the situation”.

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Countdown starts for China’s Chang’e 6 sample mission to the far side of the moon

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3260689/countdown-starts-chinas-change-6-sample-mission-far-side-moon?utm_source=rss_feed

China’s Chang’e 6 robotic mission to bring back samples from the far side of the moon for the first time is expected to lift off this week as the country takes another step in its ambitions to put a person on the lunar surface by 2030.

The China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Saturday that the Chang’e 6 lunar probe and the Long March-5 Y8 carrier rocket combination had been transported to the launch pad at the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan province for final tests and loading of propellant.

The mission, set to launch in early May, will be the world’s first attempt to collect samples from the side of the moon that faces away from the Earth.

The lander will collect about 2kg (4.4lbs) of samples, compared to 1.731kg brought back by Chang’e 5 in 2020.

Analysis of the samples is expected to give further insight into the history of the moon, Earth and solar system, as well as mark a new chapter of China’s lunar exploration programmes.

US-China space race fuelled by lunar landings and orbital ‘parking spots’

Chang’e 6 will touch down in the Apollo basin, an area of rugged terrain beyond the range of direct communication with the Earth.

To keep in touch with the lander on the lunar surface, China launched the Queqiao-2 satellite in March to relay messages to and from ground stations on Earth.

Zhu Haiyang, from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, told state broadcaster CCTV on Saturday that the lunar orbit posed “extra high requirements for the launch window”.

The constantly changing relative positions of the Earth and moon meant there was a narrower launch window than, for example, for a low-Earth orbit spacecraft launch.

Zhu said the team used a “narrow window, multiple trajectories” launch strategy to make the most of their chances.

Ge Ping, deputy director at the CNSA’s Lunar Exploration and Space Programme Centre, told CCTV that the mission marked a series of technological advances.

“[Chang’e 6] will make breakthroughs in lunar orbit design and control technology, intelligent sampling technology and take-off and ascent technology on the lunar dark side, and ultimately achieve automatic sampling and return from the lunar dark side,” Ge said.

Chinese scientists may be a step closer to unravelling mystery of lunar surface

The first Chang’e mission lifted off in 2007, sending a probe into lunar orbit. In 2013, Chang’e 3 landed a rover on the near side of the moon and in 2019, Chang’e 4 became the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the far side of the moon, delivering the robotic rover Yutu-2 to the surface.

Lin Xiqiang, deputy director of the China Manned Space Agency, said on Wednesday that China was on track to put astronauts on the moon by 2030.

Lin said the key components of that mission, such as the Long March 10 rocket, the Mengzhou spacecraft and spacesuits to be used on the lunar surface, were all in development and testing.

The CNSA was working on choosing the lunar rover crew and lunar surface payloads, Lin said.

Meanwhile, the Chang’e 7 mission will launch in 2026. It will consist of an orbiter, a lander, a rover and a small flying probe to fly into pits on the lunar surface to look for ice.

After that, Chang’e 8 is scheduled to reach the moon’s south pole around 2028. Components of the two missions will form the basis of a planned International Lunar Research Station, supported by Russia, Venezuela, Pakistan and others, aiming to establish a permanent human presence on the moon.

Myanmar’s opposition foreign minister urges China to stop ‘arms deals’ with ruling junta

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3260590/myanmars-opposition-foreign-minister-urges-china-stop-arms-deals-ruling-junta?utm_source=rss_feed

The opposition in Myanmar has called on China to stop providing arms to the ruling military junta, saying the regime is using them to “kill their own people and civilians”.

“We are trying to encourage our neighbouring country, please do not support the military junta, not just only in business or financially, but also in terms of providing arms deals,” said Zin Mar Aung, foreign minister of the National Unity Government of Myanmar, during an interview in Brussels.

The NUG claims to be Myanmar’s official government-in-exile, representing the elected civilian government previously led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and ousted in a 2021 coup.

Zin Mar Aung said her government had written to Beijing to convey this request officially and received an acknowledgement of receipt but no substantive reply.

“If a country supports the military junta, they are supporting [it] to kill their own people and civilians,” she told the Post during a trip on which she sought to encourage the European Union to ratchet up sanctions against the regime.

On Friday, the bloc renewed restrictive measures on numerous individuals and entities in Myanmar for another year.

Reports have suggested China is one of the Myanmese junta’s main military backers.

A United Nations report last year said the junta had imported at least US$1 billion in arms since the coup, with much of that coming from individuals and businesses in Russia, China and Singapore.

‘Extremely dangerous’: India lambasted for deporting Rohingya to Myanmar

Myanmar has been embroiled in conflict since the NUG’s ousting. Earlier this month, the opposition group claimed responsibility for a mass-drone attack in Naypyidaw, the country’s capital. Zin Mar Aung vowed more attacks.

“Of course,” she replied when asked whether more drone assaults would be launched. “This is part of our military tactics to put pressure on the military junta.”

The West has slapped biting sanctions on the regime, while some legislative bodies, including the European Parliament and the French Senate, have recognised the NUG as Myanmar’s official government.

The junta has been excluded from political-level engagements at Asean – the Association of Southeast Asian Nations – although Zin Mar Aung urged the union of 10 countries to go further and halt dialogue with Naypyidaw at all levels.

“They need to be banned and not just at a political level,” she said of the regime’s leaders. “Even though Asean has banned political representation … some other bureaucratic levels still continue. So we would like them to stop inviting [the junta].”

China, however, has maintained diplomatic ties with Myanmar’s junta.

Last November, Nong Rong, then an assistant foreign minister in Beijing, visited the country and met U Than Swe, the deputy prime minister.

A month later, U Than Swe visited Beijing and met Foreign Minister Wang Yi. According to a Chinese statement, Wang told the deputy prime minister that Myanmar should “realise domestic reconciliation as soon as possible within the constitutional framework and continue the political transition process”.

Zin Mar Aung voiced no surprise over China’s ongoing diplomatic efforts with the junta. To her, it showed a lack of confidence in the regime being able to protect Chinese investments in the country.

US lawmakers launch Myanmar caucus to boost support for pro-democracy fighters

“Beijing is not really clearly taking sides, even though they are engaging with the military junta because of their own interests, to protect their investments,” she said.

The NUG in January published a 10-point position paper on China, describing Beijing as “a specifically important country, not only for close, profound historical ties between the two countries but also for China’s status as a global superpower”.

It pledged to back Beijing’s one-China principle as well as expand economic engagement.

“Any organisation that poses a threat to the national security of neighbouring countries shall not be permitted to establish a presence within the territory of Myanmar,” it read.

If in power, the senior NUG official said, her government would guarantee all Chinese investments in the country.

Racy China esports cafes where servers in French maid outfits kneel to feed guests, ‘derogatory to women’s dignity’

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/gender-diversity/article/3259410/racy-china-esports-cafes-where-servers-french-maid-outfits-kneel-feed-guests-derogatory-womens?utm_source=rss_feed

Esports cafes in China that expect their female waiting staff to dress in French maid outfits and to kneel while serving customers have drawn condemnation from the authorities.

In the city of Yiwu in China’s eastern province of Zhejiang, several esports cafes have been promoting their businesses by offering such racy forms of service.

When customers enter, they are greeted by servers wearing very short dresses and bunny ear headbands who bow and say: “Welcome home, master.”

They kneel to serve tea, feed customers, give back massages and play games with them.

On April 15, the Chinese authorities condemned the service and ordered cafes involved to change the way they operate their businesses.

Officials criticised the employers for lacking systems to prevent sexual harassment, which had led to some female employees being victimised.

“A single act of kneeling can be significantly derogatory to women’s dignity and carries a profound sexual implication,” China’s state media wrote on Weibo.

In 2022, a man, surnamed Wu, discovered an esports cafe called Sweet Maid Cafe, where he requested a maid-waitress, nicknamed Yaoyao, to join him playing games.

Wu then raped Yaoyao in an esports-themed hotel and was subsequently jailed for four-and-a-half years.

In August 2021, in Jiangsu province in eastern China, multiple cases of sexual harassment involving minors took place after the victims were hired to work at maid-themed cafes.

In recent years, there has been a crackdown on esports cafes which offer suspect services.

Punishments have included fines, the destruction of promotional material and shutting down establishments.

The form of service has sparked a heated discussion on mainland social media.

“These cafes should ban any physical contact between customers and waiting staff,” one online observer suggested.

“I think maid culture belittles women no matter what,” said another.

Maid cafes first emerged in Japan as a part of anime culture, where the role-playing was intended to convey politeness and submissiveness.

Most of these cafes prohibit casual physical contact between staff and customers.

As Japanese anime culture became popular in China, the concept of maid servers was combined with the provision of game companions at esports cafes.

A game companion is a non-sexual escort during gaming, which might include talking and teaming up to play. It is a service intended to alleviate loneliness and enhance gameplay.

In China, there are also butler cafes specifically for female customers, where young male waiters dress up and serve drinks, chat, and play board games.

“In the cafe, I felt respected. Chatting with the young men helped me relax,” one female customer wrote on Weibo.

“Embracing both maid and butler culture as part of niche cultures is a good thing. As long as they are legal and bring happiness, they are worth cherishing,” another online observer said.

Someday soon China might dominate the hydrogen supply chain too

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3260668/someday-soon-china-might-dominate-hydrogen-supply-chain-too?utm_source=rss_feed

Over the past decade, manufacturers across Europe and the United States have been on the warpath over China’s “unfair” competition in steel and aluminium. More recently, the battleground has shifted to solar power, batteries and electric vehicles, but already a new front is emerging: the hydrogen economy.

Underpinning the conflict is the imperative to reduce carbon emissions, slow global warming and hit net zero targets by 2050. So far, most progress has been made in the energy sector, with the breakneck development of wind and solar power, and in transport, as electric vehicles and the batteries that power them begin to capture a significant share of the global vehicle market.

In all of these, China has been either praised (by environmentalists) or lambasted (by competitors) for its role in facilitating the growth of the green economy, and delivering clean power and electric vehicles cheaply to the world.

Until now, hydrogen’s role in our future economic development has remained out of sight, out of mind. While countries like Japan have been talking about hydrogen-powered vehicles for decades, hydrogen has always been too expensive and too complicated.

Only now is that beginning to change – and once again it will be China in the midst of controversy. Its state-owned enterprises and its strategic use of a wide range of subsidies to achieve policy goals are set to scupper the global status quo – and provide a new and important development in the battle to mitigate global warming.

Yes, hydrogen is starting to be a realistic contributor to purging fossil fuels from power generation and transport, but most important, it is opening the way to tackling previously intractable sectors – replacing fossil fuels in steel, cement and in the manufacture of industrial chemicals like ammonia and methanol.

Controversy has so far been subdued for two main reasons. First, China has confined its attention to hydrogen use within the country, rather than as an export opportunity. And second, China has for more than a decade been the world’s leading producer of hydrogen – not out of any green imperative, but because it is indispensable at the heart of its huge chemicals industry.

Today, China accounts for 30 per cent of global hydrogen supply, about 33 million tonnes, and 30 per cent of hydrogen consumption. It also accounts for half of the world’s supply of the electrolysers needed to produce hydrogen.

But this has been a problem rather than an opportunity, because two-thirds of China’s hydrogen is brown - produced from coal gasification and emitting huge amounts of carbon in the process. Only if produced using renewable energy can it play a useful role in our battle against global warming, but only about 1 per cent of China’s hydrogen counts as green hydrogen.

However, the explosion of China’s wind and solar power generation – most of it in the remote dry interior of Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang – is poised to change all that.

Under the National Development and Reform Commission’s 2022 hydrogen policy, the China Hydrogen Alliance forecasts that renewable power could be used to produce 80 per cent of the country’s hydrogen by 2060. The rest could be blue hydrogen - still produced using coal, but accompanied by carbon capture, use and storage (CCUS).

In short, China is poised to exert significant influence on the global hydrogen market just as demand is set to explode in efforts to slow global warming. It already has the world’s leading hydrogen-making infrastructure. It is generously endowed with renewables like wind and solar power which can facilitate the transition from brown to green hydrogen.

Hydrogen demand has already exploded at home as demand for green vehicles surges – in particular for heavy trucks and buses for which current EV batteries are not yet sufficiently powerful. And most important, it is home to a large proportion of the world’s fossil fuel-intensive heavy industries spanning steel, chemicals and cement, in which hydrogen can play an important role in eliminating fossil fuels.

According to a fascinating study from the Paris-based Institut Montaigne: “China is biding its time, by waiting for two things. First, learning from others, such as the EU and Japan, to learn from their experience with green hydrogen policies. Second...waiting for its own market players to be ready to compete with equal level technologies on the global market.”

At present, its electrolysers are cheaper than those produced in Europe, but use inferior technology and are less efficient. Its domestic pipeline infrastructure is currently tiny. Its unclear standards could prevent it from being allowed to compete in many foreign markets, at least for now.

Climate action: how China is accelerating the drive towards a net zero world

But the future competitive challenge is clear. With the critical mass if its own market of 1.4 billion, state-owned enterprises focused on infrastructure development, fierce competition between large numbers of local manufacturers of electrolysers and fuel cells, targeted subsidies from national and regional governments, and a large number of foreign joint venture partners contributing to innovation, there is a certain inevitability that China will soon be recognised as a dominant global force in the hydrogen economy.

It is likely to play a critical role in decarbonising the world’s markets and helping us to meet our net zero targets. Whether China’s competitors in the hydrogen economy see it this way is another matter.

China looks to France to foster ‘positive’ and ‘pragmatic’ EU policy on Beijing

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3260669/china-looks-france-foster-positive-and-pragmatic-eu-policy-beijing?utm_source=rss_feed

China has appealed to France to sway the European Union towards a “positive” and “pragmatic” China policy as the bloc tightens scrutiny of Chinese products and market access.

The appeal – just days ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected trip Europe – was delivered by Foreign Minister Wang Yi in a phone call to the French president’s diplomatic adviser, Emmanuel Bonne, on Saturday.

“I hope the French side will push the EU to continue to pursue a positive and pragmatic policy towards China,” Wang said, according to China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Xi will reportedly visit France as early as next Sunday to celebrate 60 years of diplomatic ties between the two countries. Hungary has confirmed the Chinese president will visit on May 8-10 after a stopover at Serbia. China has yet to confirm the trip.

The trip is part of a flurry of exchanges between China and European countries as relations with the European Union come under intense strain from unprecedented trade imbalances and growing discontent in the bloc about lack of access to China’s market.

Last week the European Commission launched an investigation into alleged preferences given by Beijing to Chinese companies in the procurement of medical devices.

The bloc is also looking into whether Chinese manufacturers of green products such as wind turbines and solar panels have been subsidised by the state, giving them an edge in winning contracts in the EU.

In addition, Chinese-made electric vehicles are under scrutiny amid concerns that state support is translating into a price advantage in the EU market.

Beijing is hoping that none of these investigations will lead to economic decoupling or hi-tech containment of China, a path being pursued by Washington.

To that end, it had urged European countries to exert their autonomy, an approach that partly aligns with French President Emmanuel Macron’s argument for a stronger, more independent EU.

After visiting China in April last year, Macron said the bloc should adopt strategic autonomy and not be a “vassal” in a US-China clash.

In the call on Saturday, Wang said Beijing and Paris pursued “independence and autonomy” and opposed “the division of the world and confrontation between camps”

He also said the international community expected both countries to have a “common voice”.

“At a time when the international situation is complex and volatile, with numerous challenges and hotspots, the international community expects China and France to form a unanimous stance on major issues concerning world peace and stability and the future and destiny of mankind, and to make a common voice,” Wang said.

“China is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges with the French side … [and] promote cooperation between the two countries in various fields to a new level.”

The two sides agreed to cooperate on the development of artificial intelligence, continue to strengthen coordination in addressing climate change and provide “a favourable environment for enterprises of the two sides”, the ministry said without elaborating.

They also “coordinated” on international and regional issues of common concern, such as Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, it added.

The ministry also quoted Bonne as saying: “The two sides should join hands to promote the de-escalation of hotspot issues, address global challenges such as climate change and make positive contributions to narrowing the gap between the North and the South and avoiding confrontation between camps.”

Unhinged South Korean customer who humiliated cafe boss over missing straw in drinks order angers China social media

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3259273/unhinged-south-korean-customer-who-humiliated-cafe-boss-over-missing-straw-drinks-order-angers-china?utm_source=rss_feed

A South Korean woman who forced a cafe manager to kneel and apologise because her drinks delivery order did not include a straw has sparked anger on mainland social media.

The incident unfolded on April 4 in Siheung City, Gyeonggi-do, according to the Seoul Broadcasting System, the national South Korean television and radio channel,

A female customer had called the cafe to complain that there was no with her order.

The manager immediately arranged for a straw and a complimentary cake to be sent to the customer as an apology. But the delivery was delayed because of a problem with the address.

Frustrated by the wait, the customer stormed into the cafe, confronting the manager with a stream of complaints.

CCTV showed the furious woman ranting for more than five minutes. Her tirade was so loud that passers-by stopped to watch.

In an attempt to calm the customer, the cafe manager came from behind the counter, said sorry and asked how she could make amends.

The incensed woman demanded the manager kneel in apology. The manager complied.

In an interview with SBS, the manager tearfully recounted her bullying ordeal.

She said she had agreed to kneel in an attempt to quickly resolve the matter, but the customer continued to berate her.

“Is this the attitude of the service industry? You might as well close your business. Do you think you can survive in this community?” the customer had ranted.

The manager said the incident had a profound impact on her health, revealing that she has since suffered headaches, dizziness, vomiting, and stomach pain, and has developed a fear of dealing with customers.

Following a public outcry, the police were notified and charges were filed against the woman for obstruction of business and personal insult on April 8.

News of the incident, which was reposted by the People’s Daily in China, sparked outrage on mainland social media.

“Just for forgetting a straw, was that necessary? I really think the customer has psychological issues,” one person said.

“Such extreme emotions are scary and hard to understand. It was just a missing straw. Why did she not just open the lid and drink?” wrote another.

Some people expressed disbelief that the manager agreed to kneel, saying: “Selling coffee and she has to be bullied like this? And she actually knelt?”

“Could they not just have refunded her? Was there really a need to kneel?” one person asked.

[Business] Musk in China to discuss full self driving - reports

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68914929

Hong Kong, Macau business visa length doubled to 2 weeks per trip for mainland Chinese holders, in boost for 100 million firms

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/3260666/hong-kong-macau-business-visa-length-doubled-2-weeks-trip-mainland-chinese-holders-boost-100-million?utm_source=rss_feed

Mainland Chinese holders of business visas for Hong Kong and Macau will be allowed to stay in both cities for an extra week from next month, with authorities expecting 100 million companies to benefit.

The change was among a range of measures announced by the mainland’s National Immigration Administration on Sunday to address the growing needs of cross-border firms and improve the business environment of the Greater Bay Area.

A host of measures were announced, taking effect on May 6, but the one expected to benefit the most mainlanders was the extension to the period of stay for business visa holders to Hong Kong and Macau. The maximum seven-day period per trip will be doubled to 14 days.

The authority’s deputy head of the entry-exit administrative department, Wang Ling, said the policy change was set to benefit 100 million individually owned firms, as well as staff from 30,000 companies who registered for multiple business visas.

“We hope to better meet the needs of longer periods of business activities, help business personnel to explore business opportunities extensively and undergo negotiations in a more in-depth manner,” she said in a press conference on Sunday.

Could Hong Kong visa scheme for Shenzhen residents resurrect parallel trading?

Instead of applying through local offices where an applicant lives, mainlanders will soon be able to submit applications for one-off entry business visas at designated counters of 3,400 institutions managed by public security branches across the country.

They can also apply for multiple-entry visas through “smart visa facilities” from May 6. Applications will be processed at those sites.

Authorities also announced that a visa scheme for mainland talent that was launched in February last year would be expanded to cover not only residents in the nine Guangdong province cities in the bay area, but also those in Beijing and Shanghai.

As of mid-April, the city had welcomed more than 18,000 arrivals under the pilot scheme, according to the Hong Kong government.

Talent in six fields including scientific research, education, healthcare, law and business will be able to apply for multi‑entry visas ranging from one to five years in length for stays in Hong Kong and Macau of up to 30 days each time.

The bay area is Beijing’s plan to integrate Hong Kong, Macau and nine mainland cities in the southern Guangdong province into an economic powerhouse.

The Hong Kong government welcomed the measures, saying they would facilitate the city’s further integration into national development and achieve concrete results in improving the “southbound and northbound” flow of talent.

“[We] will continue to maintain close liaison with the mainland authorities, with a view to further promoting the connection and exchanges of talents between the mainland and Hong Kong, and creating stronger impetus of growth for Hong Kong and the entire [bay area],” a government spokesman said.

US vs China, Israel vs Iran, India vs Pakistan: Asia plays with fire as nuclear war safety net frays

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3260551/us-vs-china-israel-vs-iran-india-vs-pakistan-asia-plays-fire-nuclear-war-safety-net-frays?utm_source=rss_feed

A high-stakes game of geopolitical brinkmanship is playing out across the Middle East and Asia, with Israel and Iran trading missile strikes; India and Pakistan locked in a multi-headed rocket arms race; and power struggles on the Korean peninsula and in the South China Sea combining to create a perilous chain of potential nuclear-conflict zones.

In the past couple of weeks alone, Iran and Israel’s tit-for-tat exchanges amid the war in Gaza have highlighted their ability to target each other’s uranium-enrichment facilities, while the US has deployed mid-range ballistic missiles to the Philippines for the first time since the Cold War.

Gloves are off as Israel and Iran risk dragging Middle East into wider war

Manila also took delivery of its first batch of Indian-made Brahmos anti-shipping missiles last week, hot on the heels of India’s first successful test of a variant of its Agni-5 intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) that’s theoretically capable of delivering multiple nuclear warheads to any target New Delhi chooses within China.

The March 11 test of the Agni-5’s MIRV (multiple independently targetable re-entry vehicle) variant is seen as a response to China’s earlier deployment of MIRV-capable DF-5 ICBMs, according to the Federation of American Scientists think tank.

Pakistan first test launched its MIRV-capable Ababeel medium-range ballistic missile in 2017. It is awaiting delivery of eight Chinese-designed Hangor-class submarines thought to be capable of carrying Babur-3 nuclear-armed cruise missiles.

“There exists in South Asia what some have called a ‘strategic chain’, marked by the interconnectedness of strategic competition and downwind effects at the regional and subregional levels,” said Wilfred Wan, director of Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme. “The emphasis on MIRVs reflects this.”

However, both India and Pakistan are still “likely a few years away” from being able to deploy nuclear-armed submarines, according to Shawn Rostker, a research analyst at the Washington-based Centre for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

“It will likely take some time before either deploys undersea missiles and longer before such missiles could be nuclear-capable,” he said.

India’s first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine, the lead vessel in the Arihant-class of boats, completed its first deterrence patrol in 2018, and in October 2022 was reported to have successfully test-fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile.

Israel, which denies having a nuclear arsenal, is widely believed to either possess MIRV technology or be in the process of developing it. The country reportedly launched its latest German-built submarine in August last year. Analysts contend this and other Israeli submarines are capable of carrying nuclear-armed missiles.

That would make Israel the only nuclear power in the Middle East currently – though Iran is known as a nuclear threshold state, as it has the capacity to build warheads.

Against this backdrop, the United States and Russia are pumping money into modernising their Cold War-era nuclear arsenals, while China’s military is also engaged in expanding and upgrading its capabilities as it pushes to become “world-class” by 2050.

“Strategic dynamics have downwind effects,” said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s Wan, who emphasised that it’s “difficult to disentangle regional developments” in Asia from the global military build-up of recent years.

India’s Agni-5 MIRV test, for instance, was widely seen by analysts as a response to recent Chinese deployments, which themselves may have been a reaction to capability developments on the part of the US, Wan said.

The connections are even clearer in other cases. “We’ve seen this in the war in Ukraine, with Russia reportedly using ballistic missiles procured from North Korea,” he said.

Masao Dahlgren, a fellow with the missile defence project at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said “there is no one factor driving these MIRV developments”.

“There are obviously changes in the external security environment” like China’s sudden nuclear build-up, he said. But internal political changes can also play a role.

The acquisition of MIRV technology can tempt ambitious national leaders to adopt a more threatening nuclear posture instead of solely relying on such weapons as a deterrent, say analysts – who give Russia’s increasingly aggressive posturing since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as an example.

Russia has replaced nearly all of its Soviet-era nuclear arms with modern systems in recent decades – a process that has involved the swapping out of single-warhead ICBMs for MIRVs and the upgrading of its fleet of submarines to carry more of the newer multi-headed cruise missiles.

Newer Borei-class nuclear submarines, capable of carrying 16 ballistic missiles with MIRV warheads, are also being launched – with half, as before, being deployed to the Pacific coast – to replace the Russian navy’s few remaining Soviet-era Delta-class boats.

The US had as many as 950 nuclear weapons based in South Korea at the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, though the last of these were removed from the peninsula in 1991.

Washington continues to maintain a force of nuclear-capable bombers and ballistic-missile submarines in the Asia-Pacific, however, in addition to a stock of B61 tactical nuclear bombs that are intended for operations in the region.

And in July last year, the first US ballistic-missile submarine to visit South Korea in 40 years arrived following a record number of ballistic missile tests by the North.

Why North Korea rejects US talks: regime ‘never negotiates if it feels strong’

Together, the US and Russia possess around 90 per cent of the world’s nuclear warheads, with the Federation of American Scientists estimating that Russia has around 5,580 and the US 5,044, including ones that have been retired, stockpiled or are held in reserve.

A treaty known as New START, which entered force in 2011, limits each country to a maximum of 1,550 deployed strategic warheads, with additional restrictions on ICBMs and bombers. With its looming expiry in 2026, fears are growing of a new nuclear arms race.

An earlier treaty known as START-II would have banned MIRV-capable ICBMs, but it never entered into effect.

Moscow suspended its participation in the New START treaty in February last year, citing US support for Ukraine against the Russian invasion. It has also blocked inspections of its nuclear forces and ceased sharing strategic information.

It also in November withdrew from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, raising the possibility of future weapons tests.

“Arms control and disarmament architecture are deteriorating. Guardrails to avert the danger of nuclear war and avoid arms races are being removed,” Wan said, adding that nuclear-armed states’ force modernisation programmes were “contributing to a more destabilising global order”.

The US has yet to adopt a more aggressive nuclear posture in response to Moscow’s moves, though an October report from Congress’ Strategic Posture Commission did call for such a nuclear build-up.

When New START expires in two years both the US and Russia could add “hundreds of additional warheads onto their already deployed systems” within a matter of weeks or months, the Federation of American Scientists warned in March.

The US think tank, which provides expertise and analysis on arms control and non-proliferation, estimates that China currently has around 500 nuclear warheads, which the Pentagon says Beijing hopes to double by 2030.

India and Pakistan are estimated to possess 164 and 170 warheads, respectively, while Israel is thought to have 90, with enough fissile material stockpiled to produce 200.

Experts speculate that North Korea has assembled around 40 or 50 warheads.

The build-up of “nuclear weapons anywhere threatens to destabilise everywhere,” Rostker, the non-proliferation researcher, said.

“We live in a much more complicated world today than during the Cold War when the nuclear race was limited to two superpowers.”

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Top US-based humanoid robotics firm pivots to China-dominated all-electric tech race

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3260184/top-us-based-humanoid-robotics-firm-pivots-china-dominated-all-electric-tech-race?utm_source=rss_feed

One of the world’s top robotics companies has announced it will stop developing hydraulic-powered humanoid robots and instead focus on making electric motor-driven robots – a category that Chinese tech companies are increasingly dominating.

Last Wednesday, US-based firm Boston Dynamics released a video declaring that its hydraulic humanoid robot “Atlas” would be decommissioned. Known for its humanlike agility, and occasionally successful acrobatics, Atlas had captivated audiences worldwide.

The video showcased a montage of Atlas’ manoeuvres, including backflips, obstacle navigation, and dancing alongside robotic dogs. It also showed the robot’s mishaps – including a failed backflip that resulted in damaged knees.

China sees rise of humanoid robots as ‘disruptive innovation’, economic boon

The next day, the company introduced a new all-electric successor to Atlas, emphasising its “real-world applications”.

While hydraulic robots have greater limb strength, their hydraulic systems are complex and slower to respond. Electric motors are lighter, more flexible, faster and cost less.

The next-generation model – also named Atlas – features individual electric motors at each joint, giving it a wider range of motion that allows it to stand up from a prone position – something hydraulic robots and humans cannot do.

Boston Dynamics’ pivot away from the original hydraulic-powered robot to the new electric version marks a shift towards strategies Chinese companies have been pursuing for years.

Unitree Robotics, a leading Chinese robotics maker, has been building its own electric-driven robot.

Last month, the Hangzhou-based company released a video of its electric humanoid robot “H1” performing a backflip.

According to Unitree’s website, the H1’s electric drive system “provides unmatched speed, strength, mobility and flexibility in its class” and can run at up to 11.9km/h (7.4mph), making the robot the “fastest in the world”.

At the 2023 International Humanoid Locomotion Competition, held during the International IEEE Humanoid Conference 2023 in Austin, Texas, Unitree’s H1 clinched first place in the obstacle course and second in the freestyle walk, outperforming rivals like Apptronik’s Apollo from the US, and PAL Robotics’ Kangaroo from Spain.

Boston Dynamics has been a major player in humanoid robotics for more than a decade. Their products have excelled at handling a variety of heavy, irregular objects, and they continue to set the industry standards for hardware performance.

However, in the realm of humanoid robot commercialisation, China seems to have taken the lead in technological advances, according to Jizhishuo, an independent tech blogger. Electric-driven robots are quieter, more efficient, and cost less to maintain with no risk of fluid leaks.

Chinese companies are also pioneering technological advancements in autonomous driving. For instance, while Tesla has committed to using only image sensors, Chinese firms like Nio, BYD, Xpeng, and Huawei Technologies have integrated lidar systems with cameras, leveraging multi-sensor fusion and sophisticated algorithms to improve their autonomous vehicles.

Vision-based systems are used in lower-end models, such as the Huawei Luxeed S7, mainly to reduce costs.

Japan is still a leader in production of the best motors and mechanical parts, but it is losing market share.

Robot-mimicking China restaurant boss waits on tables, becomes online hit

As of 2023, China ranked first in the world, both in the number of humanoid robot patent applications and the number of valid patents, surpassing Japan, according to People’s Daily Online Research Institute, which cited statistics from a November 2023 Humanoid Robot Technology Patent Analysis Report.

This divergence in technological adoption has also spurred innovation among upstream suppliers. According to Tokyo-based analysis company Patent Result, since 2000, Chinese firms have filed 25,957 lidar-related patents, compared to 18,821 by US companies and 13,939 by Japanese firms.

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Fire-starting China pet dubbed ‘badass cat’ after it turns on cooker sparking blaze causing US$14,000 damage to home

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3259216/fire-starting-china-pet-dubbed-badass-cat-after-it-turns-cooker-sparking-blaze-causing-us14000?utm_source=rss_feed

A cat in China has used up one of its nine lives after accidentally turning on the cooker in his owner’s kitchen and setting the home on fire.

The cat, called Jingoudiao, caused 100,000 yuan (US$14,000) worth of damage to the flat.

The fire-starting feline escaped unharmed and his owner, Dandan, changed her Douyin account name to “Sichuan’s most badass cat”, and made the fluffy pet appear on live-streaming sessions to “compensate”.

The owner’s lighthearted reaction to the accident, and the cat’s cute looks, have attracted 8 million views on Douyin.

On April 4, Dandan, who was playing mahjong outside, got a phone call from the property management staff in her compound, saying her home was on fire.

Rushing back to her empty flat in southwestern China’s Sichuan province, she found out her cat was responsible for the blaze, which burnt the entire first floor of her loft.

It transpired Jingoudiao was playing in the kitchen, and accidentally touched the induction cooker’s touch panel, turning it on.

Firefighters found the golden British Shorthair cat hiding in a cabinet upstairs, covered in ash but not injured.

In the following days, Dandan joked that she was making him “work to pay off his debt”, by appearing in live-streaming sessions, and even put a label on him saying “arsonist”.

Dandan also video chatted with a firefighter in far-off Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region in northwestern China, and asked him to teach Jingoudiao fire safety tips.

The firefighter said it was the first time he had been asked to teach a cat and joked that he had tried to interest the fire station dog in safety issues, to no avail.

On April 13, Dandan posted a letter of apology online, signed with her fingerprint and that of Jingoudiao’s paw.

She felt she was to blame for not shutting off the power to the cooker, and vowed to pay attention to fire safety in future, urging others to do the same.

On mainland social media the reaction was largely humorous.

“All I wanted to do is to cook my mum dinner,” said one person pretending to be Jingoudiao.

“Thank you. I just switched off my electric cooker. I have a naughty cat who goes everywhere in my flat,” another person said.

“My cat just keeps flushing the toilet, leaving me to pay big water bills,” a third person quipped.

Mental health in focus as China vows crackdown on school bullies amid rising underage crime, suicide rates

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3260634/mental-health-focus-china-vows-crackdown-school-bullies-amid-rising-underage-crime-suicide-rates?utm_source=rss_feed

China has pledged a nationwide crackdown on campus bullying amid rising cases of juvenile delinquency and suicide in primary and secondary schools, with added focus on the mental health of minors.

The Ministry of Education will also train students, teachers and parents on the laws targeting campus violence, as well as improve disciplinary measures and accountability mechanisms.

In a statement of Friday, the ministry said it would launch a thorough investigation of all primary and secondary schools to detect the risks of “student bullying”.

There would be added focus on strengthening the mental health of pupils, the statement said, with an upgraded system to monitor their psychological well-being and stronger collaboration between schools and hospitals.

The move comes as China tackles a rise in juvenile crime, including alleged murders by schoolchildren, as well as suicides attributed to mental health issues.

3 children arrested in northern China over death of classmate

Last month, three middle school students in Hebei province near Beijing allegedly killed and buried a 13-year-old classmate they reportedly had long bullied. The three accused are all under 14 years old.

Local police, citing an autopsy report, said the victim had wounds to his head, face and back, and the killing appeared “premeditated”.

The case shocked the country and ignited heated debate on Chinese social media on the laws governing juvenile perpetrators of serious crimes.

Mainland China lowered the minimum age for criminal punishment from 14 years to 12 in 2021. However, the Supreme People’s Procuratorate, China’s highest prosecutory body, must still decide whether such suspects stand trial.

In its annual review last year, it said cases of juvenile delinquency in China were on the rise and showed a trend of being committed by “underage” perpetrators.

In one case, a 12-year-old boy in central Hubei province was accused last year of killing a 4-year-old girl by pushing her into a cesspit. The case was dismissed earlier this year as the boy was seen as “incapable of criminal responsibility” at the time of the murder.

Police referred as many as 327,000 minors, or those under the age of 18, to prosecutors between 2018 and 2022, an average annual increase of 7.7 per cent, according to the Supreme People’s Procuratorate. Of these, the alleged offences committed by under-16s increased by a yearly average of 16.7 per cent.

However, the rate of prosecution of minors declined, the data showed.

A rise in teenage suicide rates is also prompting concern. Data from the Chinese Centre for Disease Control and Prevention last year showed that the suicide rate among five- to 14-year-olds quadrupled between 2010 and 2021, although the overall suicide rate for all age groups declined.

Hong Kong film , released in mainland cinemas earlier this month, has also sparked social media discussion with its portrayal of issues such as adolescent mental health and domestic violence.

“Domestic violence and educational pressure are the surface issues … while the deeper level is to reveal the generational trauma and social anxiety of East Asian families,” a user posted on Douban, China’s largest movie rating website.

The box office for the movie, the award-winning directorial debut of Nick Cheuk Yik-him, crossed 10 million yuan (about US$1.38 million) this week.

Who can the US really count on in a war with China over Taiwan?

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/china-opinion/article/3260241/who-can-us-really-count-war-china-over-taiwan?utm_source=rss_feed

In the worst-case scenario of a China-US showdown over Taiwan, will America’s allies stand with it back to back? My answer is: not necessarily. America has over 60 allies and partners around the globe. But when it comes to a war with China, those helpful to the US won’t be more than a handful.

Take Thailand for example. Since King Rama IV (1851-1868), Thailand’s foreign policy has been one of “bending with the wind”. This “bamboo diplomacy” allowed Siam to be the only Southeast Asian country to escape colonisation.

Today, the Beijing-Bangkok relationship is described by both as being “as close as one family”. In the past few years, China has surpassed the United States as the primary supplier of Thai military equipment such as tanks and an amphibious dock ship.

It’s similar with South Korea. Deeply worried about a nuclearised North Korea, Seoul cannot afford to show hostility towards Beijing, which has a latent treaty obligation of military help for North Korea.

The best example is that Yoon Suk-yeol, a seemingly diehard pro-American president, decided not to meet the visiting then-US House speaker Nancy Pelosi after her Taiwan visit in 2022, which triggered live-firing by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) around the island. It speaks volumes about Seoul’s tiptoeing between China and the US.

Japan has treaty obligations to provide logistical support to the American military in a conflict. It might let the US use its bases too, but its participation is unlikely. Public opinion in Japan is generally against getting ensnared in a Taiwan Strait conflict. According to a poll for the Asahi Shimbun last year, just 11 per cent of Japanese respondents said their armed forces should join the US in the fighting, and 27 per cent said their forces should not work with the US military at all.

Having fought in every major US war since the second world war, Australia looks the most reliable ally. In recent years, Australia has pushed Washington to curb the influence of Huawei Technologies, and supported the creation of security groupings such as Aukus (between Australia, Britain and the US) and the reinvigoration of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (between the US, Japan, Australia and India).

In a war in the Taiwan Strait, Australia, too, is likely to let the US use its military bases. But Canberra also makes clear it has not promised to participate in any Taiwan conflict in exchange for American nuclear-powered submarines.

In the Philippines, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr seems determined to join the American camp, something other Asean leaders have tried their utmost to avoid. US access has been granted to nine military bases that would be most useful in strengthening America’s badly needed forward military presence along the so-called first chain of islands. And recently, the US Army’s mid-range capability ground-based missile system was deployed in exercises in the Philippines.

But, as if to assuage Beijing’s concern, Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo said last April that the Philippines will not let the US stockpile weapons for use in any Taiwan operation. US troops will also not be allowed to refuel, repair and reload at those sites. Time will tell whether these promises are reliable.

Then, can the US develop a “mini Nato” in the Indo-Pacific as some have argued? Well, Aukus looks too small and Britain won’t be a major player in the region. Even if Japan joins, the glue that binds won’t be strong enough.

As for the Quad, it has a security element, reflected in its joint military exercises, but it won’t become a military alliance because of India. As a rising power and a founder of the Non-Aligned Movement, India is too proud to be dependent on any major power. Its ambition is to become a global power like China. It shouldn’t wish to be seen to be antagonising its northern neighbour, whose economic and military strength far outweighs its own.

Whether American allies join the US in a war with China depends first on whether the US gets involved. If Washington concludes that the latest Taiwanese leader is a troublemaker – as president George W. Bush was rumoured to have referred to former president Chen Shui-bian – why would it write a blank cheque with American blood?

The conflict in Ukraine is also giving people second thoughts. If Nato, an alliance of 32 states, can hesitate to take on Russia, what gives the US confidence to fight China with a few half-hearted allies? Yes, Russia has more nuclear bombs than China. But the PLA is twice as large as the Russian army, with a military budget over three times bigger. The PLA is also known to have better drones, early warning aircraft and other force multipliers such as hypersonic weapons.

Much has been said about America’s “strategic ambiguity” – not specifying whether it would assist Taiwan militarily in a conflict – but for Washington, the biggest strategic ambiguity comes from Beijing: will a stronger China become more confident about an eventual peaceful reunification or become more impatient and resort to force?

Quite a few American generals have publicly predicted some worst-case scenarios, but so far, Beijing is still talking about a peaceful reunification, even as Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party is re-elected.

That Washington can count on its allies is a best-case scenario – and more likely, wishful thinking. Alliance is a marriage of convenience. America’s alliances in the region are more the sort of marriage described by George Bernard Shaw – between a man who can’t sleep with the window shut and a woman who can’t sleep with the window open.

Study: Nearly Half of Large Chinese Cities Are Sinking

https://learningenglish.voanews.com/a/study-nearly-half-of-large-chinese-cities-are-sinking/7581574.html

A new study suggests that nearly half of major cities in China show signs of sinking.

The study is based on recent satellite data. It estimated that 45 percent of land in China’s biggest cities currently suffers “moderate to severe” levels of sinking.

Researchers say the situation puts millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels continue to rise.

Writers of the study estimated nearly half of areas around Chinese cities were sinking at a rate of at least 3 millimeters per year. And about 16 percent of land around cities was found to be sinking at a rate of 10 millimeters per year, the researchers say.

The team noted the sinking is linked largely to groundwater extraction and the weight of buildings.

Researcher Ao Zurui and others at China's South China Normal University in Guangzhou led the study. Results of the research recently appeared in the publication Science.

Ao told Reuters news agency that more than 900 million people live in Chinese cities. The sinking problems, he said, represent a growing threat to people in those areas.

The study notes that sinking already costs China more than $1 billion in yearly losses. And within the next century, nearly 25 percent of coastal land could drop below sea levels. That would leave hundreds of millions of people at high risk of flooding.

China’s northern city of Tianjin has a population of 15 million people. It was identified as one of the worst-hit areas. Last year, 3,000 people had to leave the city after a "sudden geological disaster" linked to sinking. Investigators blamed the problem on water loss as well as the building of geothermal energy systems.

"It really brings home that this is for China a national problem and not a problem in just one or two places," said Robert Nicholls. He is with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at Britain’s University of East Anglia. "And it is a microcosm of what is happening around the rest of the world," Nicholls added. A microcosm is an event or situation that is seen as a small version of something much larger.

Another study published in February found that around 6.3 million square kilometers of land worldwide was at risk of continued sinking. One of the most affected nations is Indonesia. Large parts of the capital Jakarta are now below sea level.

Nicholls said at-risk cities could learn lessons from Tokyo. The Japanese capital city sank by about 5 meters until officials banned groundwater extraction in the 1970s.

Nicholls added that in some places, city officials will have to fight the problem by building systems to prevent flood damage. Of the 44 major coastal cities currently suffering from the problem, 30 were in Asia. That information comes from a 2022 study.

Matt Wei is a geophysics expert at the University of Rhode Island. He told Reuters the problem is directly related to continued development and population growth in cities. It is also related to increased water extraction for human uses.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

 

Reuters reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English.

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Words in This Story

 

extract – v. to take something out of something else, especially by using force

geothermal – adj. of or connected to the heat inside the Earth

bring home – phr v. to make clear or emphasize something