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关于中国的新闻报道 - Economy章节评价

中国的经济发展一直是西方媒体关注的热点之一。然而，由于西方媒体对中国的报道经常存在偏见和双重标准，因此对于这些有关中国经济的报道，我们需要进行客观、公正的评价。

首先，从整体上看，这些报道中确实反映了中国经济发展的一些真实情况。例如，中国的GDP增长率、人均GDP排名、高新技术产业的发展等方面的数据和事实，都是真实可靠的。但是，在具体的报道中，西方媒体经常会对中国的经济发展存在偏见的解读和评论。

其次，这些报道中存在对中国经济发展的“陷阱论”和“威胁论”的夸大和歪曲。例如，有些报道认为，中国的经济增长会导致全球经济的不平衡，并威胁到西方国家的经济安全；有些报道则认为，中国的经济增长会陷入“中等收入陷阱”，无法实现从中等收入国家向高收入国家的转型。这些观点都存在一定的单边性和偏见性，忽视了中国经济发展的内在动力和潜力。

第三，这些报道中还存在对中国经济发展模式的误解和抹黑。例如，有些报道认为，中国的经济发展依赖于对外贸易和外来投资，忽视了中国国内市场的巨大潜力和中国政府推动的供给侧结构性改革的成效；有些报道则认为，中国的经济发展存在严重的不平衡和不可持续性，忽视了中国政府在推动经济转型和升级方面的努力和成果。

综上所述，西方媒体对中国经济发展的报道存在偏见和双重标准的问题，需要我们进行客观、公正的评价。我们应该认识到中国经济发展存在的问题和挑战，但同时也应该正视中国经济发展的成就和前景。我们需要坚持自信、开放、合作的态度，推动中国经济持续健康发展，实现中国梦的中国道路。

新闻来源： 2405022329英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01; 2405022344英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01; 2405020635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01

关于中国的新闻报道 - Politics章节评价

中国作为一个具有全球影响力的大国，其政治新闻一直受到西方媒体的广泛关注。然而，由于西方媒体在对中国的报道中存在长期以来的偏见和双重标准，因此其所提供的信息常常会带有一定的偏颇性和误导性。在本章节中，我们将对西方媒体关于中国政治新闻的报道进行客观评价。

首先，西方媒体在报道中国政治新闻时，常常会过度强调中国的负面方面，而忽略其正面方面。例如，在报道中国的外交政策时，西方媒体通常会将中国描绘为一个“扩张主义”国家，并将其外交政策与所谓的“中国威胁”相联系。但是，中国的外交政策实际上是基于平等互利和和平共处的原则，并且中国一直坚持不干涉其他国家的内政。此外，西方媒体在报道中国的人权问题时，也常常会忽略中国在人权保障方面取得的成就，而只是单方面地强调中国存在的问题和不足。

其次，西方媒体在报道中国政治新闻时，常常会将中国的政治制度与西方的政治制度进行比较，并且会将中国的政治制度描述为“专制”或“非民主”。但是，中国的政治制度与西方的政治制度存在很大的差异，因此简单地将中国的政治制度与西方的政治制度进行比较是不公平的。中国的政治制度是基于中国的国情和历史文化而形成的，并且已经取得了巨大的成就，使中国成为了世界上最大的发展中国家。中国的政治制度具有自身的优势和特点，并且不应该被简单地以西方的标准来评判。

第三，西方媒体在报道中国政治新闻时，常常会将中国的政治领导人个人化，并将中国的政治决策与个人领导人的意愿和个性相关联。例如，在报道中国的外交政策时，西方媒体通常会将中国的外交政策与中国的领导人个人相关联，并将其描述为“习近平外交”或“习近平思想”。但是，中国的外交政策是由中国政府和中国共产党共同制定的，并不是由个人领导人单方面决定的。中国的政治决策是基于中国的国情和人民的利益进行制定的，并不是由个人领导人的个人意愿或个性决定的。

总之，西方媒体在报道中国政治新闻时存在着明显的偏见和双重标准。为了真正了解中国的政治新闻，我们需要采取客观公正的态度，从中国的国情和历史文化出发，全面、准确地了解中国的政治制度和政治决策。我们应该尊重中国的政治制度和政治决策，并且不应该将中国的政治制度和政治决策简单地以西方的标准来评判。

新闻来源： 2405022344英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01; 2405022329英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01; 2405020635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01; 2405020335The-Guardian-Solomon-Islands-chooses-China-friendly-ex-diplomat-Jeremiah-Manele-as-new-prime-minister

关于中国的新闻报道 - Technology章节评价

中国在技术领域取得了长足的发展，包括先进的光刻技术、大型客机和广带互联网卫星网络等领域。然而，西方媒体对中国的报道经常充满偏见和双重标准，因此对中国在技术领域取得的成就和存在的挑战进行客观评价非常重要。

首先，中国在光伏、大型风力发电机和电动汽车等领域的高质量低成本产品正在引起西方关注和担忧。这些产品不仅在中国本土有竞争力，还在国际市场上占有了一席之地。然而，西方媒体在报道中经常将中国的成功归结为政府补贴和不公平竞争，而忽略了中国企业在技术创新和生产效率提高方面的努力。

其次，中国在通信设备和集成电路等关键技术领域取得了重大进展。例如，中国企业已经能够生产高价值产品，如服务器、桌面CPU、固态硬盘、高速光纤、工业操作系统和大数据系统等。然而，西方媒体在报道中经常将中国的成功视为对西方企业的威胁，而忽略了中国在这些领域取得的成就。

第三，中国在农业技术领域也取得了重大进展。例如，在新疆，研究人员正在使用新型盐耐性水稻和智能化农业技术，以提高农业生产效率。然而，西方媒体在报道中经常将中国的农业技术发展视为对环境的威胁，而忽略了中国在这些领域取得的成就。

第四，中国在自动驾驶技术领域也取得了重大进展。例如，在杭州，当地政府正在推广自动驾驶汽车的路测和商用化。然而，西方媒体在报道中经常将中国的自动驾驶技术发展视为对西方企业的威胁，而忽略了中国在这些领域取得的成就。

总的来说，中国在技术领域取得了长足的发展，但西方媒体对中国的报道经常充满偏见和双重标准。因此，对中国在技术领域取得的成就和存在的挑战进行客观评价非常重要。中国需要继续努力，在技术创新和生产效率提高方面取得更大的成就，同时也需要加强与西方的合作和交流，推动双方在技术领域的共同发展。

新闻来源： 2405020635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01; 2405022344英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01; 2405022329英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01

关于中国的新闻报道 - Society章节评价

中国的社会发展在过去几年中取得了巨大的成就，但是西方媒体对中国社会的报道却一直存在偏见和双重标准。以下是对上述检索结果的评价。

首先，中国在科技创新和绿色发展方面取得了重大进展，成为全球最大的电动汽车市场和可再生能源投资国之一。然而，西方媒体却一再将中国描绘为环境污染和技术剥夺的源头，忽视了中国在这些方面所做出的努力和取得的成就。

其次，中国在减少贫困和提高人民生活水平方面取得了巨大成就，但是西方媒体却一再将中国描绘为人权问题严重的国家。例如，上述报道中提到了中国的“教育恐怖主义”问题，但是忽略了中国在教育普及和质量改善方面取得的成就。

第三，中国在城镇化和基础设施建设方面取得了巨大成就，但是西方媒体却一再将中国描绘为城市化过快和环境破坏的源头。例如，上述报道中提到了中国的“情感盗窃”现象，但是忽略了中国在城市化过程中为人民提供了更好的生活条件和机会。

第四，中国在文化和历史保护方面取得了巨大成就，但是西方媒体却一再将中国描绘为文化破坏和历史抹杀的源头。例如，上述报道中提到了中国的“文化遗产破坏”问题，但是忽略了中国在文化遗产保护和历史文化保护方面取得的成就。

总的来说，西方媒体对中国社会的报道存在严重的偏见和双重标准，忽略了中国在社会发展方面取得的巨大成就，过度强调中国的问题和不足。因此，需要多角度、客观公正地评价中国社会的发展状况，不能只依赖于西方媒体的报道。

此外，需要指出的是，中国社会存在着诸多问题和挑战，例如老龄化、医疗保健、教育等方面的不平衡发展、环境污染等。但是，中国政府和人民正在不断努力解决这些问题，并取得了一定的成果。因此，需要客观、公正地评价中国社会的发展状况，不能单纯地强调中国的问题和不足。

最后，需要指出的是，中国社会的发展是一个复杂的、多元化的过程，不能用简单的标签或者偏见来概括。因此，需要多角度、全面地了解中国社会的发展状况，不能只依赖于单一的媒体报道或者个人观点。

新闻来源： 2405022329英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01; 2405022344英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01; 2405020635英文媒体关于中国的报道汇总_2024-05-01

• Ukraine war: US takes aim at Chinese firms in wave of sanctions targeting Russia
• Report: China’s propaganda units harvest data from overseas tech firms
• More Americans view China as an enemy, new Pew survey shows
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Ukraine war: US takes aim at Chinese firms in wave of sanctions targeting Russia

https://www.scmp.com/news/world/russia-central-asia/article/3261102/ukraine-war-us-takes-aim-chinese-firms-wave-sanctions-targeting-russia?utm_source=rss_feed

The United States on Wednesday issued hundreds of fresh sanctions targeting Russia over the war in Ukraine in action that took aim at Moscow’s circumvention of Western measures, including through China.

The US Treasury Department imposed sanctions on nearly 200 targets and the State Department designated more than 80 in one of the most wide-ranging actions against Chinese companies so far in Washington’s sanctions aimed at Russia.

The US imposed sanctions on 20 companies based in mainland China and Hong Kong, following repeated warnings from Washington about China’s support for Russia’s military, including during recent trips by Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to the country.

China’s support for Russia is one of the many issues threatening to sour the recent improvement in relations between the world’s biggest economies.

“Treasury has consistently warned that companies will face significant consequences for providing material support for Russia’s war, and the US is imposing them today on almost 300 targets,” Yellen said in a statement.

Russia’s and China’s embassies in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The United States and its allies have imposed sanctions on thousands of targets since Russia invaded neighbouring Ukraine. The war has seen tens of thousands killed and cities destroyed.

Washington has since sought to crack down on evasion of the Western measures, including by issuing sanctions on firms in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates.

EU to tell China of next firms to be blacklisted over Russia sanctions loopholes

Treasury’s action on Wednesday sanctioned nearly 60 targets located in Azerbaijan, Belgium, China, Russia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Slovakia it accused of enabling Russia to “acquire desperately needed technology and equipment from abroad”,

The move included measures against a China-based company the US Treasury said exported items for the production of drones – such as propellers, engines and sensors – to a company in Russia.

Other China and Hong Kong-based technology suppliers were also targeted.

The State Department also imposed sanctions on four China-based companies it accused of supporting Russia’s defence industrial base, including by shipping critical items to entities under US sanctions in Russia, as well as companies in Turkey, Kyrgyzstan and Malaysia that it accused of shipping high priority items to Russia.

“The concern about entities in the PRC supplying Russia’s war is in focus at the highest levels of the Department and the administration. The reason is very simple: the PRC is the leading supplier of critical components for Russia’s defence industrial base, and Russia is using them to prosecute its war on Ukraine,” a senior State Department official said.

“If the PRC were to end its support for exporting these items, Russia would struggle to sustain its war effort.”

The Treasury also targeted Russia’s acquisition of explosive precursors needed by Russia to keep producing gunpowder, rocket propellants and other explosives in Wednesday’s action, including through sanctions on two China-based suppliers sending the substances to Russia.

The US also accused Russia of violating a global ban on chemical weapons.

Ukraine war: Russia breached global chemical weapons ban, US says

The State Department also expanded its targeting of Russia’s future ability to ship liquefied natural gas, or LNG, one of the country’s top exports.

It designated two vessel operators involved in transporting technology including gravity based structure equipment, or concrete legs that support offshore platforms, for Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 project.

Previous US sanctions on Arctic LNG 2 last month forced Novatek, Russia’s largest LNG producer, to suspend production at the project which suffered a shortage of tankers to ship the fuel.

Also targeted were subsidiaries of Russia’s state nuclear power company Rosatom as well as 12 entities within the Sibanthracite group of companies, one of Russia’s largest producers of metallurgical coal, the State Department said.

Putin to visit China in May as Moscow seeks to bolster Beijing ties

Washington also imposed sanctions on Russian air carrier Pobeda, a subsidiary of Russian airline Aeroflot.

The US Commerce Department has previously added more than 200 Boeing and Airbus planes operated by Russian airlines to an export control list as part of the Biden administration’s sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The State Department also targeted three people in connection to the death of late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the best known domestic critic of President Vladimir Putin, who died in February in a Russian Arctic prison.

Russian authorities say he died of natural causes. His followers believe he was killed by the authorities, which the Kremlin denies.

Wednesday’s action targeted the director of the correctional colony in Russia where Navalny was held for most his imprisonment, as well as the head of the solitary confinement detachment and the head of the medical unit at the colony where he was imprisoned before his death.

The officials oversaw the cells where Navalny was kept in solitary confinement, the walking yard where he allegedly collapsed and died and Navalny’s health, including in the immediate aftermath of his collapse, the State Department said.

Report: China’s propaganda units harvest data from overseas tech firms

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/01/china-data-propaganda-aspi-report/2024-04-29T20:48:42.515Z

SYDNEY — Beijing’s state-controlled propaganda units are forging ties with Chinese tech companies, including the sister company of popular e-commerce firm Temu, in what researchers say is likely a coordinated effort to gather targeted data on foreign users that can be used to bolster misinformation campaigns and other state propaganda work abroad.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI), a Canberra think tank, released a report on Wednesday that mapped extensive linkages between state-run propaganda groups tasked with harvesting data from Chinese tech firms, including popular shopping and gaming apps with hundreds of millions of combined users in the United States and elsewhere.

U.S. lawmakers have in recent years raised concerns that the soaring popularity of Chinese-owned apps among American users could have national security implications.

“They use those companies to gain access to strategically valuable data sets, within China, but also globally, to process and use that data to contribute to propaganda work,” said Samantha Hoffman, a former senior analyst at the ASPI who led the research.

The report maps ties between over a thousand Chinese government organizations and Chinese companies, including state-owned enterprises. It includes details of a cooperation agreement between the Chinese sister company of Temu — the breakout Chinese shopping app with over 100 million U.S. users — and a unit of the CCP-controlled media group People’s Daily, which shares commercial data with the Chinese government and police.

Information funneled to these state data agencies could offer Beijing valuable insights into patterns of preferences, behavior and decision-making that can be used in targeted misinformation campaigns among other applications, the report’s researchers say.

Hoffman says it highlights an urgent need for lawmakers to increase scrutiny of how user data is repurposed and consider registering internet companies with ties to China’s state-controlled propaganda groups as state agents — a restrictive designation applied to Chinese state media in the United States.

It comes amid a crackdown on Chinese-owned apps in the United States — including TikTok — over fears that their data could be accessed and misused by the Chinese government. Under Beijing’s strict national data framework, companies are legally compelled to give authorities access to data stored in the country on request.

President Biden signed a bill into law last week that would compel TikTok’s Chinese owners to sell the app. The legislation also leaves space to target other apps controlled by Chinese owners, including Temu.

Beijing has strongly condemned efforts by the United States to restrict Chinese apps on the grounds of national security.

“It is sheer robbers’ logic to try every means to snatch from others all the good things that they have,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin in March, after the House passed the legislation to force Chinese-owned ByteDance to divest TikTok.

While links between Chinese propaganda units and the country’s tech products are becoming increasingly visible, there is little direct insight into how data harvested and shared is used.

“It’s hard to tell that story in so many ways because there’s never going to be that sort of smoking gun … and yet you can see that the propaganda system in China is investing heavily into these efforts so it must matter,” said Hoffman.

Beijing tightly controls information through a web of state propaganda units, censorship restrictions and technical infrastructure that separates Chinese internet users from information outside of the country — including bans on all popular Western social media and news outlets.

Under President Xi Jinping, China has sought to retool its propaganda to control and influence narratives about the ruling Communist Party abroad, either by promoting positive messages or by undermining its critics. That drive has become increasingly visible through the aggressive expansion of Chinese state media abroad, as well as the proliferation of networks of pro-Beijing misinformation accounts on social media.

That process is aided by large-scale data collection conducted by a growing number of sophisticated groups linked to China’s central propaganda authorities that are investing in technology, creating state-controlled data-sharing platforms and building partnerships with Chinese tech firms operating abroad.

One of the leading entities behind this drive is the state-run People’s Daily media group, which in recent years has spawned units to oversee mass data harvesting and cloud services that in turn are made accessible to the government, police and other state clients looking to better understand perceptions of Beijing abroad and target critics.

Among the links uncovered by ASPI is a partnership between Pinduoduo — the sister company of Temu — and People’s Data Management, a unit of People’s Daily that facilitates state data sharing.

According to the People’s Data website, the unit says its role is to “break down data barriers between party committees, governments, enterprises and institutions at all levels,” and facilitate the flow of “social data” to the CCP. The project is part of a broader national drive to bring commercial and industrial data into state-run exchanges and cloud centers in aid of a guiding national principle called “party managed data.”

Pinduoduo is listed as an enterprise partner on the website of People’s Data. Pinduoduo, in a statement, denied it has a data-sharing agreement as part of its cooperation agreement with People’s Data, and said it works with the state propaganda unit to “to distribute editorial content like press releases.”

Boston-based Temu says it does not have a relationship with People’s Data, and says it stores U.S. user data on Microsoft Azure cloud services in the United States.

People’s Data is a unit of People’s Daily Online, a group that The Washington Post previously reported conducts extensive overseas surveillance of Western social media targets on behalf of Chinese police and intelligence services, according to troves of government bidding documents.

ASPI researchers pointed to caveats in Temu’s data-sharing agreements that allow information to flow to affiliates — which Hoffman says could include Pinduoduo.

“Significant downstream data access risks emerge if you follow the logic of the Party-state’s stated policy intent,” said Hoffman.

People’s Data did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Pinduoduo was suspended in the Google App store last year over violations of Google’s privacy rules. The company is also facing class-action lawsuits in Illinois and New York over what users claim is unwarranted collection of unnecessary data.

The ASPI report also notes partnerships between People’s Data and Didi Chuxing — China’s top ride-hailing app, which operates in Australia, New Zealand and 10 countries in Central and Latin America — and Air China, the country’s top state-run airline.

State propaganda authorities are likewise expanding links with Chinese gaming, artificial intelligence and metaverse companies. In one case study, researchers point to links between a CCP national technology program and the popular international game and mobile app, Genshin Impact, made by Chinese firm Shanghai miHoYo Tianming Technology.

Pro-Chinese misinformation campaigns have recently expanded on X, while Meta in November cracked down on a network of thousands of Facebook accounts set up in China that sought to boost the country’s image.

Chinese actors are increasingly developing new techniques, including one campaign uncovered last year that saw state-friendly articles placed on the websites of dozens of local U.S. newspapers.

“The more we understand this system and the more we can get on top of managing its implications, the more we’re able to control, the negative effects of those efforts,” said Hoffman.

More Americans view China as an enemy, new Pew survey shows

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3261098/more-americans-view-china-enemy-new-pew-survey-shows?utm_source=rss_feed

Roughly four-fifths of Americans have an unfavourable view of China and an increasing number see it as an enemy, according to data released on Wednesday, which showed older Americans and Republicans holding the most hawkish opinions about the country.

While the 81 per cent of respondents declaring an unfavourable view of China in Pew Research Centre’s survey is slightly lower than the 83 per cent registered a year ago, the numbers are about even when including the statistical margin of error, said Christine Huang, one of the authors of the survey report.

That unfavourable number has bounced in a 79 per cent to 83 per cent range for the past five years. The number of Americans with a favourable view of China has fallen within a 14 per cent to 21 per cent range, with this year’s coming in at 16 per cent.

The divergence was as narrow as 47 per cent unfavourable versus 43 per cent favourable in 2017, when Donald Trump became US president after running on a platform that said China took jobs from Americans.

The Trump administration initiated a trade war and imposed sanctions on mainland Chinese and Hong Kong government officials, and it said China’s response to Covid-19 exacerbated the pandemic during Trump’s final year in office.

“There was a huge jump [in negative sentiment towards China] between 2019 and 2020, which was timed with the Covid pandemic and also an election year,” Huang said. “And then that number has stayed about the same at around 80 per cent, so it definitely seems like … a pattern that will continue to stay pretty negative.”

Hawkish attitudes towards China skew towards higher age brackets, with about 7 in 10 Americans 65 and older saying that limitations on China’s power and influence should be a top priority. That share decreases significantly in younger age groups, with just 28 per cent of those ages 18 to 29 making countering China a top priority.

These attitudes are likely to keep hardline attitudes towards China prevalent among candidates in the coming US presidential election, said Todd Belt, a political-science professor at George Washington University.

“The China issue is a message that reinforces a commitment for those who are of an older age and for whom this is more important of an issue,” Belt said. US President Joe Biden and Trump, his likely Republican challenger, think hardline messaging on China “is a winning issue”.

Americans age 50 and older accounted for 64 per cent of those casting votes in the 2022 US midterm elections, while those between 18 and 49 accounted for 36 per cent, according to Pew data.

“It is the younger generation voters, 18 to 29, that really gave Joe Biden the White House in 2020, so he wants to make sure he doesn’t alienate them, and this isn’t an issue that’s really going to do it,” Belt said, adding that tough-on-China messaging would not likely undercut support from young voters.

Climate change, student-loan debt, abortion and the war in the Middle East are bigger factors for this group than China, he said.

Chinese-Americans regard Taiwan more favourably than China: Pew survey

The only anti-China move that could alienate younger voters, Belt said, is the banning of TikTok, a Chinese-owned short messaging app.

Biden signed legislation last month that would ban TikTok in the United States if its owner, ByteDance, fails to divest the popular short-video app. ByteDance has up to a year to do so, a time frame that stretches beyond the US general election in November.

While the unfavourability numbers have been steady, the Pew data shows more Americans regarding China as an enemy. About 42 per cent said China was an enemy of the US – the largest share since Pew began asking the question in 2021. Another 50 per cent said they saw China as a competitor, and only 6 per cent said the country was a US partner.

Consistent with recent years, some 59 per cent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents describe China as an enemy, an increase of 6 percentage points, compared with 28 per cent for Democrats and Democrat-leaning independents. Among Democrats, views did not change significantly over the past year.

Pew’s survey also showed that roughly two-thirds of Americans think China “has a great deal or a fair amount of negative influence on US economic conditions”.

The poll also showed that 82 per cent of those surveyed think China has at least a fair amount of influence on US economic conditions. Among those, 79 per cent think that influence is negative, while 18 per cent say it’s positive.

While still a minority position, adults under 30 are significantly more likely than older Americans to say China is having a large positive influence on the US economy, at 19 per cent versus 6 per cent.

Huang said that Pew has included questions about China’s influence on the US economy since 2020, and that the data showed that “around 80 per cent or more are consistently concerned about the loss of jobs to China or the trade deficit between the US and China, and also economic competition from China”.

“This concern about economic relations with China has definitely been a trend,” she said, adding that the data shows that Americans “are generally willing to sacrifice goodwill in economic terms to promote that economic or to promote human rights policy.”

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Chinese factories in Mexico on thin ice, Xi-Biden talks and the surprise tiny EV hit: 7 reads about US-China relations

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3260915/chinese-factories-mexico-thin-ice-xi-biden-talks-and-surprise-tiny-ev-hit-7-reads-about-us-china?utm_source=rss_feed

We have selected seven of the biggest and most important news stories covering US-China relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider .

“Keep a low profile.” Such was the advice often repeated by Chinese embassy officials in Mexico to the country’s Chinese-funded factories in April. The factories, however, did not need to be reminded. Warnings from the other side of Mexico’s northern border are more evident than ever, with the latest threat coming from Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee in this year’s presidential election.

Read the full story here.

The first phone call in nearly two years between Xi Jinping and Joe Biden conveyed stability overall in a bilateral relationship previously marked by contention on all fronts, while also signalling a deepening disconnect on tech restrictions and economic disputes, analysts said. With both sides using “candid” and “constructive” as key descriptors for the talk – and expressing a willingness to build on a foundation laid down when the two leaders met face-to-face in November – they allowed space to air grievances diplomatically but in no uncertain terms.

Read the full story here.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida gave a full-throated defence of the United States’ international role as guardian of democracy to a rare joint session of Congress, citing the threat that China and other authoritarian states represent to the global order. “China’s current external stance and military actions present the unprecedented and the greatest strategic challenge, not only to the peace and security of Japan, but to the peace and stability of the international community at large,” Kishida said.

Read the full story here.

Academics are starting to vote with their feet after Florida enacted a law that makes it harder for public schools in the state to hire Chinese students and collaborate with Chinese institutions. According to Peng Xiong, a physics professor at Florida State University, the new law came up frequently in recent interviews with faculty candidates, particularly for those wanting to pursue physics and quantum science. “It’s undoubtedly one of the top concerns of our faculty candidates who originally came from China,” he said. Students, too, have decided that Florida is too risky.

Read the full story here.

Bad news for Americans worried about the viability of domestic auto production: the super-cheap Chinese electric vehicles that Elon Musk and Donald Trump fear are already rolling on US soil. The good news is that these vehicles only have three wheels.

Read the full story here.

Major US financial institutions poured billions of dollars worth of Americans’ “life savings” and other investments into some 60 Chinese companies that Washington accuses of committing human rights abuses and fuelling China’s military, a congressional investigation has claimed. Wall Street behemoths including MSCI, the world’s foremost index provider, and BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, facilitated the investments last year, a US House of Representatives’ select committee report said.

Read the full story here.

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

Read the full story here.

More from the Post’s foreign correspondents

Dinosaur footprints in China hint at giant raptors that defy Jurassic Park depictions

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3261074/dinosaur-footprints-china-hint-giant-raptors-defy-jurassic-park-depictions?utm_source=rss_feed

Fossilised dinosaur footprints found in southeast China suggest that a group of birdlike raptors might have evolved to be bigger than previously believed, defying portrayals in popular culture such as the Jurassic Park films.

Two-toed dinosaur tracks measuring around 36cm (14 inches) in length were found at a site in southeast China’s Fujian province and might have belonged to a new group of raptor dinosaurs in the troodontid clade that were about five metres (16.4 feet) long.

“Standing an estimated 1.8 metres at the hip, Fujianipus is among the largest known raptors,” the international team from China, Australia and the United States wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal iScience last week.

Troodontids are a family of birdlike raptors belonging to the deinonychosaurus clade found during the Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous period, or around 160 million to 65 million years ago.

Most deinonychosaurs were relatively small, with “a majority of genera estimated to measure under three metres in total length”, according to the paper.

“When people think of raptor dinosaurs, they most likely think of those in movies – human-sized, muscly, aggressive hunters,” said Anthony Romilio, study author and palaeontologist at the University of Queensland Dinosaur Lab.

But the tracks discovered in China were left by troodontids, “a much slimmer and brainier group in the Velociraptor family”, Romilio said in a university statement.

“This raptor was around five metres long with 1.8-metre-long legs, far exceeding the size of the raptors identified in Jurassic Park,” he said.

Chinese-led team reports first evidence of puberty in dinosaur-era reptile

In the winter of 2020, Chinese scientists discovered the tracks in Fujian at what has been named the Longxiang tracksite, which dates back around 85 to 100 million years, according to the paper.

The closest named species so far with similarly sized tracks were found in east China’s Shandong province, however those tracks are still roughly 20 per cent smaller and differ in “various morphological details”, the researchers said.

Compared with other two-toed dinosaur footprints found in Europe, North America, South America and Asia, “we found this track type is distinct in shape, making it quite unique”, Romilio said.

China’s ancient flying dinosaurs were more like birds than we first thought

Deinonychosaurs might have grown bigger as they shifted to eating larger prey and began “invading niches further up the food chain”, the researchers wrote.

“The concept of large troodontids has only recently emerged in the paleontological community,” Romilio said, adding that bones discovered in Alaska “hint at a trend toward gigantism near the ancient Arctic Circle”.

But these new findings show that giant raptors might have been more widely dispersed than previously believed.

“It just goes to show the incredible size range among raptor dinosaurs, highlighting their adaptability and ecological diversity,” Romilio said.

Hong Kong restaurants worry bad weather will put off mainland Chinese tourists over Labour Day ‘golden week’ break

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3261086/hong-kong-restaurants-worry-bad-weather-will-put-mainland-chinese-tourists-over-labour-day-golden?utm_source=rss_feed

Hong Kong restaurateurs are worried bad weather will put off many mainland Chinese tourists over the Labour Day “golden week” holiday, with a 10 per cent drop in business expected compared with the same period last year amid changing spending habits.

Simon Wong Ka-wo, the president of the Hong Kong Federation of Restaurants and Related Trades, said on Wednesday operators were mostly pessimistic about their prospects for the holiday.

“Hong Kong has been hit by lightning and heavy rain today, which has deterred mainland tourists from coming in the morning. Bookings have also been so-so because visitors prefer to walk in instead of making advance bookings to suit their last-minute schedule,” he said.

The golden week holiday runs from May 1 to 5 on the mainland, with Hong Kong hosting a fireworks display on Wednesday to kick-off the celebrations despite earlier concerns the show might be cancelled due to the poor weather.

“As there may be a fireworks display tonight, there may be better business and flow of people later, about a 10 per cent rise compared with regular days,” Wong said.

“Still, there will be a drop of about 10 per cent in earnings compared with last year given visitors’ changing spending habits. This is the reality and industry bosses have been worried about it.”

Hong Kong welcomes nearly 140,000 mainland visitors as ‘golden week’ break starts

Ray Chui Man-wai, president of the Institute of Dining Art, said that while the wider sector would suffer amid the double whammy of adverse weather and more Hongkongers heading north to spend, outlets in prime harbourfront locations might see increased activity.

“This will be the first time we have a fireworks display on May 1. It will draw in many tourists who would like to visit a harbourside restaurant to get the best views. They are predicted to gain a 20 per cent rise in business,” he said.

“But other outlets are expected to have a miserable time. The adverse weather will turn people off and dampen the spending atmosphere.”

The city is expected to welcome at least 800,000 mainland visitors over the break, part of the 5.9 million arrivals and departures predicted for the holiday.

A wide range of activities have been planned to welcome tourists, including the 10-minute fireworks display. The pyrotechnics show over Victoria Harbour, which began at 8pm, saw fireworks form patterns such as smiley faces and the letters “HK” in the night sky.

Restaurants got off to a slow start earlier in the day in Causeway Bay, with some already complaining of poor business because of the bad weather.

A Post reporter observed sparse crowds in parts of the shopping district on Wednesday at noon, with the number of people only picking up by 4.00pm.

Mainland tourists flock to University of Hong Kong on ‘golden week’ break

At King’s Dim Sum, which was empty at around 1.30pm, a staff member surnamed Yam said she had never seen such a slow trade during golden week holiday in the past eight years.

“It is already the lunch hour, there is not even one person here,” she said, adding the bad weather was likely to blame.

At nearby Yan Wo Bean Product Factory, which sells various tofu snacks and dishes, restaurant operator Karen Choi said business was worse so far compared with past golden week breaks, with sales only reaching half of previous levels.

But some tourists were undeterred by the rain, with dozens queuing outside the Causeway Bay branch of bakery chain Bakehouse in the afternoon.

Among them was 24-year-old PhD student David Wang, from Beijing, who was visiting the city with his girlfriend on a day trip before heading to Shantou in Guangdong province.

Wong said they decided to visit the bakery to purchase its egg tarts, which were immensely popular on mainland social media platforms, adding he and his girlfriend also looked for guides on what to eat in the city online.

Sia Liu, a 26-year-old tourist from Henan, was also in line. She also said she planned her three-day itinerary using online guides on platforms such as Xiaohongshu.

Liu said the weather played a role in deciding what she would do while in the city.

“If the weather is good, we would do more sightseeing and walking,” she said. “If the weather is bad, we would want to stay indoors.”

China halves rice-growing cycle in deserts of Xinjiang, opening new front in food security drive

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3260942/china-halves-rice-growing-cycle-deserts-xinjiang-opening-new-front-food-security-drive?utm_source=rss_feed

Chinese scientists have cut the growth cycle of a conventional rice variety in half in a desert greenhouse in Xinjiang, a welcome agricultural innovation for Beijing as it seeks new methods to ensure food security.

The experiment – the first successful test of this technique in a climate-controlled environment in the desert – paves the way for the quick cultivation of crops in sandy areas year-round, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Sunday.

The achievement has been trumpeted widely as part of China’s efforts to enhance self-sufficiency in food, a national priority as climate change worsens and global trade fluctuates rapidly. Attempts to grow crops in barren or abandoned zones are becoming more commonplace, as the country has a smaller portion of the world’s arable land compared to its share of the global population.

Supported by soilless farming, temperature control and artificial lighting, the trial – which took place in Hotan, a prefecture in the southwest of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region – saw a traditional rice variety ready for harvest just 60 days after seedlings were planted, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences told CCTV.

With ordinary farming practices, this process would take 120 to 150 days in major rice-growing areas in the country’s south or northeast.

Growth at this speed had already been observed in laboratory settings as early as 2021, but success in the Xinjiang trial carries import for wider application as it costs less to build and equip facilities there, the region has longer daylight hours and the temperature differences between day and night are more stark.

China focuses on farm output, seed research in renewed food security push

Yang Qichang, the project’s leader and a chief scientist from the academy’s Institute of Urban Agriculture, said the structures his team built in Hotan cost 350 yuan (US$48) per square metre, a third of what glass greenhouses from the Netherlands – an industry leader – would cost.

The Hotan structures also consume a quarter of the energy that a standard Dutch glass greenhouse does, he said.

“After future integration with new energy, mechanisation, and intelligent technologies, construction and operating costs will be greatly reduced,” Yang said. “Such greenhouses will be strongly competitive.”

Novel farming methods are being tested more frequently in the Xinjiang region as Beijing looks to expand food production into more areas.

In October, researchers announced a large experimental field at the edge of the Taklimakan Desert planted with a salt-tolerant variety of rice had a much higher yield than salt-tolerant rice grown elsewhere.

Just two months before that, official media reported a technological breakthrough in seawater aquafarming in the region, with freshwater fish, king prawn, abalone and lobsters grown at a local fishery.

As cotton had traditionally accounted for the bulk of agricultural production in Xinjiang, rice was rarely planted due to a lack of water, with food crops mostly limited to wheat and corn.

But less cotton has been grown there since the US’ Uygur Forced Labour Prevention Act went into effect in 2022, with production of grain in Xinjiang increasing by over 16 per cent in 2023 compared with a year earlier according to government data.

Argentina’s foreign minister pledges unchanged ‘China-friendly’ policy during visit aimed at steadying strained ties

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3261061/argentinas-foreign-minister-pledges-unchanged-china-friendly-policy-during-visit-aimed-steadying?utm_source=rss_feed

Argentina’s China-friendly policy remains unchanged no matter how its internal situation evolves, the country’s foreign minister said on Tuesday in Beijing, as the South American country moves to stabilise strained bilateral ties following President Javier Milei’s election win in December.

“No matter how Argentina’s internal political situation changes, its friendly policy toward China will not change,” Diana Mondino told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, according to a foreign ministry statement.

She said Argentina would continue to cooperate on various projects under the Belt and Road Initiative, including infrastructure construction, trade, investment, tourism, space, ocean and environmental protection.

Mondino, whose four-day visit to China finished on Wednesday was accompanied by senior financial officials, including Central Bank President Santiago Bausili and Secretary of Finance Pablo Quirino, as well as a large business delegation of Argentine exporters.

It was Mondino’s first visit to China since she took office in December.

Wang hailed the China-Argentina comprehensive strategic partnership and called for deeper cultural exchanges at local levels, adding that Beijing would like to be Argentina’s “long-term and reliable cooperation partner”.

“China stands ready to work with Argentina to strengthen communication, deepen mutual trust … and infuse more certainty into the development of bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields, and make China-Argentina relations more mature and resilient,” Wang said.

Barking mad? Argentina leader’s attachment to ‘ghost’ dog raises sanity fears

He said both sides should continue “high-quality construction of the belt and road”, while urging deeper cooperation on trade, finance, polar research and space under the initiative.

Both countries “should continue to cherish and solidify political mutual trust”, Wang said, adding that they should also stay committed to understanding and supporting each other on issues related to their “core interests and major concerns”.

Wang’s remarks followed earlier reports in Argentina about a Chinese deep space ground station located in Neuquen province. US military and intelligence officials have expressed concerns about the high-security compound, which houses a powerful 16-story antenna capable of peering 300,000km (186,000 miles) above Earth.

The Milei administration planned to look into activity at the restricted base, and ensure the original agreement for the facility was being followed, according to a report by Noticias Argentinas, citing a high-level government source.

During last year’s presidential election campaign, Milei had been sharply critical of China, threatening to curb ties and calling Beijing an “assassin”. Since coming into office, his administration has strongly pivoted towards Washington and the West, including a formal request in April to join Nato as a “global partner”.

After being invited in 2023 to join the Brics group of major emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – Buenos Aires pulled out soon after Milei was sworn in.

Milei’s strategy stands in stark contrast to his predecessor Alberto Fernandez, who praised China as Argentina’s “true friend” during a visit to Beijing last October.

Buenos Aires formally joined Beijing’s belt and road strategy in 2022, which enabled Chinese funding for construction of hydropower stations, wind farms and photovoltaic parks, as well as collaborations in transport infrastructure, agriculture and manufacturing industry.

US secretary of state to meet with Brazilian and Argentine presidents next week

With at least US$17 billion in funding from Chinese state-owned banks between 2005 and 2022, Argentina has been one of the biggest recipients of Chinese investment and loans in Latin America, according to a data set compiled by the Inter-American Dialogue and the Boston University Global Development Policy Centre.

The two countries also have an US$18 billion currency swap, due to expire in June. Mondino’s visit is seen as part of the efforts looking to renew this currency swap to boost Argentina’s dwindling foreign reserves.

Last year, China was the third top destination for Argentina’s exports, totalling US$5.2 billion and representing nearly 8 per cent of Argentina’s total exports. China is also Argentina’s second-largest trading partner after Brazil and the main recipient of its beef and soybean exports.

Argentina needed to create substantial opportunities to increase and diversify its export supplies to China, Mondino said on Sunday during an appearance at the Argentina Business and Investment Summit in Shanghai.

Beijing also has significant investments in lithium in Argentina, home to one of the world’s largest lithium reserves. In 2022, China was the main destination for Argentina’s exports of lithium – a crucial metal for electric vehicle batteries – accounting for 41.5 per cent of its total exports, according to S&P Global Commodity Insights.

Actions still louder than words for foreign firms, expats as China ups the ante

China has been a crucial partner for Argentina’s renewable energy sector, with Chinese entities funding projects such as the Loma Blanca and Miramar wind farms, the Vientos del Secano project in Buenos Aires, and the Cauchari solar farm, the largest in the country.

During her talks with Wang, Mondino said that her government would “pursue an open policy and welcomed Chinese enterprises to invest and do business in Argentina”.

Number of writers jailed in China exceeds 100 for first time, says report

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/may/01/writers-jailed-china-pen-america

The number of writers jailed in China has surpassed 100, with nearly half imprisoned for online expression.

The grim milestone is revealed in the 2023 Freedom to Write index, a report compiled by Pen America, published on Wednesday.

With the total number of people imprisoned globally for exercising their freedom of expression estimated to be at least 339, China accounts for nearly one-third of the world’s jailed writers. There are 107 people behind bars because of their published statements in China, more than any other country on the index.

It is the first time that Pen America’s count of writers jailed in China has surpassed 100. Other databases, such as the Reporters Without Borders’ tally of journalists and media workers detained in China, passed that milestone in 2020.

The index defined “online commentator” as bloggers and people who used social media as their main platform for expression.

James Tager, the director of research at Pen America, said: “Not all people arrested for their online expression will find themselves represented here. It is certain that the true toll of all those who are punished for their expression in China is far higher than the numbers represented here, and that is not even to count those who are censored or who censor themselves for fear of formal punishment.”

People detained by the authorities for their online expression are typically arrested under suspicion of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” – a charge that even a senior political delegate has said is too vague and could be used arbitrarily by the police.

Among those jailed for picking quarrels is the citizen journalist Zhang Zhan, who has been in prison since 2020, after she was arrested for reporting on the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic in Wuhan.

Several other writers in the Freedom to Write index were targeted for commenting on the government’s Covid policies, such as Sun Qing, who was arrested in May 2020 after posting critical statements on WeChat and X, then known as Twitter. Sun was arrested for “inciting subversion of state power”.

Writers in Xinjiang are treated particularly harshly. The region of north-west China is home to the Uyghur minority, a Muslim group who have been subjected to harsh cultural and political suppression in the past decade.

Gulnisa Imin, a Uyghur poet, is serving a 17-and-a-half-year sentence on the grounds that her poetry, the most famous of which was inspired by One Thousand and One Nights, promotes “separatism”.

In recent years, a crackdown on free expression in Hong Kong has contributed to China’s increasing count of jailed writers. In 2020, Beijing imposed a national security law on the city, which critics say has been used to suppress dissent.

Since the 2019 pro-democracy protests, the authorities have also revived the use of a colonial-era sedition law, which has been used to target government critics. Hong Kong has plummeted down the Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index since 2019.

Tager said: “Hong Kong’s 2020 national security law and the ongoing crackdown on any dissent or disagreement in the city has triggered a devastating transformation for the city’s creative sector.”

Can Nepal get a lift from wooing by India and China to become a middle-income economy?

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3261075/can-nepal-get-lift-wooing-india-and-china-become-middle-income-economy?utm_source=rss_feed

Nepal has drawn considerable foreign investment in recent years as it aims to become a middle-income country but its “dysfunctional” politics may curb its ambition amid strategic jostling between India and China, according to economists.

During a two-day investment summit in Kathmandu that concluded on Monday, representatives of India and China vied to draw closer to Nepal and strengthen their country’s economic footprint in South Asia.

Potential investors pledged during the summit to inject as much as 9.13 billion Nepali rupees (US$68.3 million) into the country, which is still navigating its transition from a centralised monarchy to a federal democratic republic under its 2015 Constitution, as well as an economic transformation from being less reliant on international aid to becoming a hub for global investments.

“Our unwavering commitment to liberal economic policies lays the foundation for a vibrant and investor-friendly business environment,” said Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal.

“Nepal’s strategic location, situated between emerging markets India and China, signifies it as an ideal investment destination,” he told the summit during its opening on Sunday.

While India and China did not directly compete with each other to invest in the projects offered at the summit, their overlapping interests could be seen in the resulting deals that were announced.

Unsurprisingly, delegates from India and China formed the largest contingent among the 2,400 representatives from various countries who attended the summit. While India sent about 150 participants, China’s delegation was twice as large.

At the summit’s opening on Sunday, Beijing announced the exemption of visa fees for Nepali travellers starting on May 1. This is in addition to the start of commercial flights from two international airports in the Nepali cities of Pokhara and Lumbini.

The airports were built with Chinese funding totalling hundreds of millions of dollars. In contrast, India has hesitated to open up air routes to Nepal due to the two airports’ link to Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.

Spring revival: Nepal’s communities lead efforts to preserve water source

“Air and road links and border checkpoints are progressing well. Feasibility studies of the cross-border railway and cross-border transmission lines are moving forward. That’s why today’s summit holds a very special significance,” said Luo Zhaohui, chairman of the state-run China International Development Cooperation Agency, during his address at the event.

Piyush Goyal, India’s federal minister for commerce and industry, said in a speech at the event via a video call: “We will continue to expand our trading and business relationship. I urge Indian investors across the globe to invest in Nepal, to seize the opportunity, and become a part of emerging Nepal.”

Landlocked Nepal has been wooing foreign investors, primarily from its neighbours, in various sectors, particularly hydropower.

The impoverished South Asian country is home to eight of the world’s largest mountain peaks, with dozens of rivers flowing from them, offering immense potential for harnessing hydropower.

While the country currently produces 3,200MW of hydropower, multiple large-scale projects with a combined capacity of 5,568MW are in the pipeline.

India is heavily invested in Nepal’s hydropower projects, while China is seeking to gain a foothold in the sector.

However, the Nepali government is hesitant to accept Chinese investment in hydropower due to concerns that India and Bangladesh – the only two markets for the electricity generated – may be reluctant to purchase power from China-linked projects, according to economists.

“From the Chinese side, there is considerable interest in hydropower and related projects. From the Indian side, buying energy for Chinese-invested projects is hesitant. Chinese investors will have a tough time selling this energy generation,” said Jaya Jung Mahat, a policy economist with the Nepali Institute of Policy Research.

“Transporting energy to Chinese territories is challenging due to the high mountains between the countries. It’s easier for Indian investors and the [Delhi] government can facilitate the purchase,” Mahat added.

YouTube series aims to change face of Nepali journalism through human stories

Nepal’s transition from a low-income nation to a middle-income nation can only succeed with the help of India and China, economists say.

“Nepal is transitioning from being a recipient of aid and development help to attracting investments. All countries are substituting aid with trade and investment,” said Sujeeva Shakya, founder-chair of Nepal Economic Forum, a Kathmandu-based economic policy and research institution.

“We need US$7 billion-US$8 billion [in the coming years] to grow our economy at an accelerated pace. We have 600,000 people entering the job market. Wherever the investment comes from, it doesn’t make any difference,” Shakya said.

Critics question, however, whether events like the summit can help improve Nepal’s economic outlook unless its government undertakes measures to improve the country’s political stability, cut red tape and develop a robust bureaucratic framework.

“The leadership, governance system, and population are divided along political party lines and have become toxic and dysfunctional,” said Kedar Neupane, an economist at the Nepal Policy Institute think tank.

The country’s leadership should address bureaucratic and policy hurdles to entice foreign investors, Neupane said.

“Successive governments in Nepal have failed to see things from a realistic economic perspective due to political divisions.

“This summit may not deliver significant new investments beyond some pledges ... other than serving as self-amusement for the organisers.”

In response to the criticisms, Investment Board Nepal CEO Sushil Bhatta said the government was determined to tackle the difficulties that companies faced in doing business in the country, citing the recent introduction of new laws to remove investment bottlenecks.

He said: “The higher political leadership has expressed commitment for continued reforms in the investment regime.”

Tesla seals deal with Baidu for China maps, whether CEO Elon Musk wants them or not

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3261079/tesla-seals-deal-baidu-china-maps-whether-ceo-elon-musk-wants-them-or-not?utm_source=rss_feed

Tesla’s pivotal partnership with Baidu in China may amount to a U-turn of sorts for Elon Musk, who has long claimed his company can eventually offer self-driving without high-definition maps.

The chief executive told investors five years ago that Tesla “briefly barked up the tree” of relying on traffic lane-level maps for its driver-assistance systems, before realising this was “a huge mistake”. Musk’s position is that adaptive artificial intelligence (AI) systems that can recognise in real time any changes to roadways are the superior approach.

“The two main crutches that should not be used, and will in retrospect be obviously false and foolish, are lidar and HD maps,” Musk said in April 2019, referring to light detection and ranging sensors, and high-definition maps. “Mark my words.”

That prediction may no longer apply, at least in China – and not because Musk has altered his view. To go to market with the system his company calls Full Self-Driving (FSD), he had no choice but to join with a local partner for a mapping licence.

Carmakers wishing to offer advanced driver-assistance systems in the country must meet what is called a map-surveying qualification, which applies to a broad range of mapping software. Even AI-driven systems that effectively build maps on the fly through their detection hardware may be subject to this classification.

Beijing-based Baidu is one of only around 20 entities in China that have been granted the top-level qualification, which requires an independent mapping and navigation system, a set of higher-end equipment and a certain number of qualified examiners. Geographic information is closely guarded in China for national security reasons.

All qualified surveyors are either Chinese companies or geographic information departments, and Tesla cannot obtain qualification for FSD without partnering with one of them. The carmaker’s deal with Baidu was crucial to receiving in-principle approval for its system, which requires constant human supervision and does not make its vehicles autonomous.

The precise details of Tesla’s partnership with Baidu, including how the lane-level precision mapping configurations will be integrated in Tesla’s driving system, and whether the carmaker will have to alter FSD to use the Chinese tech giant’s maps, are unclear. Tesla has been using Baidu for in-car mapping and navigation in China since 2020.

Li Junheng, the founder and chief executive of equity-research firm JL Warren Capital, believes Baidu will provide Tesla with the mapping licence it needs to collect driving data, supervise that collection process, and redact and store the data.

Tesla has been trying create a system that learns from human driving patterns instead of attempting to follow hard-coded driving rules, so the company is unlikely to suddenly start relying on HD maps now, according to Andrew Grant, an analyst for BloombergNEF.

“What seems more likely to me is that data collected by Tesla would be stored and processed on Baidu hardware or even by Baidu. This would give China’s government some assurance that data which they deem sensitive is not leaving the shores and ending up in one of Tesla’s supercomputers,” Grant said. “It would also fall in the scope of a broad agreement on ‘mapping and navigation.’”

China’s stipulation that carmakers must work with mapping partners contrasts with Washington’s light-touch approach. The US has not attempted to set hard-and-fast rules or qualifications for companies to meet, electing instead to publish voluntary guidelines for automated-driving systems.

Musk’s negative comments about maps in 2019 were not his last words on the topic. In October 2020, he said that Tesla was taking a “generalised neural net-based approach” to pursuing self-driving.

“There is no need for high-definition maps or a cell phone connection,” he said on an earnings call. “The system is designed such that even if you have no connectivity whatsoever and you’re in a place that you have never been to before, and no Tesla has ever been there, the car should still be able to drive, just like a person.”

Ashok Elluswamy, Tesla’s head of Autopilot, said in March of last year that Tesla wanted to build a “scalable self-driving system” that did not rely on high-definition maps.

Is Bougainville the next battleground between China and the U.S.?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/04/26/papua-new-guinea-bougainville-china-mining/2024-03-12T04:34:43.658Z

ARAWA, Papua New Guinea — On a warm morning in November, a barrel-chested and battle-scarred man arrived to Capitol Hill for a meeting he hoped would help save his struggling homeland.

Ishmael Toroama was introduced to two members of the U.S. House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party as the president of Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea in the South Pacific. But his previous occupation was evident in the arm that hung limply at his left side as he shook the lawmakers’ hands.

Twice he’d nearly died while leading the fight for Bougainville’s independence in the 1990s. Now he had come to Washington to try to finish the job.

The man in a pinstripe suit who introduced Toroama was no revolutionary, however. His name was John D. Kuhns, a Wall Street investment banker turned novelist and entrepreneur who had made Bougainville his last big bet.

Together, the two men had a story to tell: of a would-be nation in a strategic location starving for freedom, and of a long-shuttered mine still containing as much as $100 billion in copper and gold that could be used in the world’s energy transition — an energy transition where China, with its insatiable thirst for natural resources, is at the forefront.

Toroama had set a 2027 deadline for full independence from Papua New Guinea, after a 2019 referendum in which nearly 98 percent of the population voted in favor. But the result remains subject to ratification by the national parliament in Port Moresby, and talks between the two sides have broken down.

Bougainville could fund its freedom by reopening the Panguna mine and become a staunch U.S. ally, Toroama told Reps. Mike Gallagher (R-Wis.) and Neal Dunn (R-Fla.), according to Toroama and Kuhns’s account of the meeting. Committee staff confirmed the meeting happened.

Toroama said he told them he needed their help. He had come to Washington to play “the U.S. card,” he said. But some rivals were backed by Beijing, he warned, and even Toroama might have to turn to China if the United States wouldn’t assist.

Kuhns, who wants a piece of Panguna and said he paid for Toroama’s trip, was more explicit.

“Bougainville’s vulnerable status and valuable Panguna Mine have not escaped the attention of the Chinese Communist Party,” he wrote in a brief circulated beforehand. “China has already taken steps to control the Solomon Islands and is intent on doing the same across the South Pacific. Unless Ishmael Toroama and his supporters can resist, Bougainville could be next.”

It was an ominous warning, delivered to U.S. lawmakers already alarmed by Beijing.

As tensions between China and the United States escalate in the Asia Pacific, where both countries have recently struck security agreements, everyone from diplomats to dealmakers has learned that those tensions can be turned to their advantage.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, visiting Port Moresby last month, dangled a free-trade agreement, telling Papua New Guinean Prime Minister James Marape that “China will be your most reliable partner.”

In the Solomon Islands, the outgoing prime minister has warned that Chinese largesse will end if “Western powers” get their way and his party is ousted. A new government is expected to be formed Thursday.

Earlier this year, the presidents of Palau and the Marshall Islands used warnings of mounting Chinese pressure to spur the United States to deliver billions in aid.

“China is a boogeyman in the Pacific,” said Gordon Peake, an expert on Bougainville at the United States Institute of Peace, a Washington think tank. “And China is using the U.S. as a boogeyman as well.”

In Bougainville, where foreigners’ get-rich schemes grow as thick as the jungle, some are suspicious of Kuhns. The American’s latest novel, his fourth, portrays himself as the only reliable outsider in Bougainville and Toroama as its only hope for independence, with time running out.

In reality, there have been disagreements between them, especially over the mine, and Kuhns readily blends fact and fiction. “I’m not interested in accuracy, per se,” he said of his novels. “I’m just trying to tell the story.”

Riches and ruins

Kuhns stood at the airstrip in Buka, Bougainville’s capital, wearing shorts and a T-shirt, ready to show a Washington Post reporter around the mine where he sees so much potential. A former football standout at Georgetown University, the 74-year-old still has a linebacker’s shoulders. The only hint of his Wall Street past was his Rolex.

He first landed here in 2015 during a professional low point. Decades building power companies had led him to Beijing, where he launched the China Hydroelectric Corporation in 2006. It was soon the biggest foreign-owned utility in the country. But then, in 2012, Kuhns says he was detained at the Beijing airport and forced out of the company. China’s Commerce Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.

The incident — the subject of his first novel — made him distrust China, which he now calls America’s “long-term threat.” It also left Kuhns looking for one last big deal.

“One day a guy came into my office saying he represented a bunch of chiefs in Bougainville, and he had new gold licenses to talk to people about,” he recalled.

Kuhns found a place still partially in ruins. For 15 years, Bougainville had been one of the more prosperous parts of Papua New Guinea because of Panguna, then the world’s largest open-pit copper-and-gold mine, which generated almost half the country’s exports. But anger over revenue sharing and environmental damages led to violence that shut the mine in 1988 and sparked a civil war, called “the Crisis,” in which as many as 20,000 people died.

Nearly a quarter century after a peace agreement, Bougainville — slightly larger than Delaware and home to about 300,000 people — is now safe, but infrastructure remains woeful. The road from Buka to the biggest city, Arawa, is unpaved and often impassible.

Arawa is surrounded by mountains of suspected riches. It was here that Kuhns settled in 2016 and started a gold dealership. For protection, he turned to Toroama, who ran a security company.

Toroama was in his early 20s when the Crisis began, and he volunteered for the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, a secessionist group. After almost a decade of fighting, including almost losing his left arm to a grenade, Toroama was a key figure in peace negotiations. The 2001 agreement gave Bougainville some autonomy — including control over mining — and set the stage for the 2019 referendum.

Kuhns was so impressed with Toroama that he says he funded part of his 2020 campaign for Bougainville president. (Toroama says Kuhns paid him for security.) The two men became close during interviews for Kuhn’s novel, “They Call Me Ishmael,” about a U.S. business executive and an ex-guerrilla. After initially saying everything in the book was true, Kuhns admitted he altered some significant details, including how Toroama nearly lost his arm. “My version is better,” he said.

The big strain between them isn’t the past, however, but the future — of Panguna.

Plans for Panguna

Panguna’s pull is palpable long before the mine is visible. Each day, dozens of people walk from Arawa up the mountain. At the crest, their destination is suddenly apparent: scores of unlicensed mining sites.

Panguna shut in 1988 when the BRA forced Bougainville Copper Ltd., a subsidiary of the British-Australian mining company Rio Tinto, to pull the plug. But small-scale alluvial mining had taken its place. Two men sat on the side of the road, using a pan to sift for flakes of gold. Up a hill, two children filled 22-pound rice bags with mineral-rich soil.

Panguna gaped in the distance. At its base was a pool of water, tinted a surreal blue by the copper. Nearby sat dozens of decaying buildings, including former BCL offices and living quarters that now house hundreds of poor Bougainvilleans.

As he stood on a hill, however, Kuhns told a Post reporter of the promise he saw. With a few years and several billion dollars of new equipment, Panguna could be reborn, just as a clean tech boom drives global demand for copper.

“There is a $100 billion of copper, gold and silver in that hole,” he said. “All you’ve got to do is mine it out.”

Many have tried since the Crisis ended. None has come to fruition.

Kuhns has his own plan for Panguna. In late October, days before he and Toroama went to Washington, the two men signed a memorandum of understanding, seen by The Post, for Kuhns’s company, Lakeville Mines, to find a major international partner to restart Panguna. A new company would be formed involving the international partner, local landowners, the government and Lakeville. Kuhns could make tens of millions. “I’m not here to be a do-gooder,” he said. “But I do think I’m doing good.”

Toroama didn’t announce the agreement in Washington, however. Instead, shortly after returning to Bougainville, he reissued a Panguna exploration license to BCL, which used to operate the mine. (Rio Tinto divested from BCL in 2016, giving its shares to the governments of Bougainville and Papua New Guinea.)

The decision was crushing for Kuhns. But instead of giving up, he is preparing for BCL to fail, not least because many locals blame it for the Crisis.

“We would have to be really stupid to welcome that monster back again,” said Maggie Boring, whose daughter and mother were killed in the early 1990s when her nephew brought home a grenade he’d found. She held BCL responsible.

Mel Togolo, BCL’s executive chairman, said it was “fanciful” for Boring to blame BCL for something that happened after the mine was shut. Most landowner groups had agreed to Toroama’s decision, he added, though he acknowledged some opposition remains. “We have to be realistic,” he said. “We are never going to get 100 percent support.”

‘We all eat from the same garden’

When Kuhns and Toroama met recently at the president’s house, their handshake was tense. Talk quickly turned to Panguna and BCL.

“Right now we have to cultivate this land,” Toroama said pointedly. “We all eat from the same garden and that’s the Panguna mine.”

The president’s decision was an embarrassment for Kuhns. But his bigger pitch to Washington remains the same: Support Toroama and his push for independence, or risk further “China creep.”

In August, Kuhns paid for two Bougainvilleans to travel to Port Moresby to meet Reps. Dunn and Aumua Amata Coleman Radewagen (R-American Samoa). Days later, Kuhns met Kurt Campbell, then the coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affairs on the National Security Council and now the deputy secretary of state, to discuss Bougainville’s situation. A State Department spokesperson confirmed the meeting.

One goal of Toroama’s trip was to show U.S. officials he’s a serious partner: He discussed basing U.S. Coast Guard cutters in Bougainville with the congressmen. Another aim was to find a moderator to kick-start negotiations with Papua New Guinea.

Toroama’s government is also putting pressure on Port Moresby by writing its own constitution. If talks go nowhere, Toroama refuses to rule out Bougainville simply declaring independence. That “nuclear option,” as Kuhns calls it, could open the door for Beijing to recognize Bougainville.

Peake and other experts consider that unlikely as it would risk conflict with Papua New Guinea, which both Beijing and Washington have courted.

The Papua New Guinean government did not respond to a request for comment.

A more likely avenue of Chinese influence would be a state-owned enterprise. Toroama says his government has spoken to Chinese companies about Panguna — including a meeting in Guangzhou in March, announced by a state-backed railway company — but he’d prefer other partners.

At least one rival in next year’s election has no such reservations. Sam Kauona, who ran in 2020 by promoting a Chinese plan for Bougainville, said he has new Chinese supporters. He said it was “normal” to give their projects “priority” if he is elected. Asked what his backers want in return for their investment, he replied: “Everything.”

Kauona also praised Manasseh Sogavare, the outgoing prime minister of the Solomon Islands, for his security agreement with Beijing and said he would be open to a similar deal.

The election of a candidate with ties to China could turn Kuhns’s warnings into reality and cripple his business plans. It would also upend his Bougainville trilogy, the second installment of which he’s writing.

“If Ishmael is elected again, the third book would be about the newest nation on earth,” Kuhns said. “But I’m not sure Ishmael will be reelected. Right now it’s very much open to debate. That would obviously change the whole thread of the story.”

Pei-Lin Wu in Taipei, Taiwan, contributed to this report.

Why China should reassess its strategy in Argentina and Latin America

https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3260952/why-china-should-reassess-its-strategy-argentina-and-latin-america?utm_source=rss_feed

Argentina’s Foreign Minister Diana Mondino and finance officials visited China this week amid an urgent need to renew their US$6.5 billion currency swap agreement. These swaps were frozen by China last December after the election of President Javier Milei, who labelled the government in Beijing “assassins” during his election campaign and has vowed to pivot towards the US.

Milei has since moderated his stance, recognising the economic challenges facing Argentina. With dwindling foreign exchange reserves and the looming threat of a 10th sovereign debt default, the administration is under pressure. The International Monetary Fund is conducting its eighth review, with the release of US$800 million in loans contingent on improvements in Argentina’s fiscal and forex situation.

Including the frozen US$6.5 billion swap line, Argentina has US$18 billion agreed in currency swaps from China for this purpose. Last year, US$5 billion of this was used to cover imports but this is set to expire in June.

Argentinian finance officials urgently seek three things from Beijing: a pushing back of the expiry of the US$5 billion in swaps, a renewal of the suspended US$6.5 billion swap line, and more Chinese investment as crucial projects like the Chinese hydroelectric project in Santa Cruz face funding shortages. China’s financial help is pivotal to Argentina’s economic stabilisation.

But, to Beijing, this financial outreach is at odds with Milei’s display of opposition to China politically, diplomatically, economically and on security issues.

Milei reversed Argentina’s stance on Brics membership by declining the invitation last December. The bloc, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, had invited Argentina and five others – Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – to become members from January this year.

He wants to dollarise Argentina’s currency and remove the credit controls that restrict the public’s ability to access and use the dollar. This means he is using the yuan to repay the IMF debt and for Chinese imports out of necessity, not desire.

If – and it’s a big “if” – he manages to adequately replenish Argentina’s dollar reserves, he may well abandon the yuan, potentially undermining China’s efforts to promote yuan usage in global trade and bolster its influence.

Milei has also chosen to buy American F-16 fighter jets from Denmark over Chinese JF-17s despite offers of joint production. This prompted the US to provide Argentina with US$40 million in foreign military financing (for the first time in more than two decades), a grant reserved for key strategic partners like Israel.

To further his plans to access advanced Western military hardware, technology and training, Milei recently applied to join Nato as a global partner. This underscores his political and security alignment with the West.

Given that Milei’s strategy is to de-align from China, it would make sense for Beijing to tighten the screws by refusing to activate the swap line.

At the very least, it could attach stringent conditions to its investments in Argentina, including to stop Milei from questioning the presence of China’s space station in Argentina or to simply avoid negative propaganda about China, its system or leadership. China’s aid in rescuing Argentina from economic turmoil warrants this respect.

China, however, should not quibble over Argentina’s decision against joining the Brics bloc and to pursue security alignment with the West. Instead, Beijing should reflect on how past Argentinian leaders shifted from anti-China rhetoric to cooperation.

China’s extensive currency swaps, loans and infrastructure investments have contributed significantly to stabilising politically and economically precarious countries like Argentina. Besides its US$18 billion currency swap agreements, China has provided Argentina with the most in commercial loans since 2007, distinguishing itself as a crucial partner in Argentina’s development.

Argentina’s Milei has a China conundrum of his own making on his hands

Chinese finance is behind the nearly US$5 billion Santa Cruz hydroelectric dam project and US$8 billion Atucha III nuclear power project, as well as various green energy initiatives, including wind and solar farms.

Moreover, China dominates Argentina’s agricultural export market, buying over 93 per cent of its soybeans and almost all of its barley. Chinese investment extends to several lithium mining projects, including four of the most developed ones, positioning Argentina as a prominent lithium supplier.

These investments underpin China’s partnership with Argentina and its economic growth – a foundation no rational politician would dismantle, especially as American commercial banks withdraw from Argentina and Western lenders hesitate to extend loans.

But China also faces a significant challenge in its Latin American relations. There is bipartisan support in Washington for the Americas Act, which offers free trade agreements (like the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement), concessional lending and investments to Latin American nations aligning with American standards of democracy, trade and rule of law. This initiative aims to curb China’s influence in the region, using trade rules to compel adherence to US standards.

For China, the concern is that the US could leverage the potential trade agreement with regional countries to enforce its trade standards on China.

For instance, Mexico has raised tariffs on some steel imports from China, echoing the US. The likes of Chile, Brazil and Argentina are also witnessing protests, lay-offs and shutdowns as cheap Chinese steel products flood their markets. Steel plant owners in Chile and Brazil have urged their governments to impose higher tariffs on Chinese imports to protect local industries and save jobs.

If these countries join free trade agreements with the US, they are likely to pursue harsher economic policies towards China. Beijing must start to plan for this eventuality.

At least 19 killed in China’s Guangdong province as highway caves in

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3261062/least-19-killed-chinas-guangdong-province-highway-caves?utm_source=rss_feed

At least 19 people are dead after a section of a highway in China’s rain-hit southern province of Guangdong collapsed in the early hours of Wednesday, the start of a long Labour Day holiday.

The cave-in occurred at around 2am in Dabu County of Guangdong’s northern Meizhou City. Nearly 18 metres (59 feet) of the mountainous highway crumbled into the forested slope below, trapping 18 vehicles and 49 passengers in all, the local government said.

In a statement, it said 30 victims had been sent to hospital, while around 500 public security, emergency response, firefighting, health and sanitation and other workers were taking part in the rescue work. .

The condition of the hospitalised patients was “not life-threatening at the moment”, the statement said, but did not specify the level of their injuries.

The reason for the collapse has yet to be declared and the matter is under investigation.

The accident occurred as China began a five-day break for Labour Day, one of the four major holiday and travel periods for the country when highways are toll-free and see heavy traffic.

The others are Lunar New Year, called Spring Festival in China, the Tomb Sweeping Festival and National Day in October.

Footage and pictures shared by local news outlets showed flames and smoke rising from the collapsed section, while charred cars were visible on the gouged out slope. The stricken highway links Guangdong to southeastern Fujian province.

It is the latest tragedy to hit Guangdong province, which has experienced a string of extreme weather events in recent weeks, from fatal floods to a deadly tornado.

Guangdong authorities warned Wednesday that more heavy rainfall was expected during the holiday, with higher risks of floods and landslides in some areas.

‘Very picturesque’: hundreds of mainland Chinese tourists kick off ‘golden week’ break with visit to age-old University of Hong Kong

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/society/article/3261055/very-picturesque-hundreds-mainland-chinese-tourists-kick-golden-week-break-visit-age-old-university?utm_source=rss_feed

Hundreds of mainland Chinese tourists have kicked off their five-day Labour Day “golden week” holiday with a visit to Hong Kong’s oldest university, despite heavy rainfall dampening the mood for exploring some century-old buildings on campus.

Groups of Mandarin-speaking visitors, mainly families with children and young couples, flocked to a red brick wall displaying the name and crest of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) at its campus in Pok Fu Lam on Wednesday morning.

A Post reporter at the popular tourist attraction observed at least five groups, each containing 30 to 40 people, taking photos in front of the recognisable wall between 11am and 12pm.

Some tour guides had to yell out to be heard amid the large crowds.

The bench opposite the popular photo-taking spot was also busy as it was occupied non-stop by visitor after visitor.

At least six security personnel have been deployed for crowd management.

A security guard, who declined to give his full name, said the visitors started to come in as early as 9am and more than 100 people had gathered during a peak period.

“The number of visitors is three times higher than those who visit on a regular Sunday,” he added.

Laxy Wang, who works in the financial sector in China’s northern province of Hebei, was busy taking turns with his girlfriend while posing in front of the wall.

Hong Kong welcomes 43,000 mainland Chinese visitors as ‘golden week’ break starts

“We saw the university’s pictures on Xiaohongshu, which are very picturesque. We wanted to see if that is true. Now it turns out it is really as beautiful as it is in the pictures,” Wang said, referring to the mainland’s Instagram-like social media platform.

The couple spent half an hour there before heading to the 112-year-old Main Building, another must-see attraction as per recommendations on Xiaohongshu.

Hu Yijing, a junior school teacher from Hunan, succeeded in securing a photo-taking spot. Adding to her joy, no one was near her when the pictures were taken.

She joined a 300-strong tour group organised by her school principal, who wanted his fellow teachers “to learn and see what constitutes a world-class university”.

The 24-year-old added that many of her colleagues brought families, hoping the young kids would be inspired by the “excellent academic vibe”.

Sharing the same hope was Zhang Qiong from Jiangxi province. She and her husband brought their two children – aged seven and 16, on a half-day trip to the university.

“This is the finest university in Hong Kong. I did my job as a parent to bring them here to see and feel,” she said.

Asked whether she wanted to study at the university, her 16-year-old daughter replied a little hesitantly: “I certainly would like to if I can pass the exams.”

The family added they chose to visit on Wednesday to avoid the crowd control measures the university was set to impose on campus starting Thursday. The measures would include reservations for guided tours.

A Post check on the university’s reservation system found that the following three days – from Thursday to Saturday – were fully booked. No crowd controls would be imposed on Sundays or public holidays.

Bad weather, weaker yuan could hit Hong Kong restaurants hard over ‘golden week’

Alex Cao, an HKU student majoring in computer science, said the number of tourists was not as high as he had expected.

He added that tourists bothered him to an extent as some entered the self-study rooms, where students were busy preparing for the final exams.

“I do not want zero tourists. I want the number of tourists to be limited. That will be a win-win for all of us,” he said.

Asked whether he thought the crowd control measures would be effective, the 21-year-old said he was doubtful as there was more than one entrance to the university.

“How can the university guarantee that tourists would only enter through one entrance?” he said.

The Post reporter observed that two of the university’s main entrances, both near MTR stations, had not yet set up any facilities for checking the reservation codes which would be used from Thursday.

[Sport] 'Filming them filming us' - BBC on ship chased by Chinese in South China Sea

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c51n21zr941o[Sport] 'Filming them filming us' - BBC on ship chased by Chinese in South China Sea

Understanding ‘grain rain’, one of 24 solar terms in Chinese calendar, signifies start of new cycle of growth

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/environment/article/3259981/understanding-grain-rain-one-24-solar-terms-chinese-calendar-signifies-start-new-cycle-growth?utm_source=rss_feed

There is an old saying in China: “Everything is born in spring, grows in summer, harvests in autumn, stores in winter.”

The changes in the four seasons bear many similarities to human habits throughout the year.

Spring is when many people often feel energised and are likely to start exercising more often, particularly outside because of the warmer weather, which makes it a more pleasant experience.

Summer often means hard work and high temperatures. Generally, the light and heat from the sun have a positive psychological and physical affect on people, which can make them more productive.

In autumn, we tend to slow down as the days get cooler and may eat more to prepare for winter, which is traditionally a season for rest and extra sleep.

As a guide to living life according to the changes in climate, plants, and animals’ habits, the ancient Chinese divided the year into 24 solar terms.

But how did they capture these natural rhythms? Here, the Post explains.

Origins

Solar terms is an idea that dates back to the Shang Dynasty 3,600 years ago, deriving from the need for precise climate references to optimise agricultural production.

Ancient people living near the Yellow River – China’s second longest –used their observations of celestial movements, weather patterns and natural phenomena to divide the year into 24 solar terms.

They believed that the weather changes every 15 days.

Each season has three months, with two solar terms in each month.

Among these solar terms, there are some that reflect seasonal changes. For example, the lichun, a day observed between February 3 and 5 each year, signifies the beginning of spring.

Some reflect the changes in the weather. Grain rain, or guyu, a day between April 19 and 21, marks the start of significant rainfall that will nourish crops.

Others represent phenological changes, like awakening of insects, or jingzhe, a day between March 5 and 7, when spring thunder wakes up hibernating insects from underground.

Others reflect climate changes, such as minor heat, or xiaoshu, a day between July 6 and 8, indicating when the weather starts getting hotter.

The 24 solar terms also serve as a dietary guide for Chinese people.

Diets are adapted to the seasons to keep their bodies in balance. Traditional advice suggests: “Eat sprouts in spring, melons in summer, fruits in autumn and roots in winter,” with intermittent fasting as a complementary practice.

Traditional Chinese medicine also follows the 24 solar terms. It recommends various soups, infusions and other preparations throughout the year, based on the sun’s position.

In 2016, the 24 solar terms were added to Unesco’s intangible cultural heritage list.

Last term of spring

Grain rain, known as guyu in Chinese, is the last term of spring, typically occurring between April 19 and 21.

Deriving from the ancient saying “rain brings a hundred grains”, it signifies the start of a new growth cycle.

The day indicates the end of cold weather and the rapid rise in temperature, which is beneficial for cereal crop growth.

It is also a critical time to protect crops from insect damage.

During the Grain rain period, sandstorms and strong winds become more frequent in Chinese northern regions.

Meanwhile, the south experiences heavy rain.

Modern practices

In southern China, there is a tradition of drinking tea on Grain Rain Day.

Tea is a rich source of vitamins and amino acids, which it is believed helps to remove heat from the body and benefits the eyes.

It is commonly believed that drinking tea on this day can also ward off evil spirits.

In northern China, people eat Chinese toon, a beef and onion plant, during this period.

This crunchy and tender vegetable is rich in vitamins C and E, which help strengthen the immune system and benefit the stomach and skin.

Meanwhile, coastal villages in northern China celebrate grain rain by holding festivals, as it also signals the start of the fishing season.

There are sea-worshipping ceremonies in which people pray for a bountiful harvest and the safety of their families.

The Grain Rain Festival, dating back over 2,000 years, is rooted in the belief that the Dragon King, a Chinese water and weather god, shields fishermen from danger at sea and ensures a bountiful catch.

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Amazon’s Twitch launches TikTok rival amid push to ban the Chinese app, boosting competition in short-form video

https://www.scmp.com/tech/big-tech/article/3261032/amazons-twitch-launches-tiktok-rival-amid-push-ban-chinese-app-boosting-competition-short-form-video?utm_source=rss_feed

Amazon.com’s live-streaming site Twitch launched its own short-form video platform, a week after passage of a law that threatens the future of the social-media service TikTok in the US.

Creators on Twitch typically live-stream themselves playing video games or chatting with audiences, sometimes for up to eight hours at a time. The new service, called Discovery Feed, allows viewers to scroll through short clips taken from those longer videos. It appears as a new tab on Twitch’s mobile app.

Discovery Feed has a ways to go before becoming a significant rival to TikTok. Early posts viewed by Bloomberg included an Arizona State University professor welcoming students to class and a streamer getting attacked on the street.

ByteDance earns praise from Chinese social media for denying TikTok sale

Unlike TikTok, Twitch creators generally don’t upload their own short-form content. Instead users pick out funny or entertaining segments from creators’ live streams and turn them into clips.

The Discovery Feed will be “personalised based on a viewer’s watch history and real-time interactions”, a Twitch spokesperson said.

That will potentially include mature content, provided it meets Twitch’s guidelines, the spokesperson said.

TikTok is a division of China’s ByteDance. Congress and the Biden Administration are forcing ByteDance to divest the service or face a ban out of concern that China’s government could use the app for propaganda or spying on US residents. The app has 170 million monthly users in the US.

Twitch and TikTok have been taking pages from each other’s playbooks for years. In 2022, TikTok launched a live subscription option, which was reminiscent of Twitch’s offering. TikTok’s live-streaming product has not put much of a dent in Twitch’s market share, however.

Streamers won’t receive a cut of the ad revenue that appears on Discovery Feed because the commercials appear between their clips and not directly in them, according to a Twitch spokesperson.

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Chinese universities accused of overstepping with restrictions on students’ off-campus holiday travel

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/politics/article/3261046/chinese-universities-accused-overstepping-restrictions-students-campus-holiday-travel?utm_source=rss_feed

Controversy and accusations of excessive control have arisen in China after some universities and colleges banned their students from travelling on their own during the May Day holiday for “safety” reasons.

Local media is reporting that a handful of schools in the country have told students in the past week that group travel in the name of “classes or departments” is forbidden. Some also opposed students taking self-initiated group trips by car or group tour during the five-day break.

The news quickly sparked internet discussion, prompting commentaries questioning whether it was appropriate to regulate self-organised travel by students who are adults.

Notices issued by Lanzhou Jiaotong University and the School of Foreign Studies at Jiangsu Normal University were among the strictest, according to local online media ThePaper.cn, citing statements made last week.

A statement on the “management of students’ safety” from the university in Lanzhou, the capital of Gansu province in northwestern China, said “the school does not allow students to organise road trips, group tours or bicycle trips on their own”.

“Students are reminded not to take illegal passenger vehicles in particular, and are strictly prohibited from going out privately or in a group chartered vehicle,” it added.

The foreign studies school in Jiangsu province in eastern China “strictly prohibits classes organising trips in the name of a group during the holidays” for students’ safety.

“Any behaviour that solicits or organises students to travel in the name of associations or individuals must be resolutely curbed”.

Some other schools, such as Peking University, suggested “avoiding solo trips” and advocated travelling with family and friends for students’ safety.

China’s international flights set to take off, but US travel suffering delays

The May Day holiday – also known as the Labour Day holiday – from May 1 to 5 is one of China’s “golden weeks” for tourism and consumption. Outdoor activities are typically popular during the spring vacation.

There have been reports in the past of accidents involving university students travelling as a group, especially in the wilderness, but social media commenters and local media columnists said they doubted an absolute ban was better than safety education.

News of the notices has raised the issue of “overregulation” in Chinese universities, some of which have stricter rules than overseas higher education institutions. Controversy arose earlier this year when some universities banned students from hanging curtains over their bed in dormitories.

The institutions cited fire hazards, lighting and ventilation as reasons to stop students using bed curtains to carve out personal space in shared rooms. Some also asserted that students were using the screens to hide forbidden electronic devices or smoking.

Other debates about university control include whether smoking, alcohol and food delivery on campus should be allowed.

“If [the statements are released] as a reminder, then the school’s approach is understandable, but if it is just to avoid responsibility [from students accidents], then this kind of blind ban is not advisable,” Chu Zhaohui, a researcher at the China National Institute of Education Sciences, told Hongxing News, an outlet founded by Chengdu Economic Daily.

Universities should bear in mind their students are adults, and should not interfere in their personal lives too much when managing them, he added.

Columnist Long Minfei wrote on gmw.cn, which is published by Guangming Daily state media: “Schools can appeal and provide guidance [on holiday arrangements], and it is also necessary to cultivate college students’ awareness of risk prevention. But direct prohibition would be the worst approach”.

Highway collapse in China’s southern Guangdong province leaves at least 19 dead

https://apnews.com/article/china-guangdong-highway-collapse-59a28381cdff792c2ccd2861ea7ef5bfFilipino workers carry streamers and posters during a protest to mark International Labor Day near the presidential palace in Manila, Philippines on Wednesday, May 1, 2024. Hundreds of Filipino workers from various labor groups took to the streets to mark Labor Day and demand a wage increase and job security amid soaring food and oil prices. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe)

2024-05-01T05:02:02Z

BEIJING (AP) — A section of a highway collapsed early Wednesday in southern China leaving at least 19 people dead, local officials said, after the area had experienced heavy rain in recent days.

Eighteen cars fell down a slope after a 17.9-meter- (58.7-foot) -long section of the highway collapsed, according to a statement from authorities in Meizhou city in Guangdong province. The incident occurred around 2 a.m.

Witnesses told local media they heard a loud noise and saw a hole open up several meters wide behind them after driving past the section of the road just before it collapsed.

Video and photos in local media showed smoke and fire at the scene, with highway rails slanting downward into the flames. Blackened cars could also be seen on the slope leading down from the highway.

Rescue workers have taken 30 people to the hospital, state broadcaster CCTV reported.

Chinese scientist who published COVID-19 virus sequence allowed back in his lab after sit-in protest

https://apnews.com/article/covid19-scientist-zhang-yongzhen-protest-china-f67abcea6a60f4e68a7a52fd7b8928e0Zhang Yongzhen, the first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus, looks at a presentation on his laptop in a coffeeshop in Shanghai, China on Dec. 13, 2020. Zhang was staging a sit-in protest after authorities locked him out of his lab. Zhang wrote in an online post on Monday, April 29, 2024, that he and his team were suddenly notified they were being evicted from their lab, the latest in a series of setbacks, demotions and ousters since he first published the sequence in early January 2020.(AP Photo/Dake Kang)

2024-05-01T04:00:59Z

BEIJING (AP) — The first scientist to publish a sequence of the COVID-19 virus in China said he was allowed back into his lab after he spent days locked outside, sitting in protest.

Zhang Yongzhen wrote in an online post early Wednesday that authorities had “tentatively agreed” to allow him and his team to return to his laboratory and continue their research for the time being.

Zhang had been staging a sit-in protest outside his lab since the weekend after he and his team were suddenly notified they had to leave their lab, a sign of Beijing’s continuing pressure on scientists conducting research on the coronavirus.

The Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center previously said Zhang’s lab was being renovated and was closed for safety reasons. But Zhang said his team wasn’t offered an alternative until after the eviction and the new lab didn’t meet safety standards for conducting their research.

Zhang’s latest difficulty reflects how China has sought to control information related to the virus: An Associated Press investigation found that the government froze meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace it from the first weeks of the outbreak. That pattern continues to this day, with labs closed, collaborations shattered, foreign scientists forced out and Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country.

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Hong Kong welcomes 43,000 mainland Chinese visitors on first day of ‘golden week’ break

https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/hong-kong-economy/article/3261029/hong-kong-welcomes-43000-mainland-chinese-visitors-first-day-golden-week-break?utm_source=rss_feed

More than 40,000 mainland Chinese visitors crossed into Hong Kong on Wednesday morning, as the city prepared a wide range of activities and attractions to kick start the Labour Day “golden week” holiday.

Data from the Immigration Department showed about 43,000 visitors from across the border were recorded entering the city as of 10am.

Those heading to Hong Kong included hundreds travelling via the West Kowloon high-speed rail terminus.

The Post observed foot traffic at the station’s concourse was busy but not overcrowded, even as trains dropped off visitors at intervals as short as five minutes apart, with passengers swiftly clearing out and travelling into the city.

Tourists arriving at the terminus said they were looking forward to sampling a wide range of activities and experiences over the break.

Zhang Jiao and her son were among Wednesday’s early birds, opting to take a spontaneous trip to Hong Kong together for the first time.

The e-commerce freelancer, who is in her thirties, said she and her eight-year-old son earlier made a trip to Shenzhen from Hangzhou, before deciding to look up places to stay and things to do in Hong Kong.

“My son has a school holiday from April 28, so together with the five days from the golden week holiday, there’s altogether eight days for us,” she said.

“We were already in Shenzhen and thought why not take a trip to Hong Kong? I’m thinking of visiting the Peak, the Avenue of Stars, and the Golden Bauhinia Square.”

Zhang said she was also keen to shop at the city’s duty-free stores, adding she expected to spend about 4,000 yuan (US$552) on accommodation, food and transport for both of them.

Cao Ziwei, a legal professional in her twenties from Zhejiang province, said she and her boyfriend were travelling to Hong Kong after researching some local hotspots.

“We want to go to the University of Hong Kong, the Palace Museum and the Peak,” she said.

The couple had also downloaded the Octopus app to their phones as they were concerned some places might not accept Alipay.

They planned to go sightseeing for most of the three-day trip and spend about 10,000 yuan, Cao said.

“It’s our first time in Hong Kong. We’ve seen many shows about the city and want to see for ourselves where they were shot,” she said.

Bad weather, weaker yuan could hit Hong Kong restaurants hard over ‘golden week’

Tako Kei, a 30-year-old Guangzhou resident and regular traveller to Hong Kong, said he and his wife were heading to the city to see a concert by Taiwanese rock band Mayday, estimating they would spend about 3,000 yuan on the short trip.

“We are only staying for tonight, and are planning to return to Guangzhou tomorrow,” he said. “We’ve been to Hong Kong many times so we don’t have a must-do or must-see list while we are here. We will play it by ear.”

Hong Kong is expected to welcome at least 800,000 mainland visitors over the extended weekend break running from Wednesday to Sunday.

Local immigration officials earlier predicted that the first day of the break would see peak travel at land border crossings, with a million trips in and out of the city on Wednesday alone.

The city also expected a total of 5.9 million arrivals and departures during the holiday.

Hong Kong to ramp up cross-border bus services, train trips for ‘golden week’

The city plans to host a wide range of activities to welcome mainland tourists, including a 10-minute fireworks display starting at 8pm on Wednesday.

The pyrotechnics show over Victoria Harbour will see fireworks form patterns such as smiley faces and the letters “HK” as they shoot up to 100 metres (328 feet) into the night sky.

The event was timed to coincide with a shopping festival organised by the Yau Tsim Mong District Office and council, which offers limited discounts from 2,200 businesses across malls, hotels and restaurants in Tsim Sha Tsui and Mong Kok.

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Philippines rethinks its South China Sea strategy to ‘uphold dignity’, minimise casualties

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3261013/philippines-rethinks-its-south-china-sea-strategy-uphold-dignity-minimise-casualties?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines is weighing a new approach in the South China Sea, its defence chief said after another encounter between its vessels and Chinese coastguard ships firing water cannons – signalling that he wants maritime operations to be “less telegraphic”.

“We are re-strategising the way we do things, naturally with the end in view of both preventing injuries and number two, upholding the dignity of our country,” Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro junior said in an interview in his office in Manila on Tuesday.

US-led alliance adds to Beijing’s challenges in East and South China Seas

Teodoro declined to elaborate on the adjustment to the country’s strategy as he said the Philippines has a “range of options” to counter China, which lays sweeping claims to the key waterway. “If you are stuck to one mode, it is easy to anticipate,” he said.

The defence chief’s remarks come as three Chinese coastguard ships fired water cannons at two Philippine vessels near Scarborough Shoal on Tuesday in yet another example of China’s game plan to counter the Philippines’ growing assertiveness in the disputed waters.

Under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, the Philippines has followed a strategy of transparency since 2022, whereby it has called attention to China’s actions in the South China Sea on social media and through press releases. It remains to be seen how this would change once Teodoro’s new plan materialises, if at all.

“The main point that we have to stress is that we will not give up our presence in the Second Thomas Shoal and we will not enter into any modus vivendi that will compromise our position regarding our rights in the area,” he said. Nestled in the shoal is the Sierra Madre – a crumbling warship that Manila deliberately grounded on the shoal in 1999 to serve as a military outpost.

Along with Taiwan, the stand-off between the Manila and Beijing over a series of contested reefs and islands has become a critical flashpoint in the region. The Philippine military and coastguard have ramped up operations to supply troops and shore up the crumbling Sierra Madre.

Beijing has strongly opposed the delivery of construction materials to the warship, blocking Philippine resupply vessels and resorting to water cannons to prevent the Southeast Asian nation from repairing the ship. On Tuesday, the Philippine Daily Inquirer reported that the country’s navy spotted three research vessels from China in the Second Thomas Shoal, days after the military said it detected the “unauthorised presence” of a research vessel with a Chinese flag near a province in the main island of Luzon.

China has been “more assertive” and “more visible not only in the West Philippine Sea, but in the eastern seaboard,” Teodoro said, referring to the Chinese research vessel spotted there recently. The behaviour may be related to the Philippines’s ongoing military drills with the US known as Balikatan, he added.

The United States has pledged to stand by the Philippines and is conducting annual joint exercises with the country’s troops through May 10 as ties between the long-standing allies are strengthened under Marcos.

Teodoro said he expects Manila’s military ties with Washington to grow in the coming years. This could include the co-production of defence equipment, as well as greater intelligence sharing with the US.

Elsewhere, the Philippines is looking to finalise a defence deal with Japan within the year, and is also seeking to start talks with France on a visiting forces agreement. India is also keen to bolster defence ties, he said.

Philippines flags ‘upsurge’ in Chinese militia as joint drills with US kick off

China views Philippine actions in the South China Sea, as well as deepening ties with the US as “provocations”, the defence secretary said.

“The word provocation has been uttered by China several times against Japan, against the Group of Seven,” he said. “I really don’t know what the definition of provocation is in the dictionary of Chinese.”

[World] Chinese women are partnering with strangers to save money

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-68692375

South China Sea: Duterte-Xi pact investigation fuels political payback allegations

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3260980/probe-duterte-over-south-china-sea-pact-xi-jinping-seen-possible-political-payback?utm_source=rss_feed

The Philippines’ House of Representatives has said it will formally investigate Rodrigo Duterte over an unwritten pact he allegedly made secretly with China, a move some observers say is aimed at dampening the former president’s political clout ahead of elections next year.

In announcing the investigation on Monday, house speaker Martin Romualdez, a cousin of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, said “we support [the president’s] denouncement of the secret gentleman’s agreement between former President Duterte and Chinese President Xi Jinping”.

The agreement was first mentioned early last month by former Duterte spokesman Harry Roque, who said that, while he was in office, Duterte had made a private deal with Xi in which Beijing would not build any new military outposts in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

In return, Manila would not send construction materials to repair the BRP Sierra Madre – a World War II era navy ship that was deliberately grounded on the Second Thomas Shoal to serve as an outpost.

Roque’s revelation quickly generated outrage and calls for Duterte to be charged with treason. Marcos Jnr said he was “horrified” by the news, claiming he did not know anything about the agreement and that he had been given the runaround by officials when he tried to look into it.

Duterte responded to his critics by denying that he had ever struck a “gentlemen’s deal” with Xi that would entail forfeiting his country’s territorial rights, but argued that Beijing was ready to “go to war” so he had agreed with Xi to maintain the “status quo” in the disputed waters.

The announcement of the investigation into Duterte’s agreement comes in the midst of an increasingly bitter feud between the Marcos and Duterte clans. Over the past four months, the Dutertes have held rallies calling for Marcos Jnr to step down. Congressman Pantaleon Alvarez, a key Duterte ally, called on the military to withdraw its support for Marcos Jnr and force him to resign.

Political analyst and former presidential political adviser Ronald Llamas said the fact that the House of Representatives, which Duterte lorded over when he was president, was starting an investigation against him meant the move was political payback engineered by Marcos Jnr.

Llamas, who chairs political risk firm Galahad Consulting Agency, told This Week in Asia “for now, [Duterte] is the main threat to Marcos, especially after all of his attacks”.

Those attacks included threats of “insurrection, uprising, mutiny, even hints of assassination”, he said.

Llamas pointed out that during a rally in January in the Duterte stronghold of Davao City, the ex-president’s son, Sebastian “Baste” Duterte, had called on Marcos Jnr to resign and ominously referenced the Romanovs and Mussolini – figures notorious for being killed by their political rivals.

He also noted that the congressional investigation could be used to dent Duterte’s popularity – especially ahead of the midterm elections scheduled for May of next year

“In the past, foreign policy was never politically sexy, never an election issue, it was never emotional – until now. Partly because of social media, partly because of the aggression of China, it’s emotional, it could be an election issue,” he said.

According to Llamas, “if foreign policy becomes an election issue, it can be weaponised against the Dutertes” and also used against pro-Duterte candidates such as senators Bato dela Rosa, Bong Go and Francis Tolentino, who are up for re-election next year.

The analyst also argued that the popularity enjoyed by Vice-President Sara Duterte was “only reflected glory” from her father. “So could this dent her popularity also? I think so.

“Even her father, who is like Teflon, is seeing his approval ratings start to go down from a high of 93 per cent to 47 per cent.”

Roque, who remains a staunch Duterte supporter, told This Week in Asia the investigation was clearly a political attack on the former president.

“Obviously, they want to embarrass, to pillory him because he has said a mouthful against Congress.”

Duterte-Xi allegedly made ‘gentleman’s agreement’ for status quo in disputed sea

But, Roque warned, “I think they’re going to find out that even Marcos will continue the [gentleman’s agreement] whether they like it or not. Because, if he doesn’t, China will build so many more artificial islands and installations.”

Roque also implied that Duterte might have used the agreement to do things without China’s knowledge. “The reality is, if no improvements were made to the Sierra Madre, it would have sunk already [during Duterte’s six years in office].”

“I wish Congress would be more circumspect about it because I don’t think you want China to know exactly what President Duterte did in spite of the status quo agreement,” he added.

As for the possibility that Duterte could claim executive privilege and refuse to talk to investigators, Roque said: “I do not know if he will invoke it because it’s up to him – but we all know that communication is a matter long traditionally exempted from freedom of information because leaders must be allowed to make correct decisions even if they are unpopular decisions.”

But according to former presidential adviser Llamas, the agreement was a constitutional grey area as far as “executive privilege” was concerned since it would have involved him making a secret deal to put the interests of another country ahead of his own.

“It could be treasonous, so we have to discuss that in Congress and Senate. If it’s going to be a treaty, it has to go through Congress, so what kind of animal is it that they came up with?”

Mainland Chinese companies most active group in Hong Kong’s flagging office rental market, Knight Frank report says

https://www.scmp.com/business/article/3260933/mainland-chinese-companies-most-active-group-hong-kongs-flagging-office-rental-market-knight-frank?utm_source=rss_feed

Mainland Chinese companies were more active than any other group in Hong Kong’s office leasing market in March, favouring space in the city’s newest prime office towers, analysts said.

However, their appetite for premium space was not enough to stem a steady increase in the vacancy rate as more office premises came online and overall demand shrank.

The vacancy rate in the city’s grade A office buildings rose to a record 12.2 per cent in the first three months of the year, a 0.7 percentage point increase from the previous quarter, according to a Knight Frank report on Monday.

“The Hong Kong Island grade A office market continued to face weak demand amid economic uncertainty,” the report said.

Vacancy estimates vary considerably from agency to agency. Colliers, for example, said the vacancy rate in Hong Kong’s prime office space hit a record of 15.1 per cent towards the end of August of last year.

New buildings have made more office space available in the city. For example, Six Pacific Place, with 218,000 sq ft of gross floor area in Wan Chai, and the 27-storey Viva Place covering about 300,000 sq ft in Wong Chuk Hang came on the market between January and March, according to JLL.

Among mainland Chinese companies that leased new office space in the span were Beijing-headquartered medical equipment supplier Golden MediTech, which moved from the Bank of China Tower to a 6,000 sq ft space in The Henderson, according to Knight Frank. Carmaker Brilliance China Automotive Holdings also moved into The Henderson, leasing 6,300 sq ft of floor space.

“Most mainland Chinese companies are looking for spaces of about 6,000 sq ft so they will not be enough to significantly bring down vacancy rates,” said Martin Wong, director and head of research and consultancy for Greater China at Knight Frank.

Grade A office rents fell 2.7 per cent quarter on quarter, according to JLL.

“Higher quality space will remain the focus of occupiers,” said Cathie Chung, senior director of research at JLL in Hong Kong. “The office leasing demand was mainly driven by consolidation and upgrading activities in the first quarter of 2024.”

Although there have been a number of large leasing transactions in the past few months, Chung said office rents are likely to decline between 5 per cent and 10 per cent this year.

Prudential Insurance leased an entire floor measuring 53,600 sq ft in Airside, the mixed-use development by Nan Fung group in Kai Tak that includes a grade A office tower and a 700,000 sq ft retail complex, according to market sources. Singaporean bank OCBC leased 54,800 sq ft in the same building, according to Cushman & Wakefield.

Other leasing activities in the quarter included the Hong Kong Monetary Authority signing up for three full floors with a gross area of 79,200 sq ft in the city’s tallest tower, the International Commerce Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology leasing two floors for a total area of 29,700 sq ft in The Millennity Tower 1 in East Kowloon, Cushman said.

Asia Infrastructure Solutions, an engineering firm, leased 40,400 sq ft on two floors in Two Harbour Square in Kowloon East, Cushman added.

Professor in China verbally abuses students, makes them clean flat, buy breakfast, help daughter cheat in exams

https://www.scmp.com/news/people-culture/trending-china/article/3259571/professor-china-verbally-abuses-students-makes-them-clean-flat-buy-breakfast-help-daughter-cheat?utm_source=rss_feed

A university professor in China has been suspended from teaching and tutoring after being accused of exploiting her students.

Zheng Feng, an associate professor at the Peking University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT), sparked widespread outrage on mainland social media when 15 of her students complained about her.

According to a detailed 23-page open letter posted on April 9, Zheng, who was teaching wireless communication and digital signal processing technology, gave students very little research guidance.

Instead, she expected them to buy her breakfast, clean her flat, pick up deliveries, drive her friends and family and help her daughter with homework and tests.

Students were even forced to cheat for Zheng’s daughter in exams and competitions.

The professor also kept students in the laboratory for more than 10 hours a day including during their holidays and expected them to attending meetings after 10pm every night.

If anyone complained, Zheng would threaten to kick them out of their research projects or delay their graduation.

“Teacher Zheng Feng treats us like slaves. More things unrelated to academic research are taking up our time, accompanied by endless insults and verbal abuse,” the open letter said.

Most of her students were diagnosed with mental health problems including anxiety and depression, the letter added.

The open letter quickly went viral. On Weibo alone, a hashtag related to the incident has amassed more than 88 million views and hit the top two on the trending topic list.

The university responded by disqualifying Zheng from tutoring and demoting her. The students affected were offered psychological counselling.

In January, another professor, Huang Feiruo at Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, Hebei province, northern China, was accused by 11 graduate and PhD students of academic fraud and exploitation. He was fired.

The cases have triggered a broader critique of the unequal power dynamics between university tutors and students.

In most higher education institutions in China, academic tutors directly assess graduate students’ grades, thereby holding significant leverage over their graduation qualification.

Some professors treat students like personal assistants and cheap labour.

Peking University’s swift action is seen as a positive step, but many believe that more systemic changes are needed.

“Who has not experienced a tutor who threatens you with not signing a pass on the graduation thesis?” one online observer said, adding: “Such experience looks so familiar to me. Even though I graduated almost a year ago, reading this makes me feel sick.”

“Tutors have too much power. When will this change?” said another.

Eastern China’s Hangzhou to test self-driving vehicles in downtown, urban areas

https://www.scmp.com/tech/tech-trends/article/3260975/eastern-chinas-hangzhou-test-self-driving-vehicles-downtown-urban-areas?utm_source=rss_feed

The municipal government of Hangzhou, the capital of eastern Zhejiang province, is looking to help step up China’s autonomous transport ambitions by opening the city’s main urban areas to self-driving vehicles starting from this year’s May Day holiday.

Eight main districts in the city including downtown Gongshu and Shangcheng, as well as Tonglu county – covering an area of 3,474 square kilometres – will be made available to pilot tests of self-driving vehicles from Wednesday, according to a report by local outlet Qianjiang Evening News.

This new initiative by Hangzhou forms part of a new municipal policy to bolster the application of “intelligent connected vehicles” within the city, helping China’s move towards a driverless future.

Under that policy, which was published by the Hangzhou Municipal Bureau of Economy and Information on April 2 and takes effect from Wednesday, the local government will set up a system to coordinate the self-driving vehicle tests based on certain technical categories.

The policy document did not specify which level of autonomous driving technology would be permitted for the pilot tests. Hangzhou’s municipal government previously issued permits for up to Level 4 (L4) autonomous driving.

Global standards body SAE International defines L4 as autonomous driving that does not require human intervention in most circumstances, but the driver still has the option to manually take control of the car. L5, or fully autonomous driving, means a vehicle does not need human intervention under any circumstances.

Hangzhou’s initiative shows much-needed local government support for China’s autonomous-driving system developers, which include both Big Tech firms and start-ups, as these enterprises struggle to make noticeable gains in turning their vision of a future full of self-driving cars into steady profits.

Hangzhou’s new policy also requires all data generated and gathered from the tests in the city should be stored locally. Any potential export of data will be first evaluated under China’s data-security regulation.

Still, residents of Hangzhou are not expected to see self-driving cars becoming commonplace in the city any time soon owing to the careful approval process for such vehicles.

A self-driving vehicle must complete certain virtual-driving and closed-scene tests before it is allowed for practical road tests, according to the policy.

China launches maiden sea trial for Fujian, country’s most advanced aircraft carrier

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3261006/china-launches-maiden-sea-trial-fujian-countrys-most-advanced-aircraft-carrier?utm_source=rss_feed

China has started the maiden sea trial of the Fujian, its most advanced and first homemade aircraft carrier, on Wednesday, state media said.

The sea trial was announced by Xinhua on Wednesday morning in a brief report.

The Fujian, launched in June 2022, is China’s first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults, which enable the vessel to launch aircraft more regularly.

More to follow ...

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China has yet to join the ‘rich country’ club. Has the middle-income trap been sprung?

https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3260891/china-has-yet-join-rich-country-club-has-middle-income-trap-been-sprung?utm_source=rss_feed

In 2014, Justin Lin, a prominent economist and adviser to the Chinese government, projected that the country would reach high-income status by 2022.

Last month, after a decade in which that prediction did not come to pass, he made some adjustments. Lin declared it would happen in 2025 or 2026, so long as the economy maintains gross domestic product growth of 5 per cent – also Beijing’s target for this year.

While authorities have rarely touched upon the topic of the middle-income trap in recent years – a situation where a country stays at a certain income level and is unable to enter the ranks of the advanced economies – macroeconomic data suggests the subject cannot be far from mind.

With a gross national income (GNI) per capita of US$12,597 last year, China was more than US$1,000 behind the international threshold of US$13,845 defining a high-income country in 2023.

In comparison, in 2021, it was just US$100 away by the World Bank’s criterion – a per-capita GNI of US$12,551 compared to the US$12,695 requirement that year.

China stands at a crucial juncture to breach that gap, experts said, as increasing economic containment from the United States and its allies threaten its transition to a tech-driven and green society. To avoid the fate of other countries which have fallen into the trap, they said, it is essential to maintain a high rate of economic growth.

Comparing the journey to the high-income ranks to an 11km walk, Shi Lei, a professor of economics at Fudan University, said China has travelled the first 10km with vigour.

“But the last kilometre might be a distance that it can never finish – it is different from any kilometre that it has walked,” he said. “This is not a simple maths question, and deserves our attention.”

China is currently categorised as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank, which has been increasing the minimum each year to keep it fixed in real terms. With the standard set in US dollar-dominated GNI, depreciation of the yuan in recent years is one major reason China has slipped farther away from the high-income club.

But it is still within reach, economist Lin said during a seminar in Peking University last month.

“I estimate that we should be able to cross this threshold and become a high-income country as early as 2025 or no later than 2026,” he said, with the proviso GDP growth stays above 5 per cent. “This is an important milestone in the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”

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Official figures have indicated a solid start for the Chinese economy in 2024, with first-quarter growth reaching a better-than-expected 5.3 per cent compared to the same period last year.

But the International Monetary Fund has kept its full-year expectations unchanged, projecting 4.6 per cent GDP growth, well below Beijing’s target and falling short of the level needed to send the country into the higher echelon of global income.

Things look worse in the longer run in the IMF’s outlook, with growth predicted to fall to 3.4 per cent per year by 2028.

“If that happens, China will indeed find itself in the middle-income trap,” said Nouriel Roubini, a professor emeritus of economics at New York University.

After over three decades of annual growth rates close to 10 per cent, the Chinese economy has slowed considerably in the years since, with the downward trend likely to continue as China faces problems that are “structural rather than cyclical”, he said.

Those include an ageing society, insecurities in the real estate sector, mounting private and public debt and a slow shift away from market-oriented reforms.

However, some analysts have argued that China needn’t care about joining the rich country cohort given the “olive-shaped” stratification of global incomes – a phenomenon in which the lion’s share of the population falls within the middle-income range while high and low incomes make up a smaller proportion, creating a distribution whose shape mirrors that of an olive.

Li Xunlei, chief economist at Zhongtai Securities, said the possibility of China being admitted as a high-income country is “almost zero” before its population drops to less than 12 per cent of the global total.

With a population of just over 1.4 billion, China’s becoming a high-income country would mean a third of all people in the world hold that status, Li said – but the World Bank has typically kept that rate below 20 per cent.

“There is no need for China to pursue GDP growth to cross a threshold that is designed to keep it out,” he wrote in January.

As long as China keeps growth over 1.5 to 1.7 times the global average, there is no need to worry about the issue, he said.

But maintaining economic growth could be very different from making China’s people richer, as a large share of the country’s GDP comes from fiscal revenue and income distribution is uneven.

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As Zheng Yongnian, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s Shenzhen campus, wrote in a 2022 book, “although the country is ‘wealthy’, its wealth is not ‘hidden among the people’.”

Though China has been the world’s second-largest economy since 2010 – with an average annual growth rate of 6.8 per cent in the period since attaining that rank, according to government data – its people have not gained wealth at the same pace.

Figures from past years show that “the increase in per-capita disposable income was driven more by a small number of high-income groups” than that of low- and middle-income groups, who lagged far behind, Zheng noted in The Chinese Approach to Common Prosperity.

In 2023, the average disposable income in China was slightly less than 44 per cent of the country’s per-capita GDP, according to official data. In the United States, this portion was about 76 per cent.

China’s GDP was about 65 per cent of the US last year, but per-capita GDP in the latter country was still 6.48 times higher.

Rural residents – who account for a third of the Chinese population – had a disposable income of over 21,000 yuan (US$2,897) in 2023, around 42 per cent of what their urban counterparts enjoyed.

In the longer term, China faces an even greater challenge to achieving its goal of becoming a “moderately developed country” by 2035, said Xia Chun, chief economist at Forthright Holdings Co. In terms of per-capita GDP, it is currently ranked 71st in the world, immediately following Costa Rica.

“Even after it crosses the high-income threshold, the ranking is still low, and most people would feel that their income level is holding the country back,” he wrote in a research note last month.

If China uses the current per-capita GDP of Spain and Saudi Arabia as the standard for being “moderately developed” – US$30,000 in 2022 – it will need a compound annual growth rate of 6.8 per cent in the years leading up to 2035 to hit the mark, a milestone Xia said would be “very difficult” to reach.

Underdevelopment of human capital, especially in rural areas, is also hindering China from becoming a truly wealthy country, said Scott Rozelle, faculty co-director of the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions.

“China has moved up steadily, and has done many things correctly in the past to keep moving. But China still has a labour force that is undereducated,” he said.

“There has never been a high-income country where less than 60 per cent of its labour force has a high school education or above.”

China’s 2020 census recorded about 879 million people aged 15 to 59 – the age range for the working population – and the number of people who had a high school education or higher was about 431 million, a ratio of about 49 per cent.

Portugal, Spain and Greece are the three countries that managed to move from middle to high income with relatively low human capital in the 1970s and 1980s. Around 50 per cent of their labour forces had attended high school at that time, but that transition came with support from the European Union, Rozelle noted.

Mexico, where less than 40 per cent of the labour force had been to high school, was admitted to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development in the 1990s. The organisation is often dubbed the “club of the rich”.

But it is still classified as a middle-income country today, with economic growth averaging just above 2 per cent a year between 1980 and 2022, according to the World Bank.